The GWJ JRPG Club 2018 - Final Fantasy XII!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Is the target for this month reaching the Tomb of Raithwall or completing it?

It’s reaching it, but the initial targets might need some adjusting as we go.

Oh jeez, I didn't realize there were monthly targets. Not sure how I missed that--whoops!

Needless to say I am nowhere near Tomb of Raithwall and will need to play a bit of catch up

I didn't know there was a 3 character party limit (with guest exceptions). I knew you wouldn't be able to have everyone active at the same time, but for some reason expected 4 to be the limit. This is final fantasy, though, so not sure why I expected anything but 3.

Wembley wrote:

This is final fantasy, though, so not sure why I expected anything but 3.

Because it's also used party sizes of 4 and 5 at various times?

Weird. I guess most of my FF exposure has come through games that have a 3 character limit, so I just assumed. Now I look silly. Almost as silly as Vaan's outfit.

I'm going to need to put in some work to catch up. Still haven't joined up with Balthier & Fran.

CptDomano wrote:

Oh jeez, I didn't realize there were monthly targets. Not sure how I missed that--whoops!

Needless to say I am nowhere near Tomb of Raithwall and will need to play a bit of catch up :D

They’re listed in the OP. This is for fun, so they’re just a rough guideline to pace things out over the three months, really. And I came up with them by looking at a few let’s plays and walkthroughs so they may need some adjustments.

Plus, there’s still 11 days left in January!

steinkrug wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Is the target for this month reaching the Tomb of Raithwall or completing it?

It’s reaching it, but the initial targets might need some adjusting as we go.

Excellent! I reached the Tomb of Raithwall last night, then ended up doubling back through the sand sea to level up the other half of my team. It's odd to me that characters accumulate LP while they're inactive but don't get XP, as well.

I also seem to have accidentally turned Ashe into a murder machine. She's a black mage, and her aero attack will one-shot most enemies and peeled about 1/4 of the health off Geruda with each casting. I know they're vulnerable to wind, but damn.

I haven't done very well at assigning jobs so I don't even have a decent black mage. Is there a way to totally respec (I bet not since it such an old game)

I went for the fancy names that I hadn't seen before rather than what I knew.

There's no way to respec, although I believe you will eventually get to choose a second job for each character.

For what it's worth, I ended up with:
Vaan - Ulhan (spear-wielder)
Penelo - Foebreaker (heavy weapons)
Balthier - Machinist (gunner, and honestly really disappointed with this class so far)
Fran - Shikiri (knives)
Basch - White Mage (healer)
Ashe - Black Mage (black magic)

I didn't expect it but it would have been nice.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

There's no way to respec, although I believe you will eventually get to choose a second job for each character.

For what it's worth, I ended up with:
Vaan - Ulhan (spear-wielder)
Penelo - Foebreaker (heavy weapons)
Balthier - Machinist (gunner, and honestly really disappointed with this class so far)
Fran - Shikiri (knives)
Basch - White Mage (healer)
Ashe - Black Mage (black magic)

I'm already at the part where you get the second job license, and have to agree that Machinist is mostly underwhelming. I am trying to decide just what I want to specialize Balthier in for his second job to offset or better complement the Machinist class.

Ashe, I turned into a White mage and a Knight (at least, I think I chose Knight) and that seems to where pretty well.

Penelo I made a White and Black mage, which also seems to be working well.

I made Fran a machinist, and I plan on pairing it with white mage as the second job. My understanding is that machinist relies a lot less on stats than the other classes, with guns doing fixed damage. They also have a few licenses that restore MP when attacking, which should help keep her topped off while healing.

With Fran having the pretty average stats, being able to off-set it with fixed damage is pretty great.

What on earth are the "measures" that Machinists get access to? I apparently haven't gotten far enough in the 30 hour tutorial to find out.

Is this brat complaining about his rich family not taking their personal airship in every aerodrome? I want to push him out the window.

Edit: Also, just got to Bhujerba...

Spoiler:

Everyone is talking about all the imperials everywhere but how it's cool because they are totally neutral. Without knowing this story in advance I just want to run down the street screaming "Y'all about to be invaded!"

JeremyK wrote:

I'm going to need to put in some work to catch up. Still haven't joined up with Balthier & Fran.

Me neither; it's high time for getting up to no good, especially with Monster Hunter World a few days away.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What on earth are the "measures" that Machinists get access to?

Measures are... interesting. They're weapons that confer status buffs upon attack; effects like Protect or Shell. Yep, you bonk your friends with them. They're handy if you have a character in a pure support role. Equipping also adds 35 to evasion.

I know I'm a bit late here but count me in. My wife picked this up for me yesterday after enjoying watching my FF15 play-through and I put in a few hours last night.

I played the original back when it was first released but fell off it around halfway through.

I'm really impressed so far, for a 10 year old game the systems all hold up fairly well and it looks very nice.

Wife's feedback is she is missing Noct and the bros

Edit: forgot to mention, the job system really throws you in the deep end, no introduction at all apart from "make sure you make the right choice because you can't respec". I quickly closed out of that and filed it away for looking at later.

Welcome Cronox!

There was a fair bit of discussion of job choice with some links to resources a couple pages back if that's something you'd find helpful. It sounds as though, if you're just looking to play through the game, that you don't have to worry too much about what you choose.

Is it weird that my goal with the gambit system is to completely alleviate the need to touch any other button on my controller except the thumb sticks?

On paper, that sounds terrible, but I find it strangely satisfying here.

I've just busted out of Barheim Passage. I've... got a ways to go. Good thing everything coming up is really cool, imo.

MrMetonymy wrote:

Is it weird that my goal with the gambit system is to completely alleviate the need to touch any other button on my controller except the thumb sticks?

On paper, that sounds terrible, but I find it strangely satisfying here.

Not in the slightest. I wish TZA introduced the notion of gambit loadouts, e.g. one for mobs and another for bosses. That would have been nice, but no biggie.

steinkrug wrote:

Welcome Cronox!

There was a fair bit of discussion of job choice with some links to resources a couple pages back if that's something you'd find helpful. It sounds as though, if you're just looking to play through the game, that you don't have to worry too much about what you choose.

Thanks, being me i spent the day at work picking combos for all the characters.

I'm also running the dont touch any action button gambit setup and loving it. The programmer in my is loving tweaking and testing things after every few battles. Add in the fast forward and this is the most fun i have had with grindy type gameplay in a long time (and thats not false praise, I'm a huge fan of grindy games)

I reached the point of having all six party members. It took a bit of time to manage every one's license boards and equipment. Then I decided to go back and do a few hunts. I had done only two, so I did three more which got me some more cash which I mostly spent on white and black mage spells. It's feeling like it will take a lot of funds to keep all six characters kitted out. While working on the hunts, especially travelling throw low level areas, I had all three characters on gambits for the first time. It felt a bit odd, but I also liked it more than I thought I would. Setting the lead character to attack aggressive monsters and also running on 2x speed was kind of amusing. I mowed through 15 wolves without really noticing. 2x speed is really excellent when you want it.

I appreciate that you can get pretty in-depth with the gambit system, though I do feel like I am still figuring out how I want to use it. Especially in the case of magic. White magic is pretty easy to set up, I think, but I am not really sure yet how I want to employ them in the case of my black mage without having her just blow through her MP.

I jumped back into the main quest then and stopped in the second desert prior to Raithwall. I think I'm in the 9-10 hour range? This is reportedly a 60+ hour game, so February and March may require a bit more time than January. We did start a bit late, though.

The Fran = Chewbacca comparison keeps being so perfect, Clock!

Ted wrote:
MrMetonymy wrote:

Is it weird that my goal with the gambit system is to completely alleviate the need to touch any other button on my controller except the thumb sticks?

On paper, that sounds terrible, but I find it strangely satisfying here.

Not in the slightest. I wish TZA introduced the notion of gambit loadouts, e.g. one for mobs and another for bosses. That would have been nice, but no biggie.

Because there aren't multiple loadouts, you usually need to change it up for bosses and sometimes when you go to different areas with opponents who use certain types of attacks... but yeah, generally, the "game" is in refining gambits for different places!

steinkrug wrote:

I appreciate that you can get pretty in-depth with the gambit system, though I do feel like I am still figuring out how I want to use it. Especially in the case of magic. White magic is pretty easy to set up, I think, but I am not really sure yet how I want to employ them in the case of my black mage without having her just blow through her MP.

Blow through that MP. You regain it by walking around. Don't forget a gambit to Charge at like MP < 10% to help refresh even faster.

As you get further in the license boards and pick up licenses that give you MP for giving/taking damage, for some characters, it might actually be difficult to use it all because they're so good at recovering it.

Also, here's a trick: you can Syphon from your own party when one character needs it more than others.

I do wish I could have distinct sets of gambits (you could call them, I dunno, "paradigms" or something) that I could swap between depending on situation. I'm sure you can do some of that with how you order things, but I still get a little tired of popping into the menu to toggle gambits on and off somewhat regularly.

I like how map urns for both sandseas are offered right at the start of the Ogir-Yensa this time around. Those places can get confusing in a hurry.

As far as Raithwall goes,

Spoiler:

man the Demon Walls look awesome.

I've reached the January milestone and I'm looking forward to the next stretch. Ozmone Plain is one of my favorites.

steinkrug wrote:

I reached the point of having all six party members. It took a bit of time to manage every one's license boards and equipment. Then I decided to go back and do a few hunts. I had done only two, so I did three more which got me some more cash which I mostly spent on white and black mage spells. It's feeling like it will take a lot of funds to keep all six characters kitted out.

You might not be able to access it anymore (it sounds like you are a hour or so ahead of me) but the last two rooms in the Lhusu Mines are fantastic for money, at least at this early point. Chain the skeletons here and you get plies of bones which sell for around 200 gil each.

Cronox wrote:
steinkrug wrote:

I reached the point of having all six party members. It took a bit of time to manage every one's license boards and equipment. Then I decided to go back and do a few hunts. I had done only two, so I did three more which got me some more cash which I mostly spent on white and black mage spells. It's feeling like it will take a lot of funds to keep all six characters kitted out.

You might not be able to access it anymore (it sounds like you are a hour or so ahead of me) but the last two rooms in the Lhusu Mines are fantastic for money, at least at this early point. Chain the skeletons here and you get plies of bones which sell for around 200 gil each.

Truth. Those skeletons’ loose change definitely fed my gambit addiction, which in turn led to more streamlined skeleton-murder runs, which bought me more gambits...

It was a vicious and beautiful cycle.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I reached Raithwall. Made for a good place to turn around and explore the parts of the maps I skipped on my way there.

I don’t tend to grind in RPGs but having 2x speed and gambits actually makes it kind of fun. I think I enjoy processing what’s happening at the increased speed. Finding a lot of treasure in the off-the-beaten paths areas.

I can't stand the 2x or 4x modes. Theyre a bit too Benny Hill for me.

But I did max out the combat speed, which helps.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I can't stand the 2x or 4x modes. Theyre a bit too Benny Hill for me.

But I did max out the combat speed, which helps.

4x = Benny Hill is hilarious and spot-on. I dig it, though. I think it's because I remember how time consuming just getting from place to place was in the original game (*cough* Ogir-Yensa Sandsea *cough*) that I especially appreciate being able to turn it on and off at a whim.