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

Sanctuary

Member
Is it weird that I reached Tomb of Raithwall and still not using my black magic user?

And when do I get the option to give my party a second job?

Make Archer the second job of your Black Mage. Get a
Burning Bow. +50% fire damage)
and they will become your MVP. Cast Oil first with someone else for even more overkill. It's such a strong combination that you really only ever need 1-2 gambits for damage, and only change (or just shut them off and manually cast) against fire absorbing enemies. It's so strong that it can even do about as much as other elemental weaknesses an enemy has. Fira/Firaga will pretty much be all you'll ever need the majority of the time. Aeroga has its uses, as does Scathe (it's very slow), but not nearly as much.
 

silva1991

Member
So this's my first time playing the game and I feel like I'm struggling. I just reached nam yensa sandsea and I'm out of potion and only have one ether. Is there any merchant nearby or am I fucked?

Yes there is, but I barely used potions there and never used ether.

Do you actually have a healer in the party? you shouldn't really be needing potions at that point if you have a healer. I almost fully explored that area yesterday.

Make Archer the second job of your Black Mage. Get a
Burning Bow. +50% fire damage)
and they will become your MVP. Cast Oil first with someone else for even more overkill. It's such a strong combination that you really only ever need 1-2 gambits for damage, and only change (or just shut them off and manually cast) against fire absorbing enemies. It's so strong that it can even do about as much as other elemental weaknesses an enemy has.

thanks for the tip! I'll keep that in mind.
 

Kolx

Member
Yes there is, but I barely used potions there and never used ether.

Do you actually have a healer in the party? you shouldn't really be needing potions at that point if you have a healer. I almost fully explored that area yesterday.

Yeah and I put her healing ability 1st in the gambit but her MP drains so fast *_* I feel like the problem is not with healing but that I'm not finishing enemies soon enough so I just take huge damage and my healer can't keep up. I don't use magic since I still don't have any order in my gambit so I depends primary on my physical damage. Most of my party weapons dps is 30-35 and levels 15-17 now which I don't know if it's enough or not.
 

Vashetti

Banned
So this's my first time playing the game and I feel like I'm struggling. I just reached nam yensa sandsea and I'm out of potion and only have one ether. Is there any merchant nearby or am I fucked?

Can you give more description?

Have you chosen jobs for your characters and applied their points?
What levels are your characters?
Have you bought up-to-date weapons and armour?

The main story isn't difficult at all, you shouldn't be struggling.
 

Kolx

Member
Can you give more description?

Have you chosen jobs for your characters and applied their points?
What levels are your characters?
Have you bought up-to-date weapons and armour?

The main story isn't difficult at all, you shouldn't be struggling.

Yeah, Vaan as knight, Balthier as Shikari, Fran as White Mage, Basch as Archer, Ashe as Red Mage, and Penelo as Uhlan. Distributed my points mainly depending on the gear I could buy from merchant. Levels 15-17 and weapons 30-35 in dps which I bought from the most recent merchant I found,
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Yeah, Vaan as knight, Balthier as Shikari, Fran as White Mage, Basch as Archer, Ashe as Red Mage, and Penelo as Uhlan. Distributed my points mainly depending on the gear I could buy from merchant. Levels 15-17 and weapons 30-35 in dps which I bought from the most recent merchant I found,

You shouldn't be having much trouble at all with those levels and set-up. You've got a decent mix of healing abilities and DPS. Maybe backtrack and find a save crystal?
 

silva1991

Member
Yeah and I put her healing ability 1st in the gambit but her MP drains so fast *_* I feel like the problem is not with healing but that I'm not finishing enemies soon enough so I just take huge damage and my healer can't keep up. I don't use magic since I still don't have any order in my gambit so I depends primary on my physical damage. Most of my party weapons dps is 30-35 and levels 15-17 now which I don't know if it's enough or not.

Your level seems good to me. maybe you haven't bought new armor pieces for all of your active party members?
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Your level seems good to me. maybe you haven't bought new armor pieces for all of your active party members?

Honestly, I'm thinking it might be his gambit set-up. I was still rocking base armor for most of my guys at that point and was at lvl10. Might be using his healing spells when he's got too much HP left.

Could be team composition too.
 

Kolx

Member
Your level seems good to me. maybe you haven't bought new armor pieces for all of your active party members?

I didn't focus on armor as much as weapons since I didn't have enough gil but for most of my members I have level 2 or even level 3 armor.

Honestly, I'm thinking it might be his gambit set-up. I was still rocking base armor for most of my guys at that point and was at lvl10. Might be using his healing spells when he's got too much HP left.

Could be team composition too.

What would you recommend? is 50% fine because I feel like 30% is a bit too dangerous and the spell can't fill the hp anyway so It's not wasted.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
I didn't focus on armor as much as weapons since I didn't have enough gil but for most of my members I have level 2 or even level 3 armor.



What would you recommend? is 50% fine because I feel like 30% is a bit too dangerous and the spell can't fill the hp anyway so It's not wasted.

Yea, that's usually where I have it set. Are you using black magic spells?

What's your active 3 look like class-wise?
 

Kolx

Member
Yea, that's usually where I have it set. Are you using black magic spells?

What's your active 3 look like class-wise?

Not using any black magic even tho I have some. I only have one mage active which I use mainly for healing with a knight and an archer\shikari.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Not using any black magic even tho I have some. I only have one mage active which I use mainly for healing with a knight and an archer\shikari.

Your red mage (or black mage when you get it) should have gambits set up to cast black magic against monsters weak to a specific element. It'll let you make short work of most enemies.

It sounds like you just don't have enough DPS going.
 

Atlantis

Member
Make Archer the second job of your Black Mage. Get a
Burning Bow. +50% fire damage)
and they will become your MVP. Cast Oil first with someone else for even more overkill. It's such a strong combination that you really only ever need 1-2 gambits for damage, and only change (or just shut them off and manually cast) against fire absorbing enemies. It's so strong that it can even do about as much as other elemental weaknesses an enemy has. Fira/Firaga will pretty much be all you'll ever need the majority of the time. Aeroga has its uses, as does Scathe (it's very slow), but not nearly as much.

Should note that you don't need Archer for +50% fire damage, most of the Black Mage's staves boost elements in the same way.

Archer is nice for various items lores though.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Should note that you don't need Archer for +50% fire damage, most of the Black Mage's staves boost elements in the same way.

Archer is nice for various items lores though.

I mainly went with the class because the bow is easy enough to get, but primarily because I don't want anyone in melee range if they don't have to be (I have a gambit for them to simply attack while reflect is up), especially if they have less HP. You don't always want to waste time or MP on Decoy. Oil also doesn't boost any other element. That makes fire alone the most damaging.
 
Uhh... did you spend that whole time grinding, or what? That is not normal

I had both boards maxed for all characters as soon as I received the first Esper, with levels in the low to mid thirties. In terms of campaign progress, I've just arrived in Jahara and my party's average level is 55. I don't think I've been doing much grinding, or at least I haven't gone out my way to grind. I've just been exploring new regions and unlocking entries in the Beastiary.

I'm currently looking for sweet loot in the Necrohol after taking a long detour from Jahara. I made it as far as Trial 79 with my current gear. I need some upgrades to take it further. What kind of treasure can I find and should look out for in the Necrohol?
 

Quonny

Member
Uhh... did you spend that whole time grinding, or what? That is not normal

Not really, I only had one grinding session for maybe like 20 minutes. Just been playing the game normally.

But at 4x speed. I don't think I've had to 'manually' play the game once nor slow it down. I don't remember the game being this easy.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
I had both boards maxed for all characters as soon as I received the first Esper, with levels in the low to mid thirties. In terms of campaign progress, I've just arrived in Jahara and my party's average level is 55. I don't think I've been doing much grinding, or at least I haven't gone out my way to grind. I've just been exploring new regions and unlocking entries in the Beastiary.

I'm currently looking for sweet loot in the Necrohol after taking a long detour from Jahara. I made it as far as Trial 79 with my current gear. I need some upgrades to take it further. What kind of treasure can I find and should look out for in the Necrohol?

That is like 30 levels above normal. You've definitely been grinding like crazy.
 
That is like 30 levels above normal. You've definitely been grinding like crazy.

I've mostly gone through each map/region with the intent of completing the Beastiary entries before moving on, not levelling. I too have been playing at 4x speed though, so maybe I just haven't noticed the grind as I'm making more progress in a shorter amount of time.

If I'm 30 levels above the average though, then I'm definitely guilty as charged.
 
I've mostly gone through each map/region with the intent of completing the Beastiary entries before moving on, not levelling. I too have been playing at 4x speed though, so maybe I just haven't noticed the grind as I'm making more progress in a shorter amount of time.

If I'm 30 levels above the average though, then I'm definitely guilty as charged.

That still sounds like grinding.
 
I hadn't gone out of my way to try and get the Mistwalker trophy, but I did spend forty minutes messing around with Quickenings because I was tossing up Giruvegan or Nabudis, and thought I should get a bit less shit with Quickenings! (I never got my head around them when I played FFXII back in the day.)

I did have Black Hole pop-up, but I messed up two prior attempts in selecting a quickening over a mist charge, otherwise I think I could have gotten it earlier. Black Hole tips - nothing that hasn't been said by others before, but anyway! Prioritize mist charges, prioritize the higher level quickenings (ie. start with the three-bar ones) so you'll have mist charges pop up more often, keep fingers in a delightful claw position on triangle/square/cross so it's quicker to press. I actually did have to shuffle and still got Black Hole, so it's possible to shuffle and still have a chance. You're obviously going to have a better time of it if you have more level three quickenings show up early on. I never found that button mashing worked for me - caused more problems than it helped - but it's worked for others, so-!

Onwards to Nabudis!
 

Astral Dog

Member
I really want to hear impressions from first-timers. FFXII holds a special place in my heart and I know a ton of people skipped it because PS3 and FFX being "the last good FF".
I just want to say, first impressions, this is unlike any FF before or after, the tone is more like a focus on politics and the story despite being simple is engaging.

But more like "Final Fantasy" it feels like a different kind of rpg on purpose, that tries to break conventions and surprise fans.

XII Is definetly not the first thing that comes to mind whenmost people of FF though, so YMMV
 

Jharp

Member
Why the shit is Vaan missing every single goddamn hit? For a good chunk of the game, he was totally unable to hit anything. Like 90% of his attacks were misses. It was fucking infuriating because it rendered him useless. Not only was he not doing damage, but he wasn't drawing aggro in order to act as my tank.
Then it miraculously changed for some odd reason.
Now it's back to being shit again. What gives?
Vaan
Lvl: 43
Foebreaker/Shikari
AP: 100
DEF: 49
Mag. RES: 35
EVD: 22
Mag. EVD: 0
STR: 73
Mag. PWR: 49
VIT: 40
SPD: 30
Weapon: Morning Star
Off-Hand: Dragon Shield
Helm: Platinum Helm
Armor: Platinum Armor
Accessory: Changes depending on situation
What am I doing wrong here, guys?
 

Kolx

Member
How much is there left after Judge
Bergan
? Went on to finish some some hunting quest and currently at 14 finished. Also fuck the dry\rain stupid Giza Plains. Who thought that was a good idea?

About the OP bow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s97POHkYGo

Does this only work before going to the Tomb of Raithwall? I've been doing this for more than 2 hours and it's not working for me. Frustrating as fuck.

I tried this for one hour, didn't work. There's another way where you make a new save to help with the RNG and don't have to do the whole 20s exactly bullshit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQHeDOX4SAc&t=272s
 
Why the shit is Vaan missing every single goddamn hit? For a good chunk of the game, he was totally unable to hit anything. Like 90% of his attacks were misses. It was fucking infuriating because it rendered him useless. Not only was he not doing damage, but he wasn't drawing aggro in order to act as my tank.
Then it miraculously changed for some odd reason.
Now it's back to being shit again. What gives?
Vaan
Lvl: 43
Foebreaker/Shikari
AP: 100
DEF: 49
Mag. RES: 35
EVD: 22
Mag. EVD: 0
STR: 73
Mag. PWR: 49
VIT: 40
SPD: 30
Weapon: Morning Star
Off-Hand: Dragon Shield
Helm: Platinum Helm
Armor: Platinum Armor
Accessory: Changes depending on situation
What am I doing wrong here, guys?

Axe suck. Their damage range jump too much. Use Ninja Blade or Daggers.
 
Why the shit is Vaan missing every single goddamn hit? For a good chunk of the game, he was totally unable to hit anything. Like 90% of his attacks were misses. It was fucking infuriating because it rendered him useless. Not only was he not doing damage, but he wasn't drawing aggro in order to act as my tank.
Then it miraculously changed for some odd reason.
Now it's back to being shit again. What gives?
Vaan
Lvl: 43
Foebreaker/Shikari
AP: 100
DEF: 49
Mag. RES: 35
EVD: 22
Mag. EVD: 0
STR: 73
Mag. PWR: 49
VIT: 40
SPD: 30
Weapon: Morning Star
Off-Hand: Dragon Shield
Helm: Platinum Helm
Armor: Platinum Armor
Accessory: Changes depending on situation
What am I doing wrong here, guys?

Stay away from hammers and axes. They suck.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Yeah those weapons are shit. Give a Shikari a Dagger or Ninja sword. I've never used Axes, Hammers and those self hitting things White Mages have.
 
Someone got a guide to where I can unlock magicks/technicks as early as possible. Either trial mode or regular. I want to be OP as soon as possible and rush throug trial so I can start weak mode.
 
Is this truly the only answer you can give me?

That there's just an entire class of weapon in the game that's totally and utterly designed to be useless and miss every single hit?

WHY?!
They don't miss though... The damage is just more random because instead of having a, say, a 700-900 range, they have a 1-11200 range. My SHI/FOE used axes and hammer often and I rarely ever missed. Hit for 10 damage wasn't unusual lol but actual misses not noticeably different than others.

Plus, the top hammer is probably the #3 or 4 highest overall DPS in the game on Yiazmat or Trial 100.

If you're missing that much it sounds like a bug... I heard a couple people describe 90% missing before, Ashe in Phon Coast or something. You should never actually "miss" more than like 5%....

AFAIK only things that cause you to miss much are bad weather for ranged weapons or blind.
 

Jharp

Member
They don't miss though... The damage is just more random because instead of having a, say, a 700-900 range, they have a 1-11200 range. My SHI/FOE used axes and hammer often and I rarely ever missed. Hit for 10 damage wasn't unusual lol but actual misses not noticeably different than others.

Plus, the top hammer is probably the #3 or 4 highest overall DPS in the game on Yiazmat or Trial 100.

If you're missing that much it sounds like a bug... I heard a couple people describe 90% missing before, Ashe in Phon Coast or something. You should never actually "miss" more than like 5%....

AFAIK only things that cause you to miss much are bad weather for ranged weapons or blind.

Okay, then, yeah, it's not the weapon. It's gotta be something else. Literally about a 90-95% miss rate, even on creates in Dry Giza Plains (I ran down there to mob up a few clan hunts).

Maybe it is a bug, but it happened consistently before, then stopped, and then happened again. Seems to happen as I acquire new weapons for him. I think it happened with daggers too before I got into maces/axes, but maybe I'm misremembering. I'm trying to get a hold of a ninja sword right now, but I get the feeling it will keep happening.

It has to be something related to gear/class/stats/licenses.

It'd be weird that a bug happened so consistently with multiple parameters.

I can record it in action if need be.
 
Okay, then, yeah, it's not the weapon. It's gotta be something else. Literally about a 90-95% miss rate, even on creates in Dry Giza Plains (I ran down there to mob up a few clan hunts).

Maybe it is a bug, but it happened consistently before, then stopped, and then happened again. Seems to happen as I acquire new weapons for him. I think it happened with daggers too before I got into maces/axes, but maybe I'm misremembering. I'm trying to get a hold of a ninja sword right now, but I get the feeling it will keep happening.

It has to be something related to gear/class/stats/licenses.

It'd be weird that a bug happened so consistently with multiple parameters.

I can record it in action if need be.
Dumb question but: You aren't blinded, right?
 

Jharp

Member
Does it persist in Trial Mode?

Haven't even tried, but I'll give it a shot and report back. I'm about to test it with a ninja sword vs my mace, and see what happens. Also, and I hope this doesn't sound hyperbolic because it's not, my other melee party members WITH blind hit more often than vaan currently is. Vaan lands maybe one hit in three or four fights. I'm not fucking kidding.
 

Havok1313

Member
Haven't even tried, but I'll give it a shot and report back. I'm about to test it with a ninja sword vs my mace, and see what happens. Also, and I hope this doesn't sound hyperbolic because it's not, my other melee party members WITH blind hit more often than vaan currently is. Vaan lands maybe one hit in three or four fights. I'm not fucking kidding.

This needs a video or something, haha. You have to be missing something that's causing it. The only things that should cause misses are weather for ranged weapons, being blind, or trying to fight a flying enemy with short-range weapons. There are specific enemies that have very high evade/parry rates as well, but generally not normal fodder enemies.
 

Jharp

Member
Does it persist in Trial Mode?

This needs a video or something, haha. You have to be missing something that's causing it. The only things that should cause misses are weather for ranged weapons, being blind, or trying to fight a flying enemy with short-range weapons. There are specific enemies that have very high evade/parry rates as well, but generally not normal fodder enemies.


I just figured it out- I'm a fucking moron.

It's not a bug, it wasn't weather, it wasn't status effects, and it wasn't the enemy.

It was my gambits.

I currently have Vaan's first gambit set to steal, then the rest to various attacks. I didn't realize (because I wasn't reading the combat text in the upper left corner) that he wasn't attempting to attack. He was attempting to steal. I had assumed it was an attack because he makes the attack animation.

But no, he was trying to steal.

I just realized what a moron I am.

So now, new question: how do I effectively use the steal gambit without the game attempting to do it for every/most actions? Just set it later in my list of gambits? I like being able to steal off nearly every enemy I run across because that nets me some good gil.

Oh, and I discovered this by switching gambits off while testing the hit rate. I immediately began landing every hit. I'm a dumb dumb.
 
I just figured it out- I'm a fucking moron.

It's not a bug, it wasn't weather, it wasn't status effects, and it wasn't the enemy.

It was my gambits.

I currently have Vaan's first gambit set to steal, then the rest to various attacks. I didn't realize (because I wasn't reading the combat text in the upper left corner) that he wasn't attempting to attack. He was attempting to steal. I had assumed it was an attack because he makes the attack animation.

But no, he was trying to steal.

I just realized what a moron I am.

So now, new question: how do I effectively use the steal gambit without the game attempting to do it for every/most actions? Just set it later in my list of gambits? I like being able to steal off nearly every enemy I run across because that nets me some good gil.

Oh, and I discovered this by switching gambits off while testing the hit rate. I immediately began landing every hit. I'm a dumb dumb.
Set one party member to attack any enemy and Vaan to only steal from enemies with 100% HP.
 
I just figured it out- I'm a fucking moron.

It's not a bug, it wasn't weather, it wasn't status effects, and it wasn't the enemy.

It was my gambits.

I currently have Vaan's first gambit set to steal, then the rest to various attacks. I didn't realize (because I wasn't reading the combat text in the upper left corner) that he wasn't attempting to attack. He was attempting to steal. I had assumed it was an attack because he makes the attack animation.

But no, he was trying to steal.

I just realized what a moron I am.

So now, new question: how do I effectively use the steal gambit without the game attempting to do it for every/most actions? Just set it later in my list of gambits? I like being able to steal off nearly every enemy I run across because that nets me some good gil.

Oh, and I discovered this by switching gambits off while testing the hit rate. I immediately began landing every hit. I'm a dumb dumb.
Technically it's not the attack animation either :p

Not to rub salt on the wound, but Vaan's steal does a little grab with his hand, maybe even the shield hand if I recall. Vaan's hammer attack is a pretty wide swing and distinct haha.

But it's good haha at least it's not bugged. We all make mistakes. My friend made a similar mistake because misunderstood that Gambit priority was decreasing not increasing -- didn't know why they kept only using Attack and none of the spells below it.

Anyhow, good Steal Gambit is

Enemy HP = 100% -> Steal
Enemy: any = Attack

Then on 1-2 allies
Enemy HP = 100% -> Attack (or a nice spell you want to use once per battle like Dark or Fira)

Helps make your thief usually make 1-3 steal attempts per encounter.
 

Havok1313

Member
I just figured it out- I'm a fucking moron.

It's not a bug, it wasn't weather, it wasn't status effects, and it wasn't the enemy.

It was my gambits.

I currently have Vaan's first gambit set to steal, then the rest to various attacks. I didn't realize (because I wasn't reading the combat text in the upper left corner) that he wasn't attempting to attack. He was attempting to steal. I had assumed it was an attack because he makes the attack animation.

But no, he was trying to steal.

I just realized what a moron I am.

So now, new question: how do I effectively use the steal gambit without the game attempting to do it for every/most actions? Just set it later in my list of gambits? I like being able to steal off nearly every enemy I run across because that nets me some good gil.

Oh, and I discovered this by switching gambits off while testing the hit rate. I immediately began landing every hit. I'm a dumb dumb.

This is pretty funny, not gonna lie.

Definitely continue to make use of a steal gambit though. If you're stealing from every enemy you encounter, especially after you get Thief Gloves, you'll probably never have money problems through the whole game.
 

MrDaravon

Member
Fuck, I finally got Black Hole so now I feel obligated to go for the Platinum. I was planning on just beating it tonight and being done with it lol >_>

Haven't touched the Trials at all, I'm nearly at the end of the story with my characters all at ~60, License boards long maxed, and I've done all possible optional content up to his point with the exception of Omega and Zodiark. Only ~4-5 Hunts left, 2 (?) rare monsters for that sidequest etc. How long do you think it would take me to get the Platinum from this point? I figure I can probably beat the story in like 2 hours if that, so mostly looking at the last few hardcore hunts/bosses and then doing all of the Trials. Possibly worth noting I've gotten the "normal" hardcore stuff available at this point like the Yagyu, Murasame, Genji gear etc but haven't looked into or really cared about doing any of the crazy RNG manipulation stuff for that OP bow or shield or anything else that's available.

I was hoping to be done with this before Yakuza Kiwami came out, don't think that's gonna happen :(. Maybe if I go in hard all day tomorrow? I don't have any point of reference for how long the Trials will take, I'm assuming once I clear all of the main game content I could probably breeze through to the 90s on it pretty quick?
 

Jharp

Member
what's the recommended level for endgame? I just finished Giruvegan and I'm back in Balfonheim after receiving the treaty blade. At this point, I'd just like to mainline the rest of the game and skip ancillary quests and content. my team is all currently 47-49. I know final boss is 55.
 

Havok1313

Member
what's the recommended level for endgame? I just finished Giruvegan and I'm back in Balfonheim after receiving the treaty blade. At this point, I'd just like to mainline the rest of the game and skip ancillary quests and content. my team is all currently 47-49. I know final boss is 55.

You could mainline it and finish easily without grinding.
 
Any tips for surviving the Elemental trials?

Current accessory count: 3 ribbons, 1 bubble belt, 1 sage ring and 1 nihopalaoa.

Edit: Did it! Where do you get the rest of the breaks for Shikari?

Got crushed by the pirates. Any tips?

Edit2: Beat them with dispel and warp.
 

Corran Horn

May the Schwartz be with you
rhh0S9W.jpg



Finally finished the game. Already played IZJS prior but sure glad this HD release came out, such a great game.
 
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