[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Originally Posted by Rock

I have the Bradygames guide here, although I've only been using it for information on some of the hunts. It has some neat treasure chest tables, though. I guess I'll be using them to get some nice stuff once I'm done with the main storyline.

Lucky you, much easier than my back-and-forth between numerous FAQs. One thing though: The information on Omega is wrong, he doesn't have 10 million in the U.S. version. It's been reduced to a 1/10 of that, but all that means is that the battle doesn't last as long.

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I've done a lot of hunts and leveling throughout the game, so normal bosses aren't much of a challenge for my already Lv. 60+ party. I might pay the Henne Mines or the Deadlands a visit next.

Yeah, drop by the deadlands. You could gain ~25 levels easily there and the rest of the hunts will give you enough to level into the 90s, especially the God or Devil? hunt. All those Bunes, Necrofiends, Dragon Lichs, etc... Amazing experience without the Tippets on (and I suggest you keep them off while you're down there, unless you want to die a swift death).

Henne? Don't go in there just yet, you're going to get slaughtered. I'm at 99 with both teams, 1 Grand Armor on Penelo, Maximillians on everyone else and the Abysteels still do 2k+ with Leech right through Protectga. Now, without Bubble Chains, that's a good chunk of her 5,700 max HP. Throw in that they often travel in pairs and parry your attacks very often, and you'll be bleeding HP.

Not to mention, all the awesome goodies are in the Special Charter map, literally overflowing with Etems. The area itself has them half-invisible, constantly roaming the map and they sometimes make themselves known to you at random. Then there's the necrofiends they often turn into when they die and you basically double the amount of enemies there.

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Oh and I still have to get the Barheim Passage key.

No Zalera yet? I don't think I tried it before getting ole Z, but can you go in through the back entrance or is it "locked" until you enter Garamsythe from Barheim?

Edit: Yet another link to previous titles that I was too dense to notice at first:

Mateus - Human Totema
Famfrit - Moogle Totema
Adrammelech - Bangaa Totema
Exodus - Viera Totema

I'm not sure about the last one, because I've never really got a good look at it, but the others are pretty much on the money. Heck, Mateus even does a Frost Wave-ish attack when you use him.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Cetra

Hrm, I went there at around level 65 and didn't have much issue. I beat both Yiazmat and Omega at level 79 with my secondary team being a max of level 20 without much of a issue as well.

You're a brave man, but I still wouldn't recommend it. Henne's second area is brutal and I'm wondering what you're idea of "without much issue" is, heh. Enemies often miss when you're at a higher level than they are, which is a boon in this case (fewer status effects).

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Good Cure and Arise gambit setup pretty much make it impossible to get wiped out in this game. Enemies that use Curse were the only ones I ever had a major problem with.

Arise? The spell is awful in situations that warrant its use since it takes too long, far longer than Phoenix Down + Curaja. I got around to finishing off Hell Wyrm today and this helped when I got into that last bit.

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

Originally Posted by Cetra

Enemy attack power is a non-issue with how I'm setup as long as they don't one-hit kill me. As I said, the only issues I had was with enemies that use Curse or use AE confuse. I have everyone set to use Curaja at <50% HP and everyone set to use Arise. I pretty much can just ignore damage output with the setup.

Sure, if you're doing enough damage to replenish your MP via damage (attacks/spells). Maybe I simply had bad luck when I showed up there for the first time, because all the Abysteels do is Leech with a Sacrificial strike or whatnot when they're critical. Curaja @ <50% without Bubble Chain would likely make encounters very long. Of course, without the chain you can have the Cameo belt, negating their irritating parry tendencies.

I don't know, seems too easy to get locked into a perpetual Curaja healing cycle while they ream you.

Oh, something peculiar I've noticed: I only did this once, but I used the Nihoapaloa trick on an Etem and inflicted him with silence as well as a few other status effects. I figured that'd keep him from casting Stop, Death, etc...

Don't know what the deal is, but he was still able to cast his spells. Are they his techniques which aren't effected by silence, or actual spells? I know Trans-Dimensional rift is a kamikaze attack that kills the targeted character, but Death is a spell that should've been made inaccessible to it.

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No way, all spells have the same cast rate. It's going to take longer to use a Phoenix down and then cast Curaja. Arise set to a gambit will result in the person being revived before their death animation even finishes unless they are already in a casting cooldown.

Same thing happens with Phoenix Down, except that the cast rate is irrelevant. It's the animation that's the problem. That's the difference between Scathe and Ardor. It may take the same time for the bar to fill, but the actual effect takes place after the spell animation is done. That's why items take priority over spells in tight situations, or when you want to keep up with a particularly quick enemy.

Not to mention the instant the person is revived, Curaja+Haste will likely hit them soon after.

A good example oof this is Zodiark. He casts faster than you, but his spells all have shorter animations than normal, something that becomes easy to see when you see him cast Scathe.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Cetra

Eh, I tore though all the enemies there using Excalibur and the Masamune. Nothing really got more than two attacks off considering I was hitting everything there for 9999 with the Excalibur and around 4500 with the Masamune. Hell I usually just set my mage to attack everything with Scathe for 9999 dmg as well since Charge gives you virtually unlimited mana. Scathe also has a nice side effect of locking down enemy attacks while the animation is playing.

Unfortunately, I don't have the Excalibur yet and I don't think I'll ever get it since it seems like quite a hassle for something weaker than the Tournesol (hitting 9999). Spells in general are a bad idea against anything other than 'steels because you end up getting freezing all the actions while spells go off. This doesn't stop physical attackers from attacking, though, as I've used Scathe on a mixed Hecteye/Abysteel groups. While it freezes the one casting Thundaga, any enemies focused on attacking physically will simply keep moving.

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Arise has an instant animation. We're talking milliseconds of different between Arise and a phoenix down. Arise also brings them back up to full HP, so you aren't having to tie up two party members like you do when using a phoenix down + curaja. I found using phoenix downs way too dangerous because there is a high probability your other team member is locked into a cooldown and now you are dealing with a 3rd party member with low HP.

Curaja hits on multiple party members, and in the rare circumstances where what you described occurs, they get hit by the Curaja that had been in the waiting while the phoenix down was used to revive the character. I don't have to worry about any damage in that time because it'll be 2 characters healing while the revived party gets back on their feet.

Note that this doesn't apply to the Reverse+Lure trick, as that would kill them if they still had reverse on.

And you animation comment applies just as well to Phoenix Down... except that items have faster "cast" times than spells. Arise has let me down quite a few times as even when I've set it as the primary gambit, the game gets to the "choose a party leader" question before they're revived (when Penelo dies). Of course she's already alive by the time I pick the leader, but this doesn't happen with Phoenix Downs in play.

Pylraster comes to mind. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

Two simple questions: I just arrived at Giruvegan. Roughly how "done", am I?

Almost done, though that depends on how long takes you to finish...

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And: How long did it take you to beat the Pharos dungeon? I've heard it puts even the Snowfly Forest to shame...

The Pharos @ Ridorana. You're going to hate that place, simply because it was far too long.

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Double Post:
Say, has anyone else used the Negalmuur auto-leveling trick? I thought I'd give it a try, and I must say, this is pretty cool. It isn't so good for gaining levels quickly, but LP and money? Hell yes. Especially now that I've set two of my party members to steal from the Ghasts that spawn. Pretty soon I'm going to have a ton of Paramina crossbows to sell, at G3330 each, not to mention all of that festering flesh, dark magicite, and float motes. And I didn't even have to watch the game. I went for a walk, did some other stuff, and the loop was still going by itself when I got back.

This really shows the true beauty of the gambit system, IMO.

Never tried it as the Deadbones leveling is a bit mroe involved but the rewards and money are even better.

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

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

Seriously? Damn, if you remove all of the leveling and mark hunts, the actual body of the game itself is surprisingly short. That's really disappointing, because I didn't want it to end this soon. If you could just run through the game and not have to level or hunt monsters, the actual gameplay time would probably be shorter than even Chrono Trigger's.

Yeah, I'm not joking. After Giruvegan, you've got to do the Pharos @ Ridorana and then... well, that's the penultimate dungeon. The "story" side of the game is very short, but it makes up for it by having oodles of gameplay time. This is one game where people can't complain it's a movie.

I have the LE version of the game and in one of the interviews they basically said you're playing an incomplete game. You can see where they could'ved elaborated more on various points, developed some characters some more, etc...

It's a testament to the VA and story that it's still a very good game. Mind you, I haven't entered the final dungeon yet. I'm trying to complete this game as thoroughly as possible.

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I dunno. I'm going to leave the Stillshrine with over 400,000 gil in loot. I've already killed several thousand enemies. According to the guide I looked at, I'm earning 216000 EXP per hour, with zero effort aside from the initial setup!

Hmm, each Deadbones run (about 41 skeles) @ 3,196 exp each gives you about 131,000. 10 runs and you've leveled at least twice, even at the highest levels since you never actually need 1m points to level. Ancient Bones and Blood Darkened Bones drop in packs of 3-4 per monster once you start chaining them. Not as easy as Negalmuur, but it's almost laughable at how early you can get there and jump 20-30 levels.

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

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

Incomplete is right. What a big let down. They didn't even go into any detail about the nature of the Rozzarian empire, something that I've really wanted to know about.

Heh, I thought I was the only one. The keep talking about "lands to the west" in bestiary entries, about their customs being different, certain monster drops are valued over there while useless in FFXII's area.

Spoiler:

Al-Cid could've been developed more. I mean, give us a few cutscenes of him at home before traveling to Bur-Omisace, trying to stop the powers-that-be from approving a war.

You definitely won't be disappointed by what happens that the end of your long Pharos run, Piccolo. That made my opinion of the game jump even higher, and I hear the endgame/ending is real nice.

Edit: Ah, that's because Archadia is the main and prominent threat.

Spoiler:

You'll find out that, while ole Archades is the aggressive one in conquering its neighbors, Rozzaria isn't exactly peaceful either. They notice the empire's westward march, and have plans of their own. You'll find out soon enough.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Musharraf

Interestingly, I didn't think that FFXII had too many awesome "movie-esque" scenes, yes okay, the intro was quite awesome, but as for the rest, I dunno...

Note, I'm not strictly referring to CG scenes. I'm also including story scenes, introducing new areas, etc... The camera pans around much like they do in movies, and it can't be denied that the VA, synching and character models were very well done. The presentation of the game was top notch, it's the story I wish a bit more fleshed out.

Spoiler:

The Occuria, for example, could've had far more background. The bestiary and legends all mention the Gods, and that gives us loads of info on them. But things aren't explained:

- Why did they create the Pharos?
- Who were the people who lived at Ridorana?
- Why did they retreat behind the walls of Giruvegan after they finished creating it?
- Are there more Occuria, as is implied by the city surrounding the platform where they spoke with Ashe?

You could do this to almost every part of the game, to give us something more to chew on. Most of the information we get about the world is from items and bestiary entries.

Some sections of the game needed to have more time spent on them, that's all. Here's to hoping that XIII has gameplay as immersive and fun as this but with a fully developed storyline and characters.

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at lvl 55 and about to go fight gilgamesh. any last minute advice??

Every time he brings out a new sword, steal from him. Each "sword" is another section of the fight. As for the battle itself, the regular defensive spells, bravery+haste, expose and beat him down. He's not difficult at all, even in his second battle. You just need to be at prime level so his Level X. techniques don't do anything to you. That way he wastes time doing things that are completely ineffective. Kill off Enkidu first, and if you want, steal Hell-Gate's Flame from him if you want.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by jb1234

^

Actually, I agree with you. One of FFVIII's chief strengths were the amazing FMV sequences. Aside from the opening and the ending, FFXII doesn't have much in that arena to be impressed about (but that's partly because the in-engine cutscenes are getting closer and closer to the quality of FMV).

I wouldn't even consider CGI FMVs to be a strength at all. FFXII wins out in this regard because in-game cutscenes don't lose the immersion of regular gameplay yet they're high enough in quality so FMVs aren't needed.

Unfortunately, FFXII still trumps VIII, even with its severely truncated story.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

Spoiler:

I think that Venat is up to something. Something about her (its?) voice and appearance is noticably darker than the other Occuria, which I actually find to be quite beautiful in appearance. This may possibly be some type of misdirection, however. Personally, I think Venat has been misleading Dr. Cid and the others for some nefarious purpose. The manner in which she speaks, I can just sense that she is playing on the sense of superiority and pride that stems from their own human nature. For the time being, I trust the other Occuria, they seem to be alright to me. Gerun seemed genuinely upset about Venat's doings, so I don't think they're in on anything.

My thoughts:

Spoiler:

The Occuria are in the wrong, as is Venaat. Both groups are manipulative little twits. Each has very valid points, and from what I've seen after finishing the Pharos, both are in the wrong. Have you seen the cutscene where Venaat tears into the rest of her (the voice definitely leans towards she, while Gerun's seems very androgynous) kind. What she mentioned about them being too far removed from the flow of time to judge and rule correctly was on the money. However, that carries with it quite a bit of arrogance. Who's to say she doesn't want to rule over humans by giving them what they want while manipulating them?

BTW, I love that cutscene. Easily the best in the game. The VA is just raw there, and the intensity of their emotions is definitely felt, through the speech and the sudden (startling?) appearance of the other Occuria. Maybe Gerun woke them up, or mention of Venaat is enough to make them come running?

I suggest you try to complete the bestiary. You won't have such a high opinion of the Occuria by the time you're almost done. They're fearful, judgemental, manipulative and merciless. Reading up on the espers shows that rebellion against them isn't new.

Damn, if the game had more scenes like that? Shit, best FF ever.

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

Originally Posted by Spatula

Holy shit I leave my FFXII alone for like 3 weeks for finals and now I'm so lost in your guy's conversation ;__;.

(I'm still on my way to the Drakor Laboratory, then Archadia. Yes, I know I'm still VERY far behind everyone that's like near or at the final dungeon). I've got some serious catching up to do Saturday after finals.

Hey, take it easy. I've finished the penultimate dungeon way back. I'm just finishing the Bestiary, getting some weapons and then I'm off. If you near-endgame guys want, we could beat the game on the same day and have an ending discussion.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by SOLDIER_2825

wheres the best place to get solid horns for the death bringer?

Abaddons in the Pharos @ Ridorana. Steal or Poach, take your pick. It's not worth it as they're available for purchase right after you finish the Pharos.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Heh, just keep yourself from doing a straight-shot from the Pharos to the final dungeon, and it's all good.

As for their views on Humans:

Spoiler:

If you haven't already done so, do the Fafnir hunt. Doing so will get you some nice arrows and a great/revelatory discussion with Relj. If you don't remember her well, she's the sole Viera at Bur-Omisace. She left The Wood to travel the world in order to find out why the Humes prosper so much so over the other races. I mean, this lady was an ice cold bitch. When the petitioner, Ieeha goes off with some other Kiltias to kill Fafnir, she simply says they likely ran away and used that as an excuse. So you go and deal with pain in the ass Fafnir and when you beat him you get a Ring of the Light, a ring worn by Kiltias.

Take it back to her and these three things happen:

- She realizes that he actually went
- He and his comrades likely got slaughtered and consumed
- She sincerely believed he was a coward rather than expecting the best out of him

This provokes some serious change for her, and mentions that now she understands why Humes are where they are in the world. That individually, they're weak, cowardly, etc... but when threatened they band together, and fight to the death to protect each other. The game lets this unfold far better than I could ever describe.

Just goes to show, the Occuria really don't have much of a point. The Undying could stand to open their eyes and acknowledge the better parts of Humes, but I think their paranoia gets the better of them. This is the same wariness that led to them creating the Entites (because each element, man was able to co-opt for their own use, resulting into violent reaction from the Occuria, which lead to each individual Entite), and with the Espers (Zodiark, especially).

If you remember way back in the Tomb of Raithwall, Ashe mentions the ancient legend of the Nu Mou and how they had become so powerful that they challenged the gods. In retaliation, she says that most of them were wiped out and that's how their tale ends. This sounds like exactly what they want to do with Humes, except they don't want to dirty their oh-so-righteous hands with the actual slaughter.

Amazing, how even NPCs and the bestiary in this game flesh out the background of FFXII's Ivalice.

Most amazing jew boots

Yeah, seanne nailed it. You have to kill all the skeletons there, flee all the way back to The Slumbermead map, and back again. That constitutes 2 maps/screens away and the respawn is refreshed when you get back.

and with tippets it's 3,000, not 1500.

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

Originally Posted by Rock

Thanks seanne and Metal, that's really useful advice.

I'm having Reddas as a guest party member right now and the Dead Bones only give me ~1200 EXP. Didn't know that guest members reduce the amount of EXP gained.

Guest characters don't get any experience points. How it works is an enemy actually gives you far more than the number you see after they die. This value is divided among all three of your active characters and that's how you get the experience you see.

You can take advantage of this by putting on the Firefly accessory on 2 of the highest level characters in the active party. Since they'll be gaining 0 exp per enemy, all the experience points go to the person without the fireflies equipped (who should have a tippet on for maximum effect).

This is how I hauled my level 77 B-Team up to 99 in no time.

Edit: Ah, and for anyone doing the Pharos at the moment, remember to steal Beastlord Horn from Fenrir when you get to him. He's a bipedal boss, you'll know when you see him. Same thing goes for when you do the Catoblepas hunt and defeat Humbaba Mistant.

I saw you guys talking about the little bunny enemies, but I really can't agree with you guys. I hate them with a vengeance since they always start off with confuse. Their form of the attack is kind of like toxify, it rarely misses.Though if you like them in general, you're going to enjoy doing the Necrol sidequest.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Rock

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

Yeah, it makes finishing the Sagittarius bow that much easier. The alternative to doing the above is killing/poaching Humbabas until they drop it (rare as helll).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

Have you checked the bazaar goods? I got several there, but one of the sidequests gives you Wyrm Shot. I think there are others, but I can't remember what it was though. I think it was the one with the Cactuar look-alikes?

It's the North Bank sidequest you need to do in order to get the Dantro's Wife sidequest that gets you the Barheim Passage key.

Here's how to get some more ammunition (keep in mind, these are the ones you can make as there are some like the Wyrmfire shot and Assassin's Arrows (KO) that you get as hunt rewards):

Originally Posted by Gamefaqs

=== BOWS & ARROWS ===

** Bow & Bodkin
Bat Fang, Dark Stone x2, Rat Pelt x2
-> Shortbow [+17 Atk], Parallel Arrows [+2 Atk] (600 gil)

** Arrows Alight
Crooked Fang x2, Fire Stone x4
-> Longbow [+39 Atk], Fiery Arrows [+1 Atk, Fire element] (3800 gil)

** Hollow-shaft Arrows
Bat Fang x5, Water Magicite x3, Yellow Liquid
-> Loxley Bow [+51 Atk], Bamboo Arrows [+2 Atk, Poison] (6280 gil)

** Permafrost Bow & Quiver
Antarctic Wind x2, Ice Crystal x7, Spiral Incisor x4
-> Perseus Bow [+81 Atk], Icecloud Arrows [+4 Atk, Ice element] (17200 gil)

** Bow of the Moon Goddess
Great Serpent's Fang x2, Moondust x2, Sylphi Halcyon
-> Artemis Bow [+87 Atk] (15800 gil)

** Silver Bow
Beastlord Horn x3, Moon Ring x3, Sagittarius Gem x4
-> Sagittarius [+93 Atk] (60000 gil)

** Arrows of the Moon Goddess
Dorsal Fin x2, Gemini Gem x3, Vampyr Fang x2
-> Artemis Arrows [+5 Atk, Earth element] (15000 gil)

Originally Posted by Gamefaqs

** Marksman's Delight
Dark Stone x3, Fish Scale x2, Green Liquid
-> Capella [+10 Atk], Silent Shot [+1 Atk, Silence] (1680 gil)

** Rain of Tears
Green Liquid x3, Water Stone x5, Yensa Scale x2
-> Vega [+14 Atk], Aqua Shot [+3 Atk, Water element] (2980 gil)

** Mudslinger
Earth Crystal x3, Ichthon Scale x4, Silver Liquid x3
-> Aldebaran [+30 Atk], Mud Shot [+2 Atk, Blind, Earth element] (9080 gil)

** Armor-piercing Shot
Ring Wyrm Scale x4, Silver Liquid x5, Wind Crystal x7
-> Spica [+34 Atk], Windslicer Shot [+4 Atk, Wind element] (15200 gil)

** Late-model Rifle
Salamand Halcyon, Wyvern Wing x2, Yensa Fin x2
-> Arcturus [+44 Atk] (19800 gil)

** Stone Shot
Libra Gem x3, Mirror Scale x2, Tyrant Bone x2
-> Stone Shot [+3 Atk, Petrify] (15000 gil)

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Oh, since I did lots of sidequests and hunts already, I decided to go on ahead with the main plot. I'm at the lighthouse right now, and just unlocked the sealed room in there. I like how Hydro looks like a normal dragon instead of yet another Wyrm boss. There seems to be more Wyrm enemies/bosses than more traditional dragons.

Actually Wyrms = Dragons in this game. There seem to be two classifications though, Wyrm and Plate Wyrm. The former are on four legs, stocky and often very powerful. The latter are bipedal and often have shrunken limbs, due to light/sight deprivation or something else. There are Dragon Lichs in the Pharos Subterra if you're interested.

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Before that, I went to Nabudis for the first time, where I died from Fury. D'oh! Does Dispel work against Berserk?

Correct, and I suggest you take that off of him ASAP, or his little bunny ass will kill you. I had no trouble with him, and enjoyed how he died (you'll see).

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P.S. I checked the guide and saw an upcoming boss named Fenrir. Yay. The thing is, the boss is a giant anthro white tiger and not a wolf. I guess they wanted to break tradition.

Yeah, that kind of threw me off when I saw Fenrir was a walking siberian tiger thing. Either way, steal Beastlord Horn off of him, dispel his buffs and use the Nihaopaloa trick on him. All the guardians of the Pharos are suceptible to it, essentially crippling them. He's the anima of the sun, btw.

Oh, and I took off 2 bars of Yiazmat's health... finally.

Edit: Here are all, or at least most of the weapons and ammunition in the game. I'm going to put it in spoiler tags since there are some weapons which are part of the storyline and other folks may want to see what the weapons look like in-game first.

Spoiler:

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

Are you quite sure? Because I just tested this and that is not how it is working. I had F-flies on 2 of my members, and an Embroidered Tippet on one, and he still only got twice as much. One deadbones = 1598 EXP; with the Tippet, I got 3196. According to what you said, I should be getting 9588 EXP each time, (1598 for myself, plus the other 3196 that would have gone to the other two members, times two because of the Tippet) which has yet to happen.

Unless I'm totally misunderstanding what you're saying.

Double Post:
I'm starting Pharos right now. Wish me luck. Also, that boss was awesomely disgusting, sprinkling maggots everywhere with each step!

I think Rock got it right. I never used the Firefly trick, it was simply a conclusion I reached after seeing what they do. The other two get nothing, so the party member earns the full amount (in this case, 4800). What you're saying is that even with the Tippets, this isn't being doubled? Or that it only works when fireflies are not in use?

Dammit, I'm on the last THIRD OF YIAZMAT'S FINAL BAR AND THIS BITCH'S SLAHES ARE OHKO. Anyone, have any way around this bullshit? The rest of the battle went ridiculously smooth, and now in the final stretch this fucker spams OHKO physical attacks and spells. Reverse + Lure was working for a bit, but the former misses too often and in general it's time consuming. Anyone have any Gambit setups that will work?

He literally has no more blips under his bar and is within the last 1/3 , and I can't even get any damage in. Rake is either OHKO (this coming from rarely at the start of the battle), or goes on for at least 5 hits @ 3k. The alternative is Death Strike or whatever it's called, but this thing's never missed its target. I literally couldn't believe what people were posting elsewhere about this thing, but now I see why.

Any and all help would be appreciated, thanks.

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

Originally Posted by SOLDIER_2825

Is there a reason why the Catoblepas did not have a beastlord horn to steal, he only had an ether or some bullshit like that! ARGHHH!!!!!!!!!

Whoa, you serious? Did you kill it? If you couldn't get it when you stole from him, you could simply exit and reenter and you can try again.

Shit, this thing is absolutely BRUTAL. I was thinking of throwing on Reverse to survive the first 15 seconds, but remembered his near 100% OHKO Rake and his Death Strike spamming.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

As long as you can stay alive, I recommend that route. I had to use the same setup to defeat Gilgamesh.

I wish this was like fighting Gilgamesh. Yiazmat is actually ridiculously easy, but the monster AI programmer or whatever got fucking lazy and simply made him into a death spamming machine. He's only done Growing Threat once and I doubt he'll do it again in the short time he has left.

My idea is basically to buff just outside and have it at and then just constant revive until he's finished. It sucks that I have to do that, because everywhere I've read, folks just Arise+Attack endlessly in that last bit.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

I'm repeating the same thing I said in my journal:

Heh, I just beat the game a few minutes ago too. Also, I curb stomped that son of a bitch Yiazmat. I really didn't want to go above 3 stages, but this bastard forced me to bail out of #3. Amazingly, when you leave the arena and save or whatever, he de-aggros. I don't know the proper term for it, but he acted as if he was still at 100% health.

- His rakes didn't get a single OHKO
- I could buff/heal to my heart's content between his attacks
- No Death Strike whatsoever

Another thing I noticed was that in addition to buffing himself as you enter the arena, when he's that low he goes ahead and throws on Growing Threat. So, my advice to someone who's suddenly facing berserko Yiazmat would be to leave the arena, heal/restock and come back and you'll have a much more reasonable/boring battle.

Take it from someone who had to bail out at 1/3 of his final bar (may I add that he bled damage, even with his critical defense + growing threat buffs).

ENDING SPOILERS

Spoiler:

As for the ending... Just fantastic, I don't understand why some folks didn't like it, because it was definitely impressive IMO. Some thoughts:

[quote]
- Ashe.... and Basch? Where the hell did that come from? Unless I'm misunderstanding this. Where did the ring come from? Rasler? Did Basch have it all along?

- Balthier was absolutely hilarious, the scene in the collapsing Bahamut was real nice. Amazingly, for a stoic and tough gal, Fran doesn't seem afraid to accept help/be helpless.

- Basch's ending was, how shall I say, bittersweet. His brother dies on top of everything else he's lost. Larsa probably realized the instant Basch took off the helmet that it was him, and not Gabranth.

- Vaan and Penelo's ending was actually great, though simple. Vaan essentially became a sky pirate, after freaking out over the Strahl's theft, and Penelo seems happy to tag along with him. I wouldn't be surprised if meet up with Fran and Balthier or at least keep in touch (pupil and mentor, etc..). The scene on the Strahl hints at this at least.

Even with the above questions, that whole endgame was very well done. I would've liked a little extra after the credits to show a bit more (or maybe give us a sneak peek at things in Revenant Wings).

One last thing:
Penelo's new look. I can already hear thousands of fanboys adding her to their favorite FF heroine lists. IMO, it looks fine and fits with the ornate/revealing clothes that many Dalmascans wear.

Edit: The Bestiary? I have to find these regular monsters:

- 1 Wild Snake
- 2 Ose
- 4 Gazer (I'm in Lhusu now and I don't even remember fighting one of these)

Then I need about 40 rare game, and I'll have finished this game 100%. My Hunt menu in the Clan Primer is complete (start on the end) and my Den is almost done. Got Hell Wyrm (Radiant Savior) and Yiazmat (Hunter Extraordinaire) stuffed in there, along with Old Dalan (Cartographer) when I entered Hell Wyrm's room.

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

Originally Posted by jb1234

I found the end boss pathetically easy and I didn't bother with most of the hunts and sidequests. I'm curious to see what it was like for you two.

Well, the two notable ones are Carrot and Yiazmat. Everything else was pretty boring. I did love the Garif-issued hunts however, since your killing their marks actually earns you interesting commentary from the, as well as more background (at least for Former War-chief Kadalu and War chief-Supinelu). Another memorable one is Fafnir's hunt, as that literally changes an entire area's NPC dialogue and weather (Mt. Bur-Omisace, for those curious).

The game definitely would've suffered had these not been in there.

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(Why WERE the bounty hunters in the game anyway? It's not like they contributed to the plot in any way except to provide artificial jeopardy near the beginning)

Spoiler:

They should've established them a bit more, but the gist was that they had been persuing Balthier (Fframan Bunansa) for 6 years, since that's when his pops went kind of wacko.

Also, holy crap. I thought I was the only one who had trouble finishing Suikoden III. I agree that the final boss/bosses shouldn't be too difficult, especially when there's a long slog through a dungeon involved.

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

Originally Posted by jb1234

I went in there at level 55 and had no problems. Just make sure you have shell, protect and haste cast at all times (with the best armor and weapons) and you should be fine.

To add to this: If you don't have the best armor for where you are, exit the Deadlands and make your way to the upper left of the first map of the Necrohol. Follow the rooms until you reach a dead end and examine the lefthand corner (the one with the beam). An exclamation point should pop up and you can buy Maximillian Armor, Magepower Shishaks and the Telekinesis technick from him. Along with items, like ethers, of course.

Be sure to have the licenses for these of course.

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Yup... I'd say Suikoden V is even worse (with NO save point in the final dungeon and three nasty bosses before the final one) but I vanquished that area in one try (thankfully).

Damn, that's just plain bad level design. At least throw a save point in your last dungeon if it's it long and/or difficult. It'd get people to finish your damn game.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by SOLDIER_2825

Thanks Metal sphere, the first time i went into the necrohol(thats where i nearly died, not in the deadlands) i found one of the guys in the corner but he was only selling remedies, so is it just the one guy selling stuff or is the one your talking about in a different location?

No, no. It's the same guy, the only non-aggro Baknamy in the game as well. Gil seems to be a universal language in Ivalice, heh.

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Was able to go through the deadlands easily this time, I'm also milking the fact that i have Reddas, and i just beath the shit out of Roblon. Gonna go try and find the little Bahkamy or whatever the hell they are and buy that armor though.

SOLDIER, you may want to spoiler tag this bit due to a certain character. But yeah, if you already have him, he'll likely have the newest armor for sale. Seems like before it was story restricted.

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Ohh and what weapons were you using before the Pharos, i have Basch with the defender, Balthier with the runeblade, and Vann with the morning star or some hammer with high 90's atk.

Penelo - Perseus Bow + Assassin's Arrows
Vaan - Runeblade + Demon Shield
Balthier - Ultima Blade
Fran - Masamune
Basch - Runeblade + Demon Shield
Ashe - Penetrator Crossbow

Piccolo, I'll post a long response to your thoughts on the ending tommorow. Definitely good discussion material.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Hachifusa

I just beat the game, as well.

I have to say, I loved it quite a bit. It was the first time in a long time I actually felt bad having to end it, though.

Bingo. This about wraps up the endgame for me. The game was genuinely fun to play, with an ungodly amount of things to do, to boot.

Though I was still cruising on one of the biggest fucking highs I've ever had after beating Yiazmat. Who knew leaving the coliseum and going back in would make him as dangerous as a pussy cat?

Beating Yiazmat, getting that sweet scene in the clan HQ and then going off and topping the cake off by finishing the game? Satisfaction guaranteed.

50 million HP... the last 3-4 bars were absolutely brutal, but the rest were just boring (even at max damage).

Anyone notice that the Eastgate chocobo stall is one of the dumbest things in the game? You don't even travel one screen before you have to dismount. I also just finished the Bangaa bestiary entry (I found out I need like a dozen more monsters). The main storyline doesn't really describe what happened in Nabudis, but damn if this entry wasn't tragic.

Edit: Musharraf, he's more than beatable at 72. You just have to keep the defensive suite up at all times and throw on wind absorbing equipment + confuse immune gear. This is assuming you cast the opposite element on each chaosjet around him.

FELIPE NO