The Final Fantasy XII Thread!

[stray]

WUA's just mad because his computer sucks, and he doesn't have a console. Poor guy.

That pretty much explains every one of his posts.

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Anyways...

I bought this.

[schild]

So, you do get Mob Weak = Lightning type shit after you get the first esper. So it seems like mages become useful around hour 20.

[Rasix]

So, you do get Mob Weak = Lightning type shit after you get the first esper. So it seems like mages become useful around hour 20.

Good to know.  My mages are mostly just healbots at the moment.  Well, not that I really have many mages (Fran's the only one heavy in magic, some dabble), I'm just past the mines in Cloud City (I can't remember the FF name for it).   

I really like this game so far.  License board does give too many damn options to those of us that have trouble making decisions. 

Thinking of so far..

Fran: Archer/Mage
Vaan: Tank
Basch: Paladin (sword/shield/healing)
Baltheir: Thief/Ninja (thinking of dropping guns)
I figure with the last two chars I don't have yet, I'm thinking of either making another pure mage with staves/rods, dagger/debuff/buff mage, or a melee dpser with a spear. 

This game is what I wish MMOs would be.  It's possibly what FFXI could have been.

[Trippy]

Pay attention to the MP and the other stats of your party members. Those are the only things that distinguish one character from another (yes they start with different licenses but that difference goes away pretty quickly). E.g. Basch and Baltheir have the lowest MPs of any of the 6 so Basch may not be the best choice for turning into a Pally.

So, you do get Mob Weak = Lightning type shit after you get the first esper. So it seems like mages become useful around hour 20.

I'm confused. Libra will reveal mob elemental weakness from the very start of the game. Are you referring to something else?

Edit: fixed typo

[Trippy]

This game is what I wish MMOs would be.  It's possibly what FFXI could have been.

I see it more like a single player version of FF XI-2. They took what they learned from the combat system in FF XI (their first stab at EQ-style combat) and polished it up for FF XII.

[Rasix]

Pay attention to the MP and the other stats of your party members. Those are the only things that distinguish one character from another (yes they start with different licenses that but difference goes away pretty quickly). E.g. Basch and Baltheir have the lowest MPs of any of the 6 so Basch may not be the best choice for turning into a Pally.

Good point, I hadn't really bothered checking their stats until now. Ohh well, not very far into any character's license boards as of yet.

So, you do get Mob Weak = Lightning type shit after you get the first esper. So it seems like mages become useful around hour 20.

I'm confused. Libra will reveal mob elemental weakness from the very start of the game. Are you referring to something else?

I assume he means the gambit for targetting lightning (or another element) weak mobs.

[Trippy]

So, you do get Mob Weak = Lightning type shit after you get the first esper. So it seems like mages become useful around hour 20.

I'm confused. Libra will reveal mob elemental weakness from the very start of the game. Are you referring to something else?

I assume he means the gambit for targetting lightning (or another element) weak mobs.

Ah, that makes sense. That requires a lot of gambit slots, though, if you want to automate the full range of weaknesses.

[Lum]

Mages are useful once you start getting AOE spells. Until then, they tend to do more damage with whatever weapon they're carrying.

Stacking mist breaks is insane once you get 3 people with mist breaks. Which is good because boss mobs are starting to require insane levels of damage output.

[stray]

I think I need to set this game aside for a bit. My mind is in lazy mode. Everything seems cool enough, but I'm just not in the mood to run around these cities, listen to npc's, and keep track of quests and locations right now (the game could use a better quest log and map btw).

[Velorath]

I still haven't found much use for magic other than healing.  Anything other than a boss I can handle without magic and not have any problems, and I prefer to keep as many magic meters full as possible so I can summon or use quickenings as needed.

[schild]

Yea, summonings and quickenings really make non-white magic unnecessary. I still plan on using my way underleveled (but with nearly 200 LP) Fran a magic-slinging bombstaff-wielding bitch-queen.

[Velorath]

Yea, summonings and quickenings really make non-white magic unnecessary. I still plan on using my way underleveled (but with nearly 200 LP) Fran a magic-slinging bombstaff-wielding bitch-queen.

I'm keeping everyone at the same level as much as possible.  I love being able to switch characters in and out during combat.

[Merusk]

I hate you all, and the guide (which I did buy early), and the guy in my WoW guild who was bugging me about this for the last week.  I bought it, despite swearing I'd wait (and made the wife angry since now I've eliminated a potential x-mas gift. Heh.)

It's far more fun than the demo lead me to believe.  Thus, the dmeo was, well, stupid.   I do have a problem with it feeling more like an MMO than a J-RPG, what with the 'auto attack' thing, but I'll get over it as I get more abilities.

I think I need to set this game aside for a bit. My mind is in lazy mode. Everything seems cool enough, but I'm just not in the mood to run around these cities, listen to npc's, and keep track of quests and locations right now (the game could use a better quest log and map btw).

That would cut into strat guide sales.  It'll never, ever happen with a FF game.  Brady & Square are far, far too cozy.

OH, and attack chains:  Don't bother taking one over 20ish unless it just happens naturally.  For shits I tried it on the wolves in the desert after you escape the dungeon. 

There's only 3 levels, and the 3rd level doesn't provide that large of a bonus over the 1st.    The first happenes at 10,  the second at 20 the third at 40.  Actually I want to say there was a 4th at 60, but I don't think that's right.  I wasn't keeping too close a watch on it.  Basically, once you hit the glowy 'gold coin' drops, that's it.

A 112 attack chain later and I was still only getting the gold glowy coin-drops.  The best of those I had was 4 items. (Sometimes just 4 pelts, sometimes 4 windstones, sometimes 2 pelts 2 stones)  However, the drops seemed to become rarer as your chain leveled-up, so I think it evened out.  Really, the most I got out of the whole exercise was 112 LP I wouldn't have had otherwise, and some extra gil.

Ranged weapons suck in general. I don't plan to use them as a primary means of damage, but they do seem to have their uses. I'll nab what I posted at corp and paste it here in a sec. 

[Merusk]

Breakdown of Ranged weaps/ Armor & Shields

From what I've read in the guide (I've been reading it obsessively) bows, crossbows and guns are fairly useless as main means of damage dealing.  They offer a few advantages as support weapons, though.

For all ranged weapons, you can't be counter attacked when using them.  They are also required to hit any flying monsters.  From what I can tell, they're also the only weapon you can add status effects to (via Ammo) without changing their damage output too much.

  For example, if you wanted a weapon with "silence" on it, you'd have to use the Mage Masher (Dagger), meaning you'd do significantly less damage later in the game when you've got better melee weapons.   For a gun you'd just swap in "Silent Shot" ammo, reducing your damage by at most 3.

Individual Break-down
Bows:  Suck, but they're the most frequently found.  They're affected by weather conditions and can outright miss. Damage is determined by power of the bow & arrow, and character strength and speed. They don't offer a bonus to evasion.

Crossbows:  Enemies cannot parry or counter crossbow attacks.  They also don't seem to be affected by the weather conditions.  Damage is determined by bow & bolt, character strength and enemy defense.  Crossbows add 5 to evasion.

Guns: Very slow to fire (almost twice as long as anything else) but, they always hit (100% accuracy).  Enemies cannot parry, block or counter guns and they ignore enemy defense ratings. Damage is determined only by the power of the gun & ammo and they add 10 to evasion. 

In all, ranged weaps seem to be more of a "fall back on" weapon, not something you'd keep on your characters all the time.  Equip your 'hybrid' build characters with them instead of rods/ staves (which give bonuses to magick & mana)  maybe, but that'd be it. 

You're correct on the armor breakdown.(Trashcan had commented that light seemed to be +hp, +defense and Heavy seemed to be ++def, +str)  The plate armor is made more for front line damage dealers, since it gives lots of bonuses to Strength, which is one of the primary stats almost all melee weapons use to determine damage.  (Maces don't, they use Magick Power) If you're going for pure damage-soak tanking then light armor has the most HPs on it.

 Later on it mentions you'll want to switch your damage-takers to the heavy mail, because high defense results in less damage taken per-hit.  Access to the 'Bubble' spell (Arcane 5) doubles a character's HPs, so the lack of +HP on the equipment becomes less of a concern.  Even moreso if you make sure to pick-up as many of the +HP Augment licenses as you can.

As for shields:  They offer not only evasion, but outright block of attacks.  If an attack is blocked, you take no damage for it at all.  A few of them have immunity or resistance to elemental damages as well.  If you're setting up a pure 'tanking' character, it's a good choice to have one equipped and let everyone else deal the damage.

[Strazos]

Watched as my buddy did some Bounty stuff yesterday. From what I could see:

The chains are fairly pointless. Don't got out of your way to make a large one.

Ranged weapons are nice to put on casters, as they help in keeping the caster off the front lines.

I love the seamless ways the battles work now. I've ALWAYS hated the invisible random encounter BS seen in so many JRPGs. Actually being able to SEE the enemies, and not even have to go into a seperate interface to fight them, is a welcome change for me.

But one question - anyone know anything about the attack combos? Is there a way to control them, or are they totally random like crits?

[schild]

The chains are pointless?

Your buddy doesn't know how to play the game.

Different weapons are more prone to comboing - like ninja sword (no defense, tons of combos).

[Merusk]

Chains are a fantastic way to make a ton of  loot (and therefore cash) in a hurry.  In the process of doing that 112-wolf chain I got 99 Pelts and 99 Wind stones.  That's Phat cash, and it only took me about an hour running through the 3 desert zones.  (Chains reset if you hit a 'safe' zone, but persist across combat zone lines. )

I've been able to buy every gambit, technic, & magick, and all the armor and weapons I wanted and still have over 25k Gil on me.  Considering the guide said "you may be struggling for gil at this point" I'm fairly giddy with my wealth.

Just don't worry too hard about building a mega-chain for big big loot, it doesn't happen.

[schild]

The wolf pelts in the jungle are probably the best money making in the game. It's disgusting.

Edit: Merusk, go talk to each type of merchant 25 times, the bulletin board 25 times and pick a merchant to talk to 100 times. Grimoires will open up in the bazaar, they cost between 18k and 25k and each one gives you more loot from a certain type of monster.

[Strazos]

What I mean is that you're going to get the loot anyway if you are grinding for cash, so don't stress over the chains.

[schild]

And I'm saying a proper grinder goes for the chains. It's more fun, more of a challenge, and a LOT MORE PROFITABLE.

[Merusk]

Awesome tip, thanks. I'll do it later after I've fixed my conotroller. 3-year olds, candy and controllers are a bad mix. My x-button was stucking so I took it apart and cleaned it.  I didn't put the R2 button together properly and now it doesn't work.

Yes, it's all about the Grind.  Only 13,180 kills to get a complete License Board!

[Lum]

Ranged weapons useless? Uh... guns ignore armor.

[Trippy]

A 112 attack chain later and I was still only getting the gold glowy coin-drops.  The best of those I had was 4 items. (Sometimes just 4 pelts, sometimes 4 windstones, sometimes 2 pelts 2 stones)  However, the drops seemed to become rarer as your chain leveled-up, so I think it evened out.  Really, the most I got out of the whole exercise was 112 LP I wouldn't have had otherwise, and some extra gil.

The point of battle chains is to increase the chance of an item drop(s) including increasing the chance of getting rare and super rare drops. Killing low level wolves is not a good test of them since the best that'll drop from a wolf is an antidote.

[Trippy]

I think I need to set this game aside for a bit. My mind is in lazy mode. Everything seems cool enough, but I'm just not in the mood to run around these cities, listen to npc's, and keep track of quests and locations right now (the game could use a better quest log and map btw).

For the main story line the game sticks a humongous circled X on the map telling you exactly where to go, talking to certain NPCs will remind you where you are supposed to go *and* it tells you what you are supposed to be doing at the bottom of the map. That's better quest guidance than any MMORPG out there right now and light years beyond the earlier FFs. For Hunts you can look up the details in your Clan Primer if you lose track of what you are supposed to be hunting or who you need to talk to. The one thing it doesn't do any hand holding for you is side quests. And what's wrong with the map?

[Trippy]

Ranged weapons useless? Uh... guns ignore armor.

There are also flying mobs that can only be hit by ranged weapons/spells or melee weapons once you have an expensive Technick (highest LP cost and farthest away).

[Merusk]

A 112 attack chain later and I was still only getting the gold glowy coin-drops.  The best of those I had was 4 items. (Sometimes just 4 pelts, sometimes 4 windstones, sometimes 2 pelts 2 stones)  However, the drops seemed to become rarer as your chain leveled-up, so I think it evened out.  Really, the most I got out of the whole exercise was 112 LP I wouldn't have had otherwise, and some extra gil.

The point of battle chains is to increase the chance of an item drop(s) including increasing the chance of getting rare and super rare drops. Killing low level wolves is not a good test of them since the best that'll drop from a wolf is an antidote.

Understood, but I was going for 'how many levels are there?"  The answer; "gold coin" is your ceiling at either 40 or 60 chains (pretty sure it's 40.)   I also read something that conformed my suspicion, the longer your chain the rarer drops get.  There's also a "hidden" chain that increases your drop chances for each different monster you kill. Still tho, the visible chains are better.

Ranged weapons useless? Uh... guns ignore armor.

I didn't say useless, I said fairly useless as a primary weapon.    As a primary means of damage dealing they aren't fantastic where I'm at.  They seem situational or support weapons to me. I'm dropping them on characters to conserve MP or who are doing technicks, but my 'frontline' guys like Vaan and Basch aren't going to be using them.  Maybe I just haven't bought the right ones vs the melee stuff, but they defiantly look inferior in the long run, despite their advantages.

[Trippy]

Understood, but I was going for 'how many levels are there?"  The answer; "gold coin" is your ceiling at either 40 or 60 chains (pretty sure it's 40.)   I also read something that conformed my suspicion, the longer your chain the rarer drops get.  There's also a "hidden" chain that increases your drop chances for each different monster you kill. Still tho, the visible chains are better.

You have the strat guide don't you? There are tables in there.

[schild]

You know what that strat guide needs? Index.

[stray]

I think I need to set this game aside for a bit. My mind is in lazy mode. Everything seems cool enough, but I'm just not in the mood to run around these cities, listen to npc's, and keep track of quests and locations right now (the game could use a better quest log and map btw).

For the main story line the game sticks a humongous circled X on the map telling you exactly where to go, talking to certain NPCs will remind you where you are supposed to go *and* it tells you what you are supposed to be doing at the bottom of the map. That's better quest guidance than any MMORPG out there right now and light years beyond the earlier FFs. For Hunts you can look up the details in your Clan Primer if you lose track of what you are supposed to be hunting or who you need to talk to. The one thing it doesn't do any hand holding for you is side quests. And what's wrong with the map?

The map only lets me pinpoint on districts, not on the actual icons on the map (so I can tell which shop or building this or that is, etc..). I can barely make out what the hell those icons look like too, for that matter.

Didn't realize that about the Clan Primer. Thanks.....Though it'd be nice if those destinations could be added on the bottom of the map as well (then I could just scroll through different destinations on the same screen).

I knew about the big X.

[EDIT]

Btw, none of this was meant to be a big complaint. I was just trying to say that I'm in one of those too-lazy-for-JRPG moods right now. For the moment, I think I just need some mindless game that throws me into action.

[Trippy]

The map only lets me pinpoint on districts, not on the actual icons on the map (so I can tell which shop or building this or that is, etc..). I can barely make out what the hell those icons look like too, for that matter.

Hit "X" again when a district is highlighted. It'll bring up an icon legend.

[Merusk]

You know what that strat guide needs? Index.

Yeah that'd be damn useful.  That's been the complaint about every Brady strat guide ever, though. 

You have the strat guide don't you? There are tables in there.

For that? Crap I haven't found it yet. Figures. See above.

[Signe]

You know what that strat guide needs? Index.

Here we go again.  This will set off a whole new series of strategy guide complaint threads across the intardwebs. 

[Cyrrex]

Damn this thread, and damn all of you.  I thought that I had long since purchased my last PS2 game, but I guess that's been all blown to fuck and back.  And to hell with you too, Square.  I'm fairly well lathered up in frothiness now.  How am I going to explain this to my wife?  Do you not recall the little lecture I gave on the merits of saving money when we are about to re-locate to the other side of the planet?  You know damn well how this is going to play out, and don't even suggest that I try to hide the purchase.  She cannot possibly fail to notice your lovely graphical goodness and tantalizing musical score, much less when she knows that Desperate Housewives is on in ten minutes.  Any chance one of the new characters looks anything like Eva Longoria?  No?  And no, I won't go use the small piece of shit TV up in the bedroom, you sorry fucks...you know damn well that the volume control is broken.

So, it's pretty good, is it?

[Signe]

I haven't played any thing else since I got it.  I did, however, break for Desperate Housewives.

[Miasma]

It's really good, all is forgiven for awful games like X-2.  My only worry is that it has once again set the bar so high I might have trouble playing other jrpgs.  I don't think I could tolerate unload-world/load-battle/unload-battle/load-world every damn encounter again.