FF12 first impressions

[Cometgreen]

Re: FF12 first impressions

Bascily the same thing works here as it did in other FF games, if you cant beet a boss after 3-4 trys, it's time to level for a while.

No, and that's what I'm liking about FFXII: gambits are far more important than levels. I just beat Tiamat with Vaan at lvl 20, everyone else at 18/19. I got frustrated after the first couple tries, but looked over my gambits and thought about how I lost, and adjusted accordingly.

My opinion

Basically, keep Larsa and Balthier (or whoever your gun user is) alive. Larsa uses his own Hi-potions any time someone's HP gets low. Have at least one person's first gambit set to Esuna, so that you can wipe off disable. And since he likes to spam -ga, try to keep your characters apart. I usually controlled Vaan and stayed as far away as I could from Balthier and Larsa. It really isn't that difficult, you just have to widdle away his health via guns. I ended up finding him easier than Vossler, who kicked my ass countless times (Berserk is unfair!).

Oh, and I also found quickenings and Belias pretty much useless in this fight. But it was my first time trying quickenings, so maybe I don't understand them yet.

[Icemage]

Re: FF12 first impressions

No, and that's what I'm liking about FFXII: gambits are far more important than levels. I just beat Tiamat with Vaan at lvl 20, everyone else at 18/19. I got frustrated after the first couple tries, but looked over my gambits and thought about how I lost, and adjusted accordingly.

Strategy is very important, particularly as many enemies use area effect or line/cone type attacks. Clustering close to enemies is a good way to take a serious beating, and this fight is a perfect example.

I just passed that battle last night, but it was really easy since I had levelled my characters up to about 28.

More strategy tips on that fight

Very important to keep your characters separated.

I used this setup:
Tank (Basche: 1H Axe/Shield)
Ranged attacker (Balthier: Gun)
WHM (Penelo, since she seems to have the highest MP rating of all characters)
Larsa (guest)

Leave one character to tank Tiamat (preferably someone with heavy armor and shield skills), and take control of your mage equipped with Esuna. I notice that Larsa will actually follow your leader, which means as long as you don't engage with your leader and stay at extreme range, he will stick close to you and just use his potions and not get hit with Disable.

This makes the fight very easy, since your ranged attacker will keep their distance and won't get hit with Disable. Larsa will stay close to your leader, so he won't get hit either if you stay far enough away.

Icemage

[Centurion]

Re: FF12 first impressions

hi there, quick question-
the guy at EBgames, said most people are using the guide, as the game is more non-linear than previous FF's.
so i ask you, those that have been playing, are you using the guide, do you think its worth gettting, or are you trudging through on your own without the guide.
thanks in advance

[eticket109]

Re: FF12 first impressions

hi there, quick question-
the guy at EBgames, said most people are using the guide, as the game is more non-linear than previous FF's.
so i ask you, those that have been playing, are you using the guide, do you think its worth gettting, or are you trudging through on your own without the guide.
thanks in advance

I try not to use the guide for the walkthrough as I like to be surprised as the game goes on. However, I would highly recommend it for the info on the license board, bazaar item lists and hunt information

[neighbortaru]

Re: FF12 first impressions

I try not to use the guide for the walkthrough as I like to be surprised as the game goes on. However, I would highly recommend it for the info on the license board, bazaar item lists and hunt information

agreed. the maps are very useful as well

[Icemage]

Re: FF12 first impressions

hi there, quick question-
the guy at EBgames, said most people are using the guide, as the game is more non-linear than previous FF's.
so i ask you, those that have been playing, are you using the guide, do you think its worth gettting, or are you trudging through on your own without the guide.
thanks in advance

I'm not using the guide and I'm doing just fine. As for the game being non-linear... it really is linear, in that there's really only a single story path. You can step off the main road at any point and some explore nearby areas before they're technically unlocked by the story, but it's still just a single path.

Without the guide, though, I do recommend keeping a notepad nearby to jot down what you're doing, especially if you wander off the main story path and have to stop. Otherwise, the map will always clue you in to what you were doing last with a scrolling marquee describing what's currently happening story-wise.


Icemage

[CHugz187]

Re: FF12 first impressions

No, and that's what I'm liking about FFXII: gambits are far more important than levels. I just beat Tiamat with Vaan at lvl 20, everyone else at 18/19. I got frustrated after the first couple tries, but looked over my gambits and thought about how I lost, and adjusted accordingly.

My opinion

Basically, keep Larsa and Balthier (or whoever your gun user is) alive. Larsa uses his own Hi-potions any time someone's HP gets low. Have at least one person's first gambit set to Esuna, so that you can wipe off disable. And since he likes to spam -ga, try to keep your characters apart. I usually controlled Vaan and stayed as far away as I could from Balthier and Larsa. It really isn't that difficult, you just have to widdle away his health via guns. I ended up finding him easier than Vossler, who kicked my ass countless times (Berserk is unfair!).

Oh, and I also found quickenings and Belias pretty much useless in this fight. But it was my first time trying quickenings, so maybe I don't understand them yet.

My characters 26,24,and 24. they all have their gambites set with Cura,Phoenix downs,Hi Potions, and Plus Larsa has like infinite suply of hi-potions and x-potions. U try using the summon but that was a bad idea...I just hate breath...its the only thing that kills me...kills my whm and my blm, then I revive them then they get killed again with another breath...then he hits Vaan with a 5x attack wich does like 3000 damage to him..and kills him then Fran (the weakest one) gets killed with 1 hit doing like 800 damage...then I have the weak characters that only have 300 hp and die with one hit LOL....I will figure this out!!! I had one more hit on him...then he killed the last person before he could attack...I was so pissed.

[Jei]

Re: FF12 first impressions

/nin

Anyone notice Larsa Dual wielding?

I didn't set anything special for Tiamat fight. I just fought normally and won. Cant remember what I did but it felt like a really easy and simple boss to me.

[CHugz187]

Re: FF12 first impressions

yay I beat tiamate! all I needed was Phoenix downs LOL!!! anyway, I think its stupid that they made you fight another boss right after him. Now I am trying to fight Elder Mythm or w/e its called....

[Cometgreen]

Re: FF12 first impressions

Bwahaha, I beat the Elder Dragon with 23 Vaan and everyone else at 22. First try was with the same levels as Tiamat (20 Vaan, 18/19 everyone else) to get a feel for him, I decided to grind for an hour, and got him on my first try with new levels. It really is all about adapting to how the bosses act. It took a long time to take down all his health, and cost me about 10 phoenix downs and my last ether, but I got it. And again, no Espers or Quickenings; just good old hack and slash (and shoot).

What I did for Elder Dragon

Well, for the first half I was kind of my old stupid self, which meant I just hit and cured, but by the last half I developed a good rhythm. I started with taking down the two treants, mostly thanks to aero, which got poor Penelo too much attention, so she went down early. That was one of my two Esuna-whores, so I had to make sure Ashe stayed alive to undo his damn ability.

Much like Tiamat, let your gun user stay out of AOE range and shoot, and keep Larsa alive to use his Hi-potions (they gave him that gambit for a reason). By the second half, I just had Basch tanking it, Balthier shooting it, and gave Fran a bow to shoot and cure. If he did the AOE ability, I'd pop in Ashe to esuna whoever got it (either Basch or Larsa), and then use a handkerchief to remove oil. Again, it will take a while, and you need to be fast with them phoenix downs, but keep a cool head and it should be quite easy.

Oh, and constantly-blocking-Fireball ftw.

I gotta say, this game gets more beautiful by the area, and more polished by the cutscene. It's so damn GOOD.

[CHugz187]

Re: FF12 first impressions

lol I know why I suck, probly because I wasnt really trying with the licents board, I just picked whatever. I will probly start over and try this time, and do what is right lol..

[breakthecypher]

Re: FF12 first impressions

Getting better Liscence points. Don't spend too much time getting LP cos once you get here it gets easier.

Faster LP points

Don't worry just get to Mt Ominace or whatever and buy the golden armlets which give you double LP per monster. Definitely a must have.

[Gobo]

Re: FF12 first impressions

Getting better Liscence points. Don't spend too much time getting LP cos once you get here it gets easier.

Faster LP points

Don't worry just get to Mt Ominace or whatever and buy the golden armlets which give you double LP per monster. Definitely a must have.

Golden Amulet

You can get a Golden Amulet almost right after getting the Dawn Shard. Its the best reward from the Patient in the Desert side quest (i.e. turn in the max number of items possible, 5 Semclam Shells, 2 Small Phials, 3 drops of Valeblossom Dew, and Great Serpent skin from the Nidhogg hunt). The only real hard part is running through the northern part of Esterland with lvl 25 wolfs and an Aggroing Dino. The Wolves are beatable with lvl 18 players, but they hit hard and fast.
Its also a reward from the Enkelados Hunt, though I don't know how hard it is with lvl 19 characters and the lack of Dispel.

[KoukiRyu]

Re: FF12 first impressions

lol after reading all of this stuff...I feel like I'm far behind in the story in comparison to everyone. @_@ I just end up grinding a lot, seeing how big of a chain I can get through a few zones. >_> I tend to really like leveling up for some reason, so I've just been spending time doing that...and I'm so confused with which weapons to do with who, so I just picked some on their types of personalities and stopped paying attention to other's builds.

And I was wondering, does anyone actually like Penelo? I mean I couldn't care less if we go save her or anything, and I'd much rather have someone else in my party. :x

Balthier, Fran, Ashe, Basch, Vaan though...and Vaan's clothes really aren't bad -_-;

[CHugz187]

Re: FF12 first impressions

dammit, I am stuck in Balias again LOL, I started over yesterday...beat all the other bosses the first time. Accept for that one it always seems to be the hardest...they are all at level 16 right now, my whm has Cure,and Cura, and like 50 Phoenix Downs, but for some reason I just keep on dying even with quickinings. Oh well I only tried twice...all figure somthing out!! *thinks hard." But I cant wait to play FFXI again I dont know why I just think the other FF's are to easy accept FFXI and FFXII but for some reason I kind of like FFXI more then FFXI maybe its the online thing? I dont know but I miss it to bad...my POL account got delelted...and I cant re-sign up because I lost the # code that it came with...so all have to wait till I get it for Xmas...oh well...