[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Originally Posted by Musharraf

I got Excalibur today. It was in the chest the first time I tried, so yeah, pretty cool; it was worth the long way. Though I have to come back to fight Ultima pretty soon - I wanted to fight Ultima, but I think level 73 isn't enough. I will come back later when I'm level 80+. Also defeated Fafnir today though I almost ran out of Chrono's Tears.

Awesome, I got mine this afternoon on the first try as well. I was all "why won't the !!! come up. oh there must be two chests there" and so I grab my 1 gil {don't spend it all in one place Ashe told herself}, and then hello there mister Excaliber. So then my party of level 63 Ashe {deathbringer, demon shield, magepower shishak, maximillian, sage ring}, Basch {zodiac spear, mp shishak, maximillian, battle harness}, and Vaan {Excaliber, mp shishak, maximillian, genji gloves} proceeded to dominate everything between there and Ultima.

Then I went into the Ultima fight, made a couple of equipment adjustments since Ultima absorbs holy stuff, switched Vaan to an Iga Blade, you know, for fun, and was basically expecting to get dominated. Well, Reddas died immediately after Ultima cast Holyja, which hit Basch and Ashe both with reverse. Luckily everyone was hasted and before the HUD even reappeared both Vaan and Ashe had Curajas fully charged and waiting to go off {}. So do a couple of Arises with Vaan and I'm back in business and proceed to put a pretty good beating on Ultima. It got sort of hairy there for a minute there during the MP sap stage of the fight, which as soon as that began, I unleashed a pretty decent quickening chain that resulted in a Luminescence finish. Obviously I couldn't heal with magic; I think I ended up having to phoenix down Basch, but I got through it without having my primary three wiped out. As soon as the MP drain was over, and I couldn't use attacks, I megalixered, and took the opportunity to allow everyone to recast their buffs. By this point, the fight was just about over, so I unleashed another round of quickenings and went home.

So now that I have ten espers {I lack Hashmal, Famfrit, and Zodiark}, I'm fighting around at bit in the newly opened section of the Henne Mines. Pretty easy going due to my decent equipment and my gambit setup, which is basically:

Ally HP<40% Curaja
Self: Haste
Self: Bravery
Self: Bubble
Self: Float
Foe status=flying: telekinesis
Foe nearest visible: Attack

As soon as Hastega becomes available, I will put it on one person's gambit list, then have each of the other two replace their Haste with Protectga and Shellga. I don't even use magic for anything more than healing and buffing, since I've got Vaan and Basch doing between 6000 and 9999 physical to most things, what's the point of casting magic and then waiting for the post-cast penalty to wear off.

Basically I'm between Giruvegan and Ridora, and I triggered the Reddas joining as a guest event so that I could have access to the next set of Mark Hunts {Piscodaemon, Catoblepas, Diabolos, Wild Malboro, Deathgaze, etc}. I already did the first half of the Battle on the Bridge hunt, will probably at least attempt the second half of that one later tonight. I'm at 70 hours currently.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Rock

You should be able to buy Hastega from the merchant in the village on the south bank in the Dalmasca Estersand.

Not until after the Pharos events.

Quote:

If you even had the slightest problems with the first half, the second half is going to be very tough. While the first part was a joke, it took me at least 40 minutes to finally defeat that "mark" ... ;-)

Yeah the first half was a cakewalk. It was annoying reprioritizing Steal ahead of everything else every 5 seconds so that I wouldn't miss a Genji piece.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Rock

Why not just steal manually?

I didn't even use Gambits other than attacking and healing throughout the entire game. I prefer having control over the flow of battle myself.

As fast as their attack gauges move when hasted, I didn't want to chance missing stealing the genji stuff, so I figure the best way to make sure of that is to set a gambit where Foe nearest visible: steal, that way I KNOW none of my people will attack and accidentally drop his HP past the next quintile. Once I get the item, go in and disable that gambit until he breaks out the next sword.

My first trip through the game, I really only used gambits for attacking and healing, but now on my second trip through, when I'm fighting some battles that I didn't fool with the first time through, it's a lot more convenient to set gambits to keep my various buffs up without worrying with having to manually cast 3 spells each with three different characters, and that's assuming that I am aware that each of the buffs have worn off, since you only see one icon next to each character's life gauge on screen.

How ya doing, buddy?

I like how Elza wears her panties on the outside.

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

The bradygames guide would have been infinitely better if it had included all of the maps. It is conveniently missing the maps and treasure data from several places of interest, including the site 11 portion of Lhusu Mines, the western sections of Barheim Passage {sections that are opened once you get the Barheim key}, and the upper layer of the Great Crystal in Giruvegan. Surprisingly enough, however, it does have the full map and treasure data for the Henne Mines.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

Russ, you're kidding me, right? The first one isn't that much of a loss, even though there's traps galore, but not having Barheim or Giruvegan's maps is just.... wow. Omitting the latter should almost be a crime due to how complicated/tiring that place is without one.

Edit: BTW, I count the map with Way Stone XIX/XVIII as being part of the one with Waystone XXI.

Dead serious here. If it weren't for sephirosuy's Crystal Grande Upper Layer map, I wouldn't have even attempted going for Ultima. The guidebook tells you how to get to him, using sentences, as if that would do anyone any good. Using that guy's map, I easily made the trek through that complicated junk, even stopping for the Excaliber on my way to Ultima and had no problems at all.

Also, drex, there are no save crystals inside of the Necrohol of Nabudis. There are a couple in the Nabreus Deadlands though. I liked how when I went in to fight Fury, Humbaba Mistant, and Chaos, I did all three right in succession. And the fun part was that I didn't know that the Chaos fight had the attack disabled, and I happened to fight some of those Oversouls, who happened to drain all three of my characters of their MP right before I went in. Talk about squeaking out a victory against Chaos.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It's my understanding that nothing can negate the negative statuses from the shield, so I assume just make sure your healing gambits are in place to keep the shield bearer healthy. Then just keep decoy on the shield bearer and you have a tank. Which, that setup would be pretty useless if you ask me, but hey, to each his own.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

Lastly: Anyone ever get the concurrence Luminescence? The damn thing require 5 Rank 3 Quickenings and none of the rest. Simply getting a second 3rd one is nothing more than pure luck. Black Hole is definitely easy to reach if you've got the hang of Quickenings.

I have gotten Luminescence several times, but the guide's concurrence listing is incorrect. Luminescence actually requires 3 Level 1, 3 Level 2, and 3 Level 3 quickenings. I have not gotten White Out, though, which I expect is the one that actually requires 5 Level 3 quickenings.

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

Originally Posted by Tomahawk

Ya, about Chaos - I probably won't fight him until I get my hands on Flare, Scourge and Scathe spells (non-elemental damage).

Don't be silly, just go for it right now and use the Souleater technique with two characters while your third character keeps everyone healthy.

Jam it back in, in the dark.