Final Fantasy XII (English) Impressions (+ Spoilers)

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:01 pm Post subject:

whoops i fixed it. i forgot about the order, and i just mistyped ffiv.

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:01 pm Post subject:

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject:

No one said you shouldn't. It's just called pulling a hkk.

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:09 pm Post subject:

Is there anyone else who calls it that?
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:31 am Post subject:

I call it that. It's enough.

Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:55 am Post subject:

I've got the doub;le exp equipped on all my nigs now.
It's a fucking beast Shock

I feel like I'm using cheats or something, but I'm not

Piss-easy dinosaurs that gave over 1000exp for some reason, now give over 2000

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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:59 am Post subject:

I updated the list of Espers. So basically, Famfrit is apparently the final boss of FFIII, and Mateus is the corrupt Emperor from the end of FFII.

So we now have all 5 bosses from FFI-FFV, and then 7 Zodiac Beasts from FFT, along with the Final Summon from FFT.

Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:04 am Post subject:

You know if nubs knew enough about Final Fantasy to work out what all the espers actually are, they'd just be complaining that Sephiroth isn't one of them?

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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:49 am Post subject:

ROFL

Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 12:07 pm Post subject:

Doctor Cid is a good character btw.

Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 6:48 pm Post subject:

Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:19 pm Post subject:

Doctor Cid is a VERY cool character.

I actually just got to Balfonheim, after passing through the Draklor Laboratories. Cid is awesome.

I fucking HATE the Draklor Laboratories.

I pretty much raced to Old Archades to pick up the Embroidered Tippets, then I teleported back to Nalbina and trudged back to Archades on foot, this time, scouring every corner of every area on the way there. It took like 3 or 4 hours, but I managed to gain 7 levels per character. I also ended up with about 300,000 gil, but I spent 250,000 of it at Archades and Balfonheim Sad

btw, the Skeletons in Golmore Jungle are elite for levelling. With the embroidered tippets, they give 2000 exp per character, and they respawn like mad. So you basically just run around stabbing them (it takes me 1 hit each) and gain heaps of levels really quickly.

But ya..I'm at Balfonheim now, ready to move on to the Cerobi Steppe. I might consider getting the Ultima Blade, but probably not before I do the 5 hunts that are now open to me. At level 53, I can probably take on the Nabreus Deadlands and Necrohol of Nabudis pretty easily now, and for prime levelling too. Maybe if it's possible, I'll go get Chaos now as well.

Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:21 pm Post subject:

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject:

So, looks like there is a lot to do in this game. A long game might sound good, but... is it tedious? Boring? Repetitive? Is it just addictive, or is it actually fun? Is there enough diversity in the gameplay to make you feel like experimenting with its various mechanics? And if so, does the diversity have a purpose, or could you just play the game by always repeating the same basic actions? (sorry, I couldn't be bothered to read all the long post, so quick summary plz)

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject:

Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 1:28 am Post subject:

Found a glitch in the game.

If you petrify enemies, they respawn immediately if you just walk a few steps away, and walk back. You don't even have to go into a new area. Saves heaps of walking.

As we all know, if you chain a bunch of enemies and then petrify a different type of monster, it doesn't break the chain. Rather, the petrified monster drops the loot as though it had been chained for that number.

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject:

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 6:13 pm Post subject:

I didn't check to see if it gave exp, but it is definitely of benefit to you. If enemies respawn immediately without you having to leave the area, it means you can keep petrifying it over and over again and it just keeps dropping treasure until you get the one you want.

Also, working in conjunction with another glitch, is that the chain doesn't break. If the monster you're hunting comes only in 2 or 3s, and you want it to drop several of a very specific, rare treasure, then you're going to find it to be a real pain to get that treasure, having to leave and travel 2 areas away, and then coming back.

When you kill more than one of the same monster, the chain count begins to rise. Let's say, you kill 30 wolves in a row. The chain count is now 30, and the higher the chain count, the more likely it is to drop good and rare treasure, which is worth more money, and it is likely to drop them plentifully.

Now, to chain a creature that comes in 2 or 3s in one area, is really annoying, having to kill 3, then leaving and going 2 areas away and returning, repeat.

Instead, if you chain a common creature, like a wolf, and chain about 30 of them, then petrifying the creature you want the loot from, the loot it drops is as though you had chained 30 of them. The chain doesn't break, and the enemy respawns immediately, so if it's not the treasure you want, you just keep petrifying it over and over again until you get it.

Also, I levelled to about 70 at Nabreus Deadlands (took about 3 hours), and decided to fight Chaos.

Shit, I forgot that you can't use the Attack command in this battle.

Chaos comes with 4 elementals surrounding him, Fire/Water/Air/Earth. Now, since there's no such thing as Waterga or Earth magic, the only ones you can take care of are Water and Earth with Firaga and Aeroga.

Chaos and his elementals are immune to all elements except their weaknesses

. On top of that, the elements used Annul on me, and I had 0 mp.

I basically had to waste 3 elixirs, use a quickening to get rid of all of them, and then with Vaan casting Bio over and over (hitting Chaos with the Sap ailment - think Reverse Regen), and then Ashe and Penelo had to constantly recharge and cast Curaja cuz nobody had much mp. Both Ashe and Vaan had Bubble chains on, which was the only way they could survive Chaos' attacks (3000+ per hit).

The fight ended up taking me almost an hour, even though Chaos didn't really have that much HP judging by how much damage I did to it by the quickening alone, but he kept killing me guys, and I could only cast Bio on him when everything else was taken care of. If it weren't for the Sap status effect, I dunno how much longer it would've taken.

Of course, if I had waited and proceeded further in the story first, I could've picked up the Telekinesis technique, which is essentially the Attack command, but in Technique form, I would've finished the fight in about 3 minutes.

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:30 pm Post subject:

Yes, you definitely get exp, LP, and loot.

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:37 am Post subject:

I'll get this game once I got the money and after I buy 2 other games i've been saving up for

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:53 am Post subject:

What are those?

I didn't manage to play at all yesterday, even though I have a bigger TV in my room.
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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:11 pm Post subject:

mother fucker

I wanted to get Petrify Bullets, which require me to sell some items. I read a FAQ, it told me what items and where to get them, and I spent an hour chaining Skull Wyrms in the Zertinan Caverns.

After selling the loot and not getting the Petrify Bullets, I finally checked another faq and apparently I'm supposed to fight Wild Saurians in the Dalmasca Estersand instead.

So I just wasted an hour chaining fucking Skull wyrms for no reason thanks to a misinformed faq

On the other hand I beat Gilgamesh .

I was pretty worried at first, but in the area prior to him, I ran into a rare monster that dealt 3500+ to all characters with a spell, or per character with physical attacks. It was annoying as hell trying to steal from it, and I wasted like 50 phoenix downs in that battle. By the time I was done, and I walked into the fight with Gilgamesh , it was very anticlimactic. He was weaksauce by comparison.

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:42 pm Post subject:

I had an accidental encounter with Zodiark

Basically I trudged my way through Henne Mines (and swarms of level 65 bats that hit you for 2500 damage each), and after an hour of battling, I had finally gotten the 3 Soul Powders I was looking for (requirement for a certain weapon). After that, i knew that there was a Ribbon in a treasure chest nearby, but I didn't want to chance not getting the right chest, so I went around looking for a save point, expecting there to be one before Zodiark.

No such luck, I accidentally stumbled into the room with Zodiark and you can't run away from the battle. And i'd just spent an hour fighting through swarms, and getting my loot so I didn't want to jsut give up.

I went into this battle with level 75 guys, and about 80 phoenix downs and remedies.

Bringing Zodiark down to 25% hp is nice and easy, except the most ridiculous part comes after that. Zodiark brings up a Paling that makes it immune to physical attacks. And since Zodiark is immune to all elements except Holy (which I don't have), magic doesn't work either.

Now get this: The paling lasts for about 2 minutes, but you have about a 2 second window of opportunity to get damage in before another paling rises. In those 2 minutes, you're running around curing your characters while Zodiark continues to cast Darkja over and over again (OHKO all your guys), then when the message in the top left says "The paling has fallen", you have to start a quickening immediately. If you're 0.1 seconds too late, you may find yourself beginning a quickening right after another Paling rises, and you do 0 damage to it.

I ran out of phoenix downs (80 fucking phoenix downs), so I had to switch to using magic to raise fallen characters, and of course I began running out of MP, which meant that when the opportunity arose, I couldn't pull off very effective quickenings (about 5-6 hits), and most of the time I'd just miss that window of opportunity, or start a quickening 0.1 seconds after another paling rises. It's really quite ridiculous. You HAVE to use quickenings, there is no other option, because even if you COULD get a physical attack in in that 2 second window of opportunity, chances are your characters are fucking healing themselves in that time because of the beating they just took.

Anyway after fighting it and finally beating it after an hour, I hightailed it out of there. Fuck getting the Ribbon. For now.

It's too hard. Level 75 and I can't take on level 65 bats.

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:55 pm Post subject:

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:19 pm Post subject:

i'm fapping on the guide

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:51 am Post subject:

lmao it's hilarious how people who got the LE guide are like

OH MAN I GOT THE VAAN COVER ANYONE WANNA TRADE?!?

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:09 am Post subject:

haha

I want to finish this game already

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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:01 am Post subject:

I have a question for people who're being pirates :P

I was wondering how the game handles active/inactive characters and Party Customisation.

Like...
-Do Inactive characters also get XP or do they get left behind?

-Are you able to pretty much pick up a party of 3 of your favorite characters and stick with it till the end ( For example, in my case it'll prolly be Fran Ashe Balthier or Balthier Fran Basch ) or are you pretty much stuck with Vaan for 90% of the game?

-Do all characters have the same potential or are certain characters obviously more efficient as physical fighters or casters than others? Or are characters like Balthier, who's shown most of the time carrying a gun pretty much useless with other weapons or can you customise that aspect as well?

-Is there a scene involving Balthier and Basch making babies?
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:30 pm Post subject:

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 5:13 pm Post subject:

In terms of customising your characters into mages and such, the stats don't matter too much although if you're a perfectionist, you'll want your mages to have that extra 2 or 3 mag points.

Looking at the stats, Fran is quite pathetic. I think she has even less str and mag than Penelo. Her speed isn't that flashy either, I think maybe she might win out on HP or vitality though I can't be sure of that.

But she's damn hot.

Anyway, I finally got to Yiazmat today, this is the most redonkulous fight ever.

I just found the Hell Wyrm earlier (and I was laughing almost the whole way because it was a bit ridiculous how much HP it had, at 6 million HP), and pretty much just watched my characters hack away, occasionally switching in an optional party member to revive someone if my gambits don't work as they should (like, when Hell Wyrm causes Stop on everyone). It was just the right level of satisfaction, taking about 25-30 minutes to complete the battle.

Yiazmat on the other hand, has 50,000,000 HP. I decided to see if I could survive, and I know he gets tougher later but at the moment, I'm surviving pretty well. Again, with the right gambits, I set my controller down and watched my characters hack away 9999HP per hit. Vaan with his Tournesol and Genji Gloves, along with Bravery, he combos almost every second hit, and at one point he even comboed 8x for 80,000 in damage.

Even so, 13 minutes later I've barely made a dint in its armor, taking off less than 4 million HP.

I must say, a sweet Gambit setup is fantastic.

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 5:22 pm Post subject:

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:46 pm Post subject:

1. Ally: Any -> Raise/Arise
2. Ally: Any -> (Blindna/Smelling Salts/Cleanse, depending on situation)
3. Ally: Any -> Esuna/Remedy
4. Ally: Any -> Protect/Protectga
5. Ally: Any -> Shell/Shellga
6. Ally: Any -> Haste/Hastega
7. Ally: HP < xx% -> Curaga/Curaja
8. Self: MP < 10% -> Charge
9. Foe: Flying -> Telekinesis
10. Foe: HP critical status -> Attack
11. Foe: Party leader's target -> Attack
12. Foe: Lowest HP -> Attack

For my party leader, instead of #11 I have Self -> Libra and put it at the bottom. I also take off Telekinesis for whoever's using a ranged weapon.

Something like that. Not exactly what I do all the time but you get the picture.

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:00 pm Post subject:

Well Generally I just have something like:

1. Ally: Any -> Arise
2. Ally: Any -> Esuna
3. Ally: Any -> Remedy
4. Foe: Flying -> Telekinesis
5. Foe: Nearest Visible -> Attack
6. Ally: HP < 80% -> Cura
7. Self -> Haste
8. Self -> Bravery
9. Self: Libra

That's for 2 out of the 3 characters. My third character is normally a healer, in tough dungeons, I'll swap Cura with Curaja, and Ally: HP < 80% with Ally: Any. Also, the curing gambit would always be above Attack for my healer. Also, swap Bravery with Faith.

However, I was talking more specifically about these crazy boss fights, in which this was my setup (for Hellwyrm, and for Yazmat at the moment.)

Vaan: Tournesol, Magepower Shishak, Maximilian, Genji Gloves.

Basch: Zodiac Spear, Magepower Shishak, Maximilian, Bubble Belt.

Ashe: Durandal, Zodiac Escutcheon, Circlet, Lordly Robe, Sage Ring.

Vaan's Gambit are something like this.

1. Ally: Any -> Arise
2. Ally: Any -> Remedy
3. Foe: Nearest Visible -> Attack

That's really all you need for Vaan. He combos heaps, deals lots of damage, and only spends a turn fixing statuses if he needs to.

Basch:

1. Ally: Any -> Arise
2. Ally: Any -> Remedy
3. Ally: HP < 30% -> Curaja
4. Ally: Any -> Protectga
5. Ally: Any -> Hastega
6: Foe: Nearest Visible -> Attack

This way, he only heals when absolutely necessary, and will recast protect/haste whenever it falls of, and is otherwise attacking with the strongest weapon in the game.

Ashe, the main healer, will be:

1. Ally: Any -> Arise
2. Ally: Any -> Remedy
3. Ally: Any -> Bubble
4. Ally: Any -> Curaja
5. Ally: Any -> Bravery
6. Ally: Any -> Shellga
7: Self -> Faith
8: Self: MP <10% -> Charge
9. Foe: Nearest Visible -> Attack.

Now you may question why Bubble is above Curaja, but Bubble doubles and fills your HP automatically. Basch is wearing a Bubble belt so he automatically has Bubble, but if Vaan dies, and Basch casts Arise, Vaan won't have the Bubble effect anymore. Ashe immediately recasts Bubble, doubling his HP, and then goes onto Bravery, boosting his physical damage. At the same time, Basch recasts Protect and Haste on Vaan, and he goes on hacking away like nothing ever happened.

EDIT: btw, for the boss battles, the MP consumption is a little inefficient, but that's why I have a Sage Ring on Ashe, to halve MP consumption. After all, better safe than sorry, right?