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[Ludens]

I did the

Spoiler

Gilgamesh

fight and it was hard. Vaan is level 70 while Ashe and Balthier are 60, at first I died quickly because I attacked Enkidu and it oneshotted my party members with a counter, but I managed to clear the fight easily by using Bait with Vaan plus the double HP spell, with Profect and regen.
During the last bit of the fight I couldn't steal the last piece of the Genji, because Vaan kept on failing and my party was destroyed...I went away by using a limit with the secondary level 30 party which killed him.

Also I doubt I will go for the bestiary, I don't like the idea of trophies so much, and I think having one for defeating all monsters in the game is just stupid.
I mean, it's ok for optional boss battles, but the fact I need to wait until a specific hour just to spawn a monster which probably I'll oneshot is dumb.
SE really needs to understand how implement trophies, because making players waste their time is not fun.

 

[mstevens]

You can go over, you might get a Stronger Concurrences by doing so but if you're aiming for Black Hole, go ahead.

Cool, thanks. I haven't gotten any of the concurrences yet, so I'm going to go beat my head against this for awhile.

 

[burgerdog]

We did it kids.

The only thing I'm scared of is finding all the rare monsters. How bad is it? It's probably going to be the one trophy holding me back. Maybe the maps, too, how do I even know which one I haven't fully explored?

 

[TheCed]

The only thing I'm scared of is finding all the rare monsters. How bad is it? It's probably going to be the one trophy holding me back. Maybe the maps, too, how do I even know which one I haven't fully explored?

If you have all summons + defeated the Hell Wyrm and tried to go everywhere on every maps, you most likely already completed this trophy.

 

[burgerdog]

If you have all summons + defeated the Hell Wyrm and tried to go everywhere on every maps, you most likely already completed this trophy.

Just need Hellwyrm, King Behemoth, and Yiazmat.

 

[Meowster]

The only thing I'm scared of is finding all the rare monsters. How bad is it? It's probably going to be the one trophy holding me back. Maybe the maps, too, how do I even know which one I haven't fully explored?

Excluding the rare monsters, I was only missing two. Took me about three hours to find forty+ rare game monsters though and that was easy enough but exhausting. Maps are pretty easy. You don't even have to completely walk around a zone, you just have to be sure to have entered every single zone once.

 

[TheCed]

Excluding the rare monsters, I was only missing two. Took me about three hours to find forty+ rare game monsters though and that was easy enough but exhausting. Maps are pretty easy. You don't even have to completely walk around a zone, you just have to be sure to have entered every single zone once.

Those invisible monsters are a pain however.

 

[mstevens]

Wow this concurrence thing is easily the dumbest part of this platinum trophy.

Got Black Hole somehow, but I can't get Luminescence now for the life of me. By the 8th or 9th combo the meter moves so fast I barely have time to spam R2 once to try to find a mist charge.

edit: whew, got it. Had a bunch of attempts where I was one cast off, but luck finally went my way.

 

[Nista]

Those invisible monsters are a pain however.

Yeah, I still haven't found that dang invisible frog in Salikawood. How do you get him to show up?

 

[Holmes]

That's the last one I did and I basically had to dedicate three hours or so of 4x speed plus crystal teleportation. The worst are the monsters that only show up depending on where your in-game clock is at. That was a stupid and frustrating decision lol.

Yeah fuck those. I was in the Tomb of Raithwall and saw that one of them needed the clock to be between 0 and 29 minutes. I open the menu and my clock's at 28 minutes. I had 4x speed, rushed to its location and barely made it in time.

The one in the Stilshrine of Miriam that requires you to be there for 30 minutes also sucked.

 

[TheCed]

Yeah, I still haven't found that dang invisible frog in Salikawood. How do you get him to show up?

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Wood_Toad

That's what I used.

 

[Holmes]

Yeah, I still haven't found that dang invisible frog in Salikawood. How do you get him to show up?

Wear a Ruby Ring and cast Cure om yourself near its spawn point.

 

[Osu 16 Bit]

I'm at Sochen Cave around level 34 or so and things are getting rough. I can die on random mobs and I barely beat bosses. I have most of the best store bought gear. I have Ashe set up to use protect, haste and curaga when people are at 40%. It's still tough. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if the store gear is crap.

 

[Burbeting]

Rare Game hunting is so dull. At least I'm missing only 1 trophy rare game, then... like 40 non-trophy ones.

 

[cpp_is_king]

I'm at Sochen Cave around level 34 or so and things are getting rough. I can die on random mobs and I barely beat bosses. I have most of the best store bought gear. I have Ashe set up to use protect, haste and curaga when people are at 40%. It's still tough. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if the store gear is crap.

Sochen Cave is where the game turned from rough to easy for me. I got a Halberd or something like that for Basch and was using the Ninja Sword 1 (forget the name) on Vaan. Set both of them to Poach on critical HP and go around slaughtering Coeurls. Only took a few minutes and I had 3 of the double exp accessories. I think you can buy the Halberd in Phon Coast. With those 2 heavy hitters stuff was just going down almost instantly. I was around the same level as you.

Even the boss of Sochen Cave Palace, I basically just stood there and let everyone auto-attack until they died (had to use some items to cure status ailments but that was it).

 

[Stalactite]

Trial 100, good God.

Drace, I love ya, but your immobilize wears way too fast.

Needed to Summon Morgana from P5 in here, cause even with Niho + Prince Kiss Zargaabath would not stay asleep for long. Sleep -> run to other side and fight -> Sleep -> run to other side and fight.

Anyway, Platinum get!

It was nice to do everything in my favorite FF, but I don't think I'll be doing a lot of it ever again.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

my 1st time playing and i keep getting crushed by a wall... i run away from the 1st and the second one kills me. help!

 

[AmethystEnd]

my 1st time playing and i keep getting crushed by a wall... i run away from the 1st and the second one kills me. help!

Are you really underleveled/behind on the license boards/haven't upgraded your gear?

The 1st wall pretty much can't be killed unless you cheese it in some way (there are many ways), but the 2nd wall shouldn't be hard at all if your party is up-to-standards.

 

[Opa-Pa]

my 1st time playing and i keep getting crushed by a wall... i run away from the 1st and the second one kills me. help!

First wall isn't meant to be killed the first time unless you have a couple specific setups I think, but I didn't have any trouble with it. Just use your best three attackers and forget about healing.

 

[TheCed]

my 1st time playing and i keep getting crushed by a wall... i run away from the 1st and the second one kills me. help!

Are you touching the flames on the sides to stop him ?

 

[Vyse The Legend]

my 1st time playing and i keep getting crushed by a wall... i run away from the 1st and the second one kills me. help!

In the second Wall fight, you can activate the fire pits along the side to make it stop for a few seconds (all except the last one, which accelerates it).

 

[cpp_is_king]

Are you really underleveled/behind on the license boards/haven't upgraded your gear?

The 1st wall pretty much can't be killed unless you cheese it in some way (there are many ways), but the 2nd wall shouldn't be hard at all if your party is up-to-standards.

You mean at all, or when you first get to it? Because I killed it pretty easily when I came back there a little bit later. It wasn't even that much later, maybe a couple of hours tops and a few minor weapon upgrades.

 

[AmethystEnd]

You mean at all, or when you first get to it? Because I killed it pretty easily when I came back there a little bit later. It wasn't even that much later, maybe a couple of hours tops and a few minor weapon upgrades.

When you first get to it.

I wrecked it with reflect/aero spam on the first meeting but even if that's a real mechanic, I consider it cheesing.

 

[Shahed]

Got the Bestiary trophy. Only need to finish the game now and I'm done with everything

On the whole I really liked the game, and I did appreciate it a lot more this time around. The more mature cast and story was very much appreciated, and the game not treating you like an imbecile was nice. I liked the little puzzles you got around like say the stuff in Sochen Cave Palace, Feywood and the way to spawn and find certain Hunts and Rare monsters by talking to NPC's and reading the related Bestiary entries. The Gambit system remains one of my favourite mechanics in an RPG I've ever encountered. The job system adds a lot strategic and planning depth. Playing the game I was surprised at how it didn't really feel dated at all. In fact it was probably ahead of it's time and a precurser to the modern open world RPG, but also having so much more depth. If FFXIII as we know it with Lightning and all was in actuality FFXII and released on PS2, and this game was FFXIII and made on PS4, the franchise as we know it would have been in a far healthier position and better appreciated.

However I do still feel it has the same problems when i played the original. The last part of the game falls apart (after Giruvegan). While I did like the story and the cast, there could have added a bit more of a personal touch to it. In the overal goal/journey and the interplay between the members. Like why were Vaan and Penelo even there bar the odd word of reassurence and confidence Vaan gave Ashe? Some of the stuff is unnecesarily obtrusive. Like I'm perfectly fine with and happy the game doesn't hand me things on a silver plate, but some of the % chances for the possibility to obtain % chance to get a one off item feels stupid. By all means do it for things like Zodiac Spear, chests in Necrohol and Cerobi Steppe and the invisible stuff. But not for like the only Ribbon or Nihopalaoa, and especially not for unique Technicks and Magick. I'm the type of person who likes to fully explore every area once to make sure I don't miss anything, and that works in pretty much every game I've played. That is except this one where even if I've explored to make sure not to miss a chest, there's a good chance said chest wasn't even there, or didn't hold the rigtht item at the time.

It's disappointing because bar the last chapters and some other niggly bits, the rest of the game is absolutely fantastic, and a joy to play for like 80% of it. FFXII should be among the upper echelons in the franchise and near my favourites behind only VII and VI. It's a shame the quality isn't maintained throughout, but I still really like this game and I'd love more FF's in the world of Ivalice

 

[davidwhangchoi]

Are you really underleveled/behind on the license boards/haven't upgraded your gear?

The 1st wall pretty much can't be killed unless you cheese it in some way (there are many ways), but the 2nd wall shouldn't be hard at all if your party is up-to-standards.

yeah, I haven't upgraded weapons or touched the zodiac jobs besides the tutorial. Just been running through grinding to level 13 each character. FF15 I never touched the upgrade grid and beat it. So I just stopped looking at the menu for 12 and played. =P
I did alter the gambits for one fight to attack the leaders in the airship against the judges but changed it back to defaults after.

First wall isn't meant to be killed the first time unless you have a couple specific setups I think, but I didn't have any trouble with it. Just use your best three attackers and forget about healing.

Man I think I need to use the zodiac system. I tried so many times but got crushed.

Are you touching the flames on the sides to stop him ?

yeah but still too weak.

In the second Wall fight, you can activate the fire pits along the side to make it stop for a few seconds (all except the last one, which accelerates it).

there's a few torches before the last also accelerate the wall.

 

[Fisty]

yeah, I haven't upgraded weapons or touched the zodiac jobs besides the tutorial. Just been running through grinding to level 13 each character. FF15 I never touched the upgrade grid and beat it. So I just stopped looking at the menu for 12 and played. =P
I did alter the gambits for one fight to attack the leaders in the airship against the judges but changed it back to defaults after.



Man I think I need to use the zodiac system. I tried so many times but got crushed.
yeah but still too weak.
there's a few torches before the last also accelerate the wall.

Yeah the Demon Wall was the point I got to before I realized I couldn't progress without using the license board. I was even way overleveled at that point but I still couldn't take him down in time without spending that LP. Let me know if you manage to slip past without committing to jobs!

 

[Cess007]

Are you touching the flames on the sides to stop him ?

Wait, what? You can stop him?

 

[AmethystEnd]

yeah, I haven't upgraded weapons or touched the zodiac jobs besides the tutorial. Just been running through grinding to level 13 each character. FF15 I never touched the upgrade grid and beat it. So I just stopped looking at the menu for 12 and played. =P
I did alter the gambits for one fight to attack the leaders in the airship against the judges but changed it back to defaults after.

....yyyyyyeah....well, we found your problem.

 

[TheCed]

Wait, what? You can stop him?

For a short amount of time, yes.

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

Beat the final boss with little effort at level 50. Square sure loves their longwinded cutscene boss super attacks. I liked the "actiony" part of the ending, but the second half where they said what happened after was crap. I really enjoyed the game overall, but I don't really care about any of these characters or what happens to them.....

Spoiler

especially when the answer is "not much happened in the next year. Ashe was distant and vacant, Fran we won't tell you but it was probably as Balthier's appendage, Penelo is Van's appendage, Balthier totally did stuff offscreen (leading man!), and Basch is the same insignificant beta forevermore".

 

[dustytruly]

UGHHHH so i went to find the zodiac spear and it's

Spoiler

NOT THERE

and then i went to find the hidden merchant in the necropolis and it's

Spoiler

ALSO NOT THERE WTF

I feel so lost in this new version of the game i used to love lol

 

[mstevens]

I'm a bit stumped on the cartography trophy. I've crossed checked my maps with maps online and I've definitely "been" in every section. Do I need to purchase the maps even if I've explored them fully? I am missing a couple of those so that might be it.

 

[Shahed]

I'm a bit stumped on the cartography trophy. I've crossed checked my maps with maps online and I've definitely "been" in every section. Do I need to purchase the maps even if I've explored them fully? I am missing a couple of those so that might be it.

Have you done Hell Wyrm? It unlocked for me once I went in there to fight him

 

[mstevens]

Have you done Hell Wyrm? It unlocked for me once I went in there to fight him

Yup, fought him a couple hours ago. Just went and did the very bottom of Pharos as well.

I'm thinking it has to be the fact that I didn't buy a couple maps, otherwise I'm not sure what else I could have missed.

 

[Shahed]

Yup, fought him a couple hours ago. Just went and did the very bottom of Pharos as well.

I'm thinking it has to be the fact that I didn't buy a couple maps, otherwise I'm not sure what else I could have missed.

I'm pretty sure it isn't maps since I never bought them all, I think you have to go in every room/area ar least once though. So there can be grey smidges here and there, but an entire section or room itself can't be grey. Did you get the Sandalwood Chop and go into the extra area in Archades?

 

[Xevren]

Yup, fought him a couple hours ago. Just went and did the very bottom of Pharos as well.

I'm thinking it has to be the fact that I didn't buy a couple maps, otherwise I'm not sure what else I could have missed.

I was missing the small hidden section at the end of Lhusu mines, maybe check there?

 

[Burbeting]

I'm a bit stumped on the cartography trophy. I've crossed checked my maps with maps online and I've definitely "been" in every section. Do I need to purchase the maps even if I've explored them fully? I am missing a couple of those so that might be it.

Have you explored the Arcade in Archades?

 

[mstevens]

Yup I did the secret 28 chop area and I'm pretty sure I filled in all of the Lhusu mines. Don't want to derail the thread too much.. I'll keep looking. I'll probably go ahead and try to buy all the maps anyway to help pinpoint what I'm missing.

edit: Yeah I had site 6 north in Lhusu. Hmmmm.

edit 2: Of course I was missing an obvious chunk of Barheim passage.

 

[Yasuraka]

Trying to get the trial mode trophy.... keep dying on trial 90. Aside from that I certainly don't remember the traps that are scattered absolutely everywhere in the main game being quite so brutal /fume

 

[Jolkien]

Trying to get the trial mode trophy.... keep dying on trial 90. Aside from that I certainly don't remember the traps that are scattered absolutely everywhere in the main game being quite so brutal /fume

Remember you can use float to run over them

 

[Perineum]

I completed the big city dungeon that is at the end of the feywood and the big reveal at the end of it was pretty cool.

Everyone is about level 45 at this point so I can only imagine I'm nearing 1 or 2 dungeons before the main story is done.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Finally got Protectga, man, that place is annoying. Traps everywhere, MP sapping enemies, ahhh.

 

[Meowster]

Gabranth probably has the most "complete" arc of all the characters in XII, no?

 

[aadiboy]

Gabranth probably has the most "complete" arc of all the characters in XII, no?

There's a reason why he's the logo of XII, he represents so much of the game's core themes.

 

[ULTROS!]

Since I got the platinum, here's what I think of the game now:

The game overall is a decent game and much better than what I've initially played from (vanilla FFXII on PS2), certainly has much more content than FFXIII, probably one of the most in the FF series, but I feel like this game should have been released on PS3/PS4. The latest additions in The Zodiac Age makes the games much more palatable.

When I first played it on the PS2, it felt a bit awkward and something I'm not accustomed to when experience JRPGs, especially FF. I think I had the mindset of FF looking like FFVIII and FFX. FFXII was an outlier when it came to JRPG designs if I compared them to the PS2 JRPGs. Now fast forward to the present and a lot of JRPGs have evolved since, I feel like this game fit right into this generation.

For the positives:
- Incredibly strong start of the game and it's very much detailed. Rabanastre seems fully realized and the areas near it.
- The lore is very interesting and has a lot of potential, the world is rich in details.
- There's a lot of things to do in this game and has a boatload of content.
- Areas are seamless and the worlds connect well (unlike in FFXIII, the connection of the maps seem... Abrupt).
- The Zodiac Job System is pretty good. It allows you to plot what you want to focus on the job and you can set what jobs you want for the other members. It gives the characters all a purpose and it doesn't make them identical unlike in the vanilla FFXII.

Now for the negatives:
- ... Unfortunately the part past Tomb of Raithwall becomes linear and it feels like it cut corners because I didn't seem to get to know the other areas well enough and it feels like I breezed past through them.
- ... But the lore doesn't seem fully realized in this game. I feel like I'm just a small part of a bigger epic and I'm not seeing other things.
- The RNG component is crazy especially if you're aiming for the platinum or a 100% completion. So many things rely on luck too like the concurrences and the item spawning (trying to get Wither was not fun).
- Some rare game hunts are poorly designed because getting them requires very specific conditions (which of course, require looking at guides). Unless of course I missed out on hints how to get them...
- The Great Crystal is not a good stage because there is no map and the stage is hard to navigate because the areas look the same.
- Lack of development of Vaan and especially Penelo, and the group dynamic is near non-existent. It feels like the only ones who talk to each other are Basch, Balthier, Fran, and Ashe. Vaan talks to Ashe from time to time, Penelo barely seems to interact with the party.

Overall I really like this game and it's much better for me now than FFXIII (do note I do like FFXIII namely because of the battle system and the aesthetics). It doesn't top my favorite FFs which are IV, VI, VII, IX, X, XV but it's a great game that I immensely enjoyed that has its faults, just like every FF game.

 

[rpg_fan]

I came within a sliver of killing Ultima with levels from 49-54. Soooo close, but ran out of phoenix downs. Guess I'll be back at some point.

 

[Jinfash]

Beside haste, I don't feel like I'm utilizing time magic at all. Any Gambit tips for the bread and butter of this job?

 

[aadiboy]

- ... But the lore doesn't seem fully realized in this game. I feel like I'm just a small part of a bigger epic and I'm not seeing other things.

That's what I love about this game...it actually has a living, breathing world outside of the main story. Think about FFX, for example. The lore is really bare bones and just the minimum needed to explain the story. FFXII's lore gives insight into cultures, races, the economy of each region, back stories of bosses, politics, and more. There's an entire world of possibilities for Ivalice that can't fit into one game. Meanwhile, the worlds of most other Final Fantasys are sucked dry of all potential in one game.

 

[TurnipFritters]

Beside haste, I don't feel like I'm utilizing time magic at all. Any Gambit tips for the bread and butter of this job?

Foe Status Haste -> Slow
Party Leader -> Float/Floatga

I guess Bleed and Break are fine, but honestly your Black Mage's Bio spell will be better for dealing damage + inflicting sap.

For the positives:
- Areas are seamless and the worlds connect well (unlike in FF, the connection of the maps seem... Abrupt).

I love the way the jungle that's so dense it might as well be a cave empties out into a snow-covered mountain.

 

[Corran Horn]

Any tips and methodologies to cheese level 100? I know the Nica-something will help I heard.

Sorry didn't see this. Basically I use that equipment you were saying, remedy everyone then had Zodiark summoned over and over and had him do his ultimate technique over and over (need elixirs for this to work) until there was two left, slept the one judge that kept on using elixirs on gabranth and focus fired until all dead.

Beside haste, I don't feel like I'm utilizing time magic at all. Any Gambit tips for the bread and butter of this job?

Haste party before big battles (Hastega when you get it later is nice) and Party Any Float is a godsend later on in the game in dungeons/locations since there are so many deadly/annoying traps. I also have my Time mage/Ulhan as my tank so he casts Bubble/Decoy alot as well but thats Green Magic he has access to.