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Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age |OT| You Had One Job!

elchebib

Member
Man, seeing people talking about making sure to spawn rare game at some point, or steal some items from a hunt before killing it is frustrating my ambition to play this game without a guide. I like getting lost in the world and story, but knowing that at some point I will want to craft all the best gear means I'll have made my life really difficult unless I was aware of loot tables all along.

Anyone else having this conundrum? Is there a good middle ground, like a spoiler free guide for a hunt that just says "make sure to steal X"?

I asked them same question previously after searching all over the place for a good guide. Settled eventually on the one from IGN (walkthrough for FFXII) and so far its good enough I guess. It does'nt really get into too much detail but so far I have been getting everything from the dungeons/areas. Will see how it will hold as I get deeper into the game (my feelings is that it will not but will see)
 

Netto-kun

Member
Three characters using Seitengrat destroyed the Hell Wyrm pretty fast...I think I'll stick to the regular non-invisible weapons for the remaining available bosses.

Also I think I am kind of done with buying FFXII:TZA related stuffs for the time being.
DFv_cEGXgAAVW-U.jpg:large

Edit: Also the Amazon JP PS4 theme is pretty sweet.

Question! Did I screw up by making Ashe a Knight/TimeMage to fill role of healer? OP guide says that combo is good for heals, but I'm 15 hours in and she still has Cure.
You need to use Esper licenses to get access to White Magick.
For Knight side you'll get access to White Magick 6 (Curaga & Regen) & 7 (Cleanse & Esuna) from the Mateus license. Hashmal license will give you access to White Magick 8 (Confuse & Faith) & 9 (Bravery & Curaja). As a Time Battlemage you'll get access to the White Magick 4 (Cura & Raise ) license from the same Hashmal license. Both Esper show up during the main storyline. Mateus around mid-game while Hashmal is late-gameish.

Edit: Wops, got beaten on that one but I don't think the Adrammelech license gives access to any White Magick
 

Atlantis

Member
Edit: Wops, got beaten on that one but I don't think the Adrammelech license gives access to any White Magick

It gives White Magick 4 for Time Battlemage, same as Hashmal.

Since you're definitely giving Hashmal to this job combo, I wouldn't recommend "wasting" Adrammelech for early access to Cura and Raise.
 
Three characters using Seitengrat destroyed the Hell Wyrm pretty fast...I think I'll stick to the regular non-invisible weapons for the remaining available bosses.

Also I think I am kind of done with buying FFXII:TZA related stuffs for the time being.

Very nice. I didn't even know there was an Ultimania released for Zodiac Age, is it worth picking up? Artwork, interviews and the like?
 

Netto-kun

Member
It gives White Magick 4 for Time Battlemage, same as Hashmal.
Oh, didn't realize that since I didn't get Adrammelech until way later.

Very nice. I didn't even know there was an Ultimania released for Zodiac Age, is it worth picking up? Artwork, interviews and the like?
Sadly no chapters dedicated for creation of the new TZA artworks and interviews. This one seem to take parts from the original Battle & Scenario Ultimanias plus IZJS Ultimania (note: I don't own any of those) and updated it to be in line with the changes and additions in TZA.
 
Alright, getting those second jobs. Any recommendations? Don't particularly need to use each job board.

Vaan - Shikari
Penelo - White Mage
Balthier - Bushi
Fran - Uldah
Balthier - Knight
Ashe - Black Mage

edit: Also, is Poach worth using at all?
 

kromeo

Member
Alright, getting those second jobs. Any recommendations? Don't particularly need to use each job board.

Vaan - Shikari
Penelo - White Mage
Balthier - Bushi
Fran - Uldah
Balthier - Knight
Ashe - Black Mage

Shikari- foebreaker
White mage - archer/machinist/time mage
Bushi- monk/red mage/foebreaker
Uhlan - time mage
Knight - red mage/time mage
Black mage - monk/time mage/red

Some combinations that people tend to put together

Also lol at uldah, someone's been playing too much XIV
 
Question! Did I screw up by making Ashe a Knight/TimeMage to fill role of healer? OP guide says that combo is good for heals, but I'm 15 hours in and she still has Cure.
My Fran is a KNI/TBM, and her and Balthier are my two main stay characters so I probably spent a solid 40-55 hours of the roughly 65 hours I took to finish the story with her in my party.

And I'd say yes... She was rarely a healer for me until endgame. In fact, I ended up using my SHI/FOE Balthier or KNI/MCN Vaan more often for healing because they both had superior Potion Lores, and Balthier and Vaan with Hi- or X-Potions was better than Fran in Heavy Armor with Cure/Cura. It wasn't until her Magick Lores and Channelings got up that Cura felt good enough as a main healer so for a large portion of the story I used my WHM's Cura, and then by the time I felt KNI/TBM got her MAG/MP up, my WHM (but not TBM) had Curaja.

That said, it's a great endgame healer/buffer. Curaja; Hastega; Bubble; Bravery and Faith; Berserk. She has a better combination of heals/buffs than a WHM for 'leveling' in any of the last two dungeons. Plus, stays alive easy with high EVA or Magic EVA from her shield and can spam Karkata confuse.

WHM/TBM would be even better of course and for endgame bosses I'll sometimes switch my KNI/TBM with my dedicated WHM. TBM goes good with any sort of melee-healer like KNI or MNK because TBM ain't that great for synergies or standalone but it goes good with classes that are already self-reliant and just want a bit of extra speed (Swiftness 3) or a few extra buffs (Time and Green), so any of the dps/tank classes that has OK potential to buff as well work well with it.

Even mid-story, and let's assume 'No Trial Items,' you can get Karkata pretty early and Haste/Berserk/Cura around the same time. She picks up a lot of utility that actually helps reduce the need for a healer. I never really felt like she was a "main healer" as you wanted, but she also made it so for a lot of encounters I didn't need one. She'll crowd control/buff your DPS better than a WHM.
 

Shahed

Member
4x speed is such a life saver when taking on Hell Wyrm. It'll be even better with Yiazmat. After breaking him to heck and back, switched Basch, Ashe and Penelo who murdered him in 5 mins with Kumbha, Excalibur and Holy lol. Yiazmat time!

And I was getting worried about the Cartographer trophy but it popped as soon as I went in room with the Hell Wyrm

Question! Did I screw up by making Ashe a Knight/TimeMage to fill role of healer? OP guide says that combo is good for heals, but I'm 15 hours in and she still has Cure.
Ashe (or anyone) is awesome as a Knight/Time. You'll need to wait till you get some later Espers (can't remember which, just check what each Esper unlocks) to assign her WHM spells. She'll have really good utility with Esuna, Curaga, Curaja, Hastega, Bravery, Faith, Bubble, yet with Excalibur and Heavy Armour do amongst the best damage against the huge number of Holy weak enemies. As a solo character I find it almost the best class except late game when my Monk/Black Mage also unlocks their full repertoire and adds WHM stuff like Protectga, Shellga, Curaja and Holy to their already awesome physical and magical offense

EDIT: Oh I didn't read the main healer part. To be honest until you get Curaga/Curaja I wouldn't say they're that good at being a main healer (I never taught Ashe Cura/Raise). I mainly used Balthier (MCH/WHM) and Fran (RDM/ARC) as my healers for the first half. Once you do get Mateus (Cleanse/Esuna/ Regen/Curaga) and Hashmal (Bravery/Faith/Curaja) then her healing is really good, but until then she'll lag behind. Wearing heavy Armour her Curaja's do 9000+. Not as good as a proper Mage in mystic armour like who do like 12k, but that's overkill. But as a Knight Ashe will have access to 2H swords and Heavy Armour so making her fulfill a healing role will be wasting damage potential which is among the best
 
Finally beat Trial 100...Jesus, that was excruciating.
Time for completion is 4:02:33

And there's no autosave after Trial mode is completed, so no bringing back the spoils of that fight.
And I quit just after the victory so I need to redo the mode if I want to go in Weak mode? Why? I would've liked that it unlocks the choice when starting a new game...

I'm sure as hell never doing that again D:

Only good thing, I managed, for some reason, to get the Concurrence trophy during the last trial in one of my attempts.
I just need the Bestiary and the end of the game trophies for the Platinum.
 

Ourobolus

Banned
Huzzah all hunts done except for Hell Wyrm/Yiazmat. Gonna run around and collect everything I missed (spells, etc.), and make the best katana (already got the best gun, pole, bow, sword, Tournesol, and Yagyu).
 

Shahed

Member
And Yiazmat down to half health already. How did I ever play this game at normal speed? I'm going with Vaan (Yagyu), Fran (Darkga/Black Robes) and Balthier (WHM support). Not sure if Basch would do more damage with Kumbha and and Genji gloves though

And I just realised since I'm not using Ashe for the first time in ages, I hadn't been Hasted the entire time...
 
D

Deleted member 20920

Unconfirmed Member
And Yiazmat down to half health already. How did I ever play this game at normal speed? I'm going with Vaan (Yagyu), Fran (Darkga/Black Robes) and Balthier (WHM support). Not sure if Basch would do more damage with Kumbha and and Genji gloves though

And I just realised since I'm not using Ashe for the first time in ages, I hadn't been Hasted the entire time...

Not to mention the original Yiazmat had like 10 times the HP?
 
D

Deleted member 77995

Unconfirmed Member
being able to use the 4 stat lowering technicks made the fight a bit of a joke so at that point it's just dealing with the one-hit kos and staying away from the stairs so he doesn't start spamming death's end.
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
If you are only gonna use three characters then give someone Bushi/Red Battle Mage. Shikari/Foebreaker is a must. Third one could be Knight/Time Battle Mage.

You can get major healing spells and can use most weapons. With Foebreaker you get a lot of OP techniques.
 

Deimo5

Member
If I want to use a white mage with the healing rod right now, whats the best way to do that? None of the gambits really do what i want and I don't think I can just hit an ally manually?
 

Ourobolus

Banned
Fighting Yiazmat. Even with 4x speed this is gonna take a while. 7 bars down...

20 min later: 2/3 down...

33 min total to down him.
 

Jeels

Member
In the deadlands there is a secret passageway that leads you to skeletons galore. Decent xp there with chance to earn gil. Then when your done with great crystal there is a good location in there with ghouls only for 2 screens that give tons of xp. But might be hard at 50s.


deadlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmHJwVwyTqQ
great crystal(first few minutes of vod only): https://www.twitch.tv/videos/161782808

Im using the OP bow because I beat this game 100% about a year ago so I have no hard feelings doing the easy way this time lol.

Thanks. Was able to hit level 70 with the skeletons place. But leveling has slowed down considerably there. Maybe I'll take on more content before trying to level more.
 

Jolkien

Member
What's a good lvl to take on Demon Wall and killing it first time in tomb

Low twenty ? Level doesn't matter a whole lot in the game, equipment and strategy does most of the work. I wouldn't stress too much about it you only get a Scathe Mote so don't pull your hair out on this one.
 
Yeah even at Lv22 I died the first time when I underestimated it (only time I died the entire game) and the second time I burned through quite a few motes to beat it with about 20% time left on the clock (or space left on the bridge hhhh). Use Vossler's Expose, too, if you forgot that it's there. I Berserked my Gladius user too since I think it was still easily my best DPS weapon.
 

Deimo5

Member
I picked up an embroidered tippet from a chest in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. Seems like a rare pickup or should I try re-running for more?

Actually found quite a lot of nice stuff in this area, Simoon Bluff
 

Ourobolus

Banned
So...maybe a dumb question

I made it to Level 90 in Trial Mode, but I'm now out of Remedies and Phoenix Downs. Is there a way for me to leave and come back?

EDIT: apparently not. Sigh.
 

Corran Horn

May the Schwartz be with you
Thanks. Was able to hit level 70 with the skeletons place. But leveling has slowed down considerably there. Maybe I'll take on more content before trying to level more.

Yeah the place in the great crystal can take you to 99 if you wish. Also there is a location in the Henne mines that spawns tons of bats when you press the switch (similar to the jelly switch earlier in the dungeon), but it can be difficult depending on your job loadout and takes a bit of effort to get access to.

Great Crystal Location: https://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/459841-final-fantasy-xii/faqs/46722?raw=1
Its where the Chest #3 is located at near the XIII Waystone

Also get 2 if not 3 embroidered tippets when possible.

Nam-Yensa - http://ff12.ffsky.cn/map/ff12map_16.html
Treasure chest 45, one-time only. 100% chance to appear.

Feywood - http://ff12.ffsky.cn/map/ff12map_38.html
Treasure chest 33, one-time only. 25% chance to appear.

Pharos/Penumbra - http://ff12.ffsky.cn/map/ff12map_42d.html
Treasure chest 7, repeat-able. 70% to appear, 10%(?) to be Embroidered Tippet without DA.

Rare poach from Couerl in Tchita Uplands.


I picked up an embroidered tippet from a chest in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. Seems like a rare pickup or should I try re-running for more?

Actually found quite a lot of nice stuff in this area, Simoon Bluff

One time spawn there, look at my quote above for how to get more.
 

Lightning

Banned
Emperor Scales worst loot to collect by far. WTF at those damn dragons in Zertinan Caverns. And why is it when I try ti fight them individually the 2nd one always joins the fight anyway? Cheap ass punks. Their standard attacks seem to instant KO me at times but it doesn't matter since they constantly wipe my party and I have to use considerable resources every time I fight them.
 
So I've seen guides that say Knight / Red Battlemage has bad synergy. Why is that? Doesn't seem that much worse than Shikari / Red Battlemage which is suppos fly pretty great.
 
Finished off the final boss yesterday; this is probably the 4th or 5th time (can't remember which) I've completed the game. It was more challenging than I remember, which was a bit odd since I was wiping the floor with every story boss up to this point thanks to a bit of overleveling.

Anyway, I went off to explore postgame, and thought "lets go to Henne!". Boy, those chest percentage appearance odds are no joke. After dealing with a clown car of undead, I kept trying to get the Addle chest to spawn, zone in and out for about an hour.

"I bet I'll get the Ribbon before I see Addle."

You obtain a Ribbon.

Another 30 or so minutes...

"Wouldn't it be funny if the Zodiac Spear chest shows up before I see Addle?"

You obtain a Zodiac Spear.

Ten minutes later, I finally have Addle.

The Great Crystal is gonna be fun, isn't it? /sarcasm
 
Whew, running necrohol when first heading to Archadea nets some sweet loot. White hood, black robe, two Maximillians! The Baknamys are nasty, but protect and haste gambits with blizzara tear them down fast (with an evade tank). Other touch and go moment was some fire horse with 100K hp that kept casting firaga. Shell and Seitengrat won the day.
 

thedan001

Member
Another witness here for 100% seitengrat method

I got 6 back to back in a row and took about 30 mins using 4x speed

First try I jumped the gun a little too fast, just wait until the NPC's foot steps on the final step of the stairs then hit X

I had 88 97 90 everytime in less than 2 mins to get all 6 bows

The earliest you can do this is right before
everyone joins up on Balthier's airship to go rescue Penelo. I did Dustia leveling to lv50+ and with seitengrats, I managed to reach upper tiers of the trials. Instead of "Look Penelo! I got the goddess magicite treasure" Now it's "check out this Wyrmhero Blade!"
 

Shahed

Member
Finished off the final boss yesterday; this is probably the 4th or 5th time (can't remember which) I've completed the game. It was more challenging than I remember, which was a bit odd since I was wiping the floor with every story boss up to this point thanks to a bit of overleveling.

Anyway, I went off to explore postgame, and thought "lets go to Henne!". Boy, those chest percentage appearance odds are no joke. After dealing with a clown car of undead, I kept trying to get the Addle chest to spawn, zone in and out for about an hour.

"I bet I'll get the Ribbon before I see Addle."

You obtain a Ribbon.

Another 30 or so minutes...

"Wouldn't it be funny if the Zodiac Spear chest shows up before I see Addle?"

You obtain a Zodiac Spear.

Ten minutes later, I finally have Addle.

The Great Crystal is gonna be fun, isn't it? /sarcasm

I had the same issue with Wither in the Pharos Subterra. Took me ages to get it to appear. Supposedly 10% chance and i swear i went in and out like 40-50 times. Personally i think this % chance for treasures to spawn is really poor design. I mean it's fine for things that are repeatable with good stuff in like the Zodiac Spear, the chests on Cerobi and many other places. But for one off chests that won't respawn shouldn't be like that. It's such a pain. I missed both Shear and Expose when I first did the expanded areas of Lhusu and Barheim. It wasn't until i looked them up after I did Great crystal for the first time i realised i'd missed them. So stupid
 

jimmypython

Member
Three characters using Seitengrat destroyed the Hell Wyrm pretty fast...I think I'll stick to the regular non-invisible weapons for the remaining available bosses.

Also I think I am kind of done with buying FFXII:TZA related stuffs for the time being.


Anything interesting from the Ultimania guide?
 

ST2K

Member
Taking on Yiazmat. Was cruising through the battle until he started using Growing Threat.. now I'm not lasting at all. He's just tearing through my tank and crushing everyone else before I can get the tank back up and Protect/Shell reinstated. So I'm taking a break.

Basch is a Knight/Archer, Balthier is a White Mage/Shikari, Ashe is a Black Mage/Bushi. Any tips would be appreciated.
 
I had the same issue with Wither in the Pharos Subterra. Took me ages to get it to appear. Supposedly 10% chance and i swear i went in and out like 40-50 times. Personally i think this % chance for treasures to spawn is really poor design. I mean it's fine for things that are repeatable with good stuff in like the Zodiac Spear, the chests on Cerobi and many other places. But for one off chests that won't respawn shouldn't be like that. It's such a pain. I missed both Shear and Expose when I first did the expanded areas of Lhusu and Barheim. It wasn't until i looked them up after I did Great crystal for the first time i realised i'd missed them. So stupid

The game's RNG decided to be kind to me and grant me Wither on my second try, and the Ribbon in the adjoining room only took around 8 times. Since I was already there, I farmed some Bubble Belts (just because). I agree on the one-of-a-kind chests, they should have increased the percentage.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Why the fuck did Yiazmat get full health? He was down to 2 bars and then suddenly full health, I didn't go in and out the colleseum

15 minutes to hell
 

Atlantis

Member
Taking on Yiazmat. Was cruising through the battle until he started using Growing Threat.. now I'm not lasting at all. He's just tearing through my tank and crushing everyone else before I can get the tank back up and Protect/Shell reinstated. So I'm taking a break.

Basch is a Knight/Archer, Balthier is a White Mage/Shikari, Ashe is a Black Mage/Bushi. Any tips would be appreciated.

Switch in a character that can use Wither and Expose.
 

Rpgmonkey

Member
Basch was the MVP on the Hell Wyrm fight. Berserk+Low HP+Khumba+Genji Gloves+Bravery+Low HP attack bonus resulted in two 10 hit combos in a row for 14,000 damage per hit.

Beat Yiazmat as well. Wanted to beat him in a single round which resulted in two game overs once he was at low hp, so I decided to get Wither and use that. I think I overdid it though and made it too easy, when everyone has over 10,000 HP and Curaja heals everyone for 8,000-10,000, taking his damage down from 1,800 per hit to ~300 ruins a lot of the challenge. :/

All that’s left now are Omega and Trial Mode. I’ll probably avoid using the break skills from here on and just level if necessary, but Omega’s usually not that bad in my experience.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Yeah Foebreaker is ridiculously OP. Its a boring class during the story as you get squat for it but those skills are borderline game breaking so its wise that they're hidden so well.
 

ferr

Member
so glad this has auto-save, my actual save just got corrupted. so far it has black-screened a couple of times when saving..
 

Netto-kun

Member
Anything interesting from the Ultimania guide?
I only skimmed through the guide and honestly? Nothing new and interesting for me at least. I guess the recommended jobs for the characters can be useful for newcomers.

Balthier & Basch (the vanguard)
Archer, Bushi, Foebreaker, Monk, Shikari, kUhlan

Fran & Vaan (the middle guard)
Knight, Machinist, Red Battlemage, Time Battlemage, White Mage, Uhlan

Ashe & Penelo (the rear guard)
Black Mage, Red Battlemage, Time Battlemage, White Mage

The guide also lists a sample party that I can post later (late over here) if you are curious.
 
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