Oh, dammit, you're serious? I've only been using three of my guys, who are almost at level 30, while everyone else is barely breaking into two digits.

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I'm really underleveled and just been using Vaan and training up everyone. I'm (lowest Char) lvl 24 at a lvl 30 dungeon.

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While we're on leveling up characters evenly... I think there's a third reason for those of us that are completionists... In the Sky Pirates Den there is an award for getting the party level minimum up to 50. (It's either that or the average is 50 I can't remember and will look it up when I can. )

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I've...been mostly rounding out the party. Each of them has a Quickening, and they're all within 3 levels of each other. I think that's pretty decent...heheh.

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Dude you need to get them all three quickenings ASAP as that triples each characters MP bar.

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I disagree. Being able to move around the battlefield in a fight is more useful than you think. Of course, you can't *dodge* an attack, which is what I felt compelled to do for the first couple fights. But once you have a party of three (or even four, if there's a guest) it really helps to position your players. You can put your healer out of harm's way and have them cast spells from a distance. If a monster targets your leader with an area attack, you can take control of someone else and move them out of the way.

The bosses still have to be facing you when they use certain attacks, so it's possible to spread your team out and minimize damage. I literally ran circles around Fafnir to keep him from using his breath attacks on everyone at once. Sure it's not brilliant RPG strategy, but some of the later marks are brutal, and every little bit does help.

One of the handiest (read: cheapest) tricks is to cast Decoy, Reverse, and Berserk on someone with an axe and shield, and let them go to work. Talk about exploiting your gambits. But it really is the only effective way to beat Omega without being level 99.

I still have to get Yiazmat. He's the only thing standing between me and total domination...!!!

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For me, I'm part of the "not" camp ever since FFVII (yes, I'm one of the only few that can admit they would rather shit all over FFVII than play it - If you ask me, Square's decline started right then and there. They put out decent games in that era, but FFVII? Sign of the end.), and after seeing FFXII in action, I'm tempted to play it. Although the characters look blander than... say... FFI characters.

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Okay, finaly got my hands on this game.

I have a problem: I can't earn money easily, and I can't find any quality equiptment anywhere. I'm at valley of the dead, and I saw some pretty hard fight seems to come up (got my ass kicked by that firebird). How do I get some nice equiptment? I mean, my charrecters are basicly wielding their standard weapons (got Killer Bow, Capella, and i picked up a handaxe and that staff on the way - damn, that axe doubled the attack power! ouch!). I already got the licences to all the heavy stuff (considering I've been slaying lots of creatures in the eastern sands... easy, and you get that 1 LP from each kill, and you actually earn some money from the loot), but earning money is a total drag, and it takes HOURS of dragging on through kills before I get enough loot for ONE weapon. If I go through anything else then the east er westernsands, I barely make enough money to cover my poition expences (got some magic casters now, so that should be solved), and I can't afford ANY of the techniques (HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO GET 7000 ?! That would mean 5-6 times draging through the sands for their dropings! Argh!)

I am having serious trouble killing EACH and EVERY boss, so I suspect that I'm VERY underpowered (some at 11, one at 14,15 and 16, and Vossier at 17). any idea how I can get some leveling up fast? I'm at the firebird now, and I want to track back if needed be. Seriously, I used more than 30 potions ageanst that general boss at Leviathan!

(as for how I like it so far, despite having to train hours and hours with no end before I can actually get close to handle anything, it seems a well-rounded game. Seems like they took all the good stuff out of all their games and blended into a nice new mix. Seriously, I sence something from most games in there, even Drakengard. Very nicely done, IMO, even though the charrecter design is lacking severely in some areas. Can't wait to see how the summoning is tackled - weird it hasn't come up yet...)

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ugh, onto the Elder Wyrm, and it seems I'm several levels below what I should be. Most of my characters are just under level 20, and according to people I should be mid to high 20s by now. I think it's time to use some of those warp stones I've been saving and go train somewhere and get better equipment and more money....guh. At least I have some hunts I can do....

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Well, that's alright. I sold Vaan's Mythril weapon so I'm never gonna get 100% for that play anyways. Still got that Mythril Blade, though...

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Mikker - you might want to backtrack to Rabanastre and do a couple of the marks. Some of them can be tough but the reward money (and items / weapons) they drop can be really helpful. The boss after the bird (inside the temple) is pretty tough so you'll want to buff up some.

There should be a merchant on the way through the Sandsea that sells new weapons...?

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Thank Croik, it DOES make things easier when you have this nice guy tag along as a guest on hunts. Couldn't find the wyvern king, unfortunetly. Oh well, at least I got all the others.

Damn the sandsea is easy to level up with and to earn lots of money from (I just found out what on earth that chain thing does - a remnant from Drakengard it seems). So now I'm ready to challange the dynasty kings tomb!

And I found the barries! DAMN, that bird was easy, I didn't even use any healing at all! To quote Balthier:



Both walls down as well! Hohohoho! Now those quickenings pay off quite well! No wonder they are called quickenings!


edit: ahahahahah! Abusing quickenings! I can now take out just about any boss just with this! Really, that explosion that took down the levithan could just as well have come from me.

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You know what sucks? After killing the Ahriman, with one charracter barely alive, I trigger an explosives trap and die.

Whoops.

Well, something I think was handled quite poorly in this game is leveling. It is odd, it appears that between each big boss section I fall 5 or more levels behind. It doesn't flow, if you know what I mean. The critters should give more experience.

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It's called you take a little time to train in each area... It helps with the money situation....

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Yeah, it does. And having Embroidered Tippets on all active members doesn't hurt either. Took surprisingly little to actually overcome the boss more easily.

Hmm, even if I tried to level everyone up equally, Pernelo is behind with 20 levels. Whoops?

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I killed the Garuda fairly easily WITHOUT the by using Quickenings.

Hell, I didn't even KNOW about them or GET them until after I had finished the entire Tomb.

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The thing I don't like is the amount of... colour on the screen, they just make my eyes hurt, and I'm not really keen on running around during battle, I like the usual "Select commands" type of battles.

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i finally got started on the game today (after its been sitting in my house since halloween) and so far, the game to me seems amazing. the graphics are sweet and i love the storyline so far! the rpg style of play kind of threw me off at first, but i actually like the real time battle better than the ATB system. i can't wait till i get till i get to the first boss so i can do some butt kicking!

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Okay, time for me to get shot

Honestly, the game bored me at the beginning, but the more I played, the more I started to see how complex this game was, and how much refreshment it brought to the series.

First of all... the game feels natural. For the first time in history of FF, the world wasn't created just as a means to justify the plot - now the great, complex and logical world is the main feature, with somewhat short but still interesting plot as an addition. This feels very natural - until now, the world was just a one big scene for the plot and nothing more - now we have enormous (as for FF) Ivalice, with a part of it's history as a plot, which brings me to my next point...

Weak plot? I don't think so. If you treat it as yet another typical FF, you may be dissapointed, but try looking outside the box - until now, the plot concentrated on characters, their problems, hopes and goals. FF XII is a tale not of these, but of war, peace and politics. If you examine the game's plot and character motivation (mainly Ashe's and Vayne's as well as Venat's) you will discover that there is no good and evil in classical sense.

For example, look at Ashe, who is, I think, kind of leader for the protagonists. Is she a likeable person? I don't think so. At first, she is only vengeance driven woman, who cares only for the Empire's defeat, and ascension on Dalmasca's throne, no matter what the cost. And Vayne? His ambition is to see world freed from Occurian reign and himself as a new Dynast King. See what I am aiming at? Both of them fight for freedom and control as they see it. They are very different, but very similar at the same time. And Venat? Right, he is a traitor to his brethren, but at the same time helps humanity achieve freedom from Occuria for almost nothing. He is kind of FF Prometheus, and ironically, the only one without personal ambitions. The one who another freedom fighters are about to slay.

Another thing is lack of personalities for the characters, which is another misunderstanding. Right, there are not any 'emo-ish'
characters, but is that really bad? Do you really miss all that Squall's angsting or Tidus' 'I exist or not?' attitude? Well, I don't. Ashe at the beginning is vengeance driven woman, but as she discovers truth behind Occurian desires, she changes into a woman wanting peace. Another thing... Vaan, Penello and Larsa. They may seem just as a characters without much significance... but I think that's what makes them important. They are just a plot device (unusually big, though) whose purpose is to show those who really run the show (Ashe and Basch) that not all of Dalmasca and Archadia want to destroy each other... that overall, peace may be possible. And Fran and Balthier? Almost every story such as FF XII has kind of 'Han Solo'ish' heroes as a nice addition, so why not here, too?

The game has also something I like very much... theme. And this theme is freedom. Vayne fights for freedom from occurian reign, Ashe and Basch fight for liberation of Dalmasca, Vaan dreams of flying an airship, which he considers a symbol of freedom. Freedom is the very keyword in this game.

Now, to the mechanics and non-plot features.

The ADM battle system is great, since there is no more of these ever-annoying random battles, and it's also natural - to be able to commence withdrawal whenever you wish without watching characters running in one place before they actually escape. There are also few nice additions - like wild saurian hunting wolves - of course, this is simplified, but gives you a feeling that you really observe living world, not only a couple of screens to support the plot. I have also heard (in many places) that the game is weak because it makes player run all over the big locations... right, it may be annoying, but makes game fell natural - the city is not limited to one-two screens, but you can actually FEEL the vastness of the location.

Another thing, Gambits. They are not as complicated as some people may think, and are very tactical - instead of mashing the buttons, the player is more of a planner than he was in previous installments to the series.

Moreover... the game is challenging. I am not talking only about Yiazmat, which took me 13 stages and several days to bring down, but even weaker enemies. If you are careless, even simple enemy may beat you (happened to me once - I underestimated the first Mark, and... well. Fire spirited Vaan away ). The battles need to be planned, and are very intense - you can really feel the power of Yiazmat or Fafnir and pressure they keep on you. The characters can also never be invincible - in FF X, with Ribbon and 255 stats almost every enemy could be easily brought down. Even Penance and Dark Aeons. Now, even with 99 Lv and best equipment Yiazmat or Omega can easily wipe the party out if you are not careful. Many battles also need to be played by tactics, since it it impossible to overpower some enemies (again, Omega, Yiazmat and some stronger Marks, such as Fafnir, Pylraster or Behemoth King). It is also quite possible to lose to plot bosses - for instance, The Undying once wiped out my first squad that defeated Yiazmat with his Tera Flare. It was my good luck that I had reinforcing team prepared right away to finish him off.

Yet another great thing about this game... is graphics and music. About graphics you know what I mean, and music is really epic - the boss fight theme is one of my favourite pieces.

Okay, hope I didn't bore you much. The defense of FF XII is over, Your Honor

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At first i honestly hated this game, played the demo and hated it, then it came out and then i thought, maybe it got better. Then i rented it and hated it all over again. Then for some odd reason 7 mounths later i find myself in line buying ffXII cause it was on sale for 29.99 for the collectors edtion. Why i dont know. But now for some odd reason i actually really enjoy this game! I think id love it more if there was a battle music though.....thats my only complaint. I guess i tend to hate games i rent but love them when i buy it....

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I'm having alot of trouble with Zodiark. Even with Black Masks it kills off my party a little step at a time. I can't get a shot in because I have all my charracters frantically trying to revive everyone, and it does Darkja so often that I die very often. I manage to get it to the point where it uses shift, but further then that I can't get in a hit because it hits me faster than I can heal (scathe doesn't help either!). I can barely get to use shell before it darkja me to death. My characters are level 75, except Panelo. Any help?

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Lord of Angmar, you just summed up everything I think of FFXII and more. And said it in a much more coherent and less boring way that I ever could've. Well done :D

And the game gets +5 in awesomeness for having Kari Whalgren voice one of the main protaganists >.>

You know what? I didn't notice that Reks died in the opening bit. Apparently it was really obvious, but when I asked my friend if you get to play as Reks again, she burst out laughing. And I was all "He DIED?"
Apparently it was hard to miss. And I managed to miss it completely O.o

Still. Better than my sister, who managed to, in a conversation a few weeks ago, confuse Reks with Metal Gear Rex. xD

Zodiark is a toughy! But it's nowhere near the pain that is Omega, I'm sorry to say. I scraped through both by the skin of my teeth XD

If you haven't been to Nabudis, you can pick up a couple of Demon Shields there that block dark magic and are a big help. The Darkja has an instant kill effect, I don't remember if there are any items that can negate that...? But there's the classic trick of equipping a Pheasant Netsuke (or whatever it's called) and turning any healing gambits to KO = Pheonix Down. If you have all your healing item supports learned it'll usually revive your party members to full. And don't forget that you can revive dead players who aren't in your party!

Other than that...stay spread out. Don't waste your time casting too many protective spells since you'll die too often for them to be useful. Near the end his magic barrier shifts like crazy but you can usually slip in one or two spells when it lifts. I think Scourge works pretty well...? Scathe usually takes too long to fire to be worth it.

I think I was around low 70s level-wise when I beat him. 'Cause I was around 76 for Ultima, 79 for Omega...something like that. If you stay on top of your healing and are careful with your spell casting you should be able to bring him down.

Zodiark is the only summons really worth it near the end of the game, especially for bosses like Hell Wyrm. And such a cute little bugger <3

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Mmm, I already beat Ultima (which wasn't that bad) and Hell Wyrm (which I went hardcore with and did in one go), so no big deal there. I also have an Excalibur, so that makes it slightly easier to beat Zodiark.

How did you say Pheasant Netsuke worked? As far as I understand it just reverses the effect, how is that usefull for phoenix down? (I'm really interested in this one, considering I don't have time to use arise due to darkja)

I'm also wondering what the best accessory is. I've tried that cat-ear thing on my Excalibur user, but he end up reviving 100% of his time anyhow. I don't have ribbons so I can't cure blind (and I have no possible time to cure desease, so THOSE characters are basicly DEAD - but I don't have any desease immunity accessories).

Oh, and all of my equiptments are 2-handed (Masamume, Ragnerock and Excalibur), so I can't use shields at all (I have NO other good weapons. The best 1-handed weapon is a golden axe - and they kind of suck because of the damage inconsistancy - and I only have one of those). How are demon shields better than black masks? black masks absorbs dark magics...

And AFAIK, I NEED to have shell on, as it halfs the chance of dying to darkja.... not to mention whatever it decides to throw at me.

Yeah, I have filled up every charracters liscence grids. Except Zodiark summon, obviously.

How should by gambit be set up? Should I just NOT use curaga all-together?

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Ah, I beat Zodiark first 'cause Ultima takes so long to get to. And she's near Omega, which is a whole other can of worms. Blehhhhhhh.

The Pheasant Netsuke increases the effect of any healing item you use, so with the help of your supports Phoenix Down can usually revive you to full (depending on your level, I guess). And since items fire off so much faster than spells, it's convenient for when you're fighting monters with instant death, or when you can't use your magic anyway. I've used them in several boss fights.

Disease is a pain. Give everyone a Disease = Vaccine gambit near the top of your list.

The Demon Shield also absorbs Dark Magic, but it has the added bonus of...well, being a shield. I would have lost my last fight against Zodiark if not for Basch wearing one. Blocked the physical attack that would have killed him and wiped out my party! I always have at least three people wearing one (I kind of split my party into two groups that way). Besides, near the end of the battle Zodiark becomes immune to physical damage so your two-handed weapons will be useless by then.

I'm not sure that Shell does any good defending against Death, so if you're already wearing a Black Mask (or have the Demon Shield--or both) it won't help you against Darkja. I wouldn't worry about it at all until near the end of the battle when your weapons become useless and you have to concentrate on spell casting anyway.

It helps to spam the swapping out method, too. As soon as Darkja is finished, shove anyone who died into reserve and revive them from there instead of reviving them on the field. That way at least only one person is tied up with healing instead of two.

I think instead of Curaga I just gave everyone HP 60%< Hi Potion (X Potion later on). Since they already had the Netsuke's and the shields on , it was his Scathe + Disease were the main things lowering HP, and most of the time you can limit those to only hitting one of your party members at a time if they're spaced well.

Ummmmmm I think that's all the advice I have :B. I don't quite remember the exact setup of my gambits at the time, but I think they were something like:

KO = Phoenix Down
Disease = Vaccine
HP %50< = X potion
Enemy Status: Reflect = Dispel
MP %20< = Ether
Any = Attack

Everything else I did manually.

The book suggests saving your magic as much as possible and using a long Quickening chain right after Zodiark uses Shift - with enough combos you can finish the fight right then. But I never found that very reliable.

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Ah, hmm. I'll try that. Just nailed Behemoth King and tried out Yiamat. Got half off his first bar. Then ran away!

two things; first, I thought you needed Ultima to GET Zodiark?

second, I thought that bosses like Zodiark arn't blockable, making shielding useless?

But yeah, I'll try and see if I can get it. Really, they should have put a save crystal in front of it. Takes so long to GET to it.

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Well, I just finished the game about two months ago with no one in my party above level 73. Overall, I found it to be entertaining and interesting. And I must admit, the graphics were amazing. However, I didn't complete all of the hunts and side stuff. I have a question though. In one of the areas either East or West of Rabanastre, there's a small area near the top of the map. When you enter this area, you can't advance any further because of a "raging sandstorm". Is there anything up there or will it always just be a sandstorm?

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Yes, there's a boss up there. You have to talk to a Bangaa at the west gate of Rabanastre to start a sidequest that'll get rid of the sandstorm and let you fight him. I think...?

To unlock Zodiark you need to have 10 Summons. I'm pretty sure I did Zodiark before Ultima...but then, I spent so much time running around that damn crystal my brain is kind of mushy as a result.

And I remember Basch defending bravely against Zodiark with his shield, so he can't be entirely unblockable XD;;. Either way, the Demon Shield is still one of the best money can buy outside of the bazaar goods.

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My biggest problem with FFXII is I like to do all the optional stuff before going on with the main story, but now the optional stuff is getting too hard to kill and the story is really easy cause I was power leveling for so long >.<

I do enjoy FFXII very much, one of my top five favorite FF games.

Its a wyrm isn't it? They tend to always be near sandstorms. Isn't that the sidequest with the windvane? Or am I getting confused again? I did the windvane sidequest but I don't really know what the point of it was. By the way, did any of you manage to defeat Carrot? I could use some tips for that...

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If you did it already...hm, have you tried entering the area from the Estersand? It is a wyrm--I kind of stumbled on him by accident in my playthrough. He's a boss, not a mark, so I don't think you have to take his hunt or anything like that.

Carrot's the malboro in the forest, right? I don't remember the fight too well other than to have status-canceling accessories and keep your items on gambit (I think vaccine specifically...? Toward the end of the game it seemed like every damn monster casts disease on you).

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I can't believe you people are having trouble with this game. Do you not all have any idea how to power level? I've decimated every boss in 20 seconds flat with nothing but quickenings, save perhaps Tyrant, who I just physically beat to death because I was too tired to bother with Quickenings, and my characters take nearly 1500-3000 dmg every hit anyway. I mean at the least you should make sure your characters are on the same level as the enemies in the dungeon--I can't wait to hear what you're going to say about Giruvegan.

I am..sort of enjoying 12? The battle system isn't my favorite--I don't really enjoy the automated, FFXI-by yourself-style to, say, turn based or even to a Tales game, but it has a certain charm.

Although honestly if Balthier, Fran, and Basch weren't in this game, I doubt I'd have made it out of Rabanastre.

Balthier: Hi I'm awesome
Fran: I too am awesome and also my ass requires twenty billion polygons
Basch: I think I'm actually the hero, also would you like some Hadouken and DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH SWORDS, KNIGHT OF DALMASCA

Meanwhile,

Vaan: DERP
Penelo: I'm wearing a scuba suit or something wtf
Asche: NEEDS MOAR FETCH QUESTS TO SAVE MY KINGDOM, ALSO DERP.

Did you beat the game? Cause quickenings only last you for so long then they suck. Its not just power leveling, you can be 10 levels over your enemies but not have the magic, weapons, or armor needed to increase your base stats, or the right lisences to use said equipment.

If you do all that, you still suck at this game.

Seriously, this game is not hard. And the licensing board is a joke; not only is mine full, I'm now just giving people shit cause I have nothing else to do with them.

"Why yes Balthier I do indeed think you need to know how to use a ninja sword."

And the 'strategy' required is pretty much bullshit too. You can beat this game by giving everyone swords and shields with no problem.

As for quickenings, they were great until my characters became so powerful that they killed Tyrant and Shemhazi in less than 3 minutes.

Hmm. I didn't have much trouble with this game. None of the bosses seemed particularly difficult, though the Mandragoras annoyed the shit out of me for a little while. I spent alot of time power leveling (I tried to keep all 6 of my party members as even as possible) and if I remember correctly, I completed every hunt and optional boss save Yiazmat before beating the game. *shrug* I really did love this game though. Fran & Balthier = the greatest.

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Haha, the Mandragoras. You know, that's true--they took me the longest if only because I had to chase one of the little bastards around.

NO, THERE WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH SWORDS.

(I love that one~)

No matter how much you power level certain bosses are still tough :B. Zodiark's attacks cause instant death at least 50% of the time, Omega hits for around 5000 every shot regardless of level and is twice as fast as you, and Yiazmat has HP like WHOA. It's not a difficult game but up until the end there are some challenges.

Not to mention chaining 250 Fiends together down in the great crystal is enough to drive a person crazy. FUCK YOU, LARVA EATER.

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Well, hidden bosses are supposed to be challenging, otherwise they wouldn't be hidden. :B But the main storyline bosses are laughably easy.

I agree. Especially since most of them had Save/Gate Crystals right before you faced them.

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my faviroute final fantasy games:
final fantasy 10
final fantasy 12