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When I start gathering LPs, which Licenses should I purchase first? And in what order should I get them? -CSM

edit: also, how am I supposed to get GP in this? The monsters don't drop it!

This post has been edited by Crazyswordsman on 1st December 2006 04:28

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First, for LP, you can really purchase whatever you like. I recommend heading to the lower-left corner of the "north" side of the LP board. The augment abilities are really the best use of your early-game LP.

For Gil (or GP as you called it), most enemies don't drop it. What they do drop is called "loot". You can sell loot, and if you sell the rare right combinations you can even unlock new bazaar items.

You can earn even more loot by chaining monsters. A chain is caused by killing multiple numbers of the same type of monster in a row. If you break the chain, you have to start all over though :-(. You can break the chain in several ways - killing something else, touching a save crystal, or The wolves and hyenas are your best source of chains early-game - I recommend chaining hyenas in the giza plains. I built up a chain of over 99 and got some great loot to sell.

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

Well, as for license points you must first figure out which characters you want to do, well, what.

A cardinal rule: Don't purchase weapon and armor licenses before they become available in a shop. The bottom half of the augment section of the LP board is geared towards the fighter and the top half of the augments are geared towards the magic user. I had two characters focus solely on magic, two on being tanks and two as Red Mages of a sort with one of those two focused on thievery and skills.

The monsters drop items that are only useful if you sellm them. Much more realistic than monsters and such carrying Gil up their bums.

EDIT: Myself and Halcyon must have been posting at the same time.

This post has been edited by GooseKnight on 1st December 2006 05:20

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"You broke my f***ing sitar, mother f***er."
-Anton A. Newcombe

"Yet another 'use your sword to magically deliver death from above' character comes in somewhere between the Living Cabbage and Milkmaid character options." -red_beard_neo

Thanks guys. I still want more suggestions (just keep 'em coming). Also, does selling the same loot at different shops yield different bazaar goods? Or do all shops work the same in that regard? -CSM

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As far as I know it's the same bazaar goods from shop to shop. There does not seem to be any uniques per shop...

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"You broke my f***ing sitar, mother f***er."
-Anton A. Newcombe

"Yet another 'use your sword to magically deliver death from above' character comes in somewhere between the Living Cabbage and Milkmaid character options." -red_beard_neo

I agree with purchasing augments first, especially battle lore, channeling, and swiftness. Extra gambit slots should be purchased as you need them (or to clear the way to new areas); potion/remedy/ether/phoenix lore didn't help me out too much.

It's not bad to put extra license points into armor that you don't have yet as long as you pick at most two types of armor per character (for instance, my Fran and Penelo both buy all the magic armor and a light armor once in a while; Ashe and Vahn buy light and heavy; Balthier and Basch buy only heavy. The identities of the characters don't matter so long as you concentrate on one type of armor per character. Otherwise, you waste LP.) Don't buy new weapons until you have the weapons, or maybe the next step in your favourite type (the next sword, the next bow) if you don't have anything pressing to spend points on.

Of course, everyone should learn white magic as soon as possible. After that, pick two or three characters who continue to buy all the magic (as it comes available), and slowly catch up with the rest.

Once you're further along, it's okay to start exploring random areas. For me, this came when I had characters with all the magic and armor they could currently use and most of the good augments purchased.

Don't purchase accessory squares until you have the accessory. Some of them are fairly useless, anyway.

And, in case it's not clear, don't worry about saving quickening slots. Everyone gets three, and it doesn't matter where they are on the board. Try to buy them up semi-evenly to help your quickening chains (don't give Vaan three before Fran has one, etc.), but, otherwise, just grab them when they become available.

Bazaar goods are the same in every single shop. You can sell loot at a shop, not buy the bazaar goods, and go to a different shop later, and they'll still be available. The goods are determined solely by what you sell.

Edit

One last thing. Don't spend LP on techs! Most of them are completely worthless. Buy steal and charge for everyone, and then ignore that part of the board until you have LP to spare. Above all, stay AWAY from poach; you get no experience or LP when you poach an enemy, and you don't get anything special in return.

This post has been edited by karasuman on 1st December 2006 05:30

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

At later levels, it would be useful to get Telekinesis, though, from the Technicks side of the License Board. There are also two Quickenings there. In my experience, only Charge, Steal, and Telekinesis seem like they would have any use.

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"You underestimate the strength of a Jedi's mind, Brejik. A mistake you won't live to regret, " -Bastila Shan(Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)

On the contrary, buy Unseeing Sight as soon as you can. It's limited by weapon range from what I can tell, but it can automatically put enemies into critical status, useful for Poaching and just overall killing annoying foes (Baknamy) and those that self-destruct (Pyrolisk, etc.). But, most of the good technicks either come at the very beginning of the game or towards the end, so it'll do your right to spend LP on other stuff.

As said, augments are the best ways to go -- Battle Lore, Shield Guard, Swiftness, and Magick Lore should get gunned down first -- and because they always have usefulness.

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Above all, stay AWAY from poach; you get no experience or LP when you poach an enemy, and you don't get anything special in return.

Of course you get special things. Some monsters rare poaches are rare drops (Ancient Turtle Shell from Silicon Tortoise) but it's also an avenue to get great weapons early. The Pyrolisk I mentioned has a Murasame poach, which is one of the great reasons to have Unseeing Sight, too.

But, I agree mostly that poaching should be steered clear from unless one is loot-hunting.

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Quote (karasuman @ 1st December 2006 00:27)

Edit

One last thing. Don't spend LP on techs! Most of them are completely worthless. Buy steal and charge for everyone, and then ignore that part of the board until you have LP to spare. Above all, stay AWAY from poach; you get no experience or LP when you poach an enemy, and you don't get anything special in return.

Thanks for the heads up, poach is a bit out of my price range right now because I spend all my gil on making sure everyone has the best weapon/armor combos available, not to mention all magics and gambits(they're cheap, so even the less useful ones i've bought). I won't bother getting it until I have excess gil.


I'd definitely concur that augments have been the best thing to go for so far for me.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

In terms of loot, chains are broken when you... 1- kill a different class of monster (ie, if you're hunting wolves in the desert, go to Giza, and kill a hyena, the chain won't be broken) 2- touch a save crystal, and 3- enter an area where you control Vaan without the party (generally towns).

Chains increase faster if you don't pick up loot, but it's generally somewhat random (ie, without picking up any loot, your first chain level will occure around 6-9.) This doesn't have too much of an impact on what you gain, but it does increase the chance of getting rarer loot (the rarest loot has a 1% chance of being dropped at level 1, IIRC, and goes up to 5% at the final chain level.) The only exception to picking up items is when the chain number flashes gold - you won't slow down your chain levelling if you pick up items while it's flashing.

Personally I found magic to be almost useless for a very long time. Grab cure ASAP, it's going to be your main source of healing for quite some time. Later, you'll find spells like Haste and Bravery to be quite useful. Black magic is almost useless (in my game, my Vaan can hit for 3000 but only does about 2000 against enemies unless they're weak against the spell I use, when casting spells.) Save your MP for healing and the occasional buff. Spells like Blindna, Poisona, etc, are worthwhile too.

Don't waste points on things you can't use yet. If you have spare points but nothing to use them in, spend them on augments. Try to aim for quickenings too - it's worth the side-trip. If you get good at using them, many bosses can die in a single turn. If not, they're bound to be rather low on HP by the time you're done - physical attacks will bring them down.

Don't neglect your out-of-party characters. If you don't use them, at least give them boosts to their defense and HP, and teach them raise. You can use them to revive your main party if you get your ass handed to you in a fight, then swap them back out. Saved me a couple of times against hard marks.

Money is somewhat scarce in FFXII until much, much later in the game (especially if you're the type to buy every spell/technique/gambit as you gain access to them) so don't worry if you're pressed for cash - it's normal. Bazaar goods aren't always worth getting, by the way, so be weary of them. You can and should sell any loot you get EXCEPT the great serpentskin (the Nibogg mark) and the items you pick up to complete the mini-quest to heal the traveller in the village on the north bank. The rest is fine.

In response to an earlier post, Poach is the only way to gain certain items, so don't neglect it. Just don't set up a gambit to use it when enemies drop to critical HP - you'll never gain exp and LPs! Most techniques are disappointingly useless, but get First Aid early on, Steal, Poach, and 1000 Needles. Shades of Black is nice but when you get it, it's nearly useless. Have at least one character get Libra and set a gambit to use it (you won't reuse it again if you've already cast it, so just stick it in any free slot near the end of your list.) That way you won't run into traps.

If you don't use some characters, spend their LPs on the equipment grid to "probe" it for equipment you need a liscence for but can't find. Beats wasting 200 LPs going the wrong direction on the board to ge a certain bow unlocked.

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and the likelyhood of him sharing."