Espers Usefulness as Summons

[Sines]

Wondering what people think of Espers as combatants. I'm playing through the game IZJS style, and so only have one job per character. This means that a lot more Espers are only going to have marginal utility for their license unlocks, and so I might consider who to apply them to based on who would support them better in combat.

However, I have limited experience using the Espers as fighters. How are they individually, as well as in the context of what classes they benefit support from. Do they generate enough enmity to be good as a tank along side a dedicated damage dealer like Uhlan or Bushi? Should I keep them alongside someone who can provide solid heals with Curaga or Potion Lore 3 and a Pheasent Netsuke? Are some of them fragile enough that I should have them fight alongside a shield-tanking class if they can someone hold enmity? Or should I just keep them on characters who can cast Decoy?

If it matters, the classes I'm using this playthrough are:

Vaan - Foebreaker
Balthier - Shikari
Fran - Red Mage
Basch - Bushi
Ashe - Uhlan
Penelo - Machinist

If some Espers are only good in the early game, then that's still fine, since I could benefit from early game support to get some hunts and side-areas completed sooner.

I'm thinking most of them will go to Red Mage and Machinist, who can both cast Decoy (I plan to give Machinist Exodus) and have good heals, so I might just try to make sure that every character has at least one summon, and that those two characters in particular have one summon at each level, if one can be spared. Both can also use support spells, through White Magic and Measures, which would help out the Espers as well.

Here's my initial thoughts on distribution.

1
Belias - No good uses. Summoner fodder.
Mateus - Ashe for +2 Magic?
Zalera - Basch for Blood Swords or Balthier for HP.
Adrammelech - No good uses. Summoner Fodder.

2
Shemhazai - Fran for Cleanse/Esuna.
Hashmal - Vaan, for Swiftness 2.
Cuchulainn - Balthier or Fran, for Defensive or Offensive Magic.
Zeromus - Fran for Channeling 2.
Exodus - Penelo for Decoy and Oil.

3
Famfrit - Penelo for Time Magic.
Chaos - Ashe for Black Magic.
Ultima - Vaan for Swiftness 3, or Balthier for Phoenix Lore 2+3.
Zodiark - All uses marginal. Give to Fran for extra summon and Greatswords? Or expand Penelos repertoire and give her extra HP?

Ashe and Vaan will definitely pick up one Esper for the benefits. Basch and Balthier both will likely pick up one, though there is competition, which I might use the "Everyone gets a summon" principle as a tie-breaker. Level 1 has two summons with no benefit that can go to Fran and Penelo, and Level 2 will naturally distribute a summon to each of them. Level 3 isn't great, but if I swapped Zeromus and Exodus between Fran and Penelo, Fran could get the Heavy Armor that would make Zodiarks Greatswords more tempting. But honestly, part of the benefit of Red Mage is being able to use a shield and mystic armor to be a more defensive White Mage.

Feel free to critique my choices of espers on a license unlock basis as well, by the way. It's probably a crappy idea to try to get use out of Uhlans Black Magic, but I wanted to give Uhlans magic a fair try, so I'm determined to do that. I'm less certain about how willing I am to give up on HP licenses.

[Hinnyuu]

I've been playing this since it came out on PS2 in Japan, and I can honestly say I haven't used Espers to fight with once - and have no desire to do so.

That being said, it seems that with the buffs in TZA they can pack quite the punch. Zodiark seems to be quite good, but you can also do super silly stuff with Zeromus - since his Big Bang scales off his missing HP, you can use Bubble and Nihopalaoa + Elixir to create an absolutely epic explosion that deals hundreds of thousands of damage to multiple enemies.

But outside one-hit-wonder tactics like that, I doubt that any Esper will be worth the loss of two party members.

[Sines]

I suspect that, in the long run, no. However, I figure I can give it a try just once. Perhaps it'll make progression easier. Besides, this playthrough seems to line up neatly with giving the right characters espers. Belias is only good for Horology in this team (so he's good for nothing) and Adremmelk would be best used for one additional Battle Lore for Ashe. However, since I'm playing without a second class, Ashe can't help but get 99 Strength anyway, so that extra Battle Lore will eventually become meaningless (and it's not like +1 Strength is a game changer before then either).

After those two, things line up quite neatly, with my most supportive party member, Machinist Penelo, getting some good Espers at all levels. So I might as well give it an honest college try when the only thing I'm sacrificing is +1 Strength for my Uhlan. Although when the Switch version comes out with resetting job boards, I suppose I could give it a try then without risking anything.

If nothing else it should be a fun change of pace. I can also see Espers as being useful when going into a horde of enemies. They can throw out some AoE while soaking up damage. Who cares if they die, and as long as I use a level 1 or 2 summon, then the summoner can still initiate a Quickening later on in the dungeon.

[Sakhari]

I've tried using Espers as more than an occasional gimmick but I'd agree that keeping them on the field is hard to justify unless you're strictly sticking to the critical path of the story and not going out of your way to get better equipment than what's available at the shops at any given time.

Right after Raithwall, for example, having Belias on the field can do a decent chunk of damage to the average mook (and in some of the harder hunts available at the time) compared to the basic equipment that's available. However, as soon as you (for example) cross the ferry to the Estersand/Highwaste area and pick up some of the better mid-tier equipment that's just lying around everywhere (or take a few minutes to farm an Arcturus for your machinist), that damage benefit instantly disappears and even the ultimates won't seem worth the bother considering the time you spend waiting for them to resolve. Later in the game, the higher-end summons like Ultima and Zodiark can put out decent per-hit numbers but considering how well geared you probably had to be to take them down in the first place, their damage still isn't likely to measure up.

Overall, summons are in a much better place than they were in the original game but there are still only very small (and easily skippable) windows where they're worth having on the field for more than a single large attack. Since, in this case, you seem to be doing a handicapped job run and not using a black mage, maybe you'll find a few more opportunities for a decent AOE attack in the early/mid game (before a boosted Darkga is available to your Red Mage) but beyond that, I expect you'll still find them to be more trouble than they're worth.

[Sines]

You're probably right. Mostly I think their usefulness is in taking hits that I don't have to worry about healing (hence why I want to use them with characters that can Decoy), and in their ability to absorb or be immune to elemental damage.

Also, 'few minutes to farm an Arcturus'? I'm bad at researching weapons, but it seemed like an Arturus was a bit trickier than that? Where do I go to farm the bits?

[Sakhari]

Originally posted by Sines:

Also, 'few minutes to farm an Arcturus'? I'm bad at researching weapons, but it seemed like an Arturus was a bit trickier than that? Where do I go to farm the bits?

You may need the Mage's Monograph (talk to Magic Shop vendors 25 times and then buy it from the Bazaar) before you start for the Yensa Fins and luck can screw you out of a little time so mileage can vary but usually, I take the following steps and get the farming portion done in about 20 minutes:

- Do the Ferry quest to get to the Estersand/Highwaste area. In the safe zone of the Highwaste, there's a pot with a Thief Cuff accessory. You don't need this but it makes stealing Wyvern Wings (and other items) significantly less tedious and there's plenty of other good equipment lying around in pots along the way.

- Unlock the hunt for the Wyvern Lord (if you haven't already). Don't kill it - just equip the cuff and steal from it over and over again until you get the two Wyvern Wings you need. In this case, you only need to leave the immediate zone and come back to reset its inventory after each steal. This is usually the hardest part of the farm.

If you've already killed the Wyvern Lord, you can also steal Wyvern Wings from the rare Aeros wyvern in the Ozmone Plains but I've never gone that route so I couldn't say how time-consuming it is.

- In sunny weather (you can change the Sandsea weather if you need to by zoning out and back in from the Zert caves or Raithwall tomb), the Salamand Entite will spawn and you'll need to steal from/kill it to get the Salamand Halcyon. I just zone in and out of the Primary Tank Complex area of the Ogir Sandsea while stealing until I get it. Just be sure to run as soon as you steal to avoid the counterattack (usually Silencega or Firaga as I recall).

- With the Mage Monograph, the Yensa and Bull Yensa can drop the (2, I believe) Yensa Fins that you need. I usually get these just by playing normally through the story portion of the Sandsea while grabbing treasure pots but they're easy enough to get if you have to come back with the Monograph.

Again, mileage may vary depending on your luck with steals and drops but all of the targets are in the same general Sandsea area so with 4x on, once you know what you're looking for, getting the job done shouldn't take too long.

[Sines]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Long since killed the Wyvern Lord, but I've collected every monograph.

[Sines]

Can't say that took me only a few minutes. The Salamand piece was by far the hardest. He wanders around the zone an awful lot, and I can't kill him easily so it's just rob and run and then look for him again. With a 6% chance (slightly boosted thanks to Thief Gloves double steals) it took quite a few attempts, and wasn't terribly interesting. I likely won't be doing it again unless I really need the extra firepower. And as I just cleared out every elite Mark (as well as Adremmelk) up to the Judge fight at Burr-Omisace, I don't really need the power unless I restrict myself even further, or decide to really sequence break.

Still, was worth quite a lot of JP carving through all those Yensa, which I won't turn down.

[it's a gabe]

Eh. I find the espers to be pretty useless outside of unlocking specific licenses that, in turn, are useful. I remember using Belias *once* very late in my first playthrough of the IZJS and all the time I was asking myself why. The game (not just the lore) make them out to be these powerful, godlike beings but I find their usefulness to be negligible. Even if you don't know what you're doing in any situation, having all three party members available is more helpful than summoning an esper.

Some of those fights to acquire them were fun, though.