3

11/6/2006 12:57:47 PM

for page 3

Quote :

"The camera angles give me headaches and is a pain in the ass.. it will come with time tho. I bought the guide and read thru a lot of the instructional parts (not the storyline stuff) - It gives you a better understanding of Licenses, quickenings, gambits, etc - THERE IS A FUCKING MARK AT THE END OF THE GAME WITH 51 MILLLION HP!!! omjesus, the guide says that the battle can take upwards of 10 hours... but you can save in the middle of the fight and the boss will not regen all its health. Also, anyone else a power gamer and level up anytime they get a chance (i.e.- anytime there is a lot of monsters and a savestone near.. kill monsters to half life, then get all HP/MP back) I was level 5 before I stopped killing the wolves, cactaurs and cockatrices in east desert. I'm filthy rich early in the game. I enjoy going to places and spanking the bosses, not just barely getting bye."

11/6/2006 12:59:35 PM

I'm at work and wanting to go home and play, but for all of you who have played a lot.. how much do you use the quickenings and summons? I can see the quickenings being nice but they take all your MP if you only have one... How long did it take you to get them?

Are they all the same? Worded that poorly... If Vaan picks quickening A, will it do the same thing as if Ashe picks quickening A?

[Edited on November 6, 2006 at 1:04 PM. Reason : ,]

11/6/2006 1:03:18 PM

I realized I needed to start using them in the Tomb of Raithwall. The boss encounters there are doable without them (especially if you are at a high level), but they are pretty tough.

I'm still very new to it, but the idea is that you chain them up if you have two characters executing it. So, I have Vaan start Red Spiral, and then have my tank do Fulminating darkness. You can chain them back and forth like this, getting multiple hits, and then unleashing inferno which does alot of damage.

I don't have any magic on the guy i spec'd out to be a pure warrior, so he doesn't exactly miss his MP, tho it cuts Vaan's down to 0.

11/6/2006 1:16:10 PM

HAHAHA!!!!

lookit this!

http://www.ebgames.com/gs/ffxii/ffxiisweeps.asp
just click to look at the gallery

(although there are a couple girls in there that are totally doable)

11/6/2006 1:31:00 PM

Quote :

""Sometimes after I used a combination of quickenings and additional attack called "Inferno" would take place. Any explanation in the guide on that or is it just random?""

when you can chain the quickenings at least 3 times the inferno will hit.

11/6/2006 1:42:24 PM

Quote :

"If Vaan picks quickening A, will it do the same thing as if Ashe picks quickening A?"

No. I remember Vaan and Basch being at the same quickening and it had different names. Only one person can use each quickening or esper square on the license board. I let Basch have that square and later Vaan got a different quickening square. By the way, if you want to figure out which squares hold quickenings you can see by just moving around the license board. Even if you can't access a square yet, it will give you a vague description of the square and how much it costs.

11/6/2006 2:04:13 PM

Goddamnit you guys are really making me want to blow off studying for the GRE's (again) and go out to get this game today!

11/6/2006 2:04:49 PM

what ^ he said

11/6/2006 2:05:55 PM

I broke down and bought this game yesterday and found myself sitting in front of the TV for far too long. All I can think about at work is playin this

11/6/2006 2:50:52 PM

really stupid question, but is this like FF11? With online MMO play, + a monthly fee?

11/6/2006 4:30:55 PM

nope

11/6/2006 4:45:49 PM

Great game so far. I thought the gambit system was pretty lame till I realized you could get more than 2 (hehe, woops), now its awesome. The idea of have having an automated fighting force running around the world killing shit really appeals to me. I won't lie though and say that I don't miss the traditional turn based action, I definitly do, it's one of the things that always made me want to play these games. My only real complaint so far is the characters all seem pretty meh. None of them have a any neat features that make them stand out (giant sword, gun for an arm, ninja, undead, etc....). The chick with the bunny ears is about the only one with any sort of flavor. I think if they were gonna make the characters so generic, they should have at least made it so changes in armor show up on their character models (like an MMORPG). Other than that, the story is excellent and I love the Star Wars esque world it takes place in.

11/6/2006 5:43:14 PM

what gambits do you have set up?

11/6/2006 5:48:31 PM

so im cheap
i found a great place to build up xp and lp

when youre trying to escape the airship, the alarm goes off and enemies keep coming no matter what

soooo, i can leave it on, watch tv, check back during commercials just in case, and keep going. works for me.

11/6/2006 8:41:53 PM

^ Yep. The guide says that is a good place to grind as well. I pulled one group via the alarm and got like 10 guys and 2 dogs. After nearly dying I decided there would be better places ahead. Plus the stupid dogs kept breaking my chains!

11/6/2006 8:53:37 PM

wait, what system is this for?

11/6/2006 9:18:30 PM

PS2

11/6/2006 9:22:20 PM

what level are you at though?

i was at 13 when i started and ive gotten them up to 15 now

11/6/2006 10:06:55 PM

18ish I want to say. I haven't been able to play in a few days.

11/6/2006 10:35:14 PM

i grinded on the skeletons in the mines. there is one area where they keep respawning. got a chain of 80 in no time and they were dropping triple loot with each bone fragment selling for 193

11/6/2006 10:37:31 PM

meh
theyre gonna pull me out of work again for this back problem

irritating as all hell, but more time for being a nerd
lol

11/6/2006 11:24:54 PM

can someone tell me how to beat that stupid cactus with the flower on its head? i dont know how many times that things killed me.

11/7/2006 12:45:55 AM

umm either level up or wait until you have a party instead of trying it 1 on 1

11/7/2006 1:11:19 AM

^^yeah def. don't do it 1 on 1
I managed to do the Thextral Hunt alone, but the flowering cactoid sucks if you're by yourself unless you're at a really high level

anyone have any good gambit combinations...not really sure I grasp this 100% yet

11/7/2006 1:22:41 AM

just think of gambits as if-then combinations

once i looked at it like that, it made it much easier to organize them and utilize them correctly

11/7/2006 1:23:51 AM

Need to catch up on work so I can get back to this game. I picked up the game Friday and have only logged 2 hours

11/7/2006 10:52:47 AM

i am buyin this game in december. gotta dust off the ol nintendo placestation.

11/7/2006 3:08:48 PM

Don't you mean your Sony Gamecast?

11/7/2006 3:09:40 PM

man
well theres gamecube and then theres dreamcast. which you got?

well i said i got gamecast man

11/7/2006 7:59:14 PM

anyone know what fulminating darkness does?

11/7/2006 9:06:17 PM

Quote :

"Also, anyone else a power gamer and level up anytime they get a chance (i.e.- anytime there is a lot of monsters and a savestone near.. kill monsters to half life, then get all HP/MP back) I was level 5 before I stopped killing the wolves, cactaurs and cockatrices in east desert. I'm filthy rich early in the game. I enjoy going to places and spanking the bosses, not just barely getting bye."

Oh yeah. I've spent close to 40 hrs and only half of that is the story. I've got all the Quickenings and most of the board filled up for all my characters and my highest lvl is mid 30s. I farmed a lot of cash too (from the skellies mentioned earlier) and have all the monographs.

A few words on Quickenings:
My best chain so far is 18 hit, I wasn't even trying on it cause my primary 3 were already dead so there really wasn't any way to win the battle (esper battle in waterway, forget name of boss). I've had several 17s as well. One tip that you can try and it will make your use of Quickenings a lot deadlier is to sub out only *one* of your reserves after the first quickening chains. I'll explain: Characters 1,2,3 are in battle. Start the quickenings. When I got all 3 with lvl3 quickenings I can average 10 hit chains. At the end of the quickening, go to your menu. Swap one of the characters (1,2, or 3) with one of your reservers (4,5,6). For the example, I'll swap out 3 with 4. So now you have 1,2,4 in battle. Have 4 start the Quickening and hopefully you can get a good rally going. After that series, keep swapping them out. So its now 1,2,5 in battle, and then 1,2,6. Basically, what this boils down to is you have 4 quickening sets, each with many chains. In an extreme example of this one could possible get 80 quickening chains (4*20, where 20 would be a theoritical max). Unfortunately, the Mist chargers during the subsequent sets will usually take some time so you probably won't get even close to 20 chains. With some practice, it is pretty easy to perform 40 or more quickenings in a single battle (without using any ethers).

Someone already mentioned earlier that if you chain 3 or more quickenings it will perform Inferno. There are many other end bonus quickenings like inferno such as Arc Blast, Black Hole, etc. I'm curious to know the combinations of quickenings or chain length required for the different bonus quickenings. The best part about the bonus quickenings is they are area effect. Any enemies close to your original target will be damaged as well if you manage to chain 3 or more. Keep that in mind when fighting bosses with sidekicks.

Perhaps I should stop rambling and go back to my game.

11/7/2006 9:08:31 PM

how do quickenings work

and by that I mean, when the time bar is at the bottom are you supposed to hit R2 rapidly until "Time's Up!" or what?

11/7/2006 10:48:26 PM

I saw Playstation 2s are pretty cheap now when I was at Best Buy the other day, and I was tempted to pick one up and this along with it. But knowing me and Final Fantasies I'd probably lose myself in it and never go to sleep.

11/8/2006 12:12:54 AM

watch out for power flickers

11/8/2006 12:27:09 AM

Judging from the posts so far, the battles seem awesome with many tactics at your disposal.

The gameplay sounds great, but how does the plot compare?

11/8/2006 12:29:23 AM

Quote :

"The gameplay sounds great, but how does the plot compare?"

Compared to Final Fantasy games in the past, the plot is ultra-weak. If you are a fan of tactics style or MMORPGs then you'll like this. If you preferred Final Fantasy for plot, lots of items, and turn-based fighting system, you will HATE this.

Graphics are undeniably great, but doesn't compensate for the total lack of character development and plot, but honestly I think the fighting style is what kills this game.

If you are a fan of MMORPGs the only way this is better is that you only have to pay once, as opposed to every month (I think Square is migrating towards monthly fee games though). Otherwise, MMORPGs are much more fun for their versatility and sociability factors.

11/8/2006 1:42:10 AM

Quote :

"how do quickenings work and by that I mean, when the time bar is at the bottom are you supposed to hit R2 rapidly until "Time's Up!" or what? "

during the quickening, on the bottom left of the screen is the cue to hit R2 button, in the bottom midddle of the screen (above the timer bar next to your character name) a cue to hit another button, like triangle or square will pop up. if you can hit that button when it pops up, you will chain another quickening onto the first. a second quickening screen will pop up and its the same thing all over again. each successive time that you can chain a quickening, the timer bar will go faster and faster. (i guess thats why its called a quickening) if you can chain three or more quickenings a magic burst will happen for extra damage. my personal best is an 8 chain quickening with collision magic burst for over 6000 damage. lets just say that i made judge ghis my bitch on one hit.

11/8/2006 8:22:12 AM

I haven't experimented with it much, as I only have two quickenings.

Let's say you start red spiral with vaan. If you avoid ever hitting the button that starts a chain for Basch's fulminating darkness, will Basch have full mana at the end of the quickening?
I would think typically you wouldn't want to do that though. From what I understand, the advantage here is that it's easier to chain quickenings with 2 people because you have double the chance to do a chain every time you press R2.

[Edited on November 8, 2006 at 9:14 AM. Reason : ]

11/8/2006 9:14:14 AM

if you have two characters and each have a quickening, then you chain both their quickenings together, do they both end up with 0 MP after its over?

11/8/2006 9:57:58 AM

si

11/8/2006 10:15:29 AM

damn work.. kinda wish I didnt have to work all day m-w then going out of town till sunday..

I WANT TO PLAYYYYYYYYYY... I'm still in the middle of making my sunstone, which most of you probably did within the first hour or two of gameplay... but I'm 4 hours in cuz I leveled up so much

11/8/2006 10:20:42 AM

i finally beat the first demon wall. lots harder than the 2nd one

11/8/2006 11:58:32 AM

I Just got my ass handed to me by the Cluckatrice....sooo I guess I'll put that on hold for awhile and do what I'm currently supposed to be doing...which is going after Punelo

11/8/2006 12:17:53 PM

11/8/2006 6:57:21 PM

More discussion about quickenings:

There are 3 lvls of quickening. At the moment I'm not sure if the actual quickening matters as much as the level. If I was to get Fulminating Darkness as the 1st quickening on a character (lvl 1) it would be weaker then if I got it as the characters 3rd quickening (lvl 3). In this way, I don't think it really matters who gets what, rather, which lvl quickening used at any given time. Note that each lvl of quickening requires that (max MP) * the quickening lvl. To cast lvl 1 requires max MP, lvl 2 is 2*maxMP, lvl 3 is 3*maxMP. You can see in the menu that your MaxMP.

With this in mind, if for some reason you only wanted to cast 1 quickening then only that one characters MP would drain. It would drain by the required lvl of quickeing. If you have 3 full bars and cast a lvl 1 quickening and don't chain any more. Then your other characters will have the same MP as before and the character that cast the quickening will still have 2 full bars. You could have 2 of your users try to keep up chains and not let the other character cast a quickening. When the set is over the character that didn't cast anything would still have the MP. This might work for a party of 2 fighters and a healer for example. The 2 fighters would chain and the healer would still have MP after the quickenings to buff/health/nuke. It is also possible, if you had 3 full bars, to land lvl 1 quickenings for each of your characters. In this situation you would be able to pull off the quickening burst and come out of the quickening with all of your characters with 2 full bars. I'm sure the probability of this is pretty slim for you to have the time to R2 for each of your characters to line up the lvl 1 quickening though, but its an idea.

Using only 2 characters for quickening chains, you can try and extend the quickening chain rotations that i discussed in an earlier post. Perhaps instead of 3 characters with each chain you only use 2 for the first series. This will give you more quickening sets, and potentially more quickening bursts (for multiple enemy damage). I haven't really been successful with just a 2 character chain though. I believe my highest chain with just 2 is 8. In the earlier discussion I mentioned 4 rotations/sets of quickening chains (characters 123,124,125,126). If you start off with just 2 you could do 12,123,124,125,126. Note that is is better to play 3 characters from sets 2 and on rather then 2 characters. You do not gain anything by only playing 2 characters version the 3 after the initial set. You could even try only playing 1 person at the beginning and try and see if you can chain multiple quickenings from just him/her. This is gonna be pretty hard, but again, if you can get 3 you get the quickening burst. Perhaps a rotation such as 1,12,123,124,125,126 would be successful. This is a chance at 6 quickening bursts versus 5 and 4 discussed earlier.

It is important to note that even if a character does not have any MP, he can get Mist charges during the quickenings and will be able to cast quickenings to add to the chain. The only downside is while you are 'R2'ing to get to a mist charge, the timer is eating up. This is the whole premise behind the rotations of characters.

In the middle of a quickening there are 4 possible options: R2, Triangle, X, Square, and do nothing. I use R2 in the event that none of the other buttons show up for the characters. If one of the buttons shows up for your character then it will have one of 4 results. Results 1 thru 3 the different lvl quickenings for that character. The 4th possible result is the Mist Charge. In short, the mist charge will cast one of your quickenings but will take off some of the time. In a situation where you have multiple choices of quickenings then it will probably be beneficial to pay attention and not hit the mist charge and instead go for one that is already set on the quickening. If it is already on one of the quickenings then as soon as you press the button the timer will stop. Otherwise, the mist charge takes a small amount of time to roll over for a quickening.

11/8/2006 7:11:31 PM

^ Good post! There are alot of good strategies there I haven't seen on the strategy guides.

There is one thing that I didn't understand. I would think you would go for the mist charge almost all the time, as it fills up all of one character's mana. By doing that, you give yourself more opportunities to perform a quickening. For example, let's say Balthier uses a level 3 quickening to open. His mana is completely depleted. Therefore, the 1, 2, and 3 is going to show up grey for him. His only shot to perform a quickening is to roll a mist charge. Let's say by chance you hit Basch's 1 and 2 next. Now, 1, 2, and 3 are going to show up grey for him. Meanwhile, Vaan's has not used a quickening yet. Therefore all his slots should be white.

If I get a choice between a Balthier mist charge and a Vaan quickening, I'm going to choose the mist charge. Vaan is still going go have a white 1, 2, and 3 at the start of the next chain. It's a guaranteed quickening on the next round. If you choose Vaan's 3, all characters are now completely depleted of mana. Each one has to roll a mist charge to do an attack. If you choose Basch's mist charge instead, Vaan has all 3 quickening slots white and Basch may have 1 or 2 depending on what quickening he does after the charge.

11/8/2006 10:01:11 PM

I sure do a helluva lot about quickenings and i still am nowhere near getting them.. lol

11/8/2006 10:11:56 PM

Are the battles still random like the previous ffs'? You know like, when you're walking and the suddenly the screen zooms in for you to fight an enemy. I haven't played this game, but all of them are awesome.

11/9/2006 1:15:28 AM

no random battles. you see enemies and fight them all on the same screen

11/9/2006 1:16:35 AM