The Other Worlds Shrine

Your place for discussion about RPGs, gaming, music, movies, anime, computers, sports, and any other stuff we care to talk about... 

  • FFXII should be out

  • Because playing them is not enough, we have to bitch about them daily, too. We had a Gameplay forum, but it got replaced by GameFAQs.
Because playing them is not enough, we have to bitch about them daily, too. We had a Gameplay forum, but it got replaced by GameFAQs.

 #102338  by Don
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:05 pm
Am I the only one who thought Balthier and Vaan are like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker? Princess Ashe is no Princess Leia though... at least I hope.

 #102339  by Julius Seeker
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:05 pm
I'm 12 hours in now, I have spent much of the last five hours -exploring the desert on the way to the King's tomb, I fought Geruda and got my ass kicked, so I went back and explored the desert since I knew already that there was something important that I missed, made my way a bit into a cavern (but had to turn back and retreat back to the crystal with the merchants due to the monsters being too tough and killing off several of my people). After exploring through nearly the entire desert I eventually found the moogle and did the whole story sequence with the execution, got the berries, and kicked Geruda's ass.. So since then I have just bought Ancient Swords and Killer bows, enough to give to everyone except one (who I use as my thief anyways).

So I have a question, is there any value to the loot that I have acquired? Or is it something that is meant to be sold off?

 #102340  by Manshoon
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:15 pm
No, 99% of the loot you get is for selling. Every now and then if you're fighting some rare monster you'll get lucky and steal a good piece of equipment, but most of the time it's just junk to be sold for gil.

 #102341  by Oracle
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:20 pm
Hmmm : spoilers....

I never did any story sequence about an execution. what exactly did these berries do? The first time I fought Garuda I just used Balthier and Fran and shot him to death, and used Vaan to heal. He went down quite quickly.

 #102342  by Manshoon
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:28 pm
Oracle:

I'm not sure exactly. I remember looking at the description for the berries and it just said Garuda hated them. Maybe they lowered his stats or something? Anyhow there's a guy right outside the tomb entrance, if you talk to him he tells you how Garuda's so powerful you need to use something special, etc..

 #102343  by Oracle
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:36 pm
Heh:



I guess all that leveling in the Bahjerba (whatever) mines paid off. I'm at the point where the Blood sword is for sale in Rabanastre and I am to go to some mystic town. Yesterday was completely devoted to Gil/Level acquisition. Now I have to do a couple of marks and I can continue with the story. I did one mark in the Westersands (big dragon thing on all fours) on the far west map. The mark was way too much for me, it raped my summon quite fast. I ended up using my last two phoenix down with Balthier to keep Fran and Panelo up, turned off all gambits, and just ran away from the thing and shot it until it died. Took me 30 min to kill it ><

 #102344  by Julius Seeker
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:38 pm
They lower his attack power and speed to half.

Oh, and thanks, I also just heard from my roommate that the player actually sell all the loot received except Teleport stones, that most loot is meant to be sold, and that going to the bazaar later that there will be equipment available that can't be bought elsewhere, or can be bought more cheaply than elsewhere, that the only reason to use the merchant is when really far from Dalmasca (like where I am now). I only have 1 teleport stone left, and I am unsure of the means to acquire new ones at this point in time.

 #102345  by Oracle
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:46 pm
Seek, as for teleport stones (spoilers)

The area right before the Tomb where you fight Garuda. Go back to that map, and then go to the map to the north. Fight those big ass armoured bird guys and chain them. You can get stones from them. I also think you can get them from the humanoid crustacian dudes all over that sandsea zone.

 #102346  by Don
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:50 pm
I think I stole a few teleport stones from some random enemies before. Haven't used any yet.

You have to sell your junk to get new stuff from the bazaar.

 #102347  by Manshoon
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:53 pm
Another way to get teleport stones is by doing a bunch of those clan hunts, I think you get 2 stones every time you get a new rank (though granted, you're just as likely to use them getting to the next hunt location).

 #102348  by Manshoon
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 5:03 pm
Oracle:

That's the Ring Wyrm, right? IIRC that's a rank V mark. I have that one on my list but haven't got to it yet. I'll probably do a bunch of marks after I finish with where I'm at (Stilshrine, current level is 25-28 ).

 #102349  by Oracle
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 5:05 pm
Manshoon:

Nope, not the ringworm. Its the mark you get from the guy outside of the resistance base in Lower Rabinastre. I was not able to find the Ring Worm in the first map of Zaratan (or whatever) Caverns, and the second map had baddies level 38+, who soundly killed 2 of my characters when two fo them simultaneously cas Thundara on me :(

 #102354  by Blotus
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:23 pm
Keep the snakeskin you get from the mark in the mines in Bhujera. You need it for a quest in order to get the best weapon in the game (I think). Details are all over the GameFAQs boards.

 #102355  by Don
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:00 pm
Nothing like being able to sell an item that'd deny you from getting the best gear in the game!

 #102357  by Manshoon
 Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:44 pm
Yeah, I read about that....

Apparently there's chests that you're not supposed to open if you want to get the best weapon in the game but you don't get any clues whatsoever about that. Kind of disappointing, but whatever, I don't need to have the most uber gear. X-2 pulled the same BS for getting the best ending.

 #102358  by Torgo
 Wed Nov 08, 2006 12:24 am
Don Wang wrote:Am I the only one who thought Balthier and Vaan are like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker? Princess Ashe is no Princess Leia though... at least I hope.
I had that same thought. And Fran is Chewie with a weird accent.

 #102364  by Julius Seeker
 Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:49 am
I have not sold it yet. Though I would certainly be helpful to have a list of what and what not to sell. Though personally, I have no problem just going through the game without worrying about all of that. I am sure it's a game I'll play again down the road.

EDIT:

Alright, I read some other forum topics on IGN and Gamespot (the people at Gamefaqs don't know shit about anything) and it is fine to sell all loot in the game except teleport stones and greens (for wild chocobos).

Here is a post on serpent skin:
UltimaSquall on IGN wrote: Ok when you sell the Great Serpent Skin, instead of getting the Gold Amulet Accessory, you get the Magick Glove Accessory. Both which are sold soon after anyways. That's the only difference in the quest. You still get the Barahiem Key.

The Barahiem Key allows you to get back into the Barahiem passage, and also lets you into the locked areas of the Barahiem Passage that you couldn't get too, before. At the end of the new area is an Esper.

Anyways, all the items listed so far I believe are KEY items. Not LOOT. There's a difference. As for Zodiac Gems, Arcana, and HIgh Arcana, they are meant to be sold because when you sell the right comibnation of items you get high end, very strong items at the Bizaar.

You also need to buy the Morbid Urn from the bazaar(can be gotten by sell special loot from Hunts, Deimos Clay, Phobos Glaze and Something Flame) for enemies to start dropping Arcana and High Arcana on a routine basis. If you don't they are super rare drops.
So there is really nothing to worry about since teleport stones and greens are a renewable resource anyways. There are reports on all boards that they managed to get the key (I am not there yet, so I don't really know what they are talking about except that it is required in the side-quest for the ultimate weapon) after selling the Serpent Skin, so no worries.

 #102387  by Julius Seeker
 Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:34 am
Alright, I am 20 hours in, right now I am in the middle of finishing off Hunting quests available and accumulating as many Licenses as possible. All of my characters are level 18/19 and equipped with the best weaponry available, plus Gold Armour, shield, and helmet on Vaan which I got from the bazaar. Storywise I just got to Garif village for the first time, Larsa joined, we are supposed to head southwards. As I said though, it will be a bit longer before I head in that direction, I have been doing a lot of exploring and hunting, I want to do everything, get all of my characters up to a certain point on the License chart, and get better armour for a few of them.

 #102389  by Manshoon
 Thu Nov 09, 2006 12:30 pm
Getting LP becomes ridiculously easy later on, once you get to Eryut Village and bing back one of the Viera you can buy Gold Amulets that double the LP you get for everyone. I've got Vaan sitting with 1000 LP since I've run out of all the important squres to get for him.

 #102390  by Julius Seeker
 Thu Nov 09, 2006 12:34 pm
Thanks for the tip, is that coming up soon for me? If it is, I might just skip out on doing side quests for now and get that first.

 #102391  by Oracle
 Thu Nov 09, 2006 12:47 pm
Seek:

Once the story moves to where you are supposed to go to a Mountain, then you are very close to it. I believe you are since Larsa is in your party now.

 #102398  by Julius Seeker
 Thu Nov 09, 2006 4:05 pm
I am there, but the item is not avalable, at least not available yet.

 #102400  by Julius Seeker
 Thu Nov 09, 2006 9:12 pm
Alright, they became available after I completed something. So I died twice at this location:

In the I ran southwards, and discovered enemies WAY too powerful for me, I ended up in a place called Feywood, and I figured out that I was not supposed to be here yet. I managed to survive, but barely. I fled back to the village, and then went off in another direction where I met the toughest boss monster I had ever seen. It was like something the Reptites used against you in Chrono Trigger. Anyways, it killed me twice though eventually I figured out a strategy that worked, keep archers in the back to avoid his damn crazy scream attack which is the same as bad breath in other FF games (all status ailments), yet the archers manage to avoid it. The guy in the front, cast Esuna on him, and then use whatever items are required to knock off the remaining status ailments. Phoenix downs work well for this battle (I used about 18, mostly on Larsa). I cast protect spell at all times on Larsa and Basch (who was also on my front line). I walked around on a perimeter to make sure I was gaining MP, though I did end up using three ethers in this battle. All in all, this was the longest fight I have yet encountered in the game, I defeated him on my third attempt, and now I am done for the night =P

I managed to get Golden Amulets equipped onto everyone, they are helping quite a bit, I have almost all of the Augments done for everyone (they all have the 50, 100, 150, and 500 hp bonuses; and I think all the swiftness and attack up bonuses as well). Once I am done that, I am just going to make a mad rush for all of the Quickenings. Any strategies that would be good to follow on those? Is it best to spread them out or to stock them all up on three people?

 #102406  by Manshoon
 Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:38 am
You can only have 3 Quickenings per member, once they get their third all the rest of them disappear from their License Board, so you'll eventually end up with everyone having 3 Quickenings.

Oh yeah, I found an incredibly cheap way to score loot -- so cheap, it should be a crime...

Ok, for this you'll want to be at the Goldmere Jungle entrance. Set up your Gambits as follows:

Party leader -- Foe -> nearest enemy --> Steal
Other members -- Foe -> party leader's target --> Attack

You'll see a bunch of Panthers running around. Run towards them and watch the fun begin. Work your way down one side and then the other killing Panthers (should be about 13 total) and collecting Couer Pelts (these sell for 400+ gold a piece). Once you've cleared the area of Panthers, run back out to the Ozmose Plains and go one screen past the save crystal and then return to the jungle. All the enemies will be reset. Lather, rinse, repeat. You'll really notice the chain bonuses (when you get 60+ kills you'll get 4 pelts at a time). Once you get 99 pelts run back to Eryut village and sell them all plus the Storm Magicite for 50,000 gil.

I'm sure there's other places where you can pull off something similar, particulary spots with a bunch of skeltons since they seem to congregate in masses.

 #102407  by Julius Seeker
 Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:07 am
Hahaha: I actually managed to figure that one out as well =) I had enough gold in a very short period of time to buy all the Gold Amulets that I needed (5 in total, I already had one from Bazaar goods) and I still have about 60,000 left over for the future =)

The reason I asked about the Quickenings mainly is because Balthier is way ahead of everyone else on the license board due to getting that first gold armlet (which I mentioned in the spoiler area). I can pick up a second and a third Quickening for him almost right away, whereas everyone else is further away. Unlike others that I know playing the game, I am leveling up everyone evenly instead of picking favourites. For example, if I have a partyof level 23's, one guy hits level 24, I replace him for another level 23 character, and then repeat this when everyone gets to level 24 (only for 25).


My Gambits are set up like this:

Party leader, Foe HP =100% then steal

Everyone has these gambits,
Allie HP less than 40% then curaga
attack target of leader (this turned off for the party leader)
attack nearest enemy
Allie HP less than 90% then cure

Various characters have their healing gambits on for silence, blind, etc... But I'll leave those out. Anyways, I find this works best because the leader comes in, steals, the allies target the enemy, and then the leader moves on to the next, once everyone has been stolen from, the leader fights the nearest enemy.

 #102410  by Manshoon
 Fri Nov 10, 2006 10:29 am
Yeah, I'm also levelling everyone up equally, except I'll wait until someone gets 2 or 3 levels ahead before switching him out just because you get levels fast in this game.

I've always got 2 of my members set up to buff me first thing with Protect/Shell/Regen/Haste (will change this once I get the all the -ga spells). It makes normal battles just so ridiculously easy (I stumbled into the Nabreus Deadlands on accident and still managed to take out a group of lvl 49 monsters, though my party was very close to death). It's pretty heavy on the MP usage though, so it works best if your casters have their 3 Quickenings and have all the appropriate Augment skills (lower MP cost/casting time, gain MP when dealing/taking damage).

 #102420  by Julius Seeker
 Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:35 pm
So how far is everyone into the game? Storywise that is.

My ultimate destination may be a spoiler, so I'll just say one of the locations I will be passing through soon is Salika Woods. Though before I do that, I am going to do a number of hunting quests and explore around some of the areas I haven't taken a good look into yet.

 #102427  by Oracle
 Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:46 pm
spoiler:

Has anyone wandered into the Zartinan Caverns from the Westersands and done any exploring? I found a boss there that summons little zombies. I got passed the zombie phase, but after that he just casts thundaga on everyone over and over. Im trying to lvl up enough right now so I can beat him. I assume it's an esper.

 #102430  by Julius Seeker
 Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:03 pm
Oracle, what level are your guys at? I haven't been able to make any progress in there either (level 26)

 #102432  by Manshoon
 Fri Nov 10, 2006 7:26 pm
I'm 3 zones past the Salika Woods, just outside the place Seek is referring to. Party level is 35-37

 #102438  by Julius Seeker
 Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:31 pm
Found a gold mine in Salika woods: Alright, Bomb King seems to be a gold mine. The bombs that he calls have bomb fragments which sell for nearly 2000, and the Bomb King himself has something which sells for nearly 900. What is unique about this boss is that when you run away, he resets, and you can steal all over again. I was actually attempting to defeat him with the added in gambits of kill for with weakest HP placed near the top, so after I am done stealing, they will kill off all the little bombs before moving on to the bomb king himself. Anyways, after three attempts I failed, but when I went back to replenish my hankerchiefs, I noticed that I had made about 20,000 extra gc just from what I stole from him.

 #102442  by Manshoon
 Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:37 pm
Oracle:

Yeah, I just went through there tonight with my party (38-40) and took out the Esper without much trouble. The status ailments from the zombies were annoying but I set up a bunch of gambits on one person to recover everyone from those and equipped Yoichi Bows on the other two and it went down fairly quick.

Seek: Nice find. I hadn't considered that since I was too busy thinking of how to take it out before it could heal itself. That's when I first started using the Quickening chains and that took care of him.

 #102443  by Oracle
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:05 am
At the time my guys were 38-41. They are in the 45s now but I got REALLY caught up on Hunts. I still have a few to go. Im just happy I was able to take down Trickster with a 34K Quickening :D

 #102446  by Manshoon
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:20 am
Yeah, I've been catching up on hunts myself. I think I might be screwed on getting one of them though, the bloodwing in Barheim passage. I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to get back in there. There's a TP crystal in there, but I don't have it on my list because I don't think I ran up to it at all, and the guys I talk to outside the entrance say the boss is inside with the key to the other entrance.

EDIT: Ok, found Trickster. Just had to keep running in and out of Frozen Brook until that other hunter gave the signal.


Another hunt I'm clueless about is the Gil Snapper. I'm guessing I'm supposed to do something with the driftwood during the Rains to cross over and fight him, but I'm at a loss as to what to do.

So far the coolest hunt for me has been Vyraal. I spent a good 10+ minutes fighting him, had to set up Phoenix Down gambits cause he'd kill my party slightly faster than I could heal it. At the end I thought I was screwed cause I had to swap in my second party and I'd already lost 1 member out of that, but that was when he went down.

 #102447  by Julius Seeker
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:20 am
Well, I decided not to worry about the Hunts for now, and move on with the story, mainly because things seemed to roll around quite smoothly from Salikawood and onward. Things haven't challenged me at all in a while (with the exception of the Bomb King). I am much lower level than you guys (I am only at 30 right now) and I had absolutely no trouble at all (spoiler to those who aren't on their way to Salika wood yet) getting throught he Draklor Laboratory in Archades. I am now through that and things seem to be very interesting, I am thinking I may go back and pick up some more Espers though.

Once Salika Wood is hit, I have found that the games environments have become much more beautiful and interesting. Phon Coast is absolutely beautiful, playing through it reminds me of Mario Kart 64's beach levels, or Final Fantasy 10. =)

At the point I am at in the game, I think I can say that for those who are fans of the more traditional Final Fantasy, particularly FF6, this game is great, it is probably closer to FF6 than any other game in the series. Though it also feels somewhat like Vagrant Story and Skies of Arcadia, there are certainly borrowed elements from both of those games (and the FFTs obviously). This Final Fantasy game is also the third game in what I like to call the Ivalice trilogy (now) the first being FFT and the second being Vagrant Story. All three games are among my favourites ever, at this point. There are other minor games (like Ravenant Wings and FFT Advance), so technically, it is more than a trilogy, but I like to think of those two as additions to the existing games (FFTa is a part of FFT and Ravenant Wings is a part of FF12).

 #102454  by Julius Seeker
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 3:05 pm
Once the Feywoods is hit, the challenge picks up again =P

 #102456  by Manshoon
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 4:47 pm
Good, maybe you can help get me unstuck. :P I'm at the Gigas Gate, and I figured out how to run through all the right shrine exits to make it light up, but it still won't open. The inscription mentions Gigas holds sway over the gate and refers to a summoner, so maybe I need to get an Esper?

 #102457  by Blotus
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:14 pm
The Feywood owned me. I wasn't supposed to be there yet anyway.

I really like the game so far (40 hours in). I find it to be quite difficult compared to others in the numbered series. If you're not smart with your money and don't spend adequate time grinding, setting up your equipment and you gambits, you can easily get wiped out fighting three or four enemies at the same time.

Or maybe that's just because I'm adhering to a strict class system and none of my characters are self-reliant.

 #102458  by Julius Seeker
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:55 pm
Hey Manshoon, maybe this will help: Belias is called "Belias, The Gigas" when you first get him. So no need to go hunting very far, I think.

 #102460  by Manshoon
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:57 pm
Son of a bitch. The sad thing is I actually tried summoning at the gate, but it was another Esper than that one. I guess I stopped too soon. But I never would've thought to check the Bestiary description for Belias and note that Gigas is what he's known as. Anyways, thanks..

 #102461  by Nev
 Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:36 pm
The game are pretty.

 #102464  by Julius Seeker
 Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:32 am
OK, I am through the gate now. I think I am going to post a bit of something on the game world: Ivalice.

I just happened to be reading some of the conversations and such a while ago, and one word kind of hit me: "Ordalia"

Now Ordalia, as some people might remember, is the continent which Dalmasca is on. To the North of Ordalia, the continent which Archadia is on, is the continent of Valendia, and at the beginning of the game it mentions the use of the "old Valendian calendar."

Another thing that is interesting is the Kiltia, the church on that mountain to the south seems to be its headquarters. They are the leaders of the religion of the game; it hints on the religion being very important, but doesn't give a lot of direct evidence of it besides having that Temple.

All of these terms, they are not new. The City of Lea Monde in Vagrant Story has a Kiltian Church within it. The symbol of the religion is the exact same as it is in Final Fantasy 12. Though the kiltian religion is not present in Final Fantasy Tactics, FFT's religion is the Church of Glabados, which seems to be unique to that region; since it originated in that region.

Next, also in Vagrant Story, is the continent of Valendia and the old Valendian calendar. Vagrant Story takes place in a land that is called Valendia.

Next is Ordalia. For those familiar with the 50 Years war in Final Fantasy Tactics, it can be noted that Ivalice was a country in that game, it was at war with another Empire to the East called Ordalia. In Final Fantasy 12, Ordalia seems to be the Eastern end of the continent, whereas in Final Fantasy Tactics Ivalice seems to be the Western end of the continent. Dalmasca is on Ordalia, and Ivalice is to the West. Though, in FF12, Ivalice is also the name of the entire region which was conquered by an ancient King of Ordalia.

The games all obviously take place during certain time periods (Matsuno said as much). Though I do feel there is some confusion as to what order the games are in. I do feel that it is obvious, given the references to FFT, that Vagrant Story does take place after Final Fantasy Tactics. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance seems to obviously take place after Vagrant Story (the world which FFTa starts out in is a technologically advanced civilization). What is less certain is when FF12 takes place. FF12, has a technology which greatly resembles the ancient civilization which covered Ivalice; air ships and such. Though I do feel that the information on that can be relatively ignored for the following reason: The ancient civilizations of Final Fantasy Tactics are obviously interpretations of other FF games, The Kingdom of Baron is directly referenced, whereas the floating continent which is approached from Marage Tower is obviously Final Fantasy I. Even though the technology certainly resembles FF12, it is a homage to older FF games, trying to hint at Ivalice being a part of the Final Fantasy world. Of course there is the ancient

My theory as it currently stands is FFT first, and Vagrant Story not too long after. FF12 comes as the latest time period. Ordalia could perhaps be Raithwall's Kingdom. Raithwall was said to have been very successful at war and defeated everyone. FFT's Ivalice was a Kingdom which was defeated by Ordalia, and only Cid prevented them from ivading and conquering the region. Though I will probably revise this theory after finishing FF12.

 #102478  by Julius Seeker
 Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:38 pm
Alright, I passed the location after that gate that Manshoon was talking about; something in there scared the shiite out of me:

There is a location where there was a dead end, you could see way into the distance, and something looked fairly interesting, I walked close to the edge of the thing and KABOOM a passage just appears out of nowhere! Scared the hell out of me, even though I knew I should have expected, I just didn't know it would appear due to my proximity. I didn't expect it at all =p

 #102489  by Don
 Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:50 pm
BTW, how do you get back to the Garasythe Waterways? The only door that opens leads to the gate controls which requires a key I do not have. One of the hunts seems to be the same place as where you get sneak into the palace, but the door is locked.

 #102491  by Manshoon
 Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:04 pm
In the room with the gate controls there should be a bunch of exits going around from one side to the other. Most of these will be dead ends unti you get the gate key, but there's a few on the left-hand side where if you go you'll eventually come back to the same path you traversed the first time around.

 #102503  by Oracle
 Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:30 am
Anyone killed Carrot yet?

Spoilers:

Vaan was level 47 for me, Basch and Ashe around level 44-45. Carrot was a bitch. Tons of remedies used. Got him down to near 10% after he "doubled his level" and thats when it got really hard. He could essentially one-shot all my characters. At that point I had to phoenix down as fast as I could just so I could manage a quickening. Had to do 3 quickenings (bye bye 2 hi-ethers) before I could manage a 10-chainer to finally knock him down. Was a really fun fight, tho :)