Final Fantasy XII

[erhgiez]

I thought this game started off brilliantly, but ive just got to the bit where you have to go to archades and theres 5 massive open areas between nalbina and it, with little to no story in between, its just starting to seem like a massive slog with all the enemies being colour variations on ones ive fought before, does it get any better after this as it seems to me as if they ran out of ideas at this point, my main 3 characters are at lvl 42 and im just breezing through it, nothings a challenge anymore.

[MartyG]

I've still not completed this, though I've not played it for a while. My characters are lvl 60-70, but the final area is real tough even at those levels,

Finally got around to completing this today - well, completing the story anyway. After battling the ethers and some of the rank 8 hunts, the end stuff was a bit of a walk in the park at the levels I'd gotten too ( Vaan at 84 ).

I can't say I've really completed it though, because there is one ether I haven't been able to beat, and several hunts that are faaaaaaaaaaaaaar harder than the story bosses. It's one I can put on the shelf now though and move onto Rogue Galaxy, though I may revisit at some point to complete the hunts ( just like I didn't in Dragon Quest 8 then ).

[Swallow]

So then, subjective question time.. I'm currently really enjoying Dragon Quest VIII, which I love for it's sense of humour and straight forward play mechanics. I've never played a Final Fantasy game before, thinking them to be too po-faced and straight-laced to be enjoyable, but would you recommend me this game? I was hanging on for Rogue Galaxy's European release, but am very tempted to get this, especially as it's cheap.

Don't want to just shelve it though, as I can't be doing with anything less fun to play than DQ..

Thanks chaps

[MartyG]

It's a totally different game to DQ8, far more serious in tone and context - but it's visually encapsulating with extremely lush environments and it's certainly an epic RPG. The story is quite intriguing for the most part and is very politically focused on waring factions, but this is at the expense of some character development.

If you can get on with the battle system you'll enjoy it just fine - if you've gotten DQ8 then you should have the demo, that'll give you an insight as to what to expect.

In the end I spent well over 100 hours in the game.

[Swallow]

Thanks Marty, that's helped a lot, I shall pick it up later on. I don't seem to have the demo on my PAL DQ, mind.

Won't start it until DQ is "completed" though.

[Champloo]

Finally given this one a go. So far I like it, the story seems a lot less cheesy than usual, although it'd be nice if you could turn off Vaan's voice. The battle system is really quite good so far, but i'm only so far in.

Just of to get the sunstone from the nomads, and after busting through the plains taking on everything I saw, I get killed by these two powerful monsters in one of the southern sections - incredibly annoying. Back to redo it in a moment.

But beforehand, I havn't really messed around with the licence system. I'm guessing all the characters are designed to take a certain route? Penelope seems to be the white mage as that's what she starts with and i'm guessing Vaan is the theif that'll be using swords or daggers. Is it worth following along these paths that they seem to be set on, or is it easy enough to just do things on a whim if you know what I mean, and teach them any old skills as you please. Will Penelope be useless with swords for example, or I can I make her just as good as any of the other characters? Do base stats have an influence in other words?

And, any tips for me to keep in mind?

[sj33]

But beforehand, I havn't really messed around with the licence system. I'm guessing all the characters are designed to take a certain route? Penelope seems to be the white mage as that's what she starts with and i'm guessing Vaan is the theif that'll be using swords or daggers. Is it worth following along these paths that they seem to be set on, or is it easy enough to just do things on a whim if you know what I mean, and teach them any old skills as you please. Will Penelope be useless with swords for example, or I can I make her just as good as any of the other characters? Do base stats have an influence in other words?

And, any tips for me to keep in mind?

Actually the characters are basically a clean slate, with no natural superiority to any type, so you can essentially create any kind of team you want, and change your focus at any point if you feel it's not working out.

I do note though that I have found both attack magic and Quickenings to be pretty useless through most of the game, only really useful for occasions where physical attacks are useless (like flying enemies).
More useful is green and white magic, and worth investing in.

I personally created a team of physical attackers (2 close range, 1 long range), and simply ensured all their green/white magic was up to scratch. Get into the habbit of learning the Gambit system to make sure your team reacts to statuses automatically, get used to using attack-up/defense-up etc spells like Shell etc (you might be able to Gambit these too).

Also note that you rarely need to switch out your main team, so you don't necessaily need to keep your other party members levelled.

[Champloo]

Nice to know that, I rather being able to have the freedom then being presented with standard stock characters. Got quite a bit further with this one now and i'm really getting into it. As always the dungeons can become a bit of a chore as they do get a bit long, but the battle system is brilliant.

[Briareos]

Dusted this off again in the last couple of weeks and completed the ending. I'm now just trying to get my team to level 99 and then get ingredients for Tournesol. Everybody is mid 80's at the moment so I'm on the way! Also i found out that there is a way to get the Zodiac Spear if you goofed earlier in the game (like I did). Sadly the odds are 0.01% so expectedly I've had a fair few tries with it and no luck so far...

[Champloo]

One or two more questions. With the loot, i've been selling almost all of it without really taking into account the fact that it might have other purposes. I keep the teleport stones and there's one or two pieces of loot i've got from finishing missions like the rainbow egg for example and the giant snake skin which I thought I might keep just to be safe (although i've got a bad feeling i've also sold a lot of mission reward loot that maybe I should have kept).

So i'm sure you can see what i'm getting at, is there any loot that I should keep and not sell? I've chosen not to use a guide with this one, but i've still got a bad feeling that i've sold something so automatically I can't get the ultimate weapon or secret character or what have you (its final fantasy isn't it!)

And, i'm fighting the two demon walls, is it possible to beat the first without running away, or do you have to be at a very high level?

[Kongster]

Mist attacks is your friend when it comes defeating those demon walls.

[Champloo]

Mist attacks is your friend when it comes defeating those demon walls.

Well those are new to me, are those the orangy things on the license board i've come across that only one character can learn? So far I havn't learned any - I hate things like that, i'm always too anxious about teaching it to the wrong character. Is there certain ones that are particularly useful and suit certain kind of characters? - so a magic user should learn this one and a physical attacker is better of with this one and so on.

[Kongster]

Well those are new to me, are those the orangy things on the license board i've come across that only one character can learn? So far I havn't learned any - I hate things like that, i'm always too anxious about teaching it to the wrong character. Is there certain ones that are particularly useful and suit certain kind of characters? - so a magic user should learn this one and a physical attacker is better of with this one and so on.

Yeah, it's those orange things on the licence board. Mist attacks are avaliable for all the characters and it's important that your characters obtain them. Mist Attacks suit all the chacaters in the same way to be honest.

Without any Mist attacks beating those Demon walls is gonna be really, really difficult using magic and physical attacks alone. If you allocate Mist attacks to at least two characters in your party, that should be enough to take care of the demon walls.

[saif]

One of the best things about mists is not the attack but the fact it gives you another MP bar - doubling it.

[Champloo]

Well I had loads of LP points and I managed to get 2 quickenings with my three mains and 1 quickening with the other 3 and went in and absolutely smashed both of the demon walls. I think i've got the system sorted, but it seems overly easy, you can keep mist charging - I reached 13 on one go which almost brought the demon wall right down - and deal a rediculous amount of damage. Afterwards I went and used my mist on one of the marks in the giza plains (the toad that eats the ring) and almost brought it straight down in one mist combo. Almost feels like cheating tbh, especially when there's a save point nearby and you can easilly replenish your mp.

I've given the big Tortoise in the mines his due as well, time to get revenge on that Wyvern Lord I thinks...

Edit: On a side note, i'm absolutely loving this game, been ages since i've got so stuck into an RPG.