Thanks for clearing that up for me Lian_Kazairl. As awesome as the script is, its often hard to catch something when its wrapped around complicated words and constructed in that of the way of 16th century england.

I just have one more question regarding that....

Again, I thought I'd never say this, but I'm very bored of FFXII now. Its like I'd rather just chat on AIM and half heartedly watch an anime episode rather than play that. I don't know, I've just lost steam on it, with much surprise. I remember the days where I could imagine where I couldn't stop playing for hours, and now... =/

[/emovideogamerant]

I've watched my brother play it extensively and put a bit of time into it myself, and it's pretty clear it's one of those games that can burn you out pretty fast if you're not careful.

Yeah, I've clocked 51 hours strong, and doing mob hunts after hunts. I'm still, after about 15 hours of "other stuff", still at the foot of Mt Bur Omisce, or whatever it's called. In a way I'm playing FFV Advanced at the same time whenever I'm away from my PS2, and I'm almost, dare I say, missing random encounters. In FFXII, I almost find myself going "oh god not another one", which is generally harder to say that in random encounters when you don't know about it. I'll try to pick it up again tomorrow after work.

Reflecting back now, I never really had this problem with Valkyrie Profile 2, despite the MASSIVE level grinding I did in Palace of the V Dragon. I guess that's testiment to how much I loved the battle system for VP2. Maybe it's such a radical change from micromanaging everything in VP2 to now mainly sitting back and letting the computer do the work. I know the option of turning off gambits, but I find gambits do a better job than myself manually doing everything.

From Mt. Bur-Omisace to Archades is the so-called "dead spot" in the middle of the game. Just push through to Archades, and I guarantee you'll be back in the heat of the plot and digging the game again.

POSSIBLE NAME SPOILERS (not plot spoilers) FOLLOWING:





This is when you're headed to Archades for the first time. It is right after you visist the Phon Coast in an area called Something Uplands. I'm at the part where you fight those little tomato looking things where they inflict lots of status effects. The thing is, they seem to always parry my attacks. At first I am able to hit them, but after the first 2 or 3 go down, I can't hit any of them so I am left in a stalemate where they go off and heal and I heal and remove status effects, then we just go in this cycle until I eventually run out of mp and they kill me =\. Any suggestions on how to beat these guys? I'm also trying to steal from each of them, but it's a bit hard so if anyone knows whether or not they're worth stealing from, please let me know.

Well, what level were your characters when you fought Fafnir? My characters were like level 55 and I had to run away from him...

I've finally reached Bur-Omisace, and I have to go to the shrine nearby. Anyone know a good leveling spot at this point in the game? The Panthers have exhausted their usefulness as training material, and they have a somewhat slow respawn. That and the awkward/boring layout of the maps they appear in, and it kind of wears on you.

Maybe Henne for a bit? Back outside to Ozmone? Or should I try the shrine itself?

Also, I managed to get the bamboo arrows and firey arrows, but I'd still like some new shot. Anyone know how rare "Yensa Scale" is, as well as what drops Ice Stones? I think I only need 2 of the former, and one of the latter in order to get the long bolt and water shot.

Is Fafnir the one located south in the Panamina Rift?

If so, I beat him at Level 37ish. The first time I used a summon and limits and he started using an attack that hit ofr 20,000ish, then I tried again and didn't use either limits or summons and owned him very easilly.


I checked, the big werewolf thing right? He was easy ;D

Pretty high. Around level 70. Even then, Fafnir killed any of my party members in one hit most of the time, so level wasn't a big part of it (only Balthier's 12k+ health actually could take a hit). I mostly had Balthier with Decoy, and my standard buffs (protect/shell/haste/bubble) taking hits while Basch kept him healed.

The only real thing to watch out for is Stopga. I made sure that Balthier had the accessory that prevented Stop, and used Chronos Tears to keep everyone status free. If Balthier died and the other two were stopped before I could get him up, I quickly replaced him with someone in reserve to Chronos Tear, then switched Balthier back in to be rezzed. It also was a big help to spread out to reduce the effect of Stopga.

Ashe (with Masamune and Genji Glove) had Bravery/Faith/Berserk on her as she took him down for most of the battle. When Fafnir powered up at half health and Balthier went down, he started going after Ashe. With max haste though, I'd be able to get anyone back up right after they fell with an Arise. So I kept throwing bodies at him, and made sure that Ashe cast berserk first thing after she died, because since Balthier no longer had Decoy, she was killed fairly often.

The battle as a whole was really straightforward, and I'm fairly certain he can be slain if you're in your 50s. The fight took maybe 5 minutes, and I consider some of the espers I beat when I was only level 35 to be harder, although having 6 members equipped and leveled would be advised. I didn't use any quickenings, but with them, I'm sure he'd be even easier.

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By the way, has anyone else done the Seer hunt in Pharos? Getting the black orbs for it was absolute HELL. I spent over 3 hours in there just getting to the hunt, fighting swarms of undead in pitch black mazes for over a hundred fucking orbs that never spawn without the use of any attack macros or else I would run the risk of the computer attacking a magic pot, wiping the group. Not to mention that the orbs despawn if you don't grab them fairly quickly, they're small enough where it's actually difficult to pick them up, and monsters stand RIGHT ON TOP OF THEM. The hunt at the end is pretty easy, but getting to him is rediculous.

Fuck that. That hunt is the single worst part of this game, and I worry for the sanity of anyone who attempts it.

- WraithTwo -

Aww, you told :(
I'd understand if NOTHING happens between these two places, but I still see cutscenes and stuff on the way there, so I don't think it's really that bad. I'm gonna get better armour, then continue through the Phon Coast.

I'm still having fun with the game, so maybe I'm just abnormal.

I must say I'm impressed thus far by it. graphically and musically. the fighting system kind of erks me though, not what we're used to with classic FF. still though, I give it an 8.5 out of 10

If you can afford all the armor, magic, and weapon upgrades and your characters are around the high twenties, I'd say to go for the shrine. I gained about 3 levels per character plus 70,000 gil just going through the thing. You'll end up double backing a lot just by natural progression and there's a teleport crystal right out front.

If not, as burned out on it as you may be, I like the jungle for grinding because the area is a line you can just plow through. Much better than wide open fields in my opinion. The snowy area not only has a lot more travel to it but those dark skeletons bug the hell out of me. Maybe the mines as well, I dunno, but the jungle is a lot more dense with enemies.

I don't mind the skeletons at all, considering I still have Larsa in my party, and I want to exercise that as much as posible. I think some of my guys are level 30 plus, but Vaan is my lowest still sitting at 20, since I hate that guy. Golomore Jungle is a pretty good spot to level up, since it's such a confined space and you can get 4 Malboros or 4 panthers all just sitting around taking a crap and doing nothing. I've had Larsa for the longest time, and took him along quite a few hunts just as an extra hand. Handly little fellow, he is.

Ah shit, just when I just wanted to get back into the story of the game ;___;. Now I think I'll put the game off to the side now. Nothings worse gaming wise when I'm FORCING myself to play, and be bored of it more.

Yea, after u get to Archades, u start diggin the game again. Its worth it to play through. Also, my characters are level ~50 now, and I went to fight the Gil Snapper, and I killed it, and I went to Nanau in the dry, and she wouldn't give me my money!! WTF! I spent so freakin' long trying to get to that pos.

I bought all the newest equips and weapons at Bur-Omisace, and my characters are level 40 and 38. I alternate between two teams, the current one I'll leave alone once they reach 40 in order to work on team #1.

I think the main reason why I'm getting bored of the jungle is that they don't respawn nearly as fast as I'd like them to. The Zaghnals, in Ozmone Plain, respawn much faster than Panthers.

Try this: Berserk one or both of your party members, and run right through bunches of panthers and malboro. You kill them so fast it takes a while to respawn. Until then, the map is literally vacant except for me running through it.

Anything in the shrine drop ice stones?

Uhh I know I'm 60+ hours into the game, but I have a question: So I just bought this jar for 250k which results in almost every monster dropping Arcana. Now see, I thought you could sell Arcana for a lot of money, but ehh, it's only 10 gil :mad: So do I use Arcana for something else or did I just waste 250k for nothing?

Haha, you just wasted 250,000 man!

250,000 gil, holy cow. Even I tremble at 10% of that in my pocket. Well 25,000 isn't too hard to acquire, but 250,000, damn son! I have about 3 of the Grimore stuff. Which page in the walkthrough talks about these forgotten grimores again?

Anyone know if stealing from those tomato bosses is worth it? The ones you fight in the cave on the way to Archades.

Metal Sphere: Oh, level 40? Psh, yeah, that's plenty high enough for the shrine. You could even check out the Feywood, maybe? About ice stones in the shrine (minor gameplay spoiler).

That pot you bought, I read in a walkthrough that it helps you get either an esper, or a seriously strong weapon. I think the weapon was what it was, it started with an F. Just go to GameFAQs and look for the power-levelling guide or something like that.

If you spent 40 hours on hunting, you'll be surprised how fast you can get so much money! But ehh, seems that I shouldn't have bought it, I guess =/

Thanks, again, for the clarification Lian_Kazairl. I feel better continuing on with the game now. ^_^