[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Originally Posted by Hachifusa

I just beat the Elder Wyrm yesterday with no real problems. That might be because I've been leveling up for the Ring Wyrm (a mark) that I think is supposed to be prettymuch impossible at this state of the game, but I made a crack at it.

Is it just me, or is money a damn near precious commodity. I've never felt more frustratingly behind in terms of technicks and equipment.

really.... I was way behind in cash, so I farmed 200 bone fragments in the mines, which along with other vend trash was enough for me to upgrade my stuff fully with 50000 left over. I just completed the dungeon right after that, and I'm nearly broke again....

- WraithTwo -

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Amazing game. This may end up with Tactics and VI as my all time faves of the series. I'm currently 52 hours in, with my entire group being 39/40 (leveling them all equally, its been really helpful too).

Spoiler:

Just got the Treaty-Blade, and I have defeated Belias, Mateus, Shemhazai, Hashmal, Adrammelech, Cuchulainn, Exodus and Zalera. So far Zeromus has been kicking my ass, but my only attempts against him were me testing the waters more than anything, I did nothing to prepare, so he'll hopefully go down soon. I've also defeated about 30 of the hunts, including several rank 5's and a rank 6.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

80 hours in, I'm almost done with the hunts. Just the King Behemoth left before the last one. Fafnir wasn't pretty hard, but as long as the Behemoth isn't completely absurd, I think I can take him down. Now as for the last guy....

- WraithTwo -

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Musharraf

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

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 -

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Dr. Uzuki

Float never has been all that useful in the history of the series, only certain situations that warrant it. Same with this game. Most spells have their place and while they may be used infrequently, when they do need to play their role, they are a godsend. Black magic really doesn't play any sort of role until you hit two, but mainly three.

I went back to the hunt in the forest intending to berserk the bunny per your suggestion, Soapy, but to my dismay I found that the spell only targets allies! I remembered that there was a dagger available gave berserk on hit, but I was already there. I just hunted that asshole down, train of enemies be damned. The mess I had to clean up after I finally ended that fucker.

Yeah, it took me a while to figure it out, but you can target anything with any spell. Press R1 to toggle between friendly and enemy targets.

- WraithTwo -

I was speaking idiomatically.

99 hours in, I think I'm done. Captured all the Espers, everyone @ 99, beat the game, all that was left was Omega MkXII and the last hunt. For some reason, I CAN'T unlock the last hunt, which pisses me off, and I'm not going to be able to 100% complete the game like I hoped because I SUCK AT FUCKING FISHING. Can't pass Midstream, so fuck. Awesome game, shit mingame.

Time to go play some Tales of the Abyss and Castlevania: PoR I guess.

- WraithTwo -

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

all you really missed was the gloves, I replaced the rest quickly.

- WraithTwo -

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Jarllax

If you've filled all four of them and are no longer able to put any more in them, you should be able to go back to the elevator and have Umbra as an option for a level to go to. Same with once you fill the Umbra's alters, the Abyssal will open.


Hehe, I don't even use the gloves anymore either. I've just been sticking with the Cat Ear Hoods for the most part.

I used the hoods on 5 and the gloves on the last one. For the most part, I just didn't think the hoods were big enough to replace the gloves. The only problem with the hood is that any time there's area effect magic, they hardly even matter, because the game allows all the bars to fill then freezes anyways. With of the end game hunts/bosses, this becomes a huge problem.

Also, when your guys have haste on, the boost in speed is dimished further.

- WraithTwo -

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Jarllax

Embroidered Tippets are by far the most superior item anyways. Nothing beats Double Experience Points gained.

Also, a little tip I picked up was that if you have the Golden Amulet equipped you gain double LP whether you are active or not. So...as soon as you get any Golden Amulets throw them on your inactive party members.
I managed to save up 15,000 LP on Balthier and went from an empty License grid to a completed grid.

Eh, Tippets aren't so hot 90 hours into the game, after everyone has finished their grids and are max level. :/

Also, good point Metal. I haven't used daggers for a while in my game, and I hated the Ninja Swords because so much of the game is immune to them.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

Well, that's after everything's said and done. Back when you were leveling and filling your board, they were true godsends. Imagine maxing out your level without the Tippet, and you'll see why I'm grateful they're in the game. Amulets aren't anywhere near as useful, since you're going to be killing hordes of enemies to level before getting the ET, as I did. I had 95% of it finished before getting it, for example.



I've already got these ultimate weapons:

- Whale Whisker (6.5k-7k is real nice with this spear-like pole)
- Gastrophetes (very nice attack, even with the Sap-bolts, can't wait for Grand Bolts. The Penetrator Crossbow looked more like a final weapon though)
- Masamune (the color scheme fits my SamuraiFran perfectly especially the red line along the blade and Fran's red fringes on her outfit)
- Sagittarius (The best looking ultimate weapon I have so far. This thing, for all the damn effort you have to put into getting the materials, is fantastic. The damage is sublime without the Cat-Ear Hood, and incredible with it on. Throw on the Artemis or Ice Cloud arrows for even more damage. If the enemy's resistant or immune, Assassin's arrows for them.)

I've given up completely on the Zodiac Spear, worst time sink I've ever seen in an offline console game. Excalibur's a 2 handed sword, right? If it's not, I'm going to go and get that in Giruvegan, because while the Durandal's nice, I'd like to start getting the best for my people. Tournesol's already on the way, though I'm not looking forward to chaining Tartarus and Cerberus enemies until the latter drops the thing every 100 to 200 chain.

I was mostly joking on the tippet thing, the 2x xp and lp accessories were godsends. Also, luckily, I got the Zodiac Spear the easy way. Also, Sagittarius is nice, but I'm natually biased against bows, because comboing seems very important to me. When all my characters are doing max/near max damage, number of hits becomes most important. Bows were decent/great earlier on, but they eventually start to diminish in usefullness.

- WraithTwo -

There's nowhere I can't reach.