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

I made these for myself but if anyone would like some Final Fantasy XII avatars, feel free to use them.

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In for Balthier thanks man
 

Kensuke

Member
Spent a lot of time figuring out my team. This is the result:

Team #1:
Vaan: Shikari/Red Mage - Perfect leader character with a lot of versatility. He can steal, tank, dodge, cast black magic and thanks to amazing Cuchulainnn synergy also learn some support spells. Makes good use of everything Vaan offers and doesn't waste his great magic stat like Foebreaker does.
Espers: Cuchulainnn (Protectga, Shellga, Black Magic -ga spells), Zeromus (Chanelling #3), Zodiark (Ragnarok)

Ashe: Knight/Time Mage - Amazing fit for Ashe. This makes her a great support character that also packs a punch. With a couple of espers she can cover a big chunk of the White Mage job. Ashe makes good use of that and Time Magic both with her great magic growth. Only con is that she can't use Excalibur + White Robes for massive damage against the undead.
Espers: Mateus (Curaga, Regen, Esuna), Adrammelech (Raise), Hashmal (Bravery, Curaja, Channeling #3), Zalera (Ether Lore #3)

Bash: Bushi/Uhlan - This combination is mostly to give Bushi a bunch of battle lores to buff katana damage. Uhlan also gives the Bushi a few spells that could be occasionally useful. The main job of this unit though is to use Masamune I with the Genji Gloves to destroy everything in sight.
Espers: Exodus (500 HP), Chaos (Brawler, Bio, Blindga, Silencega)

This three man party can dish out serious physical damage, but also has access to a ton of black magic, white magic and time magic. It covers most bases almost perfectly and has great synergy. Natural 3x Swiftness for everyone as well. The one flaw is that it doesn't have access to breaks. I'll have to switch in a member from team 2 to help.

Team #2:
Fran: Monk/Foebreaker - This is the second Genji Gloves user and basically a DPS machine. It can apply the breaks and then go to town with Whale Whisker N + Genji Gloves. Fran is by far fastest with poles, which is why I chose her for this role.
Espers: Belias (Horology), Ultima (Swiftness #2 and 3)

Balthier: Machinist/White Mage - This is mostly a support character that shoots a few bullets in between healing. It becomes even better late game, as it can gain access to advanced time magic. I'll admit this choice isn't optimal, as Balthier is neither great with guns or any form of magic. This is mostly just me wanting Balthier to wield a gun.
Espers: Famfrit (Hastega, Reflectga, Graviga, Slowga)

Penelo: Black Mage/Archer - This combination could be seen as a bit of a 'chemist'. It gets every single item lore, making it a great emergency support character in between magic nuking. Archer also provides a much needed boost to the Black Mage HP. You can also play it as an Archer first with Flame Bow + Fire Spells; Magepower Shishak + Lordly Robes.
Espers: Shemhazai (Heavy Armors)

This team covers most bases as well, though a little less efficiently and overall it's not as optimized. It still gives everyone 3x swiftness, great damage, breaks, white magic, black magic and late game time magic.
 

RetroReid

Member
$10 PayPal gift to anyone who doesn't want their steelbook OST DLC code.

Couldn't nab it and when for the digital version instead.
But I sure don't want to buy the game twice.
If anyone can help me out I'd really really appreciate it.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
OK I think I am good:

Fran (heal, support)
-White Mage
-Time Mage

Ashe (offensive)
-Black Mage
-Monk

Basch (tank)
-Knight
-Samurai

Does it matter which job you take first?
 

AndersK

Member
OK I think I am good:

Fran (heal, support)
-White Mage
-Time Mage

Ashe (offensive)
-Black Mage
-Monk

Basch (tank)
-Knight
-Samurai

Does it matter which job you take first?

Yes!

You wont get your second jobs until after the Tomb of Raithwall. That's around level 11-16. Maybe 10 hours into the game?

Plan accordingly. Penelo comes with innate cure, for example.
 

Berordn

Member
I don't understand the job system and don't like what I've read about it at all.

Can't wait to start playing again tomorrow!

There's not much to it - instead of one big license board with everything on it, you've got a bunch of specialized ones with skill and equipsets similar to classic FF jobs. There's also higher ranks of everything, and new ultimate weapons for every job board.

In the end, your characters are more specialized but ultimately stronger.
 

Bluenoser

Member
I believe I finally came up with my optimized setup. It took some careful planning looking over all of the information but I believe for my first gameplay and completionist run, This shall serve my purpose for everything.

This is the most optimal setup while trying to be somewhat lore friendly, but also taking full advantage of a character natural stats for maximization for the post game Hunts and Super Bosses.

Vaan - Shikari / Foebreaker
Espers - Adrammelech, Zalera
Quickening Slots - 2 (Ninja Swords 2), 3 (Ninja Swords 3, +390HP), 4 (Yagyu Darkblade, Orochi N, Battle Lore)

Balthier - Machinist / Whitemage
Espers - Famfrit
Quickening Slots - 1 (+150 HP), 2 (+190HP), 3 (Battle Lore)

Fran - Time Battlemage / Uhlan
Espers - Mateus
Quickening Slots - 1 (Nothing), 2 (+150HP), 3 (Fira, Thundara, Blizzara, Poison)

Basch - Knight / Bushi
Espers - Ultima, Hashmal, Exodus
Quickening Slots - 2 (Battle Lore, +350HP), 3 (Battle Lore, +390HP), 4 (Revive, Excalibur, +435HP)

Ashe - Red Battlemage / Archer
Espers - Zeromus, Cuchulainn, Shemhazai
Quickening Slots - 1 (Vox, Poisona, Cura, Raise), 2 (+230HP), 4 (+435HP)

Penelo - Monk / Blackmage
Espers - Chaos, Zodiark
Quickening Slots - 1 (+70HP), 2 (Bravery, Curaja), 4 (Phoenix Lore x2, +390HP)

You could probably swap Ashe's and Fran's roles, but Ashe has the highest MAG stat in the game which makes her take full advantage of being a Red Mage over Fran despite Fran being the "lore-canon" Viera Red Mage / Archer role.

This would be awesome if not for Penelo doesn't get "Swiftness" x3 unless you give her Ultima Esper. So that's the one change I would make.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
Yes!

You wont get your second jobs until after the Tomb of Raithwall. That's around level 11-16. Maybe 10 hours into the game?

Plan accordingly. Penelo comes with innate cure, for example.

oh shit good call thanks

i wont be plaing penelo or vaan as soon as i can swap those dummies out
 

OmegaDL50

Member
Spent a lot of time figuring out my team. This is the result:

Team #1:
Vaan: Shikari/Red Mage - Perfect leader character with a lot of versatility. He can steal, tank, dodge, cast black magic and thanks to amazing Cuchulainnn synergy also learn some support spells. Makes good use of everything Vaan offers and doesn't waste his great magic stat like Foebreaker does.
Espers: Cuchulainnn (Protectga, Shellga, Black Magic -ga spells), Zeromus (Chanelling #3), Zodiark (Ragnarok)

Ashe: Knight/Time Mage - Amazing fit for Ashe. This makes her a great support character that also packs a punch. With a couple of espers she can cover a big chunk of the White Mage job. Ashe makes good use of that and Time Magic both with her great magic growth. Only con is that she can't use Excalibur + White Robes for massive damage against the undead.
Espers: Mateus (Curaga, Regen, Esuna), Adrammelech (Raise), Hashmal (Bravery, Curaja, Channeling #3), Zalera (Ether Lore #3)

Bash: Bushi/Uhlan - This combination is mostly to give Bushi a bunch of battle lores to buff katana damage. Uhlan also gives the Bushi a few spells that could be occasionally useful. The main job of this unit though is to use Masamune I with the Genji Gloves to destroy everything in sight.
Espers: Exodus (500 HP), Chaos (Brawler, Bio, Blindga, Silencega)

This three man party can dish out serious physical damage, but also has access to a ton of black magic, white magic and time magic. It covers most bases almost perfectly and has great synergy. Natural 3x Swiftness for everyone as well. The one flaw is that it doesn't have access to breaks. I'll have to switch in a member from team 2 to help.

Team #2:
Fran: Monk/Foebreaker - This is the second Genji Gloves user and basically a DPS machine. It can apply the breaks and then go to town with Whale Whisker N + Genji Gloves. Fran is by far fastest with poles, which is why I chose her for this role.
Espers: Belias (Horology), Ultima (Swiftness #2 and 3)

Balthier: Machinist/White Mage - This is mostly a support character that shoots a few bullets in between healing. It becomes even better late game, as it can gain access to advanced time magic. I'll admit this choice isn't optimal, as Balthier is neither great with guns or any form of magic. This is mostly just me wanting Balthier to wield a gun.
Espers: Famfrit (Hastega, Reflectga, Graviga, Slowga)

Penelo: Black Mage/Archer - This combination could be seen as a bit of a 'chemist'. It gets every single item lore, making it a great emergency support character in between magic nuking. Archer also provides a much needed boost to the Black Mage HP. You can also play it as an Archer first with Flame Bow + Fire Spells; Magepower Shishak + Lordly Robes.
Espers: Shemhazai (Heavy Armors)

This team covers most bases as well, though a little less efficiently and overall it's not as optimized. It still gives everyone 3x swiftness, great damage, breaks, white magic, black magic and late game time magic.

I just want you to be aware that there are no duplicate abilities across the job licenses.

You picked Uhlan to support Bushi for your Basch makes sense in this case, however stuff like Battle Lore 1 through 6 on Bushi isn't duplicated on the Uhlan license as a secondary class, which means he'll get to take advantage of 7 through 14, but any licenses activated from Job 1 are also automatically activated on Job 2 if they exist.

You have a good setup.
 

Cornbread78

Member
There should have been a couple good ships established in the game for Vaan and Balthier..... How dare they not give the characters some Love!
 

dc89

Member
I may impulse buy this tomorrow at the detriment to my Witcher 3 play through I am currently doing.

Decisions, decisions.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
This would be awesome if not for Penelo doesn't get "Swiftness" x3 unless you give her Ultima Esper. So that's the one change I would make.

Black Mage gets two of the three Swiftness activations, which means getting Ultima is redundant. Licenses are shared between both jobs. It's not a one or the other thing. Monk has access to the 3rd Swiftness so that means all three are available.

Whatever license is activated on Job 1 will automatically activate on Job 2, and vice versa. It's not a one job is active at a time thing. You have access to both abilities at the same time. This also means you don't get duplicates either. Meaning you can't get 5X Swiftness from both Black Mage and Monk, only the max of three from both jobs since licenses are shared by their designated number.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Holy shit this game is good. I constantly planned to stop to prepare my meal but its been 3 hours overdue lol.

It stood the test of time so well, probably also because its much more advanced than XIII and XV and this was already apparent when those came out.

Also Akihiko Yoshida is the goat.
 

Whogie

Member
~9 more hours for PSN to unlock :)

Is there a difference between a job and a subjob? Like, is a White Mage/Machinist the same as Machinist/White Mage?

Do both jobs unlock at the same time?
Does Balthier still have a slow shooting animation?
 
Great OP. Love the OT title as well. Looking forward to tomorrow. One of my favourite RPGs and top 3 favourite worlds in gaming (Ivalice), looking forward to diving back into that world (and that battle system).
 

Nista

Member
The game would be better for me if the party had more than one non-human race like what FFTA had.

I agree, I really wish I had a Bangaa character in the party to make my monk.

Also am I crazy, or did they change the job names with the 1.01 patch? I played yesterday and it was Samurai and Hunter instead...
 

Bluenoser

Member
Black Mage gets Swiftness X3, which means getting Ultima is redundant. Licenses are shared between both jobs. It's not a one or the other thing.

Whatever license is activated on Job 1 will automatically activate on Job 2, and vice versa. It's not a one job is active at a time thing. You have access to both abilities at the same time. This also means you don't get duplicates either. Meaning you can't get 5X Swiftness from both Black Mage and Monk, only the max of three from both jobs since licenses are shared by their designated number.

Black mage only gets swiftness 1 and 2, if this is based on IZJS. And Monk only gets 1, so you have no access to swiftness 3 without Ultima. Unless this has been re-jigged for Zodiac Age of course, but I can't see why it would have been.
 

Kensuke

Member
I just want you to be aware that there are no duplicate abilities across the job licenses.

You picked Uhlan to support Bushi for your Basch makes sense in this case, however stuff like Battle Lore 1 through 6 on Bushi isn't duplicated on the Uhlan license as a secondary class, which means he'll get to take advantage of 7 through 14, but any licenses activated from Job 1 are also automatically activated on Job 2 if they exist.

You have a good setup.

I was aware that they don't duplicate, but thanks for looking out.
 

AndersK

Member
~9 more hours for PSN to unlock :)

Is there a difference between a job and a subjob? Like, is a White Mage/Machinist the same as Machinist/White Mage?

Do both jobs unlock at the same time?
Does Balthier still have a slow shooting animation?

No difference in the end - but you unlock the second later in the game. After maybe 10 hours. Taking MCH/WHT Balthier as an example:

Balthier has innate gun 1, so he'll always be able to use the first few guns. If you start him as a white mage, he'll not be able to use better guns until 12 hours later.
Swap the jobs and he'll have no white magic, but better guns early on.

Balthier and Fran are still, hilariously, the slowest at guns and bows.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
~9 more hours for PSN to unlock :)

Is there a difference between a job and a subjob? Like, is a White Mage/Machinist the same as Machinist/White Mage?

Do both jobs unlock at the same time?
Does Balthier still have a slow shooting animation?

No, I only have 1 job yet and am about 6 hours in.
Balthier still sucks with shooting. I made him a White Mage for now. But I think i'll go Machinist for 2 as I also want him to shoot.
 

Kensuke

Member
Black mage only gets swiftness 1 and 2, if this is based on IZJS. And Monk only gets 1, so you have no access to swiftness 3 without Ultima. Unless this has been re-jigged for Zodiac Age of course, but I can't see why it would have been.

When you activate Swiftness #2 on Black Mage it also activates on the Monk board. Through that you can get to the Monk Swiftness #3 without activating Ultima (because they're next to each other).
 

Whogie

Member
No, I only have 1 job yet and am about 6 hours in.
Balthier still sucks with shooting. I made him a White Mage for now. But I think i'll go Machinist for 2 as I also want him to shoot.

No difference in the end - but you unlock the second later in the game. After maybe 10 hours. Taking MCH/WHT Balthier as an example:

Balthier has innate gun 1, so he'll always be able to use the first few guns. If you start him as a white mage, he'll not be able to use better guns until 12 hours later.
Swap the jobs and he'll have no white magic, but better guns early on.

Balthier and Fran are still, hilariously, the slowest at guns and bows.

Thank you!
 

OmegaDL50

Member
When you activate Swiftness #2 on Black Mage it also activates on the Monk board. Through that you can get to the Monk Swiftness #3 without activating Ultima (because they're next to each other).

This is correct. You are basically skipping Ultima entirely since you activate Swiftness 2 on the Black Mage license board, and you can activate any adjacent space you unlocked, this means because Swiftness 2 is right next to Swiftness 3 on Monk's board this lets you skip Ultima and have all three Swiftness unlocks sparing Ultima for someone else.
 
Q: Is there any Playstation 4 Pro support?
A: Yes, with the patented Square Enix Method! (1440p for 4K displays. No downsampling for 1080p displays.)

Thanks, so i can keep my money.
I'm not supporting this shit.
 
Thanks, so i can keep my money.
I'm not supporting this shit.

Genuinely curious: did a lot of you guys buy the Pro expecting it to offer downsampling for 1080p? I never really looked into it pre-launch because I bought a 4K TV before it came out, but I assumed there was almost no reason to buy a Pro without a 4K screen.
 

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
Genuinely curious: did a lot of you guys buy the Pro expecting it to offer downsampling for 1080p? I never really looked into it pre-launch because I bought a 4K TV before it came out, but I assumed there was almost no reason to buy a Pro without a 4K screen.
It was a substantial selling point to me and a lot of 1080p owners.

I'm still buying the game, but it bums me out every time I see a game not support it.
 

Lyonaz

Member
Oh god at Ogir-Yensa Sandsea... my OCD wont let me skip areas, I have to explore everything.
On the bright side I got a shitload of LP and XP and found a Golden Amulet, so now I can farm even more LP!
 
Anyone have recommendations for a guide regarding Espers? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around them and how they relate to various job combos
 

thedan001

Member
$10 PayPal gift to anyone who doesn't want their steelbook OST DLC code.

Couldn't nab it and when for the digital version instead.
But I sure don't want to buy the game twice.
If anyone can help me out I'd really really appreciate it.

I'm getting the steelbook physical (US)

If that includes the OST DLC code, I'm happy to sell for $10 Paypal if you still need it

(I'm deaf at profound loss level, lol)
 
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