Ivalice? More like Vana...lice! Shut up. (FFXII thread)

[mauve]

Correction, Blues: Balthier looks badass with everything. Granted, I have him using a pole in my latest playthrough, and it is pretty awesome. During my first playthrough I was stupid and kept him with a gun for most of the game, just because he makes it look cool. This really only paid off when a) I learned Haste and had my mages spam it on him, or B) when I was controlling Balthier and decided to pick off enemies from a distance and let everyone else fend for themselves. Not the smartest decision, but it looked cool.


Also- You'll learn to love gambits more once you buy/find enough options and invest in enough gambit slots to make your entire team self-sufficient. Auto-remedies and such are really useful; especially for irritating status effects like confuse.



As far as marks go, I agree with everyone who says not to take them all on at once. They're fun, but they can get boring if you don't take a break. They don't expire and you're not graded on how much time you take. Also, some of them are just irritating. My original playthrough ended with me being unable to find ONE hunt. ONE. I can't seem to visit the Paramina Rift during a blizzard, no matter how long I freaking spend there. The monster I'm after only shows up during blizzards. Is there a trick to influencing the weather patterns?

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Mauve Mage

My original playthrough ended with me being unable to find ONE hunt. ONE. I can't seem to visit the Paramina Rift during a blizzard, no matter how long I freaking spend there. The monster I'm after only shows up during blizzards. Is there a trick to influencing the weather patterns?

If I remember correctly, you have to navigate through the area in a certain order starting from a certain point.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Mauve Mage

Correction, Blues: Balthier looks badass with everything. Granted, I have him using a pole in my latest playthrough, and it is pretty awesome. During my first playthrough I was stupid and kept him with a gun for most of the game, just because he makes it look cool. This really only paid off when a) I learned Haste and had my mages spam it on him, or B) when I was controlling Balthier and decided to pick off enemies from a distance and let everyone else fend for themselves. Not the smartest decision, but it looked cool.

Well, you have to realize my bias as a staff-user in real life. XD

[Donomni]

Originally Posted by NonCon

Don't try to rush and do all the hunts at once. You'll probably end up saving most of them until near the end.

Yeah, for sure. One hunt earlier against... Marilith, I think? Anyways, the damn thing nearly one-shotted each character, so I kinda had to run like mad to survive.

Plot wise, I got Belias and got back to Rabanastre. Yes, let's experiment with a stone that sucks in Mist in an area balls-to-the-walls full of it without proper equipment or safety precautions! Judge Ghis: Retard.

Just beat Croakodile through Belias summoning at the start then spamming blind and slow and buffs. Kinda of a "Holy fuck, I won?" moment.

[Sithdarth]

Just wait till you meet Yiazmat. Took me like 8 hours times about 4 tries, thats about 8 hours per try 4 times, with all level 99 characters to beat that damn thing. Mostly cause I had like no ribbons and kept dying on like the last 1-2 bars of its life.

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Sithdarth

Just wait till you meet Yiazmat. Took me like 8 hours times about 4 tries, thats about 8 hours per try 4 times, with all level 99 characters to beat that damn thing. Mostly cause I had like no ribbons and kept dying on like the last 1-2 bars of its life.

You do know that you can walk away and save at any point during that fight, multiple times even, just so long as you make sure he doesn't cast Regen on your way out, right? RIGHT?

[Sithdarth]

I also know that when you do that the fight actually gets harder each time. Also, I wanted to do it in one go but I ended up eventually having to take one save once I got down to like two bars. Mostly to refill health and mana and get rid of some bad buffs.

[greed]

Yeah it's my favourite FF based on the characters, the sheer ridiculous number of optional bosses, the gameplay and the bestiary. I REALLY liked it. Probably in my top 5 games ever. Also probably put more time in it than any other game(Heroes 3 and Monster Rancher 2 might out do it here).

Also Gilgamesh's cameo was hilarious. He's voiced by Jon DiMaggio (Bender).

You really do not have to do the Zodiac spear garbage now. Somebody figured out how to manipulate the random number god for chest drops a while back letting you guarantee you get what you want if you jump through a few hoops. This method can be used to farm ribbons too. If you don't know what the Zodiac spear is it's the game's strongest(but not best) weapon. It will always appear in a certain chest in a optional high level area if you do not open certain chests during your playthrough. Unfortunately all of these chests are right in the open in areas you have to or are very likely to go through. Opening one of these chests means you have to get the spear from another chest which has a 1 in 3000(I think) chance of dropping it..

Finally you might want to look at a rare game guide. The game doesn't really help you with them and some have very good drops available early so it's worth knowing where/how to hunt them. And they have nothing to do with the plot so looking at a guide for them is very unlikely to spoil you other than telling you the name of locations you go to later.



On title: I've played FFI but it's so old I don't judge it with the rest. FFII gets judged just cause it is so retarded it's age is no excuse. Still gotta pick up the DS port of FFV some time.

[Donomni]

Originally Posted by greed

Somebody figured out how to manipulate the random number god for chest drops a while back letting you guarantee you get what you want if you jump through a few hoops.

No, you see, that's the bullshit I don't want to deal with in regards to the Zodiac spear. I've been skipping the requisite chests.

[DarkDrgon]

I played up until the time you get to your first Judge fight, loaned it to a friend, and have not seen it since -_-

I do remember not liking the battle system though. I just didnt get it.