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[hemo memo]

IIRC you have to do something in Eruyt before it will unlock at the moogle shop, I can't remember if you have to get Mjrn back first or not, but there is some kind of quest flag you have to do before it will let you buy Break

Okay I believe I have to get Mjrn back first then because I made sure to buy every spell from that merchant.

I want Break for the jelly henne mines leveling trick but do you think the trail mode is better for quick grind?

 

[neoism]

Not liking characters not gaining any XP out of party. One of my bugbears of RPG. Means I'm just going to roll with a main team than swap about trying to get everyone levelled.

No worries their is a late game mine where you can fight a shit load of bats...with 4x speed you should be able to max everyone super quick

 

[Vlade]

Vaan : bushi (uhlan)
Penelo : red battlemage (archer)
Ashe : shikari (black mage)
Basch : knight (time battlemage)
Balthier: machinist (white mage)
Fran : monk (foebreaker)

I ended up here. wanted that fast katana and that fast pole.

 

[jimmypython]

Whoever designed the great crystal and though it was a good idea should be fired. Even with a map I'm completely lost in that place.

Weirdly, I liked it lol....

 

[Katana_Strikes]

No worries their is a late game mine where you can fight a shit load of bats...with 4x speed you should be able to max everyone super quick

Ok this makes me feel a little better about it but still no XP doesn't encourage me to change up the team when guys are left behind and weak.

 

[Aeana]

I've said this several times in the thread, but it seems like it needs reiterating regularly: levels mean very little in this game. Equipment and augment licenses mean so, so much more. A level 12 person wearing the same armor as a level 90 person will take roughly the same damage. Level primarily affects natural HP/MP.

 

[AmethystEnd]

Ok this makes me feel a little better about it but still no XP doesn't encourage me to change up the team when guys are left behind and weak.

That's not the case at all though. Your inactive members still get LP, which is way more important than exp. Your equipment matters more than your level, and your LP determines which tiers of equipment you can wear.

Read the following:

This isn't as big of a deal as it seems, because level only majorly affects HP/MP (other base stats like strength (not attack power) do raise with level but they are not as significant as equipment). A level 12 character with the exact same armor as a level 99 character will take roughly the same damage, for instance.

If you use the LP your sidelined members gain to keep them up to date, their lower levels will only be a minor hindrance.

Edit: Derp, beaten by the person I was quoting.

 

[Pumpkins]

Toggling between 2x and 4x by holding L1 and pressing left/right on the Dpad is a godsend.

WHAT.

This should be in the OT!

 

[Atlantis]

Going from memory here, but I recall reading that getting three characters to level 99 requires the same amount of experience as getting all six characters to level 70.

No idea if that's still true, but if it is then keeping the entire party leveled seems the obvious choice.

 

[Cess007]

I've said this several times in the thread, but it seems like it needs reiterating regularly: levels mean very little in this game. Equipment and augment licenses mean so, so much more. A level 12 person wearing the same armor as a level 90 person will take roughly the same damage. Level primarily affects natural HP/MP.

Blame the years and years of making sure that all my party is level up close to each other u,u

Spoiler

All due a hard lesson learned with FFIX

 

[Brakke]

Heavy gives the most defense and gives str bonuses.
Light gives moderate defense and hp bonuses.
Mystic gives magic resist and magic power bonuses.

So really, you should be using Heavy or Mystic, if you're not having problems staying alive, since these will also boost your offense.

Sweet, thanks!

Not liking characters not gaining any XP out of party. One of my bugbears of RPG. Means I'm just going to roll with a main team than swap about trying to get everyone levelled.

It's not a big deal. You can spend like 100 LP on HP + XXX licenses on lower-level members to effectively wipe out a pretty large level disparity.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

I've said this several times in the thread, but it seems like it needs reiterating regularly: levels mean very little in this game. Equipment and augment licenses mean so, so much more. A level 12 person wearing the same armor as a level 90 person will take roughly the same damage. Level primarily affects natural HP/MP.

That's fair enough. Just had a experience where my main team died on a boss and had to fall back on my B team only for them to be shit (cause what I thought was down to underlevelling). But if thats not the case and as long as they have the right equipment/allocating their LP, it shouldn't be a major issue.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

Just finished the Tomb, how do we go from this game to FFXIII? Like, what soul within SE just died and turned dark?

Night and fucking day, FFXIII may have more technical prowess in one random battle than in the entirety of Ivalice but GOD DAMN. THIS is a Final Fantasy game.

 

[hemo memo]

I've said this several times in the thread, but it seems like it needs reiterating regularly: levels mean very little in this game. Equipment and augment licenses mean so, so much more. A level 12 person wearing the same armor as a level 90 person will take roughly the same damage. Level primarily affects natural HP/MP.

This is reassuring.

No need to grind for levels then and just playing normally.

4x is a little much for towns and confined areas, but works well enough for fields imo.

Toggling between 2x and 4x by holding L1 and pressing left/right on the Dpad is a godsend.

Omg

 

[MogCakes]

FFXIII may have more technical prowess in one random battle than in the entirety of Ivalice but GOD DAMN. THIS is a Final Fantasy game.

I like the Paradigm system but XII has the best spell effects in the series.

 

[MikeBison]

Super enjoying the game and the licence board. Possibly favourite skill system in an FF. sphere grid is also dope.

Just getting to Mt Omni-something.

Everyone is like 23-25. Am I underlevelled?

 

[MikeBison]

I've said this several times in the thread, but it seems like it needs reiterating regularly: levels mean very little in this game. Equipment and augment licenses mean so, so much more. A level 12 person wearing the same armor as a level 90 person will take roughly the same damage. Level primarily affects natural HP/MP.

Should have read this. Hard to get that level number being important mentality out.

 

[george_us]

Just finished the Tomb, how do we go from this game to FFXIII? Like, what soul within SE just died and turned dark?

Night and fucking day, FFXIII may have more technical prowess in one random battle than in the entirety of Ivalice but GOD DAMN. THIS is a Final Fantasy game.

The technical prowess of FFXIII seems like the reason why it turned out the way it did. HD towns are hard after all.

 

[FlyinJ]

4x is a little much for towns and confined areas, but works well enough for fields imo.

Toggling between 2x and 4x by holding L1 and pressing left/right on the Dpad is a godsend.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

The technical prowess of FFXIII seems like the reason why it turned out the way it did. HD towns are hard after all.

One mustn't forget the power of the Hallway after all.

Do we know how well this sold?

 

[neoism]

I've said this several times in the thread, but it seems like it needs reiterating regularly: levels mean very little in this game. Equipment and augment licenses mean so, so much more. A level 12 person wearing the same armor as a level 90 person will take roughly the same damage. Level primarily affects natural HP/MP.

Wish they would just let enemies scale at your level...

I didn't check but is their and achievement to beat the game with vann at level 1 lol

 

[RPGCrazied]

Antlion wooped me. I got rid of all the adds, and him halfway, then starts hitting like a truck. Sucks he is immune to blind.

 

[ClearMetal]

Is the new Prima guide worth it? Thinking of picking it up.

I think it's fine, but also a bit basic in regards to the information it offers. All the necessary stuff is there: license boards, full walkthrough, maps, bestiary, list of items, etc.

But while the bestiary, for example, lists everything you can steal/poach/loot of a monster, it doesn't say on what chain level everything appears, nor does it list the drop percentages. The maps are good, but are part of the walkthrough itself and don't even take up the entire page. I really would've liked a separate section with all maps filling at least the entire page. The weapon section lists which stats a weapon category relies on for dealing damage, but doesn't list the formula the game uses. I admit this is a very minor point, but I'm sure some people would've found it interesting.

I think they left all this stuff out because the entire thing is already 350 pages long. But it forces me to get this information from the internet, which is something I wanted to prevent by buying this guide.

 

[Hexxen-Panda]

4x is a little much for towns and confined areas, but works well enough for fields imo.

Toggling between 2x and 4x by holding L1 and pressing left/right on the Dpad is a godsend.

Another trick I found out is that when browsing long lists on the gambits menu and shops, it's super handy to press up/down while holding triangle to skip immediately to the bottom of the list/page.

Makes browsing the shop for gambit conditions such a breeze.

 

[hemo memo]

Another trick I found out is that when browsing long lists on the gambits menu and shops, it's super handy to press up/down while holding triangle to skip immediately to the bottom of the list/page.

Makes browsing the shop for gambit conditions such a breeze.

Thankfully I bought all gambits before moving to Eruyt village.

I'll probably not use 90% of it.

 

[Kysen]

I went Time/white mage with Penelo and she is complete trash. Her boards give few HP boosts and at lvl 45 she has half the hp of the rest of the cast. She is always the first to die due to being made of paper. Ashe who I am running as a Red/Black mage has double the hp and heals way more with actual damage spells on top.

Another character which I am having an issue with is Fran. I went Ulan/Archer and she has damage issues. Lots of hp no real damage spells and her trident/bow damage sucks compared to the other melee.

 

[bigedole]

I've said this several times in the thread, but it seems like it needs reiterating regularly: levels mean very little in this game. Equipment and augment licenses mean so, so much more. A level 12 person wearing the same armor as a level 90 person will take roughly the same damage. Level primarily affects natural HP/MP.

But this isn't really true... max level characters have stats that are 30-60 higher than their level 1 values... compared to getting all available battle lores or magic lores which is the equivalent to +16 in one of your offensive stats... I mean, levels matter quite a lot for doing damage. Equipment (and getting their licenses) matters more for reducing damage, I guess, but it's really misleading to say levels aren't too important.

 

[Carbonox]

These Seitengrat videos are pouring out.

This one from yesterday is all about dat Cure manipulation RNG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VpFs1O8s9I

I already have 1 Seitengrat bow from the first method that was revealed (which isn't 100% reliable) but I'm going to give this one a try and see how reliable it is.

Always interested in shit like this.

 

[Salty Rice]

Toggling between 2x and 4x by holding L1 and pressing left/right on the Dpad is a godsend.

Thanks for the #GameChanger

 

[Zesh]

I went Time/white mage with Penelo and she is complete trash. Her boards give few HP boosts and at lvl 45 she has half the hp of the rest of the cast. She is always the first to die due to being made of paper. Ashe who I am running as a Red/Black mage has double the hp and heals way more with actual damage spells on top.

Another character which I am having an issue with is Fran. I went Ulan/Archer and she has damage issues. Lots of hp no real damage spells and her trident/bow damage sucks compared to the other melee.

I'm pretty happy with my White Mage/Time Mage. She has low health, yes, but Bubble helps a lot with that. She's pretty much the ultimate support character with a lot of heals and buffs. Are you at the point where you have the powerful end-game white magic and time magic yet? It doesn't really make sense that your Red Mage/Black Mage is healing for much more, though; she probably has slightly higher magick, but that shouldn't make that much of a difference.

Uhlan is unfortunately pretty weak, IMO. Spears are nice in that they hit flying enemies, but they lack the combo ability of katanas, ninja swords, and poles. Archer is nice with its 3x Swiftness without Espers and its plethora of item lores, but I think most people pair it with Red Mage to give it a ranged attack and get the Burning Bow bonus for fire magic/Ardor.

 

[Holmes]

Archer is just such a shitty job. Not sorry. Some bows are good but the license board doesn't have much to offer.

 

[MogCakes]

A lot of the weapon types aren't all that great, but there are a ton of them.

 

[iosefe]

at least job doubling is in now.

instead of an archer, just have a second machinist

 

[FinalAres]

Just finished the Tomb, how do we go from this game to FFXIII? Like, what soul within SE just died and turned dark?

Night and fucking day, FFXIII may have more technical prowess in one random battle than in the entirety of Ivalice but GOD DAMN. THIS is a Final Fantasy game.

I'm convinced Toriyama never bothered to play Final Fantasy XII, even though he directed it's sequel. It is not a coincidence that every one of Toriyama's games has been utterly terrible.

 

[Aeana]

But this isn't really true... max level characters have stats that are 30-60 higher than their level 1 values... compared to getting all available battle lores or magic lores which is the equivalent to +16 in one of your offensive stats... I mean, levels matter quite a lot for doing damage. Equipment (and getting their licenses) matters more for reducing damage, I guess, but it's really misleading to say levels aren't too important.

It's true that I probably shouldn't have said "levels mean very little," because they do factor in, but they don't matter nearly as much as in other RPGs. Just as an example, I have a level 14 Balthier with 'current' equipment who has 83 attack power and 42 strength. Compared to my level 49 Vaan who has 96 attack power and 69 strength. Yes, there's a difference here, no doubt, but it isn't massive considering the level gap.

My point is that you can take a character you've never used and pull them out and they will not be significantly behind everyone else while they gain levels. And just how far behind they feel depends entirely on the weapon they're using, too, as stats and level factor in differently for each type.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

So.. what is the absolute easiest way to get a Zodiac spear?

I'll be at the hospital when I read the reply.

 

[kromeo]

I'm convinced Toriyama never bothered to play Final Fantasy XII, even though he directed it's sequel. It is not a coincidence that every one of Toriyama's games has been utterly terrible.

X-2 was a decent game despite the awful story

 

[Carbonox]

The 88/97/90 Cure RNG method didn't apply to me so the backup 97/94/95 method does apply to me (I believe it's one or other for everyone). This also relies on you watching the boy rather than the guy on the stairs. (unlike the timer method the kid only needs to go to his parent once and then the moment he moves to the middle to look over the balcony, that's when you open the box). The Cure RNG method DOES work without fail though in terms of making the chest appear. I'm 2 for 2 on that front so far. I messed up the first attempt for the bow because I was looking at the wrong person.

1 Cure RNG + boy balcony attempt completed = 1 Seitengrat obtained

I'm going to try it a couple more times to see if it's 100% reproducible. Right now this was bang on the money.

Edit: 2 Cure RNG + boy balcony attempt completed = 2 Seitengrat obtained

oh my

For those interested, the videos are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VpFs1O8s9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAHrtUb_wY0

The first one tells you the method, the second is the back-up if you do not get the 88/97/90 order (AT ALL, you'll know if you spend like 5 minutes and the order doesn't appear as it would never take that long; instead keep an eye then on the 97/94/95 order and that will be your cue in which case watch the second video because there are different things you need to watch out for on the ferry).

 

[thedan001]

Just wondering if anyone here already started or (planning to do) weak-mode?

Would like to have a discussion on it with others, I have ideas how to mix up strategies for that mode but am curious for other perspectives.

Machinists are a given, thinking of setting up someone for required buffs and someone to tank and just dps with machinist in back row.

Shikari/Foebreaker seems applicable with HP+ from light armors, what else?

 

[Absoludacrous]

The 88/97/90 Cure RNG method didn't apply to me so the backup 97/94/95 method does apply to me (I believe it's one or other for everyone). This also relies on you watching the boy rather than the guy on the stairs. (unlike the timer method the kid only needs to go to his parent once and then the moment he moves to the middle to look over the balcony, that's when you open the box). The Cure RNG method DOES work without fail though in terms of making the chest appear. I'm 2 for 2 on that front so far. I messed up the first attempt for the bow because I was looking at the wrong person.

1 Cure RNG + boy balcony attempt completed = 1 Seitengrat obtained

I'm going to try it a couple more times to see if it's 100% reproducible. Right now this was bang on the money.

Edit: 2 Cure RNG + boy balcony attempt completed = 2 Seitengrat obtained

oh my

For those interested, the videos are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VpFs1O8s9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAHrtUb_wY0

The first one tells you the method, the second is the back-up if you do not get the 88/97/90 order (AT ALL, you'll know if you spend like 5 minutes and the order doesn't appear as it would never take that long; instead keep an eye then on the 97/94/95 order and that will be your cue in which case watch the second video because there are different things you need to watch out for on the ferry).

Yea, Cure RNG is always going to be more reliable. The person who created the tools for it hadn't updated for Zodiac Age when I did what I did, so that's why the original way was as bit more imprecise.

 

[Carbonox]

3 Seitengrat in 3 attempts. Safe to say this is reproducible pretty much every time.

Yea, Cure RNG is always going to be more reliable. The person who created the tools for it hadn't updated for Zodiac Age when I did what I did, so that's why the original way was as bit more imprecise.

Your method definitely got me my first Seitengrat so it does work. I think the timing can throw a lot of people off (it did for me on subsequent attempts or I'm just a potato).

I think the best thing about it all is that you kicked off this whole discussion (at least from the point I became aware of what the Seitengrat even is which wasn't until like last week). Everyone else's video on getting it in the remaster always references you specifically to some degree so kudos on that. It's always interesting to see gateways in to how people can manipulate the RNG of a game.

 

[Caim]

So.. what is the absolute easiest way to get a Zodiac spear?

I'll be at the hospital when I read the reply.

There are multiple ways to get it.

You can do the Hunt Club sidequest and purchase it (along with the Zodiac Escutcheon) after completing the sidequest if you give each brother 10 trophies.

Atak rewards a Staff of the Magi for 15 or fewer trophies and a Zodiac Spear for 16+

You can also get if from completing Floor 62 on Trial Mode.

It also has a very small chance of spawning in the Henne Mines:

Hunt Club is probably the easiest.

 

[MilkBeard]

Just finished the Tomb, how do we go from this game to FFXIII? Like, what soul within SE just died and turned dark?

Night and fucking day, FFXIII may have more technical prowess in one random battle than in the entirety of Ivalice but GOD DAMN. THIS is a Final Fantasy game.

Yeah, it's an inherent problem with the switching of directors for each Final Fantasy game. Toriyama basically went back and did exactly what he did with Final Fantasy X without taking anything good from XII.

I'm convinced Toriyama never bothered to play Final Fantasy XII, even though he directed it's sequel. It is not a coincidence that every one of Toriyama's games has been utterly terrible.

I won't say his games are terrible, but they are limited in gameplay and disappointing compared to other titles.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

I still can't decide if I want to give Fran Archer for her sub class or black mage...I suppose the item lore and swiftness might be nice but wouldn't the boost to magic be more useful overall?

 

[Atlantis]

I still can't decide if I want to give Fran Archer for her sub class or black mage...I suppose the item lore and swiftness might be nice but wouldn't the boost to magic be more useful overall?

What's her first job? Red Mage?

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

What's her first job? Red Mage?

Yeah, master of none and all that.

 

[Fisty]

Okay I believe I have to get Mjrn back first then because I made sure to buy every spell from that merchant.

I want Break for the jelly henne mines leveling trick but do you think the trail mode is better for quick grind?

Yes the jelly EXP trick is great, but I recommend checking in on it at least once an hour. There is a decent chance your party leader will either move to a spot at the north of the room that is just out of aggro range of the jelly's, and it's also possible for your party leader to zone out of the screen while auto-battling. Other than checking on it once an hour, yeah it's a completely automated, hands-free grind that will level you up fast

 

[Fisty]

Yea, Cure RNG is always going to be more reliable. The person who created the tools for it hadn't updated for Zodiac Age when I did what I did, so that's why the original way was as bit more imprecise.

Thanks again for discovering the original method. I wasnt able to get the bow with the method you posted, but I did try a different way which got me the bow on my first try.

Load save, run up to the first flat landing on the stairs before the top, run back inside the airship. Exit again, and this time check to see if the chest spawned. Do this 6 more times and the chest will spawn. I had to press X on the chest after the boy reached his dad for the THIRD time for the bow, instead of the fourth (which gave me 10 gil every time). I dont know if its because I have a PS4 Pro or what, but my RNG didn't like your method!

 

[Caim]

Yeah, master of none and all that.

Archer has access to 5 magic lores via one of the espers, but I think you can also reach it if one of your nodes happen to be shared.

Each magic lore is +1 magick power and Red Mage already gets 12 of them.

You get a lot more HP (Black Mage require a few espers to reach them), and you get all the Potion, Remedy, and Phoenix Lores.

Not having another mage class leaves you with not that much magic, but Red Mage can reach the Fire, Blizzard, Thunder -ga spells with an esper.

One really neat thing about RDM/ARC is the spell Ardor.

Burning Bow (Fire potency up) + Fire Arrows + Oil + Ardor = Insane damage

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

Archer has access to 5 magic lores via one of the espers, but I think you can also reach it if one of your nodes happen to be shared.

Each magic lore is +1 magick power and Red Mage already gets 12 of them.

You get a lot more HP (Black Mage require a few espers to reach them), and you get all the Potion, Remedy, and Phoenix Lores.

Not having another mage class leaves you with not that much magic, but Red Mage can reach the Fire, Blizzard, Thunder -ga spells with an esper.

One really neat thing about RDM/ARC is the spell Ardor.

Burning Bow (Fire potency up) + Fire Arrows + Oil + Ardor = Insane damage

Seems like more of a utility mage overall then...I mean Time Mage aside.