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

Xaero Gravity

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
Meowster said:
I always felt XIV was heavily influenced by XII gameplay-wise (story-wise too with the judges, the dialogue) but I guess I didn't realize exactly how much because there's so much I see in XII and am like.. whoa. Makes sense why they had that Return to Ivalice event.
Click to expand...
I'd say that gameplay-wise XII is influenced by MMOs rather than it influencing XIV.
 
K

KZXcellent

Member
This game's grinding loop is so damn easy and fun. Just 4x speed with everyone just auto-attacking, enemies melt instantly.

I'm gonna be way too overpowered but it feels so good. Everyone but Penelo has 3 Quickenings and I only just got the ability to have 2 jobs. Hoping I haven't broken the game's encounters too badly.
 
S

SOLDIER

Member
I had some trouble wrapping my head around Gambits the first time, and it seems my understanding hasn't been improved upon this re-release.

What's the best Gambit combo to have my controllable party leader focus on a target without going off to target other enemies randomly? I'm trying to set it up so that Vaan only attacks enemies that either aggro him or his allies, but this also results in him dancing around multiple targets per battle.
 
Z

zombieshavebrains

I have not used cocaine
So, I didn't read any guide on the jobs and who is best in which one. I have Vaan as Shikari, Fran as Black mage, Balthier as machinist, Penelo as time mage. I'm not screwing myself over right? I'll still be able to beat the game?
 
Y

Yabberwocky

Member
I think I've finally settled on class combos, and thanks to far cleverer people than myself on Reddit and Gamefaqs, have added in the relevant Espers - I hope it's vaguely right. (I spent thirty minutes in horror trying to juggle Esper things and went, fuck it, let's check out Reddit and Gamefaqs.)

Ashe - Knight/Time Battlemage: Adrammelech, Mateus, Hashmal (Belias?)
Penelo/Vaan - Black Mage/Monk: Chaos
Penelo/Vaan - Red Battlemage/Archer: Zeromus, Zodiark, Shemhezai, Cuchulainn
Balthier - Bushi/Uhlan: Exodus, Ultima (Belias?)
Basch - Shikari/Foebreaker: Zalera
Fran - White Mage/Machinist: Famfrit

I do keep scratching my head on two points -

1. The Vaan/Penelo conundrum. Would the RBM/ARC combo (along with the Fire Bow) be better for Vaan or Penelo? I guess I'm not sure what is ultimately more important for RBM/ARC: Vaan's higher strength (78) or average magic (632) or Penelo's low strength (70) but higher magic (714). I guess there is also the question of who is better at BM/MNK and what's more important, a stronger BM/MNK or RMB/ARC.

(I know FFXII isn't hard enough for this to really matter, but I guess I was curious as to how combo-ing the classes work, along with the Fire Bow itself.)

2. Belias gives Libra to Bushi (Balthier) and Potion Lore to the Knight (Ashe) - who needs Belias more? Archer (Penelo/Vaan), Shikari (Basch), Machinist (Fran), Monk (Penelo/Vaan) would also have Libra, it's just a shame that Basch innately has Libra, and would also pick it up again with Shikari. I'm guessing giving Potion Lore to Knight/Ashe would be more important, though Libra is useful for Balthier.
 
M

MisterShine

Member
Question for the 12 veterans here:

Are there party members that need to be leveled up (forced sections with them in the party) or can I just use whichever 3 of the 6 I prefer and stick with them? Thanks in advance!
 
W

Wolf Akela

Member
SOLDIER said:
I had some trouble wrapping my head around Gambits the first time, and it seems my understanding hasn't been improved upon this re-release.

What's the best Gambit combo to have my controllable party leader focus on a target without going off to target other enemies randomly? I'm trying to set it up so that Vaan only attacks enemies that either aggro him or his allies, but this also results in him dancing around multiple targets per battle.
Click to expand...

You can just have everyone attack the party leader's target at the top of your gambits. Your leader can manually tag the target you want to kill, or just have the leader auto target the nearest foe.
 
A

aravuus

Member
SOLDIER said:
I had some trouble wrapping my head around Gambits the first time, and it seems my understanding hasn't been improved upon this re-release.

What's the best Gambit combo to have my controllable party leader focus on a target without going off to target other enemies randomly? I'm trying to set it up so that Vaan only attacks enemies that either aggro him or his allies, but this also results in him dancing around multiple targets per battle.
Click to expand...

Put a "Foe: leader's target -> attack" above the specific one you wanted to ensure the leader will keep targeting the same enemy they targeted on their last "turn". Gambits are easy to figure out when you think of them as checks the character goes through from top to bottom every time they're taking an action, and if something's a match, they execute the action and start again from gambit #1. With the following gambits on your leader:

#1: Foe: leader's target -> attack
#2: Foe: nearby -> attack
(I don't remember the exact names, but you get what I'm saying)

On the first "turn", you (the leader character) haven't targeted anyone, so gambit #1 is skipped and your leader picks a target according to the second gambit - the nearest one to them, enemy A.

On the second turn and every turn after that, #1 ensures your leader won't switch targets, cause at the moment the second turn started, they were still targeting enemy A. Thus, gambit #1 checks out and they attack the same target again. And again and again and again, until the enemy dies, after which they again pick the nearest one according to #2.

Unless you want to get fancy with weaknesses and such, I just use the following

#1: Foe: leader's target -> attack
#2: Foe: least HP -> attack

as a baseline on every party member. Leader picks the target with the least current HP and starts attacking it and the rest of the party follow. Even if the leader isn't targeting anyone (i.e. #1 is skipped) everyone will pick the enemy with the least HP, so obviously everyone will attack the same one.

e: it's 2:30am so I hope this makes at least some sense lmao. Long story short, just put "Foe: leader's target -> attack" above the rest of the regular attack gambits on your leader and they won't jump from target to target all the time.
 
U

Ulong

Member
For a white mage (penello specifically in my case), am I better giving her a attacking secondary class like Archer or gunner, or giving her more magic say from time mage?


second question, is it too redundant to give someone black mage and red mage?
 
B

Bladenic

Member
Haven't chosen a job for Penelo, think I'll wait until she rejoins. Vaan is Shikari which I felt was the most obvious choice. Now I don't want to go with the most obvious choices for everyone but I did for him. Shrug. Remastered music so far sounds amazing.
 
G

garath

Member
Hmm. I feel like maybe I'm handicapping myself. I still haven't picked a job lol. I just got to the palace. It's a little hard solo.

I'm pretty sure I know what jobs I want now but I don't know what to start unlocking on the license board haha. I don't want to go the wrong direction.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Yay got my early Arcturus! Game is now broken for a good while.

DEh5uPUXYAADWHC.jpg:large
Click to expand...

Surprisingly easy to grind out the mats thanks to auto-save.
 
P

Pinko Marx

Banned
Bladenic said:
Haven't chosen a job for Penelo, think I'll wait until she rejoins. Vaan is Shikari which I felt was the most obvious choice. Now I don't want to go with the most obvious choices for everyone but I did for him. Shrug. Remastered music so far sounds amazing.
Click to expand...
I like Vaan as a monk. He's a 16 year old kid so it makes more sense for him to be using poles and fists rather than stabbing people.
 
P

pablito

Member
My delivery from amazon is gonna be 2 days late. Preordered day 1. Glad I wasn't planning on playing it immediately, and that I'm balls deep in BOTW atm.

But I still want it to look at it lol.

Amazon slippin.
 
D

Deleted member 57681

Unconfirmed Member
Goddamn would you morons stop running into clearly visible traps please?!
 
S

Slaythe

Member
Blackleg-sanji1 said:
Hmmm what tutorial did I skip I can't get Penello to do any skills even tho I unlocked them on the license bore thing
Click to expand...

You need to find the skills in the wild, get them as reward, or buy them from merchants, there's one in the village of Gaza things. You can buy the starter spells.
 
O

OriginalPoe

Banned
Man, I am REALLY enjoying the story so far.

Just watched the Shiva explode and the Mist manifest and attack the crew after almost getting the first dawn shard stolen.

I think when I first played this game that the pacing/loop of the gameplay turned me off super hard - I don't remember beating the last boss of the dungeon I just finished before the spoiler above.

This game reminds me in so many ways of FFXV in mechanics but somehow executes things better (the battle system specifically). I think this game is exactly what I wanted in a JRPG right now.
 
G

Grewitch

Member
This is a dumb question: how do I unlock a second job? I read there was a tile, but I've checked two characters and I can't locate them. Please help!
 
B

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Oh dear. I just tried switching to the Original soundtrack. It's like the score just lost several instruments and the quality dipped to Mono. Really appreciate the Re-orchestrated effort now.

But what is this about a third option some mention? I only have two.
 
F

FinalAres

Member
Xaero Gravity said:
I'd say that gameplay-wise XII is influenced by MMOs rather than it influencing XIV.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's more story world and design in which XII influenced XIV, gameplay is similar bur obviously the MMOs came firsr. There are a few things like the zone divider markers, and the targeting arcs that came From xII, which are interesting to see in XIV.
 
M

MrDaravon

Member
My copy is coming tomorrow so I spent like 90 minutes theorycrafting my team, how does this look?

Vaan - Shikari / Foebreaker (Zalera)
Balthier - Machinist / Uhlan (Famfrit, Adrammelech)
Basch - Bushi / Knight (Mateus, Hashmal, Exodus, Ultima)
Ashe - White Mage / Time Mage (Belias, Zeromus)
Fran - Archer / Red Battlemage (Shemhazai, Cuchulainn, Zodiark)
Penelo - Black Mage / Monk (Chaos)

Went for a combination of lore + good stuff. I agonized for a while about going Machinist/White Mage & Uhlan/Time Mage instead of what I went with above. The whole Machinist/WM versus WM/TM is QUITE the debate online it seems lol. Wound up going Machinist/Uhlan on Balthier because I want him to use guns for lore reason but I'm just not hot on him being a WM. Also read that at endgame having a WM/TM support a Shikari/Foebreaker and Bushi/Knight party is pretty good.

Fully aware that the job choices aren't anything to agonize over, and I'll doublecheck but I'm pretty sure I can get Swiftness 3 with these choices, but I'm not 100% sure on my Esper choices. I looked at the same spreadsheet everyone is probably looking at for that but I don't have a lot of context for a lot of the choices, so went with a combination of what I was seeing other people do plus what I could decipher.

Any glaring holes or anything I should reconsider?
 
E

Enthus

Member
What are the best ways to break the game in this version? I've only just gotten the whole party together, so I'm still pretty early.
 
Xaero Gravity

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
Brandon F said:
Oh dear. I just tried switching to the Original soundtrack. It's like the score just lost several instruments and the quality dipped to Mono. Really appreciate the Re-orchestrated effort now.

But what is this about a third option some mention? I only have two.
Click to expand...
It's only included in the SteelBook edition.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Enthus said:
What are the best ways to break the game in this version? I've only just gotten the whole party together, so I'm still pretty early.
Click to expand...

So one that isn't too bad is to make an Arcturus. Guns do flat damage regardless of level, defense, or any stats on your character. The Arcutrus does about ~2500 damage and you can get it just before you get to Raithwall's Tomb. It'll carry you a good way through the game before it's outclassed by other stuff.

You need:

2 Yensa Fins (Stolen from Ururtan-Yensa in the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea)
2 Wyvern Wings (Stolen from the Wyvern Lord mark, in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea)
1 Salamand Halcyon (Stolen from the Salamand Entite in the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea)

They're all rare steals. For the Fins it's pretty easy since there are a ton of those enemies and eventually you'll get a couple.

For the other two, thanks to the auto-save feature in this game, just go to where the enemies hang out and the zone into that area. Run to the enemy and steal. If you get it, great! Haul ass and zone out. If not, just hit Options->Square and return to the title and reload.

Sell those items, then the Arcturus will show up in the Bazaar for 8000 gil.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Xaero Gravity said:
It's only included in the SteelBook edition.
Click to expand...

I have it (the "Original Soundtrack" track, i.e. the old OST CD version), and I'm still fine to leave it on the remastered track.

Sometimes the live instruments don't have the exact same effect as the synthetic ones, but it always sounds great, and certainly faithful to the intent of the original.

Really great job on the music in this.
 
A

Aeana

Member
The main issue with the remastered soundtrack is that Sakimoto relies a lot on quick full-force attacks on instruments where that kind of thing is difficult to do in real life, so you end up with a lot lower impact on things like flutes and some of the string parts. It sounds nice and everything, but on some tracks it just feels weak. Overall I prefer the original in-game version ('Original,' not 'OST').
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Aeana said:
The main issue with the remastered soundtrack is that Sakimoto relies a lot on quick full-force attacks on instruments where that kind of thing is difficult to do in real life, so you end up with a lot lower impact on things like flutes and some of the string parts. It sounds nice and everything, but on some tracks it just feels weak. Overall I prefer the original in-game version ('Original,' not 'OST').
Click to expand...

Overall I really enjoy the new versions, but the one that stuck out to me was the Lowtown music. Don't know why but it just sounds...weird to me.
 
A

Ahnez

Member
MisterShine said:
Question for the 12 veterans here:

Are there party members that need to be leveled up (forced sections with them in the party) or can I just use whichever 3 of the 6 I prefer and stick with them? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Party members only leave very early in the story

Once you have all 6 in your party (just after the events on
the Leviathan airship
), no one will ever leave again
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Ourobolus said:
Overall I really enjoy the new versions, but the one that stuck out to me was the Lowtown music. Don't know why but it just sounds...weird to me.
Click to expand...

That's the one I was thinking of. The flutes have a very different feel live.

It's not "worse" to me though, and in other ways the music sounds more natural and pleasing.
 
T

TalentBurke

Member
Ourobolus said:
So one that isn't too bad is to make an Arcturus. Guns do flat damage regardless of level, defense, or any stats on your character. The Arcutrus does about ~2500 damage and you can get it just before you get to Raithwall's Tomb. It'll carry you a good way through the game before it's outclassed by other stuff.

You need:

2 Yensa Fins (Stolen from Ururtan-Yensa in the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea)
2 Wyvern Wings (Stolen from the Wyvern Lord mark, in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea)
1 Salamand Halcyon (Stolen from the Salamand Entite in the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea)

They're all rare steals. For the Fins it's pretty easy since there are a ton of those enemies and eventually you'll get a couple.

For the other two, thanks to the auto-save feature in this game, just go to where the enemies hang out and the zone into that area. Run to the enemy and steal. If you get it, great! Haul ass and zone out. If not, just hit Options->Square and return to the title and reload.

Sell those items, then the Arcturus will show up in the Bazaar for 8000 gil.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much
 
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