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Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age |OT| You Had One Job!

Rad-

Member
What's the difference between the Gambits "fire-weak" and "fire-vulnerable"?

Vulnerable means the enemy is "neutral" to that element. So you can damage him but won't deal extra damage.

Weak means you will deal extra damage with that element.
 

Nozem

Member
I'm having a blast with this game.

A 2x / 4x speed option should be put into every RPG, it makes the game so much better.
 
Love the x2 speed option. Look most I dont paticulary care for the sandseas so speeding that part up made them actually enjoyable to play since it never got tedious.

Even with 2x speed, the whole area took me over an hour. While being very thourough and generally not running froml battles, but still. Without the speed boost I'd probably have ended my playthrough then and there. In hindsight they probably didn't even expect you to cover the whole area your first time through, what with there being 2 different exits that lead to the next area and everything.
 
I opened the pilgrim door in Sochen and only got a mega elixir instead of the ninja blades, what gives? Every guide says you either get the koga blade or iga blade.

I reloaded the game a few times cause I thought it was weird RNG but still got megaelixir every time.
 

Impulsor

Member
So do I. They are lv63 now, Vaan is still lv9 as I abandoned him as quickly as I could.

All of them because I love fighting, leveling and unlocking licences in the game. I also use all the jobs.

Everybody earns LP in th ened, so I suppose that bringing them up to a similar level shouldn't be too difficult.

In any case, I can't be bothered right now, So I still stick to my main party.
 

Mendrox

Member
Even with 2x speed, the whole area took me over an hour. While being very thourough and generally not running froml battles, but still. Without the speed boost I'd probably have ended my playthrough then and there. In hindsight they probably didn't even expect you to cover the whole area your first time through, what with there being 2 different exits that lead to the next area and everything.

Over a hour with 2x speed? D:

It took me 15 minutes max, but I also was able to almost one hit kill everything hmm
I love this version.
 

black070

Member
A little off-topic, but I've really been enjoying my time with XII that it's got me wondering, how is X/X-2 HD ? Are they worth picking up ?
 

Isotropy

Member
A little off-topic, but I've really been enjoying my time with XII that it's got me wondering, how is X/X-2 HD ? Are they worth picking up ?

Did you like the originals? They're... in HD. Aside from that they don't really have any of the additional new perks of The Zodiac Age.

Aside from HD-ness, they're great games, but extremely different from XII.
 

black070

Member
Did you like the originals? They're... in HD. Aside from that they don't really have any of the additional new perks of The Zodiac Age.

I've never played them before, for some reason I missed all the PS2-era Final Fantasy's despite VIII being my overall favourite PS1 game (VII was a close second).
 

Meowster

Member
Did you like the originals? They're... in HD. Aside from that they don't really have any of the additional new perks of The Zodiac Age.

Aside from HD-ness, they're great games, but extremely different from XII.
They do have the Dark Aeons/Penance which a lot of people never experienced and a whole new section for X-2 that never made it out of Japan. It's worth checking out imho.
 
I get why the Gambit system was dropped after this game. It's super flawed. The only way to make a fight difficult is to have enemies spam overpowered status moves or straight up one shot you. Maybe they could have found a way to balance it, but we'll never know I guess.

This need for cheap/artificial challenge also spills over into the level design too. It's just not worth it even though it's a lot of fun to play around with.

Is the only way to get an Embroidered Tippet in TZA really a 3% steal from a Coerul?

Nah, it's a high chance from poaching.
 

massoluk

Banned
Only just now did I read the op... After picking classes for up to Basch. Hope the "You can finish with any classes" is real because I didnt really pick those ideal combo in the op :p

Vaan - Knight
Penelope - white mage
Balthir - Uhlan
Fran - Shikari
Basch - Monk
 

Rad-

Member
Is the only way to get an Embroidered Tippet in TZA really a 3% steal from a Coerul?

You get one from a chest in Nam-Yensa. Near the entrance to Raithwall if you go north there is an area where you fight a flying mark.

And I got another in Feywood. IIRC it was very near a save point.
 
Vulnerable means the enemy is "neutral" to that element. So you can damage him but won't deal extra damage.

Weak means you will deal extra damage with that element.

So basically, with the fire-vulnerable parameter your character would attack pretty much *every* enemy with fire, unless they're explicitly protected or immune against it.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
So basically, with the fire-vulnerable parameter your character would attack pretty much *every* enemy with fire, unless they're explicitly protected or immune against it.

Yeah, it lets your AI cast magic and prevents you from hitting enemies who absorb it or don't take damage. Its not that great unless your magic damage is much higher than regular attacks. I use weak mostly. MP runs out fast in this game and Ethers are rare.
 

Brakke

Banned
People who didn't like the story when it was originally released, what are you thoughts on it now?

I didn't play it back in the day but 1) Penelo is completely pointless, 2) boy, this game sure does wish it was Star Wars, and 3) It's super slow so far. Like the first three little arcs were you either escaping capture or trying to rescue someone who was captured. None of these people really have any reason to be rolling together. Basch is guarding the princess, Balthier wants paid, and Vaan is just... bored I guess? The party barely has an overarching objective and that's weird.
 

Anoxida

Member
Even with 2x speed, the whole area took me over an hour. While being very thourough and generally not running froml battles, but still. Without the speed boost I'd probably have ended my playthrough then and there. In hindsight they probably didn't even expect you to cover the whole area your first time through, what with there being 2 different exits that lead to the next area and everything.

Yep, that might be it. That area really is something else. I think part of it looks cool but once you're up on those seemingly endless oil rigs it becomes kinda annoying.
 

JohnProxy

Neo Member
Accidentally made Ashe a White Mage and only found that I had screwed up all of my plans after I defeated Gigas.

I wanted to use all the jobs so I had pairings planned and the only thing White Mage paired with the other characters already had.

My own dumb fault.

So Just speed through and did it again. Took me 5 hours this time instead of 15 which isn't bad. I'm not as over powered this time. Entire team is on 19.

Edit: I reckon I would have been an hour fast if I didn't search the entire of the Sandsea but the drops there are nice.

---------------------

Also there is a dude up there who didn't bothered levelling Vaan. Doesn't he have the best stats? Seems like hamstringing yourself.
 

Perfo

Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
I'm having a blast with this game.

A 2x / 4x speed option should be put into every RPG, it makes the game so much better.

This is just so wrong. Maybe not making a chore playing the game could be a better solution? I mean if Grinding and Farming it's not fun, why not removing it entirely instead of "speeding it up" to not waste our time? It makes sense of course having it for remasters because you can't change old games without huge efforts, but the genre should move away from that need entirely already if the only solution to it like in bravely default has been speeding up the chore parts. It all goes back to having a good game design. /OT
 

Isotropy

Member
They do have the Dark Aeons/Penance which a lot of people never experienced and a whole new section for X-2 that never made it out of Japan. It's worth checking out imho.

Forgot the US didn't get the Dark Aeons first time around... and yes, Final Mission is a thing, if you don't value your sanity I suppose.

I played it for about 30 minutes, then watched the cutscenes on YouTube.
 

Nozem

Member
This is just so wrong. Maybe not making a chore playing the game could be a better solution? I mean if Grinding and Farming it's not fun, why not removing it entirely instead of "speeding it up" to not waste our time? It makes sense of course having it for remasters because you can't change old games without huge efforts, but the genre should move away from that need entirely already if the only solution to it like in bravely default has been speeding up the chore parts. It all goes back to having a good game design. /OT

Eh, maybe. What's a chore to one person might fun for the next. At least now the game gives me the option to speed through parts I don't like.
 

JohnProxy

Neo Member
This is just so wrong. Maybe not making a chore playing the game could be a better solution? I mean if Grinding and Farming it's not fun, why not removing it entirely instead of "speeding it up" to not waste our time? It makes sense of course having it for remasters because you can't change old games without huge efforts, but the genre should move away from that need entirely already if the only solution to it like in bravely default has been speeding up the chore parts. It all goes back to having a good game design. /OT

Grinding is fun though or at the very least addictive.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
This is just so wrong. Maybe not making a chore playing the game could be a better solution? I mean if Grinding and Farming it's not fun, why not removing it entirely instead of "speeding it up" to not waste our time? It makes sense of course having it for remasters because you can't change old games without huge efforts, but the genre should move away from that need entirely already if the only solution to it like in bravely default has been speeding up the chore parts. It all goes back to having a good game design. /OT

The fast-forward option makes sense in XII because of the gambits. If you've programmed your characters' AI to act in certain ways, there's a logic to being able to speed up their actions because you know what they are going to do. I feel it doesn't break the game and feel like a "cheat" here.

I feel differently about fast-forward options in other RPGs.
 

Perfo

Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
The fast-forward option makes sense in XII because of the gambits. If you've programmed your characters' AI to act in certain ways, there's a logic to being able to speed up their actions because you know what they are going to do. I feel it doesn't break the game and feel like a "cheat" here.

I feel differently about fast-forward options in other RPGs.

Sorry but I can't agree, if you need to speed up part of a game because you want to be done fast with it there's definitely something wrong here. Or it's not fun, or it's just to slow - in both cases there's something wrong with how the game is designed. Just provoking: did you ever feel the need of speeding up Super Mario Galaxy or Zelda botw? I don't think so.

I want to make this very clear: I'm not saying this option should not be in FFXII, like I said the game design is dated so it only makes sense to speed up certain elements while replaying it 11 yrs after. I was just replying to whoever said this should be a standard option in modern RPGs. Maybe modern RPGs should just make things smoother and not a chore you need to go through with a fast forward option to make it less of a pain? That's all.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Sorry but I can't agree, if you need to speed up a part of a game because you want to be done fast with it there's definitely something wrong here. Or it's not fun, or it's just to slow - in both cases there's something wrong with how the game is designed. Just provoking: did you ever feel the need of speeding up Super Mario Galaxy or Zelda botw? I don't think so..
No, because you aren't programming autobattle AI in those games.

There are speed settings in RTS games because with auto-battle/auto-resource gathering it's appropriate there.

By the way I don't think grinding is fun in most RPGs so hopefully you don't think they're "designed right". But I don't recommend fast-forward for most RPGs because they do expect you to be inputting commands constantly, so fast forward is silly there. We agree.
 

AndersK

Member
These games aren't RPGs

Agreed. My mind went places and imagined Crash 1 at 4x and promptly shut down from the PTSD.

2x/4x is essentially the same means of QOL improvement that fast travel is. You have purists that hate it, and the rest of us sane people who think it's a nice OPTION to use.

I mean, the argument can easily be 'why not make traversal better instead of giving fast travel options' which is why it doesn't quite hold up.
 

kromeo

Member
Agreed. My mind went places and imagined Crash 1 at 4x and promptly shut down from the PTSD.

2x/4x is essentially the same means of QOL improvement that fast travel is. You have purists that hate it, and the rest of us sane people who think it's a nice OPTION to use.

I mean, the argument can easily be 'why not make traversal better instead of giving fast travel options' which is why it doesn't quite hold up.

By the sounds of it people are using it to power kill large chains of enemies, which is the point where I think it goes beyond a sensible QoL improvement, but if they have fun doing that then why not
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
I forgot how much content this game has. It's incredible. Also that stupid bow chest isn't spawning for me :( I know it will break the game but I want it!
 

Rad-

Member
Also there is a dude up there who didn't bothered levelling Vaan. Doesn't he have the best stats? Seems like hamstringing yourself.

Stats don't really matter in this game that much as every character can eventually get max stats in STR and MAG with certain equips/jobs. It's worse, for example, if you pick Penelo with katanas versus Basch or Balthier with katanas (because of combo speed and katana is very combo heavy weapon).

When can I buy spells such as Fira and blizzara? I just arrived at the the tomb of raithwall.

You get -ra line spells quite soon after Raithwall.
 
Officially giving up on this game, I'm just one of the few that loved the OG license board and i just cant stand this restricted ZJ board

And option to choose the OG board would had made this the best Remaster ever
 
Everybody earns LP in th ened, so I suppose that bringing them up to a similar level shouldn't be too difficult.

In any case, I can't be bothered right now, So I still stick to my main party.
It's not difficult and it's basically a waste of time to level them up equally. I normally stick with a set party in most JRPGs.

But here I really cultivate my party, keep their equipment up to date and change between the characters a lot. It's a lot of fun to me and I am in no rush to finish all or at least most of the game's content. Still waiting for my official guide to arrive :(
 

kromeo

Member
Officially giving up on this game, I'm just one of the few that loved the OG license board and i just cant stand this restricted ZJ board

And option to choose the OG board would had made this the best Remaster ever

I'm enjoying this version a lot more than the original IZJS, I gave up on that pretty quick and went back to vanilla. They should have doubled the amount of LP everything costs though, my party has too much hp and is doing far too much damage, the difficulty was far more enjoyable in the original
 
It's funny, after years of skipping the cutscenes since I'd already long-since seen them, taking in the story really drives home how fucking bankrupt the "FFXII has no/shitty story" claim is.

I mean, it's not stuffed full of story I suppose, but every scene is pretty goddamn great, and the gameplay is good enough that when the game does say "Hey, here's a long journey on foot", I don't mind going a while without major story developments.

I've found myself enjoying the character interactions and story developments even more now than I did back in the day.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Officially giving up on this game, I'm just one of the few that loved the OG license board and i just cant stand this restricted ZJ board

And option to choose the OG board would had made this the best Remaster ever

It would be nice to have vanilla XII in there, I agree. But I think the options in this version do make for a superior experience. This battle system is a perfect match for custom builds.

It's funny, after years of skipping the cutscenes since I'd already long-since seen them, taking in the story really drives home how fucking bankrupt the "FFXII has no/shitty story" claim is.

I mean, it's not stuffed full of story I suppose, but every scene is pretty goddamn great, and the gameplay is good enough that when the game does say "Hey, here's a long journey on foot", I don't mind going a while without major story developments.

I've found myself enjoying the character interactions and story developments even more now than I did back in the day.

I was thinking the same thing. It's funny how this was considered a "story lite" FF back in the day. It's actually full of meaningful cutscenes with smart dialogue and real emotional pathos. I legitimately get drawn into the drama of these scenes, and I feel for its characters.

After games like MGSV or FFXV, this isn't even in the league of "story lite" entries in formerly story heavy series.
 
It's funny, after years of skipping the cutscenes since I'd already long-since seen them, taking in the story really drives home how fucking bankrupt the "FFXII has no/shitty story" claim is.

I mean, it's not stuffed full of story I suppose, but every scene is pretty goddamn great, and the gameplay is good enough that when the game does say "Hey, here's a long journey on foot", I don't mind going a while without major story developments.

I've found myself enjoying the character interactions and story developments even more now than I did back in the day.

Word, brother. That scene between
Vossler and Basch
fairly early on.

"I know something of cages."

So good.
 
I feel the same way. I get people complaining the game looks like Star Wars; even some of the themes seemed to be lifted from the prequels but the characters are far from the archetypes found in SW.

This feels more like a classic Kurosawa type of storytelling, and a lot of the scenes are well directed and written.

Alexander O Smith really deserve some awards for the translation too.
 

Isotropy

Member
To be fair the complaints have always mostly been about the second half of the game

I disagree with this as well. The middle
crystal collectathon
portion doesn't have enough cutscenes, but what's there is still great and it finishes with a huge bang from
the Pharos through to the war over Rabanastre.
 
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