I see people mention Caits alot. What are they and why are they useful?

[Manny]

So, I have around 60+ hours in this game. In all that time, I have never bothered looking up any online info or discussions regarding the game.

I happened to see something in a reddit thread mentioning a "Cait". In all my time playing this game, (for perspective, im on the 3rd or 4th chapter of every characters story), I have never encountered one of these enemies.

Is this normal? Feels a bit odd to have played this game for so long and not even be aware of something that seems quite important. So my question, basically is what are they useful for? Is it best to capture them with H'aanit and use them in battles? What else do they do?

[Sakhari]

It's bad luck that you haven't seen any of them with that amount of play but honestly, they really aren't all that important in the long run and you're not missing much. Basically, there are several types of cat-looking enemies that have very high resistances and frequently flee within the first turn or two. If you manage to kill them before they run off, they give you much higher rewards (cash, Exp, JP) than normal enemies. If you've played the Dragon Quest games, they're this game's equivalent of the Metal Slimes.

Without going into too much specific detail, they pop up randomly in encounters all over the game's world and can be a nice boost if you happen to see one (or several) and take it down before it runs. If you do manage to catch a Chubby Cait, H'aanit can summon it to apply some pretty powerful beneficial effects to the party. But again, unless you're determined to see every enemy or try all of H'aanit's summons first-hand, I'd treat them more as an occasional random bonus than something you need to go out of your way to find. The time spent trying to catch one is likely to outweigh the time it would actually save you by using it.

[no1schmo]

Not a bad panic button to summon them when a boss fight gets rough. That's about it.

[Nevron]

I had no idea these special monsters even existed until I finally killed one and all 4 of my characters immediately went up 4-5 levels after combat.

[Manny]

Thanks all :D

[Necroshine]

I'm almost positive that you've seen them, you just didn't realize what they were and it ran away after the first move in the first round. They are small-ish inconspicuous characters and if you don't know what you are looking for, you can easily be unaware of their presence with them right in front of you, then... if they quickly run off (which they almost always do if you don't act quick).... well. Yeah....

[Manny]

Originally posted by Necroshine:

I'm almost positive that you've seen them, you just didn't realize what they were and it ran away after the first move in the first round. They are small-ish inconspicuous characters and if you don't know what you are looking for, you can easily be unaware of their presence with them right in front of you, then... if they quickly run off (which they almost always do if you don't act quick).... well. Yeah....

You could very well be right. 60+ hours does seems like a looong time to not see at least one.