Final Fantasy XII Discussion (Spoiler-Full)

zeroKFE wrote:

Wisdom

Hmmm... good thinking!

I only turned the computer on because my screensaver is the rotating clock thing... so that I don't play until dawn again.

So does this FF ever force you to use certain party members or do you constantly have a choice of which 3 you want active? I ask because my party levels are pretty damn lopsided atm.

Uh Oh.

I was skirting story mode a little to earn some money and levels, then decided to try out some of the LVL II Hunts that became available. I accepted one that requires me to go to a place during the Rains. Well, it seems that the Rains have stopped! Will they come back? I'm afraid that I've advanced the story beyond that point inadvertently... or is it just something that comes and goes?

zeroKFE, that area you pointed out is GREAT! It's doubled my money run and halved the time necessary to max out the stack. I've made two runs at 60+K in that area. Sadly no awesome accessory drops yet.
I just run back and forth in that first little U corridor... up until the first intersection (taking care to avoid the Marlboro). Once the Panthers stop spawning I run out to the save crystal area (sunny path I think), go to the next map (with the Chocobos), run back through the save crystal area, and all the Panthers have respawned. Easy Peasy.

I HATE snakes. Nothing ruins a perfectly good chain like having those damn snakes pop up out of nowhere.

Well.... time to go to work.

Yes, the Rains will come back. I took an Aerodome ride and, checked out Nalbina, came back and it was the Rains again. I'll have to go check out that area, the Marlboro's were annoying, but if I can run past them fast enough...

Oh, and about dead party members. If I switch out a dead person, I generally have my healer bring them back (cast Raise on the reserve party members). Are you doing this?

As Jolly Bill said, after the first point they show up in the story the rains come and go at some regular interval.

Yes, the snakes are annoying, especially given they very high price the good drops from the horse things drop. The horses are plentiful, but they are hard to chain thanks to the goddamn snake ambushes.

As for the malboros in the the jungle: they actually aren't that bad. Unlike ones you will encounter later, they don't yet have the full "bad breath" attack that has given many a final fantasy player nightmares in previous games. Their breath attack only deals out a few less troublesome status effects, all of which can be cured with esuna. Plus, they also drop some pricey loot.

So I was messing with steal gambits a bit last night. The idea about using your party members life isn't gonna work with the gambits I have as of right now. Since the gambit target is the target of the action it won't let you perform steal on them. So I had another idea of putting another attack gambit when anyones life got below 60%, figuring that if that happened it was a tough fight so the character would stop stealing and start attacking. Well that seemed like a good idea but again the target was an ally so the thief just started attacking the ally below 60% health. Seems kind of odd they won't let you steal on an ally but they do let you attack.

Anyways I did come up with a gambit that I do like "Foe < 1000HP - Steal". Basically just turns it around so your stealing when the monster is almost dead instead of at the beginning. Sometimes you kill it too quickly but most of the time it works out well. The thief attacks for a bit then steals right at the end and never leaves the current target to steal. Obviously it's not going to scale well but i'm hoping in a bit i'll get gambits that have a "Foe < 10%HP" or something that will scale better. Also this gambit pretty much means your never going to poach, but that wasn't really working out that well anyways so it's not that big a loss.

So... I have a question... do the monsters in a new area get their levels based on yours? I spent a long time in the desert and leveled up to 21 on all my chars before the tomb and then when I went to the "rainy" area all the mobs were like 20-21 and the mobs in the area south of that (on my way to the jungle) were 23-24. I thought that I had gotten ahead of the leveling curve so did I and the game just bumped the monsters or do I need to hang around here and level to 30 before moving on?

doctre wrote:

So... I have a question... do the monsters in a new area get their levels based on yours? I spent a long time in the desert and leveled up to 21 on all my chars before the tomb and then when I went to the "rainy" area all the mobs were like 20-21 and the mobs in the area south of that (on my way to the jungle) were 23-24. I thought that I had gotten ahead of the leveling curve so did I and the game just bumped the monsters or do I need to hang around here and level to 30 before moving on?

No, I don't think the monster levels are based on yours. Regions definitely have set levels for the monsters within them.

So I did a couple of hunts last night... Holy heck was that fun!
I fought a giant Slavin, and it wasn't a problem. I threw a 12 combo Quickening attack at it and it crumpled (I REALLY wish there was a way to tell how much OVERKILL damage you do while doing Quickenings. Is there ever a reason not to chain as many together as possible? Do some do more damage than others? I'm a little disappointed with how little control that aspect of the game gives you.). While I was getting my party put back together again (the slavin managed to take out 2 party members with some sort of huge attack just before it died.) when up the ramp comes wandering this huge furry crocodile with a Reflect status. Now Crocs haven't been too much of an issue so I let my party engage him when my eyes wandered up to the target info section. No info? What? Libra is on.... It was a rare Monster! I quickly swapped in some people with MP points and turned on my heavy hitter gambits. It was another tough fight but I took down the elite FuzzyCrock. As I'm breathing a sigh of relief and start the healer gambits my party starts targeting something out of my sight.... A giant bird! What the hell?!? An Elite Wyvern spawned as well! Aero I think it was called. So the dregs of my party get together and I do some magic whomping and Crossbow bolts are whizzing through the air and after I get lucky with some Quickening gamble the big bird drops.

That was an awesome fight!
I earned my first Gold Amulet from it.

I'm really torn about whether to play this of GH2.
I'm thinking of saving GH2 for when my little brother visits to get some multi-player goodness going before I get too familiar with the songs. Keep the playing field level.... I'm justifying my FFXII addiction already... Wow. What a great game.

That battle sequence was indeed awesome. When I was fighting it though, the wyvern attacked me at the same time as the slaven and I could see the croc off on the other side of the map. (I think all three spawn at the same time, but as long as you don't go too far into the map the croc and wyvern won't attack.) So yeah, I had to deal with two extremely powerful monsters at the same time while trying to keep the fight from wandering over to a place where the third would join in. Thankfully I had just done a serious amount of leveling in the jungle so I managed to survive, but that was a crazy hard fight.

Wow I just randomly stumbled upon Exodus, ow. I think I can take him with some actually prep, I got him down to 10% but that friken scathe spell was destroying me. Is scathe holy? If it is, I was taking 4x dmg from it thanks to my armor. I figure if I set my equipment right and set someone to perma dispel him, he will be tied up recasting reflect much of the time. At least I hope so.

zeroKFE wrote:
doctre wrote:

So... I have a question... do the monsters in a new area get their levels based on yours? I spent a long time in the desert and leveled up to 21 on all my chars before the tomb and then when I went to the "rainy" area all the mobs were like 20-21 and the mobs in the area south of that (on my way to the jungle) were 23-24. I thought that I had gotten ahead of the leveling curve so did I and the game just bumped the monsters or do I need to hang around here and level to 30 before moving on?

No, I don't think the monster levels are based on yours. Regions definitely have set levels for the monsters within them.

Wow... that must mean that I'll need to stop and do more leveling before moving on to each region. I had spent about 2-3 hours just leveling up in the desert before moving on. Guess I'll do that again.

I like how the License board gives you configuration freedom... but I don't like how I've filled in over 1/3 of it for each of my characters and don't have any of the cool stuff as vendors won't sell it at the part of the game I'm in. At the rate I'm going I'll have the board completed for all my chars long before I reach the end of the game.

Wow I just randomly stumbled upon Exodus, ow. I think I can take him with some actually prep, I got him down to 10% but that friken scathe spell was destroying me. Is scathe holy? If it is, I was taking 4x dmg from it thanks to my armor. I figure if I set my equipment right and set someone to perma dispel him, he will be tied up recasting reflect much of the time. At least I hope so.

He was indeed rather tough. Scathe is non elemental. It's kind of the ultimate multi enemy black magic spell in the game. My only suggestion would be to keep your party spread out so that he can only hit one at a time with it, and if you have access to it use either the bubble spell or the accessory that gives the bubble effect (double hp). Also, he (and many other enemies later on in the game) will put up temporary barriers against physical and/or magical damage when they are near dead, and the only thing you can really do is try to survive until the barrier wears off.

Constantly dispelling him might work (particularly for surviving the barrier) but the best thing to do is to just use berserk, bravery, haste, and decoy (if you have it) on your heavy hitter and have the rest of your party focus on keeping him alive while he finishes the monster off.

Thankfully I didn't have do deal with the multiple Slaven/Croc/Wyvern fight (Fought them all separately). I was pretty proud that I could survive/kick some butt in the Mines at a point when they drop 20 blue slimes at you. That was a great fight.

Jolly Bill wrote:

Thankfully I didn't have do deal with the multiple Slaven/Croc/Wyvern fight (Fought them all separately). I was pretty proud that I could survive/kick some butt in the Mines at a point when they drop 20 blue slimes at you. That was a great fight.

Speaking of the 20 blue slimes... that's a ridiculously fast way to level up/get license points. Flip the switch, have one or two people spamming fira and one stealing/healing. Run back out and up the train tracks to the next room, then run back and flip the switch again, and repeat. You'll be chaining over 100 in no time, maxing out your water magicite (meh) and phials of yellow fluid (woohoo). As long as Fran/Ashe have the augments that bring MP when they deal damage or defeat enemies, they'll actually be gaining MP while doing this, so you'll never run out. It's awesome.

Also, I'm not sure how the hunt ranks go, I've been defeating the II rank pretty easily, but was having a hell of a time with the III rank wyrm in the westersand (Balzac's bill). Finally defeated him with a berserk/decoy combo on Basch, and everyone just beating up on it. Then I defeated a V rank ooze without too much trouble in the waterway.

Last night I was in the Zertinan Caverns looking for the serpent for the tavern master, and ran into Adrammalech... and had my ass handed to me. I'm assuming that's an optional summon, cause damn he kicked my ass. Although I did manage to take about 2/5ths of his HP in a desperate Mist attack, so maybe I have a shot at it

I have to say I'm liking how you can prepare for battle in FFXII like you couldn't before. I never understood why I couldn't just have Regen/Haste/Bravery/Reflect/Protect/Shell ready when I went into the battle. Now I can.

I have question about the bazaar that I was hoping someone could answer. Does anyone know if it matters which shops you sell your loot to in order to get items from the bazaar. Are the bazaars linked or should you be careful about which stores you sell your items to? If so, is there a guide?

doctre wrote:

I like how the License board gives you configuration freedom... but I don't like how I've filled in over 1/3 of it for each of my characters and don't have any of the cool stuff as vendors won't sell it at the part of the game I'm in. At the rate I'm going I'll have the board completed for all my chars long before I reach the end of the game.

I found that out too. I'm not going to have to worry about weapon or license armor for a long time since I stupidly thought I would need to get at least 5 of those.

The Great Squid wrote:

I have question about the bazaar that I was hoping someone could answer. Does anyone know if it matters which shops you sell your loot to in order to get items from the bazaar. Are the bazaars linked or should you be careful about which stores you sell your items to? If so, is there a guide?

Nope, store doesn't matter. Certain items when sold unlock new things in the bazaar, but which store you sell them too is irrelevant.

I've now completed the top 1/2 of the license board for all of my characters (man but having 6 Gold Necklaces is nice) and I'm up to Level 37 and just completed the Shrine stuff and got the second esper. Although that esper fight was annoying because her minions kept dropping sleep on me, grrr, and for mobs made out of ice being immune to fire was an annoyance too. How far away from being able to buy "Telekenisis" am I? Flying mobs are getting annoying.

How far away from being able to buy "Telekenisis" am I? Flying mobs are getting annoying.

Telekinesis doesn't show up until very close to the end of the game. However, 1000 Needles shows up much earlier (probably around the point where you are or earlier) and does a passable job of what you are looking for.

doctre wrote:

I've now completed the top 1/2 of the license board for all of my characters (man but having 6 Gold Necklaces is nice) and I'm up to Level 37 and just completed the Shrine stuff and got the second esper. Although that esper fight was annoying because her minions kept dropping sleep on me, grrr, and for mobs made out of ice being immune to fire was an annoyance too. How far away from being able to buy "Telekenisis" am I? Flying mobs are getting annoying.

I'm the same place you are, at level 30. Where did you get your gold necklaces? I only have one still.

I thought the esper fight was incredibly easy, but then I've been finding a Berserked, Hasted, Decoyed Basch is the solution to most problems.

Jolly Bill wrote:
doctre wrote:

I've now completed the top 1/2 of the license board for all of my characters (man but having 6 Gold Necklaces is nice) and I'm up to Level 37 and just completed the Shrine stuff and got the second esper. Although that esper fight was annoying because her minions kept dropping sleep on me, grrr, and for mobs made out of ice being immune to fire was an annoyance too. How far away from being able to buy "Telekenisis" am I? Flying mobs are getting annoying.

I'm the same place you are, at level 30. Where did you get your gold necklaces? I only have one still.

I thought the esper fight was incredibly easy, but then I've been finding a Berserked, Hasted, Decoyed Basch is the solution to most problems.

There is a shop north of the eastersand across the river and up to the next area "something highlands" that sells the gold necklaces for 4500 per. I'll have to look and see if I have purchased Decoy (I've bought every technick and magick I've come across). I was having issues with the constantly having two party members asleep by her minions and after getting her about 1/2 way down just finished her off with a quickening chain because I was getting annoyed.

And zero, that really sucks about telekinesis especially since Larsa had it already.

And zero, that really sucks about telekinesis especially since Larsa had it already.

Indeed. Actually, I think that all of the guests you get throughout the game have it. I know that I saw at least one other using it. I think that the developers just wanted the guests to be able to do something against flying enemies since most (maybe all?) of them have short range melee weapons.

I don't suppose the place where I can buy telekenisis is somewhere that I could get to "early"?

doctre wrote:

I don't suppose the place where I can buy telekenisis is somewhere that I could get to "early"?

If you're desperate for an attack against flying enemies, you could always go for horology. It averages respectable damage (which I think ignores defense), until you can get telekinises. With Panelo using horology and Ashe using magic, I've got four characters to bring down flying enemies.

doctre wrote:

I don't suppose the place where I can buy telekenisis is somewhere that I could get to "early"?

I don't remember where it was, but I think it was one of those items that shows up at a shop you've already been to after a specific event is complete.

Oh, that brings up a good point: especially towards the end of the game, be sure to go back and check all the shops you've been to, even the ones that aren't in towns (like the guy in Barheim passage, and the vender in the Westersand). Many shops will have one or two items/spells/techniques show up that won't be available anywhere else.

Also...

spoiler wrote:

[color=white]
There is a hidden shop in Nabudis with some of the best armor in the game and a couple very useful spells. You can actually get there pretty early, too, but just like other shops there are some items that won't be available until you've completed certain story events.
[/color]

Jolly Bill wrote:
doctre wrote:

I don't suppose the place where I can buy telekenisis is somewhere that I could get to "early"?

If you're desperate for an attack against flying enemies, you could always go for horology. It averages respectable damage (which I think ignores defense), until you can get telekinises. With Panelo using horology and Ashe using magic, I've got four characters to bring down flying enemies.

I've have to give that a try. My secondary plan (which goes along with me filling out the bottom half of the LB as what I am doing next) is to just swap to range weapons if necessary.

Jolly Bill wrote:

Oh, and about dead party members. If I switch out a dead person, I generally have my healer bring them back (cast Raise on the reserve party members). Are you doing this?

The fact that we can do this has saved my butt countless times. I just fought Exodus a couple nights ago, and I spent most the time with one character constantly med'ing up the reserve party while the other two beat on him. He'd wipe one group, and I'd shuffle the other three characters in and repeat. Crazy fight.

alright so quick question

I have 4 ppl, why can I only use 3 at a time? In FFX you would use your entire party or at least I did...