[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Originally Posted by Jamma

Quickenings were essential at the beginning when I wanted to level up quickly at the earliest point I could, which was Vaan on his own killing Werewolves for a big exp gain. As soon as I was sufficiently strong enough to kill them without Quickenings I carried on with the story. From that point on I didn't need to use them again.

Now for the update. I just defeated the hardest monster in the game,

Spoiler:

Yiazmat.

And I did it... in one go. That's not bad considering it has had 50 million HP.

And there's still 2 Espers I need to get yet! Somehow I don't think they will be a problem...

Jamma, that's not the hardest monster of the game. That last 10% is absolutely insane, but most of that fight is extremely boring. Omega's actually harder for various reasons. But yeah, that hunt is aptly named.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Grawl

Alright, I just came down the Leviathan after having a slightly hard time against the Judge. I can now wander around. Got a few questions though:

1 - These hunts. How much can I do around level 11?
2 - What are the best spells/techniques to learn?
3 - Are there any side-quests I can do already next to hunting?

Damn, looks like I was overleveled when I got out of the Leviathan. Either way, level up a bit more get some Augment licenses since those help quite a bit and you should be able to do the ones open to you. Of course, upgrade your equipment, since slogging through an area or beating a mark is that much harder with older stuff.

Originally Posted by Jamma

That's good to know then, I wasn't expecting much of a challenge from the rest of the enemies in the game, just a tedious journey through the Great Crystal... which I'm still not looking forward to

Heh, might want to take that back. Without a ribbon, the Pharos Subterra and Great Crystal are brutal. Even with it, the enemies still manage to do boatloads of damage even through something like Z. Escutcheon + Protect. After doing all that gate crap to open the one to Omega, you have to progress through quite a few screens with nothing but Forbiddens.

Irritating when you're well prepared, dangerous if you're not.

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So MS, how many times did it take you to finish off Yiaz? And what method did you use?

Stage 1 - Took him down to ~30% of his HP, ran out of Chronos' Tears saved + restocked
Stage 2 - Reached the last sliver of his health (final piece of final bar) , but was stuck in a seemingly endless revival loop with little chance to heal, so I revived everyone quickly and bolted. Saved and restocked
Stage 3 - Came back in, he completely lost the uber-aggressiveness he had when I last left and did the typical rebuffing. Killed him while he was doing that.

I've heard and tried the Decoy + Reverse trick, but I found it falls apart too easily. I think beating him in 3 stages in just over 2 hours is good enough.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Jamma

I had 3 Ribbons before I entered the Pharos And I didn't use them for Subterra because it was a cakewalk. My biggest gripe was the endless cycle of collecting the Black Orbs (funny how it took me a good couple of hours to collect enough, and then by the time I'd left the place I had inadvertedly collected a few dozen more... typical). I think I'll stand by my decision with the Crystal. I'm still more powerful than all the regular enemies I have encountered so far, even the ones in the later stages.

Oh, good then you're ready. Without their irritating breath effects, the Forbidden will be doing little more than wasting their time trying to hit you with status effects while you waste them. Collecting Black Orbs was ridiculously easy one you realized that all you needed to do was slaughter enemies left and right for a few minutes. After that, find the massive black orb and it contains all the orbs that you ignored on purpose.

BTW, as I said before, the enemies in the Subterra (and even more so, in the eastern section of Henne) hit hard even through the best armor, shields and protect. Either way, good luck with Omega once you get to him.

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Not bad. I did think about leaving the area to save/heal/restock, but I made a promise to myself that I'd try and beat him in one go. And as the battle went on, I was becoming more and more sure of myself that I could do it. After I ran out of Chronos Tears I used Remedies () and went I got down to the last few of them I had to gambit Dispel (which I was really pissed about) The last 10% was indeed the worst though, his constant Cyclone followed by numerous death Strikes brought out the ugly side of me, like shouting at the telly (as if that was gonna make any difference ). In fact my younger brother, who is my official Supporter-and-Advice-Giver didn't utter a word to me the whole time I was being pounded upon... probably a good thing really...

Ugh, that's the other thing I restocked when I left, Remedies. Godsends once you have them completely upgraded via the license board, I ran out of them at roughly the same time as Chrono's Tears. I could've easily beat him in one go had I not went into the fight with 30ish.

Heh, that bit about your brother got my laughing, since my sister clammed up as well. Especially when he hit Penelo and Vaan with 9-12 slashes because the random OHKO effect hadn't kicked in yet. Death Strike and Cyclone only added to the insanity. Man, after I beat this bastard I immediately remembered that other uber boss from a few FFs back (Shinryuu was it?).

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I didn't bother with Reverse either. It's not the type of game I play. (to be honest I haven't used it before, but it sounds like a sucky way of playing)

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No! Whatever it takes to win! I used Reverse+Decoy on both Gilgamesh and Omega, to great effect.

Oh, definitely PN. If the monsters are coming rigged, so am I! The problem is, if you use it against Omega you have to uber-micromanage to the point where you might as well take him on normally. On top of that, Decoy & Reverse were intentionally made to avoid this and their duration time often ends up working against you.

Lastly, bad luck will instantly send that setup out of control. The one reversed could have it come off at an inopportune moment (during this fight, that's ALWAYS the case) and they're offed right there and while trying to revive + recast, your other two guys are wasted.

Omega's easy enough if you keep on top of things, though that gets hard as fuck after his attack power goes through the roof and he speeds up substantially (as well as quartering your damage).

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Shin

Ah, that explains a lot. I naturally assumed that all 80 rare hunts were trophy monsters. Is any of the stuff you get from the hunters shop worth tracking that lot down?

All I can think of is the Sage's Ring or whatever it's called. Absorbs Holy and cuts MP use in half, pretty useful against Ultima. The only other way you can get that thing is by stealing from one of the trophy monsters (the one in the Nabreus Deadlands).

Oh about those, make sure you keep them occupied and have someone keep attempting to steal with thief's gloves. They usually have pretty decent equipment on them.

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

Originally Posted by Shin

But I already have two of those without doing either of those things... Can't remember where from though.

Well, it's possible you got some from chests somewhere. I don't really remember if there were some places that gave them up since the chests were mostly random in this game (giving you worthless amounts of girl frequently).

As for the Espers? Completely worthless just like quite a bit of the offensive magic in this game. They would've been much better if they:

• Didn't take away two party members
• Had a base HP amount (depends on the Esper) that gets extra added on by factoring in the sum of the party's max HP or some other way. Just... give them more HP
• Have them level up with characters
• Unique abilities for
• Customizable gambits

Of course, it'd be great if they bumped the game's difficulty five or ten times what it is now so people don't bleat about them being overpowered.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by rpgcrazied

Is lvl 55 ok for last dungeon? I think so..

Spoiler:

I just destoryed dr cid, and famrit.. not hard at all

More than enough, you'll be fine. I finished the game right after defeating both Yiazmat and Omega, so I was way above what you need to finish the game.

There's nowhere I can't reach.