[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Originally Posted by Elrasiel

@Xellos
With 90h still at lvl60? You must've solved a lot of sidequest but you cant mess with the stronger fights like that.
Where can I acutally buy the bubble belt?

Clan Provisioner, after a certain level. You can also make it if you have the right ingredients. Bubble Belt = Godsend when dealing with high ranking marks. Like I said above, if it wasn't for them, White Breath would've been KOing my characters left and right and rake would've been halving my HP every 2 seconds.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

A question for anyone that knows... does anyone know where fightable Garif are other than the rare "Garif Adventurer" in The Greensnake at Ozmone Plain? I'm trying to unlock the 5-part lore for their Bestiary entry, and it's a bit of a pain wandering back and forth and hoping that he pops up amongst the birdmen.

The map just after the one that leads only to Jahara, there's a Garif that simply walks around looking at you. Definitely one of the harder ones to get the 5 part lore, as the Seeqs appear often in the Titchta (sp?) Uplands and in the Mosphoran Highwaste. Bangaa pop up just outside of Rabanastre in the Estersand and sometimes the Estersand entrance of Giza. That latter guy uses guns.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Hmm, I thought the Diamond Armlet was what let you get rarer items from chests? I got them from Mom Bombs in Giruvegan, but my ass is currently confused out of my mind. I have no idea how to get out of here and what awaits me in the end.

If anyone's on and can guide me through this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

FELIPE NO

HOLY SHIT

I finally got the hell out of Giruvegan and the labyrinthine dungeon within. No one told me that's called "Crystal Grande" so I was stuck wandering around until I hit up a guide that basically told me the where I was, there was no way to backtrack and the only way out was forward to an area with a save point and an exit warp.

With that known, and instructions to do so, it still took me far too long. Jesus, and to think there's a ton of treasure I missed down there too. Much to my surprise, as I was on my way to the exit I walked into one room and had to fight Ultima. Not exactly what I wanted to do then, seeing as if I died I'd lose all the money/levels/diamond armlets/gungir that I had gained. When it was all said and done (after 4 or 5 Holyjas and Redemptions), I got a new Esper, saved and got out of there.

....Oh, and I snagged some Moon Rings from the Ash Wyrms, so Sagittarius Bow here I come.

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

Originally Posted by Elrasiel

Can I buy it anywhere istate of just finding it in chests?

Malboros drop Remedies very often, and along with findining them in chests, they become available in shops after a certain point in the game. They're awesome if you want to use the Nihaopaloa trick to get status effects on an enemy quickly.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

Edit: Woops, late reply.

Um, hi there!

I never really used remedies much, unless someone was Stopped. With Doom, I just waited till the person died (unless everyone was doomed at once) and then my auto-phoenixdown gambit kicks in for a minor setback.

What's the Nihaopaloa trick?

Late reply? Ah, never mind. =P

Well, when I was stuck in Giruvegan, the monsters there loved to inflict status effects, much to my dismay. Remedies are a quick solution to that.

Basically, from what I understood, the Nihaopaloa trick uses the item's effect to reverse beneficial properties of items on enemies. For example, if I have one on and throw an X-Potion on myself, I'll do 2400 points of damage. Now, if throw the potion at an enemy, the effect still applies. It's kind of like Reverse, but for everything on the field.

So if you have all the Remedy Lores, and you use this trick, you'll inflict all the status effects at once (or at least the ones the enemy is susceptible to).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

Oh man! Now that's brutal Awesome.

Hehe, sorry, my "late reply" comment was because I replied to the question about what Remedy Lore does, but then realized someone had already answered it.

Originally Posted by Elrasiel

Hehe yeah thanks alot for that trick! I always asked my what Nihaopaloa was good for since it's not quite cheap (like 30'000gil I think). I'm wondering how well it will do with bosses and hunts.

No problem, I was delighted when I finally understood how it worked and gave it a try. If only I had known about this before I wiped out most of the hunts (Behemoth King is the next mark Montblanc's given me, no more on the Hunt Board).

4.12 million points... Fafnir, Carrot, Deathgaze, Ultima, Trickster in the den. But I read something in Kouli's guide that sent me for a RIDE. Apparently the final hunt Montblanc gives you is one of 3 optional bosses you can take on.

- Yiazmat
- Didn't really catch the name, but it was Majinryuu or something sounds like Shinryuu
- Omega XII

...and here I was thinking FFXII wouldn't have it's own version of Omega, and he's not too far from where you fight Ultima, but you have to be the other two in order to fight him. Definitely going to level up to fight this guy.

Edit: I think I found several more Vagrant Story references, after reading said game's Wikipedia entry.

- Snowfly: Snowfly Forest
- Kilitias: Temple of Kiltia
- Leamonde Entite: Lea Monde (it is an L and not an I right?)
- Naturalist Merlose: Callo Merlose

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

Oh awesome... I totally missed the Merlose reference! You're totally right. I guess that tells us what she went on to do with her life Also missed the Leamonde Entite since i never saw one in the game my first time through (didn't check out Nabreus that much). But yeah, totally fitting for the master dark elemental.

There's also the Grimoires: Gran Grimoire thing, but that may not be a reference. But you're right, I remembered hearing "Merlose" before and decided to check up on VS to see if my hunch was correct. Hell, it even says it on the bottom that most of the team that worked on it was also involved with FFXII. Some are even saying that Yiazmat is the localized name of the dragon that in the Japanese version is called Yazmat (Yasumi Matsuno?).

Leamonde Entite appears in the Nabreus Deadlands when it's really foggy. While that may seem rather vague, you'll know what I mean when it happens. If you're decently setup, you can take them at 40 or even 35.

Serpentarius is a reference to FFT's secret boss of the same name (Just hearing/reading that name brings back memories of that battle). The bestiary entry for one monster mentions that the gods sent down 12 messengers from heaven, but this entry speculated that with each one there was a jewel so with the discovery of the serpentarius gem, the conclusion was that there was a 13th.

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

Originally Posted by Karasu

And MetalSphere...so that's what that belt does. I was wondering 'why the hell would you want something like that...'. That could be helpful in Hunt battles for sure! lol. I just had to kill that bloodwing hunt, and it wasnt the fact he was difficult, it was the undead skeletons around him that made it annoyning. :/.

Wait, you didn't kill the skeletons around before he appeared? He wasn't difficult at all, just annoying, that's all. With his constant leeching, it seemed like he had more health than was actually the case.

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In order to work on the Bestiary, I went back to previous areas to fight the elementals so I can type them up. I traveled around the Westersand to bring forth a sandstorm, but I didn't see a single one! Bah!

My question is, how do you get a sandstorm to start? I kept going into the caverns and back out but the most I could get is a slightly grey sky. The reason why I want to start it up is to steal a Gnoma Halcyon so I can make an Ultima Blade/Sword for Balthier. While looking through my inventory, I noticed I have most of the ingredients for that recipe.

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I did venture into the Caverns there (never knew and entrance existed!) and kill some new enemies though, as well as confront the Esper hidden there. Apparently, he's the easiest one of all to get, and he kicked my butt. He has a cool design :3

Wanted to do a Hunt yesterday, but the King Bomb stopped my progress. BOOO!

Ah, I got Cuchulain and Ultima in the same day, though the latter was definitely not intentional. Today, I beat the Behemoth King/King Behemoth. This guy is irritatingly difficult to find, as you have to kill all the enemies in the two snowy maps before Giruvegan and then look around the gate to said city and you literally can't miss him. That first part took a good 30 minutes because the Basilisks, IIRC,. kept spawning.

Anyway, he appears and all hell breaks loose. This thing is ridiculously fast, following up Rake (Protectga + Shellga + Maximillian armor = 2300-2500+ damage) with White Breath (fucking Fafnir move..) and then Slowga. He mixes these up with deadly effect, as Rake can put disease on you, while doing incredible amounts of damage, White Breath is massive damage + occasional stop and Slowga is just irritating. Tried the Nihaopaloa trick, he's immune to every status effect, though Expose works (Shear doesn't however). Bastard also switches his immunity more than any other mark before and uses Greater Barrier at about halfway (read: invincible).

I had Curaja going all around, as well as Balance when he wasn't magic immune, and Drain when he was Phys Immune/Mag Vulnerable. He has some weird regular attack, where he slashes in front of him and kicks out from behind. If you want to see one of your characters get KO'd faster than anything you've seen before, cast Berserk+Bravery+Haste on them. They'll go crazy on him, but he'll return the favor basically making your buffs a waste of MP.

Just expose with your leader, keep everyone with Haste so he can waste a turn using Slowga, position yourself so he can't hit everyone with White Breath. Same applies for his magic spells, (from what I saw, Blizzaga,Thundaga, Darkra/ga, Holy) even though they're much weaker than his physical attacks. Which leads me to my next point, he's immune to Wither as well. =/

Oh! He also starts using Ardor towards the end, and finishes the fight with one final cast, so be prepared. He looks like a Behemoth of olden FFs, not the humanoid ones here.

Anyways, enough of my ramblings, anyone make the Sagittarius Bow? I want to know how to get Beastlord Horns, but no one really seems sure how to do so? Anyone with a guide can tell me what method is best? Humbabas are supposed to have these, I've heard.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

Sandstorms are pretty random whenever you zone within the Westersand. I'm not exactly sure what the circumstances are for getting Gnoma Entites to spawn though, or where they are. I know that the actual Earth Elementals/Chaosjets are in Tchita Uplands though. Only entite I've seen is Salamand in the Sandsea so far, though I'm not buff enough to take it on, (Level 41 currently in secundo playthrough)

I managed to get the lore on Storm, Water and Ice elementals tonight though. Thankfully it's just 2 kills per.

The only condition that it takes for Gnoma Entites to spawn is for there to be a sandstorm, because that's that the only environmental condition that was present every time I saw them. The elementals themselves are very strange, as they don't exactly share the same location as the entites. For example:

Leamonde Entite (Dark) - Nabreus Deadlands
Dark Elemental - Necrohol of Nabudis

Diakon Entite (Holy) - Giruvegan
Holy Elemental - The Feywood

Seems like Gnoma matches up with this pattern, as does Undin (which I haven't seen, though I assume it's over at Ridorana). If you want any of the bestiary entries for the higher level marks or monsters you don't have, let me know. So the sandstorm is random, eh? Know anything about getting Beastlord Horns?

I'm THIS close to making a Sagittarius Bow. That, couple with Artemis and Assassin's Arrows (Sweet KO status effect is VERY active). For anyone wondering how OHKO works with said arrows, Penelo just shoots off an arrow, the enemy goes down in one hit without any damage being inflicted. The turtles seem to be very susceptible to this, as all the Adamantitans I've fought today have gone down like this.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by seanne

Spoiler:

If I remember correctly, this is one of the battles that you can leave at any time - and when you return the battle will continue where you left off. Which means that for example he will only have as much HP as he had when you left. I think it was this one and that battle against Majinryu (Hell Wyrm/Dragon) that worked like this. Though, it's been a while since I played the game so don't hold me to this, ok =D

Spoiler:

Ah, don't worry. There's still a lot of confusion surrounding this, but from what I heard, you do have to accept the Yiazmat hunt from Montblanc before Omega becomes active, but you don't have kill Yiaz. Numerous people have already reported doing this. Oh, and that Omega has 1 million HP in the U.S. version, rather than the 10.3 million he has in the japanese version.

And about the Beastlord Horns... are you sure? I keep stealing from these guys and I come up with nothing. Even with the Thief's Cuffs. Hopefully it works like the Sagittarius Gems and the Flans/Slimes/Oilings/Foobars that once you get 1, the rest come pretty easily.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by seanne

Spoiler:

Is that so =D I wonder why they would do that? Sure, he can be damn difficult in the japanese version - pehaps even more difficult than Yazmat as you can't "escape" from him. But after all, he isn't an Omega for nothing. So 1 million sounds a bit weak =p

Spoiler:

Yup, IIRC there's 2 videos up on either google video or youtube by some guy who fought both the JP FFXII Omega and the US FFXII Omega, and after a few minutes, you could see the Omega-US had quite a big chunk put into his health. Apparently he's NOT a push over, as his HP might suggest, but his appareance blows (I've heard that he's just a big Mimic in this one...).

I'm going to try and steal Beastlord Horns... damn... Sagittarius Bow + Assassin's Arrows/Artemis Arrows + Cat-Ear Hood on Penelo is going rock something fierce. I found something interesting about Bows/Crossbows. The latter has a low base accuracy, while the former has its accuracy dropped in inclement weather. Bolts are status inflicting/ while arrrows are elemental. Bow damage is based on Str + Spd, Crossbow damage is based solely on Str. Oh, and the final Bow is stronger than the final crossbow.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

Humbaba Mistant, not normal Humbabas. It's a side-boss.

And, in the guide anyways, Yiazmat looks badass still. I'll see for sure when I do the hunt

QUE!? So, what the hell does this mean? Once the sideboss is dead, I can't get any more horns? =(

Edit: Damn, forgot to ask the right question. Where can I find Humbaba Mistant?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

He's in Nabudis behind the Door of Horrors, unlocked with the Medallion of Bravery. (Part of the sidequest for Chaos)

Speak o great Cobalt! I have no idea how to get that medallion, though I HAVE been inside the Necrohol. I spoke with the Nu Mou in Old Dalan's place and he says I need to find 2 more medallion pieces. Is this part of that quest?

Does the dusty letter have something to do with it too?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

Yeah it does... I haven't done it myself, I'm just uh referring to the 2-page spread the guide has on it. There's a lot of text, it's big and complicated

Great way to be a damn tease, Cobalt. =/ So I can't get the horns because I have to get the last two medallion pieces and that has to do something with the dusty letter that references directions that I have no idea how to interpret (southeast of rabanastre? Of the house you find the letter it? Speak to the children?).

2 pages... most of it text?

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

Originally Posted by seanne

I guess the fragment you've given him already was the one you got from defeating Ultros (you know, the black hentai-slime)? The other two that you need are both to be found in areas within the city of Rabanastre. The location of one of them is hinted at in the dusty letter. As for the other one, you could try asking around

Heh, when I read the conditions for his appearing, I dubbed him 4Chan Flan. Awesome that his name was Ultros, or something close to it, and he was purple/black to boot.

Does the letter's directions assume your starting point is the house in Lowtown where you get the letter? The other one should be fairly easy to do. Thanks for the hints seanne.

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

Originally Posted by lassic

A sandstorm generally appears after you enter the Wyrm's Nest (the small patch that connects the Ester- and Westersand). Not sure if it's a 100% certainty, but it's always happened when I hit that area.

Hmm, thanks, I'll try that. After I beat the Earth Tyrant, I never really passed through there again.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

I have the item to defeat the Earth Tyrant, but I'm holding off on it until later... because I wandered through the Westersand today and there was a sandstorm and Gnoma Entite in every single map I went through. So I'm afraid that if I beat him, the quantity of sandstorms would decrease drastically... Maybe I'm just paranoid.

If this helps ease your paranoia any, I've never defeated a Gnoma Entite, so that wouldn't explain the drop in sandstorms (or in my case, a complete lack of them in the first place).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

It's awesome that praying mantises look so cool, and for the first time ever, Behemoths are two legged!!

That's "Preying" according to the game, heh. I was kind of expecting them to be bipedal, following the trend of what we saw with the werewolves, yetis, humbabas.

Now, when you've done enough hunts to get the King Behemoth one, you'll see the big brutes of yesteryear (only far cooler, you have no idea how many times I've wished for FFVI with this much detail to the world).

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I got new armour and several grimoires and the story is so cool! I'm tempted to go onwards now, but maybe this is a good time to go do more sidequests and hunts. What do you think?

You're actually at the same point I am story-wise, and I'm wrapping everything I can up before going to Ridorana. That means hunts, medallion quest (this is actually pretty easy), new equipment at Dalmasca Estersand+Westersand merchant. Now that I've got the medallions for the Necrohol, I'm just leveling on Deadbones (unless someone knows of a better place) until I hit 85 then I'm off to fight Humbaba Mistant (Beastlord... horns...), Fury and Chaos (another Esper).

Oh, and I've noticed, that Assassin's Arrows (Black) and Artemis Arrows (Green). I was expecting them to look the same, but I was pleasantly surprised. Just after I'm done leveling, I'll see if I can't steal some more Maximillians just to get some better armor.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

HELP ME!!!

I matched everyone in Archades to get the Sandal Chops or whatever, but WHERE do I go to trade all my Pine Chops for the Sandal?? The cab driver doesn't mention anything, and the lady blocking the door to the Grand Arcade says I can't enter. Help help help! The guide doesn't say squat, and the FAQs say squat!! I have to get in to save that poor cute round Cockatrice!

When I first heard of a Grand Arcade in Archades, I thought it was a place where you can play lots of mini-games like at Golden Saucer. Then I checked the guide and I WAS DISAPPOINTED

Go to any one of the shops scattered throughout Archades, and go up the stairs past the counter where you buy the items. On this "2nd floor", talk to the guy behind the counter to trade in your chops. I matched everyone and got the Sandalwood chop. If anyone's played FFTA, you'd know what's one of the types of wood you get for finishing a mission in that game, while Salikawood seems to be an actual place in the game as well.

Oh, and the Grand Arcade is alright, I like the area where you can see the cars flying by a few feet from you. I guess the main reason it's there is for you to see the different social "ranks" in Archades.

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

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

THANK YOU! You saved my bacon and all that. Now I can go see that Cockatrice!

You're going to hate that little bastard Renn. You have to get Chit (the Eruyt village cockatrice) back to Giza before he goes back. If you haven't done the one with Sassan in the South Bank Village, do it, it's hilarious. Sassan starts hitting on Torie (lady on the north bank) and proposes to her, heh.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Karasu

I myself just got into Archades. and did the chop thing to get that cab ride. The Chop thing seems a little tedious, but it's all good. It's sad that there was no 'Curaja' in Archades. I was hoping there would be so I could go and fight another optional esper or something. Metal, exactly how far are you into the game?

You don't have to wait long until you get Curaja, Karasu. Just hang in there a bit, it really helps with the hunts that pop up after a certain story event. Hell, it hurts just to imagine fighting the King Behemoth without it, since Cura wouldn't come close to healing enough.

I'm at the same point in the game that Freelance Wolf is, but I've stopped to get whatever Espers/Hunts/Quests I can do now before going to Ridorana. Leveling at the moment, in preparation for Chaos and then eventually Yiazmat, Hell Wyrm and Omega.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Karasu

Sweet sweet, good to know about Curaja. Oh I see, what's your levels now? I'm 47-45 with everyone.

Well, my A-Team (Penelo, Balthier, Vaan) is level 83 and my B-Team (Ashe, Fran , Basch) is level 77. They were all 77 until about an hour ago, when I started leveling. Deadbones are taking longer and longer to level on now, which is giving me 2 distinct messages:

1. Continue with the game

2. Find something else to level on

I'm planning on steamrolling the 3 brutes in the Necrohol, though I'm still undecided on who's going to get Chaos... maybe Vaan?

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

Originally Posted by seanne

The skeleton field in the Deadlands is probably the best leveling spot in the game, and I can really only think of two places that could compete with it. One which is unlocked after clearing the lighthouse and another which requires that you've aquired atleast 10 Espers.

Still, for the most effeicent (albeit repetetive and sorta boring) leveling that skeleton field should be the best spot.

Yeah, I jumped from about 52 to 77 here when I first came to the Deadlands (when I was hunting Roblon). I did the math for it and if you go up the hill, run a cycle around the top and head back down and repeat it once more (there's a dual spawn on this map; a second wave spawns) you fight ~41 skeletons for 1199 each.

That's 49,159 exp per run without the Embroidered Tippet, and 98,318 exp with it equipped. If you do what I'm doing, which is fleeing all the way to The Slumbermead and back to Overlooking Eternity, you can keep a VERY nice chain going. Ancient Bones are about 2115 gil and Blood-Darkened Bones are close to that, so you start getting pairs or more of each kind. Simply going from 52 to 77 should net you close to a million gil, so you shouldn't flinch at the Tournesol's price in the Bazaar when it becomes available (600k).

Damn, I just counted my Espers and here's what I have:

- Belias
- Mateus
- Adrammelech
- Cuchulainn
- Zalera
- Shemhazai
- Zeromus
- Exodus
- Ultima

Looks like Chaos will make 10, so is this new area the Henne Mines?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by seanne

Yeah =p You might have noticed the entrance to the mines from the wood that's on the way to Giruvagan. You can only access a small part from there, but you can get a taste of how difficult the enemies in there are gonna be.

Oh, I popped in there and let me tell you... it was not fun. Abysteels are a pain in the ass, and if that's what it's going to be like all the way to Zodiarc, I'm going to level to 95 and get far better armor just to ease some of that.

It was already horrible in Giruvegan wandering around with Skulwyrms, Shadonirs, Giruvegani and other assorted losers wailing on me and I was 15 levels above them at the time.

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

How goes your side trip? I'm doing the same thing you're doing. I've played for eight hours, with small breaks on occasion and finished several quests, joined the Hunt Club, and defeated some normal and Elite marks. *whew!* I certainly did a lot today, but I haven't scratched the surface yet. There's still a gazillion more things I need to do. FFXII is the first game since FFVIII where going out of your way to do non-important things can be so much fun.

Very good actually. I finally reached level 85, wiped the floor with Fury and Humbaba Mistant (Mmm, Beastlord Horn... I need 2 more, does he respawn?) and I'm on my way to fight Chaos. Anyone have any tips?

I'll join the Hunt Club after I get Chaos, but I'm almost done with all the stuff out there.

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The Hunts in this game is so much better than than that sidequest in FFX where you had hunt monsters to get an important item. Was that ever boring.

The level V Hunts I've accomplished so far were easy. Yay for pumped up parties with Bubble Belts and things.

Yeah, I agree. The monsters you have to take down, and the conditions surrounding the hunts actually makes me more interested in finding them, if only for the challenge but sometimes to change something in a part of the world (kill Fafnir and you'll see what I mean). Rank V monsters are easy, and VI is just a tad harder. The jump to VII is ridiculous though, so be sure to keep leveling.

...Still no Gnoma Entite. Oh, and Fury and Humbaba Mistant? You're going to enjoy those two, but I won't spoil it.

Most amazing jew boots