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

aett

Member
How is everyone setting up their Steal gambits? I only just unlocked the option to set your own, but in IZJS I believe I had something like "Enemies with equal to/less than 90% HP --> Attack" followed by "Enemies with 100% HP --> Steal". Lost my PS2 memory card, though, so I can't check.
 

Einhandr

Member
How is everyone setting up their Steal gambits? I only just unlocked the option to set your own, but in IZJS I believe I had something like "Enemies with equal to/less than 90% HP --> Attack" followed by "Enemies with 100% HP --> Steal". Lost my PS2 memory card, though, so I can't check.

There's a new gambit I think to IZJS/TZA where when paired with an action you will perform that action on every enemy in the group once. Seems maybe more efficient then the setup people normally use but I can't remember what the gambit condition reads like. I'll see if I can find it in an faq.

Edit: Can't seem to find it now. Maybe I dreamt it? I'll keep looking.
 

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
Yeah, I just don't think this one is for me. Everything about it except the opening cutscene has absolutely bored me to tears. I love the art and music, but everything else just isn't clicking with me.
 

Pejo

Member
Yeah, I just don't think this one is for me. Everything about it except the opening cutscene has absolutely bored me to tears. I love the art and music, but everything else just isn't clicking with me.

You try playing the game on 2x? I find myself using it a lot more than I expected to, to cut down travel time and battle time.
 

Rad-

Member
How is everyone setting up their Steal gambits? I only just unlocked the option to set your own, but in IZJS I believe I had something like "Enemies with equal to/less than 90% HP --> Attack" followed by "Enemies with 100% HP --> Steal". Lost my PS2 memory card, though, so I can't check.

That's the same what I'm using. Mine is:

Foe: HP < 90% -> Attack
Foe: HP = 100% -> Steal
Foe: Lowest HP -> Attack

It's weird how there isn't Foe: HP < 100% gambit.
 

Meowster

Member
Anyone else love the new music? I always thought the original soundtrack was good quality but the new/live instrumentation really brings these songs to life. I'd probably go as far to say that this game's soundtrack benefits the most out of all of Square Enix's reorchestrated soundtracks so far.
 

AndersK

Member
I went with

Vaan: Shikari / Foebreaker
Penelo: Black Mage / Monk

Any suggestions for remaining four?

If you must have Balthier with guns (i know i do) then Machinist/White mage is pretty good.
I have the same setup as you, aditionally:

Fran: Archer/Red Mage - Fran has to run bows with me for lore reasons, luckily Red mage gets Ardor, a sick flame spell that is boosted by The Burning Bow. Aditionally Fran has White magic 1 naturally, which helps Red Mage since it doesn't learn cure.

Ashe: Knight/Time mage - Ashe has excellent stats for all roles, but higher magic growth. She'll be a physical powerhouse and gain access to higher level white magic later due to Knight. Her high magic will help getting time magick off too. It also fixes the hole i create by making Balthier a healer, since she'll support him well

Basch: Bushi/Uhlan: Basch has bad magic and vitality (vit is good for a breaker) and high combo speed with katanas. Uhlan will give him more versatility and even more strengh.
 

Zaverious

Member
Vaan - Shikari/Red Battlemage
Balthier - Machinist/Black Mage
Fran - Archer/Uhlan
Basch - Knight/Foebreaker
Ashe - White Mage/Bushi
Penelo - Time Battlemage/Monk

Sounds good I guess
 

Rookhelm

Member
I'm not trying to fit with Lore, and based on a couple guides I've seen about optimized builds (basically I'm trying to optimize, as well as get high DPS), this is what i've come up with

Vaan - Shikari/Bushi
Basch - Bushi/Knight
Ashe - Black Mage/Monk
Penelo - Black Mage/Red Battlemage
Fran - Machinist/White Mage
Balthier - Uhlan/Time Battlemage



Anything glaring? I see a lot of people using Foebreaker which I don't have listed above. Should i fit that in somewhere?
 

Pejo

Member
Hmm, I think I'm going to end up with this:

Vaan - Red Mage/Archer
Fran - White Mage/Machinist
Balthan - Shiki/Breaker
Baschan - Samurai/Monk
Ashean - Black mage/Spearperson
Penelan - Knight/Time Mage.

I'm sure my group falls apart for the highest end content, but at least I represent all the jobs and can safely forget about Penelo like a usual FFXII playthrough.
 

Bluenoser

Member
How is everyone setting up their Steal gambits? I only just unlocked the option to set your own, but in IZJS I believe I had something like "Enemies with equal to/less than 90% HP --> Attack" followed by "Enemies with 100% HP --> Steal". Lost my PS2 memory card, though, so I can't check.

"Foe HP=100% -> steal" is probably the most optimal. For attack gambits, non boss, I go with:

Foe - Lowest HP - attack (for leader) - this focuses on the weakest first
Foe- Party Leader's Target - attack (for other party members) this makes sure they focus on the target I'm attacking
Plus I will give them
Foe - Nearest visible - attack (in case as leader I'm not targeting anything)

That's the same what I'm using. Mine is:

Foe: HP < 90% -> Attack
Foe: HP = 100% -> Steal
Foe: Lowest HP -> Attack

It's weird how there isn't Foe: HP < 100% gambit.

That's actually a good idea, to keep your stealer from running off stealing from every 100% HP foe. Gonna try that.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Ashe: Monk or Black Mage first?

Leaning towards Monk as you don't get powerful spells until later anyway.
 

Jennipeg

Member
I'm seriously over thinking these jobs, I need to decide now to avoid agonising every time a new party member appears.

I'm thinking....

Vaan - Shikari/Bushi
Penelo - Black mage/Red mage
Balthier - Uhlan/Time mage
Basch- Bushi/Knight
Fran- White mage/Machinist

I'm torn about Ashe, I guess the obvious is Black mage/Monk, but I picture her using a sword, but she has high magic stats and I don't want to waste them. I just don't know what to do with her.

If you must have Balthier with guns (i know i do) then Machinist/White mage is pretty good.
I have the same setup as you, aditionally:

Fran: Archer/Red Mage - Fran has to run bows with me for lore reasons, luckily Red mage gets Ardor, a sick flame spell that is boosted by The Burning Bow. Aditionally Fran has White magic 1 naturally, which helps Red Mage since it doesn't learn cure.

Ashe: Knight/Time mage - Ashe has excellent stats for all roles, but higher magic growth. She'll be a physical powerhouse and gain access to higher level white magic later due to Knight. Her high magic will help getting time magick off too. It also fixes the hole i create by making Balthier a healer, since she'll support him well

Basch: Bushi/Uhlan: Basch has bad magic and vitality (vit is good for a breaker) and high combo speed with katanas. Uhlan will give him more versatility and even more strengh.

Hmmm, now I'm thinking

Vaan - Shikari/Bushi
Penelo - Black mage/Monk
Balthier - White mage/Machinist
Basch- Bushi/Knight
Fran- Archer/Red mage
Ashe - Time mage/Knight

Arghhh! why can't I decide?
 
If you must have Balthier with guns (i know i do) then Machinist/White mage is pretty good.
I have the same setup as you, aditionally:

Fran: Archer/Red Mage - Fran has to run bows with me for lore reasons, luckily Red mage gets Ardor, a sick flame spell that is boosted by The Burning Bow. Aditionally Fran has White magic 1 naturally, which helps Red Mage since it doesn't learn cure.

Ashe: Knight/Time mage - Ashe has excellent stats for all roles, but higher magic growth. She'll be a physical powerhouse and gain access to higher level white magic later due to Knight. Her high magic will help getting time magick off too. It also fixes the hole i create by making Balthier a healer, since she'll support him well

Basch: Bushi/Uhlan: Basch has bad magic and vitality (vit is good for a breaker) and high combo speed with katanas. Uhlan will give him more versatility and even more strengh.

You and I have the exact same setup, except I swapped Ashe's and Basch's roles. Couldn't see him as anything but a knight lol
 

Lusankya

Member
Wait, what now?!

Depending on the board some or all of the four Quickenings unlock extra abilities. When you unlock e.g. Quickening 1 on your first board it is also unlocked on the second board of the character.

With some job combinations you can unlock all extra abilities when using the correct three quickenings, but e.g. on the Hunter board you need to decide which three of the four abilities you want to unlock.
 

Zesh

Member
What's the effect of doubling up on jobs (like making both Ashe and Penelo Black Mages)? Will their license boards affect each other at all (I seem to recall something about Quickenings being unique)?
 

Kensuke

Member
What's the effect of doubling up on jobs (like making both Ashe and Penelo Black Mages)? Will their license boards affect each other at all (I seem to recall something about Quickenings being unique)?

The only bad thing with doubling up is that you can only allocate espers once. So, for example, only 1 Knight can unlock the healing spells it can get through espers.
 

ObsidianG

Member
I went with

Vaan: Shikari / Foebreaker
Penelo: Black Mage / Monk

Any suggestions for remaining four?

Based on previous posts, and assuming that you want to use all 12 jobs, some popular options could be:

Bushi/Knight (Basch)
Time Battlemage / White Mage (Ashe)
Ulhan / Machinist (Balthier: OK, not necessarily popular, but I love this combo for him as it replicates his sky pirate class in WOTL)
Red Mage / Archer (Fran, good for Ardor + Burning Bow)

Alternatively, you could try

Bushi / Ulhan (Basch)
Knight / Time Battlemage (Ashe)
Machinist / White Mage (Balthier)
Red Mage / Archer (Fran)
 

Lumination

'enry 'ollins
I'm seriously over thinking these jobs, I need to decide now to avoid agonising every time a new party member appears.

I'm thinking....

Vaan - Shikari/Bushi
Penelo - Black mage/Red mage
Balthier - Uhlan/Time mage
Basch- Bushi/Knight
Fran- White mage/Machinist

I'm torn about Ashe, I guess the obvious is Black mage/Monk, but I picture her using a sword, but she has high magic stats and I don't want to waste them. I just don't know what to do with her.



Hmmm, now I'm thinking

Vaan - Shikari/Bushi
Penelo - Black mage/Monk
Balthier - White mage/Machinist
Basch- Bushi/Knight
Fran- Archer/Red mage
Ashe - Time mage/Knight

Arghhh! why can't I decide?
I personally liked the Machinist/White Mage combo myself.
re: Ashe idk why but I feel that poles fit her quite well from a stylistic perspective. She's got the taller build for the longer weapons imo. And yeah black mage to use that high mag.
 

JJShadow

Member
So I've finally decided to go for this job configuration:

Vaan - Samurai/Breaker
Penelo - Black Mage/Monk
Basch - Hunter/Knight
Balthier - Machinist/White Mage
Ashe - Time Mage/Uhlan
Fran - Red Mage/Archer

I'm planning on using all the characters almost equally. Any suggestion to improve it?
 
Finally figured out my set up.

Vaan: shik/breaker
Penelo: machinist/whm
Basch: sam/knight
ashe: blm/mnk
Fran: arc/rdm
bal: time/uhlan

Get all 12 jobs that way.
 

Kensuke

Member
So I've finally decided to go for this job configuration:

Vaan - Samurai/Breaker
Penelo - Black Mage/Monk
Basch - Hunter/Knight
Balthier - Machinist/White Mage
Ashe - Time Mage/Uhlan
Fran - Red Mage/Archer

I'm planning on using all the characters almost equally. Any suggestion to improve it?

You could consider giving that Knight to Ashe so she gets healing spells, making her a better all-round support unit. To still have 2 genji glove users you then go Samurai/Uhlan and Hunter/Foebreaker. Your setup is good, just a consideration.

Why does everyone put black mage and monk together? For the white magic monk gets?

For the Holy spell mostly. With a Holy damage boosting staff and the high MAG of a Black Mage it becomes devastating. Monk also gets all HP lores making the BM quite tanky. The con is that you won't get to use Monk as a DPS character.
 

Bluenoser

Member
Why does everyone put black mage and monk together? For the white magic monk gets?

Really good synergy together. Dual jobs wasn't designed to begin with, so all you can do is look over all of them and see which compliments each other the best. Since monk gets access to some nice high level white magic, and a ton of HP lores, you have a super black mage which can decimate undead, along with most other types of enemies, plus provide massive cures.

If you want a more physical combat focused character, you wouldn't pair Monk with black mage though.

This is also why many people like Knight/Samurai (bushi) - the massive boosts to magic lores, and use of mage armor that bushi gets helps compliment not only Katana damage, but the high level white magic knight gets later on too.

At the end of the day, anything will work, but some combos are better suited than others for reasons like the above.(edit and below - wow)
 

Einhandr

Member
Why does everyone put black mage and monk together? For the white magic monk gets?

From GameFAQs:
Black Mage/Monk: perhaps the ultimate offensive magic user. Monk upgrades your Black Mage with 3x swiftness, tons of HP, and access to White Magick 9-13. Being able to exploit Holy weakness is a huge advantage, and the best staff (Staff of the Magi) boosts Holy damage by 50%. This combo also has excellent physical strength, which especially comes in handy earlier in the game before you get all the really good offensive spells.
 

MogCakes

Member
Why does everyone put black mage and monk together? For the white magic monk gets?
Something about spell speed I believe. I just started my playthrough and am not optimizing until NG+, so I just picked combos I though would compliment each other thematically for each character.
 

AndersK

Member
Why does everyone put black mage and monk together? For the white magic monk gets?

C/p from a guide om it:

EDIT: Beaten like Dalmascas army.

"perhaps the ultimate offensive magic user. Monk upgrades your Black Mage with 3x swiftness, tons of HP, and access to White Magick 9-13. Being able to exploit Holy weakness is a huge advantage, and the best staff (Staff of the Magi) boosts Holy damage by 50%. This combo also has excellent physical strength, which especially comes in handy earlier in the game before you get all the really good offensive spells."
 

Magnus

Member
Anyone else love the new music? I always thought the original soundtrack was good quality but the new/live instrumentation really brings these songs to life. I'd probably go as far to say that this game's soundtrack benefits the most out of all of Square Enix's reorchestrated soundtracks so far.

Agreed. Rabanastre sounds amazing.
 

ObsidianG

Member
Why does everyone put black mage and monk together? For the white magic monk gets?

Yep! Monk gets Holy (With Chaos esper), which can have its damage boosted by some black mage gear endgame. Furthermore, the Black Mage high magick stat makes him good at healing in a pinch using Curaja
 

thedan001

Member
I decided on my job setups, would appreciate some insights/feedback:

These 4 are set, no planned changes

Vaan - hunter/breaker
Penelo - black mage/monk
Balthier - white mage/machinist
Ashe - samurai/knight

These 2 I am still debating

Fran - red mage/archer OR black mage/red mage
Basch - knight/time mage OR uhlan/time mage

I don't really care for doubling up on jobs tbh, so any thoughts between jobs for Fran and Basch will be great. I would like to go for 2 balanced teams of 3 please.

Any advice on allocating espers by job?

Thanks
 

Syntsui

Member
That desert section was as bad as I remember, how I hate that can't even be described in words.

Anyway, I think my party is just way too powerful with Ashe, Basch and Vaan almost at level 30 before Belias + Karkata and that Licenceless 52ATK Great Sword. Everything just melts at them.
 

Meowster

Member
Okay.. so Ashe is a Knight and Fran is a Bushi. I want both of them to have some type of magic attached to them, so I'm trying to decide which magic secondaries I should give the two of them. I was leaning toward White/Red/Time for Ashe and Black/Red/Time for Fran. Anything left over is basically gonna go over to Vaan (my Monk) lol.
 

kromeo

Member
In which case I would have

Vaan - White Mage/Machinist
Panelo - Red mage/archer
Balthier - Foebreaker/Shikari
Fran -Black mage/Monk
Basche - Uhlan/Time Mage
Ashe - Bushi/Knight

All those seem to be combinations I see being mentioned a lot
 
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