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Since I have been ruthlessly squashing spoilers in the First Impressions thread, I thought I'd open up discussion for what approaches everyone has been taking in the game.
I'll share here some of the lessons I've learned from playing through about 30 hours of play (including grinding).
Those are my thoughts so far. How about yours?
Icemage
I'll share here some of the lessons I've learned from playing through about 30 hours of play (including grinding).
General Strategies
Combat:
Upgrades:
Money:
Combat:
- Level plays an important role in combat. The higher the level the enemy, the more likely they are to Parry your physical attacks, and likewise the higher level you are, the more likely you are to Block enemy attacks. This is in addition to any perks you acquire via augmentations like Shield Blocking upgrades. If you're looking for an easier time in the game, make it a point to spend some time at each stage just levelling up and hunting for items to make money.
- Enmity is wierd in FFXII. It seems that enemies have a distinct preference to attacking whoever they see first, and then seem to occasionally switch to characters who are nearby. This makes gun/bow/crossbow/mages much safer than their FFXI equivalents, as enemies "tend" to stick to whoever's nearby.
- Gambits are important. Be careful with setting gambits, and watch what your characters are doing with them. For instance, if you set a Gambit to use Steal on any foe with HP = 100%, you're going to be in trouble if you suddenly get swarmed and need to kill things ASAP.
Upgrades:
- Specialization is powerful. You have 6 characters, which means you can basically cover all of the bases as far as job roles (tank, nuker, healer, ranged, melee), with the option to opt out of any of the roles you wish, or mix them. Ideally, though, you want each character to be able to reach different Quickenings, which will naturally extend your skill paths on the chessboard in different directions.
- Remember that you can't "mess up" your characters. The worst that will happen to you if you buy a useless ability somewhere on the grid is that you'll have to spend a bit more time grinding out for license points.
- Just like in FFXI, any character can pretty much take up any job. Not all characters are similar - they have different stats and HP/MP totals as they gain levels, so Penelo will always be a better mage than Basche, but that doesn't really stop you from using Basche as a mage or Penelo as a tank if you're willing to give up some efficiency for it.
- Probably the most useful upgrades as a whole are Augmentations. Augments are all down and to the left of where most characters start on the upper skill board. Of particular importance are the upgrades for HP+50, HP+100, HP+200, HP+500, and the three Swiftness upgrades. More so than just about anything else, these upgrades will greatly reduce your frustration on difficult battles.
- The early ability Charge is invaluable. Every mage or anyone else that uses MP for abilities should acquire this, as it can sustain you in extended battles without sacrificing valuable items that you'd rather save for a boss fight.
- By the opposite token, the Poach ability is nearly useless unless you're no longer interested in XP and License Points. It takes a long time to activate, it requires a successful physical attack that doesn't miss, and most importantly, while it guarantees a drop from that enemy, it also robs you of any XP or LP from that enemy. Don't take this ability unless you're only interested in farming a specific item.
- Probably the most useless ability in the game is First Aid. It's fast, but provides so few HP that it's not worth the time used to activate it. Avoid buying this ability unless you absolutely need something past it and it's the cheapest in terms of LP (and even there I'd suggest just sucking it up and spending the extra points rather than cluttering your Technick list).
Money:
- Money is pretty tight at the beginning of the game. The main way to make money is to Steal from every enemy you can.
- One decent way to gain money after you acquire Gambits is to set a gambit for one of your characters to Steal on enemy HP = 100%. This works great on single enemies, since it generally means you only try once to Steal from the enemy. However, it can get you into trouble when there are many enemies so if you use this, make sure you turn this Gambit off if you suddenly find yourself surrounded.
- Getting killchains can help your cash flow. Each time your Chain Level upgrades by continually killing the same type of enemy, your likelihood of getting better loot and multiple drops increases.
- The first decent place to really farm for cash and XP in this manner is Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba. You can do a bit of chainfarming on Wolves in the Estersand, or on Hyenas in the early version of Giza Plains (dry season), but those net you less money (albeit they are easier to kill).
- At your first opportunity, purchase the Grimoire that eventually appears for 18000 gil in the Bazaar. It greatly improves the drops you get from beasts and avions (yes, this is spelled wrong in the game).
Those are my thoughts so far. How about yours?
Icemage
Sig by Tsuko~
) i'll just post the info directly from there.
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