[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

So, I've been avoiding this thread for my entire playtime since I wanted to prevent any and all spoilers. But now I'm BACK.

Because, uh, well, I beat the game 75 hours completion time, and I stopped doing the Mark Hunts at Rank III... (And I highly recommend not facing the final boss overleveled, because if you want a challenge... you WILL get one at ~level 50)

Don't worry, no spoilers from me, but after the middle worried me about its direction, the storyline pulls everything together for epic win.

Once I get back to it, I'll be starting up Playthrough #2 for 100% completion Whee!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I played pretty in-depth up until I hit Archades. Then I got so wrapped up in the storyline that I just had to see how it all played out...

Most amazing jew boots

Nabudis is a completely optional side-dungeon accessible through the Salikawood about halfway through the game.

If you remember from the intro: "Basch: Nabudis has fallen!" etc.

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

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.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hehe, I must be playing a different game. I love the characters and how they interact, and there is some development for sure... can't say there isn't any unless you've played the whole thing

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You know, I may have found some kind of interesting coincidence with the "forbidden" chests. The first three locations are those in which you can see the chests distinctively in cutscenes in the areas they're featured in.

- Chest across from Dalan's house, seen in cutscene with Vaan & Penelo
- Chests in corner of cellar, seen in the distance of a small scene w/guards.
- Chests in Nalbina, seen when recovering your gear.

Doesn't apply to those in Phon Coast (though their formation resembles that of the chests where the spear itself is), but I thought it was an amusing coincidence...

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

Sucks there's no mini-games though. I haven't had any fun playing a mini-game in FF since Triple Triad. That game rocked.

Actually... there's a fishing minigame

Originally Posted by lordo

BTW Lets say you only have 2 characters in your party do they get more XP as opposed to if you have 3?

I do believe that XP is split up between your party members. So yes if you had two, each person would get more.

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

Yes. I also want a playable moogle. That would rock supreme.

The running minigame is this race event where you do a sort of Track and Field style button alternating to run as fast as you can.

The fishing minigame involves pressing button combinations as they pop up on the screen, getting more complicated the higher tier you get in it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So I started on my second playthrough a few days ago... Attempting to try a different strategy this time, one filled with intrigue. And such.

First time out, I had three buff folks in what I suppose would be the "ideal setup"

Balthier - Sword/Shield - Heavy - Tank/Damage
Fran - Bow - Mystic - Support/Black magic
Penelo - Gun - Mystic - Big damage/White magic/Support

So, two people at range away from the tank which absorbs everything and gets the nice healage. Supported me pretty well though the whole game, despite a lack of gambit strategy which I made up on the fly in most situations and did many things manually.

This time around, I'm trying a slightly different layout but with a strategic gambit loadout now that I know more about their ups and downs... I can't seem to give up Balthier and Fran though, but they get quite different roles this time.

Fran - Katana - Heavy - Tank/Big Damage/Self-buff
Balthier - Bow - Mystic - Heal/Support/Damage
Ashe - Pole - Light - Damage/Support/Backup heals

First off, Fran looks badass as a fighter. Second, apparently bows deal damage based on agility. Considering Balthier has the highest, I figured he could reap those benefits. Plus, he's critting like a madman. Third, Ashe looks awesome with a pole For some reason I had totally overlooked them 1st playthrough, but they're quite nice weapons.

In post-game impressions, one thing I would have loved... would be the ability to save different gambit templates, and apply them to your characters. So that you could have your general wander/fight/steal set, and then switch to a different one for boss encounters or should you chance to run into a rare spawn... Something that almost always occurs when I'm low on health. Those bastards

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Unforgiven

1. Walk, walk again, continue walking, you're almost there!
So...much...walking... BUT we can teleport to key locations using those orange save stones so its not that bad. It does suck when you need to hunt something far from those save points, especially if the monsters around are weak; they just don't give enough XP or challenge to be worthwhile. (Although LP is always welcomed.)

Once you reach the penultimate dungeon, you have access to personal airship travel which is quite handy since you can travel to any overland area even if it doesn't have an orange crystal there. For dungeons though, you're either out of luck or hope you can teleport in. So I guess that's one incentive for doing optional content at "endgame".

Quote:

I haven't even found the usefulness for Float yet. :S

Float makes you immune to Earth attacks, as well as make it so you can't activate traps at all.

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

I haven't bothered trying yet so I can't verify it until I run across a foe that does it... but does anyone know if you can pull off the classic double-reflect trick for spells in this game? My first play-through I totally missed the whole targeting allies bit...

And yeah, through the R1 target switching, you can also target wandering Bangaa hunters as well as the Garif chief that occasionally goes out wandering killing things in the nearby lands. It's kind of amusing...

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

The storyline game's easy if you do all the optional content, that's a fact. If you don't, it's challenging. That's pretty much the way of things. I wouldn't say lack of exp grind automatically makes a game "easy", it's just that there's so many things to do that have a side effect of getting your equipment, levels and LP beefed up in augmentation to the main quest that it can quite quickly become a cakewalk.

A lot of the challenge for me was figuring out strategies and how things worked as far as learning the game and situational things to do. Having a guide pretty much blows that out of the water, hence why I aimed for pure spoilerlessness the first time through

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

Remedy Lore 3 license lets Remedies remove disease, along with a few other things, making it even MORE useful to have in your inventory/gambit menu.

Disease, Doom and Stop. It's incredibly beneficial to have Those status ailments are the most annoying by far... Along with Disable.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Er sorry, I meant to say Disablega One enemy in the penultimate dungeon uses it on you... So, yeah, no chance of Esunaing there unless someone resists.

Silence shot is a godsend, yeah. I always equip someone with it for any mark that casts.

Double Post:

Originally Posted by Dr. Uzuki

0_o So that's how you reverse targets. That may come in handy. Hate to keep hammering the thread about hunts but I have yet to find a decent walkthrough online for them. I cut down all the trees in giza to get to the area the Gil Snapper should be. Game tells me it has to be the right weather for him to appear but I've been there multiple times with either type of weather and have yet to find him there. Like finding all the trees wasn't hassle enough.

Just keep zoning in and out until the Seeq says "ZOMG HES HERE!!1"

FELIPE NO

How could you neglect Fran *sniff*

Of course I only have leveled 3 characters... S'all I need really

Espers are the same level as the person that summons them, I believe?

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

Originally Posted by Matt

I love how the story's starting to pick up now. While I'm still dismayed at some of the dialog (who says "Pray be quick" these days?) I can't believe what happened.

Spoiler:

I'm starting to like Vayne more than any other Playstation FF villain. His double dealings are wicked, and while he's not outright massacring villages, he killed his own father to become emperor!

No one says it these days obviously, because the game doesn't take place in these days

Spoiler:

Yeah, Vayne is definately an example of a "real world" villain. To the public, charming and likable with his pretty words and speeches. But in his actions and private affairs, a rather devious fellow surrounded by a bevy of close supporters. Bergan, Cid... Venat

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

They seem pretty useless, that's for sure. Often times they don't attack your target and enemies seem to attack your character more when they're out. Oh, they redeem themselves if they do their special technick before leaving, though.

Decoy on the Espers helps immensely with that btw. They're situational, that's for sure. They mainly look really really cool and change the music to awesomesauce when they come out

I should say, playing through now with a guide and checking out all the side-quests along the way is a quite enjoyable experience. You catch some really subtle details in the cutscenes that you didn't before, too, once you have the knowledge of the full storyline under your belt. It's like reading a great book for the second time, with the addition of being able to flesh things out with more side stories and such.

Btw, this book: http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4...652881-0165554 just came out yesterday in Japan. Called Final Fantasy XII Ultimania Omega. From what I gathered through a rough babelfish translation of the review on the site, it seems to be a sort of world companion slash artbook which contains lots of area sketches, details about the lives of all the minor characters, etc. For ~17 bucks at 671 pages, it sounds like something to get (for me anyways.) It just sucks that the shipping price for 2-5 days is almost twice the price of the actual book... I may look for it in my local Kinokuniya, or ask them if they can order it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

Damn, how could so simple a solution fly over my head like that? Thanks for the heads up. When do I get dark absorbing/dark reducing armor? All I've seen so far is Bone Mail and I don't exactly want to go into the Zeromus fight with old armor like that.

Black Mask, sometime near the penultimate dungeon (either before or after, I can't remember), available in Balfonheim. It's a mystic armor hat that absorbs Dark element.

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

<3 Moogle wallpaper. Thanks

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

And you are, that's its name Congratulation! And yeah, finish up everything you can now

And yippie, we're on page 100 of the thread.

Most amazing jew boots

The quest for the key was described in the previous page You have to finish the side-quest Patient in the Desert, which starts with the Flowering Cactoid hunt, and leads you through a series of tasks to heal an injured person that gives you the key when he gets better.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

As far as I can tell, there's references to every single FF along with the copious Ivalice game refs too. FFV got the most out of all the numbered FFs though.

Game references:

FFI - Chaos, Garland (airship name)
FFII - Queen Hilda (airship name)
FFIII - Famfrit
FFIV - Zeromus
FFV - Exodus, Gilgamesh, Excalibur & Excalibur XII (Gilgamesh wep)
FFVI - Esper, Magicite
FFVII - Buster Sword Replica (Gilgamesh wep)
FFVIII - Gunblade Replica (Gilgamesh wep), Steel Cutter Replica (Gilgamesh wep, formerly Odin's sword)
FFIX - Not much, since the game is filled with refs anyway.
FFX - Brotherhood Replica
FFXI - Cloister of Flame (room name where you fight Belias, same as the area you fight Ifrit in XI)
FFT - Far too much, but for espers: Adrammelech, Cuchulainn, Zalera, Ultima, Zodiark, Belias, Hashmal
Vagrant Story - Riskbreaker (clan rank)
FFTA - Mateus
Dragon Warrior I-III - Legendary Sword (Gilgamesh wep)

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Kensaki

There are more Vagrant Story references. That even tie Vagrant Story to Ivalice.

I'll give you a clue: Old Valendian calender.

They ofc don't say its the same Valendia as in VS but its easy to think so:

Don't read this spoiler if you aren't past Giruvegan.

Spoiler:

The Occuria gave the Netechite to the Dynast King, and he used it to conquer the lands of Valendia and *dont remember what other country's name is right now* One could conclude that VS happened before the advent of all this fantastical magi-tech that the stones enable. Also one would imagine that as it is a middle age style world in VS magic and dragons that aren't native to the region would become myths and legends that are easily showed past by the religious people of Valendia.

Aye, all the Ivalice games do take place within the same world, just in different time periods of a grand overlying timeline. Tactics' particular storyline takes place further in the future from both VS and XII, as a complete reversion to medieval times spurred by technology getting out of hand. Hence the airship graveyard found at the end of FFT (albeit stylistically different), as well as the mention in the game that moogles had died out as a species at that time

(All details from FFT, nothing to do with XII)

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

Yeah, I personally found a lot of appeal in the various versions of different enemies. Especially given all the amusing descriptions in the bestiary. Such as gradually unlocking the secrets of marlboro breath, and then their ancient origins and how they were created and reproduce. They really went over the top, and I love it

I'm actually working on compiling a Bestiary/Lore FAQ that'll have all the descriptions (and maybe some other tidbits for the monsters) as well as the unlocked lore in organized catagories rather than simply on a second page of the creature description. Once I get to the endgame of my 2nd playthrough, I'll be going everywhere and fighting off the required numbers and such so I can record it all.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Sure, I'll PM you about it so we don't spam up the topic here

There's nowhere I can't reach.