Fun Factor
Formerly FTWer
I have a feeling you will drop this game again when you get to "that" very hard, long & overly complex intertwined dungeon with absolutely no map.
unless you already beat it lol
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Revisiting Final Fantasy XII: please help me beat this game
- Thread starter U5230
- Start date
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I never put this one down once I started. And the dungeon
before the end if a bitch. Luckily I was pimped out and I still had a challenge. This game was so fun and a crap load of depth. Put 120 hours into it so far.
Rhidorana Cataract?
Red Scarlet
Member
Duck Amuck said:
Hm, what are your HP like? Here's what mine were on my fake speed run:
So Vaan (Knight) had 1695, Ashe (Red Mage) had 1302, and Penelo (Samurai) had 2152.
I'm guessing only Fran is your magic user? That could be part of the reason..2 healers helps a lot. Are you casting Protect, Shell (not sure if it's useful here), Haste, or Regen? If not during the battle, then right before it?
Are you running out of MP? Cura should do good with two people casting it at around 60% and 50% HP..but if you are only using one healer, then maybe Curaga at 50% or maybe 40% could be ok.
Since Basche is your tank, you could try Berserking him, although during the Rook part he may wind up taking longer if he's not concentrating on the Rooks one at a time and/or wasting attacks on Cid when the Rooks are still alive.
Try casting Dispel on Cid whenever he buffs himself. I personally do not like those random damage weapons, which two of your characters are using.
You could maybe try using your junk characters at the start of the fight when the Rooks are dead and it's just Cid..do a big mist combo then try to switch out your real characters.
How is the general flow of the battle? Can you get to Cid by himself fine, then he does something that nukes you? You could possibly Berserk your two non-magic users at that point and have your magic user cast Cura a lot possibly. If you have weapons that aren't random damage, try those. I think the Icebrand does not work well on Cid, though.
If you're stuck with your equipment and 1 real magic user, I'd probably suggest buffing everyone before the fight, kill the Rooks, then maybe Berserk Basche and try to have Protect on everyone and Haste your healer if you can, then toss out a Cura when someone falls below 50% HP.
Here's my Cid fight from my fake speed run, but I'm not sure how much of a help it'd be:
http://redscarlet.paragonsigma.com/ff12i-part 23.avi
All that I'm doing there is I have everyone pre-buffed with Protect and a Hastega Mote (since I can't cast Haste), Ashe Dispels Cid right off the bat while everyone has it set to attack the lowest HP target, Vaan uses a High Potion on someone lower than 30% HP, Ashe casts Cura at HP<50%, Penelo casts Cure at HP<40%, Ashe casts Raise on someone that dies, while the others use a Phoenix Down (they're faster than the spell even if you can cast it, so in a pinch it may be better to use the item instead of cast the spell).
Ashe keeps Protect on whoever is the leader, and once the Rooks are dead, Ashe immediately Dispels Cid again. His big laser attack looks like it does about 700 to Ashe when he uses it the first time (she has Protect on). Cid's shots do about 300 to my guys. I should've Berserked Vaan and maybe Penelo too, but I didn't. I just had them wail on Cid while Ashe re-cast Protect on the party leader once it ran out, and used Cura when someone fell below 50% HP.
My equipment is probably similar to yours..it looks like what I had was:
Vaan (Knight) lv28, 1695HP/213MP
Diamond Sword
Dragon Shield
Diamond Helm
Diamond Armor
Gold Amulet
Attack 73 / Defense 40 / Magic Defense 29
-----
Ashe (Red Mage) lv28, 1302HP/335MP
Some confusion Mace thing
Ice Shield
Lamia's Tiara
Some mage armor
Bangle
Attack 69 / Defense 25 / Magic Defense 25
-----
Penelo (Samurai) lv28, 2152HP/368MP
Some katana
Hypnocrown
Some mage armor
No accessory
Attack 71 / Defense 33 / Magic Defense 44
-----
Don't know how helpful any of this is, though.
FTWer said:
If it's the dungeon I and the previous poster are talking about, you can play with a map..you can choose 4 'negative options', not having a map is one of them.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Cid was the hardest required boss in an RPG I've played in years! (And I think I was even a few levels lower than you)
I stopped playing on him too before I went back to it... but when I did I breezed him. It's worth pushing through because the game ends up being awesome for sure (at least, I think so)
I stopped playing on him too before I went back to it... but when I did I breezed him. It's worth pushing through because the game ends up being awesome for sure (at least, I think so)
Red Scarlet
Member
Duck Amuck said:
You could get them Cura though. If you really wanted, you could start the battle with a mist combo from the crappy 3 and maybe kill a Rook and at least damage the rest with a couple of small 1-1-1 combos.
Just concentrate on the rooks one at a time with your fighters, have your healer heal and Dispel Cid, and they should go down alright, they don't have that much HP. Just kill them one-by-one with your attacks or a mist combo then attacks. You don't have any regular damage weapons I'm guessing? :/ I really never have ever liked those weapons that do random damage.
Duck Amuck said:Got Cid to half health, managed to somehow kill all the rooks. Then my stupid fucking ex-roommate walks into my apartment, goes into my room without asking, interuppts me, I lose my concentration. Then Cid does some stupid laser thing. I was doing fine until then. The damage wasn't bad but cura's not enough to make up for the fact the ass cunt does 500 damage per hit and my characters all have 1500-1700 hit points. So I got a game over.
This game...
With Protect on, that laser attack I think did 700..which a Cura should be able to fix right up. When you see on the top of the screen that he is prepping the laser attack, start casting a Cura?
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
I spent so much time on hunts and optional quests that I was level retarded by the time I got to Cid. It wasn't even a contest at that point. =/
I actually just visited that place. I was able to beat them, but I had to use every single character that I had, as I'm equal leveling everyone. Almost done filling out everyone's upper half - lower left licenses board (ya know, the stuff with +500hp ect). After that I don't know what I'm going to do with all the points I'm getting.jon bones said:
Red Scarlet
Member
Just have some items that cure Confuse and you can beat the slimes pretty easily. Also just spam the Aero spell or Dark spell (whichever hits multiple targets). If you come back after beating the dungeon with the Fira spell, you'll one-shot them and can easily build up LP/loot from them if you really want to.
anyone else wanna slap himu for complaining about difficulty and not using gambits? :lol
Only part I had trouble on was the king bomb in the feywood. There was a bit of tension in the last dungeon since it was mind-numbingly long and all the ethers I had saved through the game were depleting.
Only part I had trouble on was the king bomb in the feywood. There was a bit of tension in the last dungeon since it was mind-numbingly long and all the ethers I had saved through the game were depleting.
Red Scarlet
Member
Duck Amuck said:
Well, Ashe was my only protector, and only she had Cura (Penelo had Cure), but after the initial casting of Protect before the fight, she would only cast it on the party leader. Try re-casting it when Ashe is not healing someone and is trying to attack.
Are you starting with a mist combo? What kind of mist combo are you doing? You'd probably do more damage to all of the rooks if you just did a 1-1-1, ending it there, then doing another one, etc. That way you'd be able to do at least three combos, probably up to 6 or more with some juggles. That could possibly kill all of the Rooks outright.
Two of your weapons do random damage, the two that aren't bows. I hate those kinds of weapons. They'll sometimes do their average of 600, but then they'll do 23 a couple times and maybe 1300. I never liked those kinds of weapons in FF Tactics, and I hated them in FF12 too. That's what I mean by "random"...their damage is a random amount, so the weapons suck. Their attack power doesn't mean crap.
How long is it taking you to kill a Rook? As long as Fran is healing while the other two are hitting the same one..it shouldn't be taking more than a minute for each Rook to die.
Mamesj said:
Two of his characters basically can only attack, while the other is a magic user. He can do the same thing with or without gambits with that setup no problem.
If you really wanted to Himu, you could easily buy the Cura square on your other two characters' boards. You have 5 levels on me and more HP..I really don't know why the Rooks (the easier part of the battle) is giving you trouble. :/
And Dispelling Cid has a couple of uses; if he's Hasted, it makes his turn come up less often, and it makes one Rook eventually try to Haste him again instead of attack.
You *could* cast Decoy on your highest defense/HP character, that way the Rooks would only target that person, then have your magic user keep Protect and Regen on that character and cast Cura when Regen and Protect are on.
If you are going to re-cast Haste on anyone, your magic user would benefit the most, so she could cast spells faster. You could also 'abuse' the magic casting time...as soon as your magic user has finished casting a spell, you can skip the 'recovery time' by going into the menu and changing your equipment (just equip another accessory then re-equip what you were really using); the recovery time will go away.
BlackGoku03
Member
I need to get back into this game. I've clocked it at 139 hours so far. I've done soooo many side quests and hunts it's crazy.
Red Scarlet
Member
See my re-edits for a couple of suggestions that may work. And when you get out, buy non-random damage dealing weapons if you can. You can get a Deathbringer in the next area you go to..which is a great weapon. I think I went through the rest of the game with that a couple times..you could get two free ones if you wanted (well..you could get as many as you want really).
GreenBikerDude
Member
I'm the same way, I had all my party members at level 48 when I faced Dr. Cid.PepsimanVsJoe said:
Wait, which fight are you having trouble on? Haven't played it in a while but in the IZJS version I only had 1 healer and still steamrolled through the game. Only difficult boss I fought was Gilgamesh (I was low level).
edit: Oh Dr. Cid? Eh, don't recall it being difficult in the least.
edit: Oh Dr. Cid? Eh, don't recall it being difficult in the least.
Red Scarlet
Member
Duck Amuck said:
What position are your gambits in? I put revive ones at the very top, that way, if someone dies, somebody will instantly begin to revive. Then Cure ones come 2nd (or after/between status ones, usually after control-losing statuses), then buffs either before or after the attack one, depending on where I am. Attack usually goes at the very bottom (except for whoever is using the scanny thing ability).
Mix up your HP amounts; if two people have HP<70%, then only one will go. Having variable amounts will get both people to use it if you get dangerously low.
Let me find the closest to that point in the game gambits, but they should follow that order anyway.
Red Scarlet
Member
This is what looks like I had at Cid (some mistakes that I didn't notice).
Vaan (Knight, practically no magic, was mostly in Berserk status most of the game)
1-Any ally, Phoenix Down
2-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (cure Sleep item)
3-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (didn't notice it was set to same as #2)
4-Any ally HP<40%, High Potion
5-Enemy with lowest HP, Attack
-----
Ashe (Red Mage, only real magic user)
1-Any ally, Raise
2-Any ally, Phoenix Down
3-Any ally, N Kai Sand (cure Confuse item)
4-Any ally, Chronos' Tear (cure Stop/Slow item)
5-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (cure Sleep item)
6-Any ally, Gold Needle (cure Stone item)
7-Any ally HP<50%, Cura
8-Any ally, Poizona (cure Poison spell)
9-Leader, Protect
10-First enemy seen, Attack (didn't notice it was set wrong, should've been lowest HP)
-----
Penelo (Samurai; almost no magic, just attacking or the "Shades of Black" tech)
1-Any ally, Phoenix Down
2-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (cure Sleep item)
3-Any ally, Echo Herb (cure Silence item)
4-Any ally, Blinda (cure Darkness spell)
5-Any ally HP<40%, Cure (Cure hits everything in this)
6-Enemy with lowest HP, Attack
7-Self, Libra
-----
Got any High or X-Potion? You could set Basch to that instead of buying Cura for him.
Vaan (Knight, practically no magic, was mostly in Berserk status most of the game)
1-Any ally, Phoenix Down
2-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (cure Sleep item)
3-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (didn't notice it was set to same as #2)
4-Any ally HP<40%, High Potion
5-Enemy with lowest HP, Attack
-----
Ashe (Red Mage, only real magic user)
1-Any ally, Raise
2-Any ally, Phoenix Down
3-Any ally, N Kai Sand (cure Confuse item)
4-Any ally, Chronos' Tear (cure Stop/Slow item)
5-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (cure Sleep item)
6-Any ally, Gold Needle (cure Stone item)
7-Any ally HP<50%, Cura
8-Any ally, Poizona (cure Poison spell)
9-Leader, Protect
10-First enemy seen, Attack (didn't notice it was set wrong, should've been lowest HP)
-----
Penelo (Samurai; almost no magic, just attacking or the "Shades of Black" tech)
1-Any ally, Phoenix Down
2-Any ally, Prince's Kiss (cure Sleep item)
3-Any ally, Echo Herb (cure Silence item)
4-Any ally, Blinda (cure Darkness spell)
5-Any ally HP<40%, Cure (Cure hits everything in this)
6-Enemy with lowest HP, Attack
7-Self, Libra
-----
Got any High or X-Potion? You could set Basch to that instead of buying Cura for him.
Red Scarlet
Member
Did you try casting Decoy on someone? That could have worked while you didn't learn Cura for the other two people.
Red Scarlet
Member
Duck Amuck said:
Set Cura to <50 or <60%, set her to cast Protect on the person being Decoyed only, and have the Decoyed person (and the other, I'd guess Balthier) set to use a High Potion (or higher) at <30% HP (Basch; set Balthier to <40%), and make Basch the leader, and you probably could beat the Rooks hands-free.
Did you have any <xx% HP = Potion/High Potion on Basch or Balthier? I assume you allow anyone to use items.
neoism
Member
Yeah, I think at that point in the game I was level 50+. The only boss in the whole game that nearly killed me was that hunt boss on that island at the end of the game. He was a T-rex in berserk mode or something! I was really high level something like 75 or so., he nearly killed me, I wasn't expecting him to be that aggressive! After that not one boss gave me any trouble, I used the bat level thing in that cave to 99 every character. Man, I love that game, FF12 best FF ever!PepsimanVsJoe said:
Also it's awesome how well you no this game Red Scarlet!
Red Scarlet
Member
Duck Amuck said:
Well, you can find them in pots too. 70% made me use up my MP too fast, and 20% was a bit too low I thought. Well, you could have Fran set to Any Ally <70% HP -> Cura and the other two to Any Ally <20% HP -> High Potion.
I buy about 5 gambits, I think just some HP% (30, 40, 50, 60) and 'self' for Libra.
neoism said:
I don't even like the game, in the grand scheme of things.
Red Scarlet
Member
Since you are past Cid now Himu, in the next area you go to, try to grab a Deathbringer.
On one of the big area screens, there's a pot with a trap right underneath it. In that pot is where it can be. If the pot doesn't show up or if you get something else, you'll have to go 2 screens away to respawn the pot, but the Deathbringer is a really good sword. I think it has about 91 attack, looks cool, and it can instantly kill stuff. Put that on Basch (and if you Berserk him too), he'd be quite the potent killing machine. I got lucky and got a Deathbringer in the pot the very first time I played the game. I don't know how common/uncommon it is though.
On one of the big area screens, there's a pot with a trap right underneath it. In that pot is where it can be. If the pot doesn't show up or if you get something else, you'll have to go 2 screens away to respawn the pot, but the Deathbringer is a really good sword. I think it has about 91 attack, looks cool, and it can instantly kill stuff. Put that on Basch (and if you Berserk him too), he'd be quite the potent killing machine. I got lucky and got a Deathbringer in the pot the very first time I played the game. I don't know how common/uncommon it is though.
Red Scarlet
Member
I know it's in the game, but I've never done it before.
I picked up a bunch of Deathbringers earlier on in the game after I got the Barheim key. You can steal 'em from a rare mimic monster that spawns along the beginning of the path to Zalera. Takes a little while to get a successful steal, but I think you get a Deathbringer every time, and there's a save crystal a couple of screens back so I was able to repeat it pretty easily...
Those swords made a large portion of the rest of the game kind of a breeze.
Those swords made a large portion of the rest of the game kind of a breeze.
Red Scarlet
Member
Duck Amuck said:
It's in the next area you go to. I don't have a picture of it anymore. I do have an older video, though.
http://ia340941.us.archive.org/3/items/Final_Fantasy_12-9h25m/FF12NA-9h25m-Part_41.avi
I grab it at the 6:00 mark.
Sai said:
He's not doing any of the side stuff, I don't think.
darkwings said:
The rewards from the hunts don't come from the material rewards, it comes from beating the hunts. There is this one hunt given by some poor guy in Rabanastre to kill a Behemoth-type monster in the Feywood that took me an hour to get him to show up and an hour and a half to beat, and the reward was crap beyond belief, but hey, I beat him.
Fishing can be done after you reach Balfonheim, I think. There's an old man fishing near the Aerodome, I think you have to talk to him and he'll discuss his magnificent fishing pole, you walk off until he doesn't show up as a green dot on the map (don't walk to another section) and then you head back, he isn't there, and you sneak off with his fishing pole...Can't remember if there's something you have to do before him though.
It's kind of strange when I see Red Scarlet's screenshots. I don't know if you're doing this already, Duck Amuck, but if you're playing active, instead of having to scroll through the spell menus in battle to find the spell you want all the time, in the main menu, go to Inventory->Abilities and then you can shift through the spells there. How the spells are organized in the this screen is how they will appear in battle, I usually have the spells I use the most at the top and the bottom, where I can access them quickly. It'll definitely help if you want to continue playing manually, but can't keep up with the speed of turns.
â Narayan
Member
I could never beat this one. It was was very difficult! As if that behemoth fight in that snowy area wasn't difficult enough. :loldramatis said:
I'll need to replay this game sometime. Also, I think behemoths are the coolest looking enemies in Final Fantasy.
â Narayan
Member
Yes. It's a damn shame. I'm sure that if Matsuno stayed on board, the game would have been more than stellar.darkwings said:
At least I have Vagrant Story. Best game ever made.
God...just give it up already.Duck Amuck said:
You dont have to like EVERY final fantasy game and its so obvious that you really just want to hate this (so far). You hate everything about it just because it has the Final Fantasy name attached. But you start to enjoy it when you dont think of it as a Final Fantasy game? Kinda placebo?
I saw this thread pop up and read the 1st 2 pages and then realized it was back in 5/2008. Nobody has really helped you so far. You keep playing and hating this game and giving up on it but you keep asking people to help you.
The gambits are kind of like programming. If you like mixing up different combinations and trying to get everything to be cohesive (teamwork oriented) and then seeing the results on the battlefield...and then going back and correcting those little small errors that are keeping your gambit system from being the ultimate "PERFECT" one then you will really enjoy the gambit system. Also, if you like to adapt different systems for different situations and different encounters...you'll enjoy it also.
There was a whole meta game in FFXII's gambit system that paid off. It actually made grinding fun because I didnt have to go in and do exactly the same thing over and over and over and over for every battle. FFXII let me do what i was going to do anyways for the grinding battles. With the more powerful enemies and more elemental based enemies, I'd have to go in and make minor changes or interrupt the gambit system myself and choose what moves/magic to use.
There was also the teamwork aspect of the gambit system. Trying to have everybody cover each other and help a downed ally while still attacking the enemy (and prioritize which to do at which point) but not just any enemy, as you would also have to have different types of enemies prioritized over others.
If you like to take it 1 step at a time and do stuff over and over and be VERY deliberate and super precise with your moves (when you grind) then you wouldnt like this system. Even though you can pretty much semi or fully automate it in the gambit system.
People will say "but you're not playing the game at all, you're just watching it play for you" and that's kind of true. But it's more about seeing the results and getting that reward for having spent so much time adjusting your gambits for each player. Finding new bambits made me so happy. Sooo with that said...its more like programming in that you put in hard work and hit the "Compile" button and see if it goes through.
Now the STORY....i agree. It sucked. Just forget about the story and mildly pay attention every once in a while. You'll probably enjoy it more. :lol
You really need to try to get into the gambit system alot more.Duck Amuck said:
I really hated it at 1st and wanted the battle system to be like the other final fantasies but then I saw what all you could do with the gambit system and found it amazing. Every time i'd be like, I wish they had "this" gambit I could throw "this and this" in the mix...and it would eventually be found or be bought.
I can see you eventually liking the system, going by that line.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
The high point to hunts for me was that some of them unlock "trophies" (like that bastard White Chocobo...what a bastard). Plus you can earn the title "Riskbreaker"(you can't keep it though unless you don't do anymore hunts =( )
mr_nothin said::/
Yea, I hated that they made the summons pretty useless. I'd only use them in a last ditch effort.
I found the quickenings to be pretty useful though.
quickenings were useful until about 50% into the game, then you started getting stronger with weapons and stuff so i didnt need them.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Oh and I imagine you're going to hate it but I'd spend some time building up the other three party members. When your main group gets wiped they're automatically replaced by the three fresh guys. You're going to want these guys strong enough that they can survive while they go about reviving your main team.
Saved my butt at the final boss at least(jerk decided to use two >50% full-screen attacks in a row)
My party was always Vaan(yeah I know), Ashe, and Basch.
Saved my butt at the final boss at least(jerk decided to use two >50% full-screen attacks in a row)
My party was always Vaan(yeah I know), Ashe, and Basch.
â Narayan
Member
99Duck Amuck said:
Similar threads
- Poll