FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

[Cometgreen]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

Yes, and the channeling augmentations (I think that's what they are... Lower mp consumption by 10%) are essential for your mages. MP is so precious in this game.

[Icemage]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

Def. look into purchasing Augmentations for your characters. Probably the best LP's i have spent so far in the game. Such as attack lore (sp) for example bumping up your characters physical attacks and other for other for HP+ and Mag atk+ << they make a very noticable difference.

I have to agree with this. Some of the Augmentations are so very vital to specialized tactics. For instance:

SPOILER: A new combination I discovered last night

Up until last night, I had been sitting on Ashe's license points (over 2500!), but I finally got around to experimenting with them (by necessity).

I hit the second Esper fight for Mateus, and got royally stuck. I couldn't damage the ice elemental pets with physical, and my black mage (Fran) wasn't set up properly to nail them either without dying constantly.

What I ended up doing with Ashe's points (yes, I know it's not optimal, but I guess I'll have to replay the game and do everything "right" next time ) is I set her up with the following:

- Decent heavy armor skill (enough to wear Golden Armor)
- Shield Blocking upgrades (all of them)
- Magic Potency upgrades (all of them, particularly the HP Critical one)
- Swiftness upgrades (all of them)
- HP+ upgrades (all of them)
- Channelling (MP cost reduction - all of them)
- Arcane and Green magic with a dash of White magic for Esuna and Curaga.
- Inquisitor to gain MP when attacking
- Martyr to gain MP when attacked
- Charge ability to refuel if I spend myself too low

This setup is surprisingly good. What I ended up with was a tank who could cast Drain, Decoy, Curaga, and Esuna and who could recover MP at a frighteningly quick pace.

With Vaan and Penelo as my other white magic specialists, I was able to use them to just Drain down all the pets (who, if you don't kill them, will just continually cast Curaga on Mateus, wasting your time).

After all the pets were down, I used Decoy to shift Mateus' focus on me and just beat on him until he died (with occasional pauses to recover from his Blizzaja spam).

Icemage

[samarium]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

Excellent general-use gambits:

1. Ally:any -> Phoenix Down
2. Ally:Status - Critical HP -> Hi-Potion

Purchase all three Potion Lores and both Phoenix Lores and set these two gambits on all your party members. When one person gets HP critical, boom 1800 HP restored, and both phoenix lores restore quite a generous portion of HP when one of you falls. All you really have to do with your main character is direct your party members and toss Curas out when you see Blizzaja coming.

By this point I had Haste and Regen set as gambits, so my entire party regenerated HP and hit a mile a minute.

Channeling is a necessity, and so are Headhunter, Martyr and Inquisitor. Consider finding all the Magick Lores for your main healer.

With the 3 MP regeneration augmentations and Channeling, my party members regenerate MP fast enough that they can permanently keep themselves under a state of Haste and Bravery.

-sam

[Jei]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

I think I unlocked all augments/gambits slots for all characters now. I just run around auto killing mobs in circle while PTing in FF11 >.>

[samarium]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

I think I unlocked all augments/gambits slots for all characters now. I just run around auto killing mobs in circle while PTing in FF11 >.>

Oh wow, grinding in FFXI has gotten so routine that you grind in FFXII to take the boredom away?

-sam

[eticket109]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

I was joking with someone earlier that it's funny that FFXI is considered by most to be the less addictive of the two games

[neighbortaru]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

I was joking with someone earlier that it's funny that FFXI is considered by most to be the less addictive of the two games

i would agree with this as well

[Icemage]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

FFXII is almost like playing FFXI with your "dream team" of characters for XP parties and missions. I'm not sure that it's necessarily more addictive, but it just is a lot of fun.

Here's some more general notes:

- Gambit slots are plentiful beyond belief on the board. Don't go out of your way to get one - chances are sooner or later you'll be forced to traverse some Gambit slots to get to a License that you need.

- In case some people haven't noticed, you can't tell what hidden effects armor and weapons have in the shop - you have to buy them (or check the strategy guide if that's what you like).

Generally speaking, mystic armors improve magic potency, light armors improve speed, and heavy armors improve strength. I don't really see much of a difference in Defense ratings between them


Icemage

[Jei]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

That boss with ice elementals... I ran into him with my normal gambit setup at first. Then after a couple phoenix was thrown on the dead, I realized my set up wasn't going to work. So I turn off auto attack and try casting fire (no fira >.>) on those ice and fire couldn't even scratch them

So I threw out quickening.... not sure how much I got connected but it killed all ice elementals in 1 shot.
Then the boss got really easy afterwards o_O;;

[neighbortaru]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

Defense between Light and Mystic armors are very close. Heavy Armors, however, really start to pull ahead in the end. For comparison, I'll use license levels

Light 6 = Heavy 4 = Mystic 6 (~20-25 Def)
Light 9 = Heavy 6 = Mystic 9 (~35-40 Def)
Light 11 = Heavy 7 > Mystic 12 (~45-47 Def)

[samarium]

Re: FFXII general strategies (SPOILERS)

Once you reach Archades you have the option of purchasing an accessory called Pheasant Netsuke. I put it on all my characters, and wow.

3x Hi-Potion from HP critical restores a whopping 2700 HP with all 3 potion lores.

Phoenix Down now revives me with 100% HP.

The most effective way to play this game, for the most part, is to just beat everything the hell down with two-handed weapons, or have one guy with a shield and Decoy. Magic is strong but the recovery time is murder, not to mention you'll run out of MP unless you're whacking away. I can hit 3 times with the Zodiac Spear (15000+ damage) in the time it takes to cast and recover from one -ga spell.

Naturally monsters with Paling up are the exception, in which case you have elemental staves and Faith, but FFXI-like roles like archer and black mage don't necessarily apply. Bows are slow and miss frequently, and dedicated mages will run out of MP so fast your head will spin (particularly on undead -- can't syphon 'em). Get 3 bows to take down flying creatures, stack up haste and bravery (when you get it) and just watch 'em fall down.

-sam