Final Fantasy XII

[revlob]

Marks will ONLY appear once you have accepted the hunt, AND spoken to the petitioner. You don't have to worry about killing them outside of a contract, because you can't.

Out of curiosity can some one tell me how far i am in the game without spoiling it for me in terms of percentage?

I haven't completed the game myself yet, but I picked up the sword you've mentioned (

->Open Spoiler<-

Sword of Kings

) a while ago and the story still hasn't showed any signs of coming to a conclusion just yet (in fact it's just getting more interesting). I've just reached

->Open Spoiler<-

Barfonheim

. At the rate I'm playing, I'm thinking I'll easily hit 100 hours at least.

[112]

Thats great news man! my ps2 says ive hit 33 hours, but i personally know ive spent like 45 hours after all the dying and puasing to take a potty break, lol.

So Revlob, what level are yah peeps at? And dont you jus miss having a guest on yah team, makes life so much easier dont it?

112

[revlob]

My characters are just about to hit their 40s (they are 38-39), and I'm at the 60 hour mark. The game is finally letting me use a bit of tactics, as some of the higher-level magick allows you do change your playstyle and do more than just stand around and hit monsters lobbing the occasional healing spell.

I miss Larsa I may have found him annoying, but infinite Hi-Potions made that portion of the game a breeze. One of the characters I met recently (

->Open Spoiler<-

Reddas

) I was hoping would join as a guest, but he didn't

[Soundwave]

Does anyone know if there would be any chance of an Asian International version like they did with X, X-2 & Okami??

I only have a Jap machine & unless I REALLY have to I'd rather not bother with Swap Magic or getting a chip for it.

Thanks

Neil

[NekoFever]

I had the opportunity to give this a proper crack last night, and now I'm about 5-6 hours in (just got to

->Open Spoiler<-

Bhujerba

), and I have to say I really like it. It takes a bit too long to get going which is probably the problem, but once you get some people in your team and stuff like Gambits start to build up, it's excellent.

I complained yesterday about how boring MMORPG combat is, and the problem is that when you're playing this with only Vaan it plays just like an MMO. Once you have a team going and Gambits set up so that they function effectively almost without you (note to self: "Ally HP < 60% use Potion" will make you run out of potions) it's like playing an MMO with independent human players, except with the ability to make them do what you want when you need to.

Top game, then. I'm looking forward to spending some more time with it. Will this be the first FF game that I actually finish?

[saif]

A fairly obvious tip but maybe not everyone does it - try and do the hunts when you have guests. An extra sword is always useful
The thing I actually really like about this is that resting players still get LP points so they still benefit when you are playing thrrough. I think it has really stopped people falling behind and also allowed me to customise a bit more. Maybe it would have been better for people to have more marked inherent abilities but it is VERY good like this so can't complain eh?

[Briareos]

...allowed me to customise a bit more.

I did try to make my team varied to begin with, a swordsman, a black mage and a white mage, a gunner and an archer, but I'm ages in and am still only on the first level of black spells (fire, water, ice etc) meaning the mage I had was seriously underpowered compared to everyone else. So I ended up moving everyone towards melee combat with benficial curative spells.

Speaking of spells, I read that you could buy the '-ara' set of spells in

->Open Spoiler<-

Eruyt village after doing the Henne mines

, but all I can find is a bloomin moogle near the entrance selling accessories! Can anyone tell me where I am going wrong?

[112]

bloody hell, i went to bed late yesterday cos of this game! the boss on the level jus after mount omisace, where yah get that Raithwell weapon, well the boss is a bitch cos you cant kill the minions who keep bloody putting me to sleep! My last fight took jus under an hour with her and i still lost! Cura is definatley an important spell! I think ima need to level up my peeps some more!

Actually i have a Q, these mist spells you can use, they take so little energy from the enemy makes yah think whether its worth the effort to have nil mp after it! FFS! Or am i missing somat here? Also the summon is a bit **** innit? As you can tell im a bit miffed i wasted a couple of hours getting nowhere yesterday! Grrr.......

112

[NekoFever]

The thing I actually really like about this is that resting players still get LP points so they still benefit when you are playing thrrough.

Do they get experience as well? I'm not too keen on how they're there (in that you can switch them into your party at any time) but if you don't keep rotating them they'll get left behind, which is annoying. Or is it better just to pick a favoured team and stick with them?

[fatbatch]

No, only characters taking part in a battle get exp.

I have switched between characters, but not within battle except for bosses/hunts, so that all are now over Lv 50. In previous Final Fantasy games you had to do this, as for some sections you would be restricted to, perhaps three of your six characters. To complete the main story of FFXII I think you could get away with only building up three, but for the toughest enemies you'd be best with a full set.

[saif]

Experience is not gained but what happened with me was that I didn't level up the others and found they had a ton of LP so I used them to customise the dormant ones. Cos they then had decent skills (but poor strength) I was encouraged to use them.

[sj33]

Bugger. I remember the many hours spent trying to level my secondary characters in previous FF's on the sheer off-chance I'd need them at some point depending on how the plot goes, while trying to make sure my main characters lvl doesn't go *too* high above my other main characters. I normally welcome the whole 'auto level rest of team' thing.

[Briareos]

Bugger. I remember the many hours spent trying to level my secondary characters in previous FF's on the sheer off-chance I'd need them at some point depending on how the plot goes, while trying to make sure my main characters lvl doesn't go *too* high above my other main characters. I normally welcome the whole 'auto level rest of team' thing.

If what people say about never being forced to use explicit team members is true, there are still reasons to keep a well balanced team of 6. Mist quickenings for one, if you have your three dudes battling a tough foe and you MQ chain doesn't kill it, then the only way to start another MQ chain (as all active members have 0MP) is to swop one out for someone with a full Magic bar. Doing this one reserve at a time gives you 4 bites at the MQ cherry. If they were weaklings this would be less workable. Generally speaking whenever somebody levels up i swop them out straight away, though this may be easier as all my characters are essentially the same...

[revlob]

Actually i have a Q, these mist spells you can use, they take so little energy from the enemy makes yah think whether its worth the effort to have nil mp after it! FFS! Or am i missing somat here?

On their own, Quickenings are rubbish, yes. It's only once you get a handful of different ones, and start chaining them together do they start to do real damage. Work towards unlocking at least one for each character, then plan who will unlock which Quickening tile on the board (for example, if you have a dedicated mage, there are a couple of quickening tiles towards the end of the magic skills tiles). If you can perform a certain number of quickenings in one go, you'll be rewarded with a large damage bonus.

Also the summon is a bit **** innit? As you can tell im a bit miffed i wasted a couple of hours getting nowhere yesterday! Grrr.......

Yeah, I'm still not sure how to effectively use the Espers. They can be difficult to keep alive against tough foes, but if you can keep them going they'll usually pull out their big guns and make the MP cost worthwhile.

[sj33]

If what people say about never being forced to use explicit team members is true, there are still reasons to keep a well balanced team of 6. Mist quickenings for one, if you have your three dudes battling a tough foe and you MQ chain doesn't kill it, then the only way to start another MQ chain (as all active members have 0MP) is to swop one out for someone with a full Magic bar. Doing this one reserve at a time gives you 4 bites at the MQ cherry. If they were weaklings this would be less workable. Generally speaking whenever somebody levels up i swop them out straight away, though this may be easier as all my characters are essentially the same...

I guess I'm still in 'old FF' mode!

That's the thing really. I'm really enjoying this, but I'm not even convinced I know what I'm doing. I *think* I'm spending my LP properly, I *think* I'm managing my equipment properly, I *think* I know how to effectively battle... but it's all trial and error and seeing how it goes, for me.

Mind you, whereas with othr games I end up feeling an urgency to get the game done and move on to the next one, I feel like I have all the time in the world with this. Even with other games on the way, I feel like I can play them and come back to this refreshed. This is a really positive feeling I've not felt in ages.