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Well, I bought it. Never thought I'd reshoulder my geek badge, but there it is.

I'll get the bad stuff out of the way right now. The liscence system is horrible. You can find weapons, but not use them, because you don't have the proper liscence. Even though you have another weapon of the same category equipped right now. What gives? And the way characters start out, there's way too little variation possible from one character to the next. Not to mention that at the rate you'll gain skills to waste LPs on, your characters almost all end up either wasting points in augments or with the same skillsets.

The gambit system is fun to set up, but terribly boring. You can get through most of the game doing nothing but moving around - fighting, even for your main guy, is taken care of automatically. Where are my challenging split-second decisions, Square? Where?!

Some aspects of the storyline are carried out poorly. "Penelo? What are you doing here?" "Oh I just randomly wandered far south to some nomad village and happened to bump into you. Let's join up and do stuff!" "lol okayz " Ikeep feeling bits and pieces are forced. Truly, the storyline isn't spectacular, but it's bearable.

Now for the good stuff. The world is very, very open-ended. There's a lot of exploring to do and it feels quite a bit like an MMORPG. Only offline. And it works. Hunting down enemies is fun. And when you're tired of it, you can make the storyline progress. Good way to pace things.

Fran rocks. There's too little of her in the game.

The battle system is very deceiving. It's actually turn-based like any other FF. The only difference being that, through gambits, you don't have to take half the decisions you normally would. But it's there allright. Somehow.

Quick question. How does the bazaar work? Is it the cumulative itmes you've sold that matter, or the amount you're selling at any given one time? I'm not sure wether I should sell the items I got through hunts or save them for later...

Decent game, so far, but hardly the FF of my youth anymore.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Sell the stuff you get from hunts. There's no reason to save them for later. You get more stuff from the bazaar based on how often you talk to merchants (for the grimoires) and what sort of loot you sell.

I kept gambits off of my main character for most of the game, only putting them on her (I used Ashe as the main character) when I was plowing through enemies and just wanted it on autopilot.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

I could be wrong, but for some of the items to appear you have sell a certain amount of items at one time...all very confusing if you ask me. I just sell what I get and keep it moving.

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This is a webcomic and gaming blog where I rant about nonsense. Enjoy.

I was a soldier, now I just play one in video games.

I do believe that in most cases it is cumulative.

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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 had a look around for this.

Suppose you need 5 feathers to make a feather hat (example - not true.) You sell 3 feathers and leave, then later sell 2. You'll get the hat. Suppose you sell 10 feathers, though, you get the hat but the extra 5 are lost.

Some items are uniques, others aren't and can be obtained multiple times. And some of the items you obtain should be kept instead of being sold. The nihbogg (I think... the thing in the caves)'s molting should be kept because something later on using it will give you more items - don't sell that.

I'm glad I kept mine. Selling it is a waste. Many items, in fact, should be kept if they're only worth 1 gold (like pebbles.) They do have uses elsewhere.

Others, like the rainbow egg from one of the earlier quests, can be sold.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

The pebbles have a use? What is it? I wondered about those, I figured they had to have some sort of use. Is it with a weapon?

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Hrm, actually no. Pebbles are junk. Oddly enough, so is some magicite.

I got this from quickly checking through a faq on gamefaqs - there's always the possibility that selling 100 of them will eventually give you some uber weapon, but who knows.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Well, at one point you can actually buy a bazaar item that consists of 99 pebbles. I sold them back after a while, since I didn't know what to do with them.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Weird. Unless there's a bazaar item that requires over 100 pebbles... but that sounds unlikely.

I got ahold of my first Measure last night. What the heck good are they? They hit for pathetic damage and cause positive status effects. I figure they'd be useful to use against your own party members, but how that's any more useful than casting spells eludes me. >"<

Seems there's a spot where you can autolevel. In the mines on Ozama plain, there's a room where pushing a switch will cause a seemingly unlimited supply of slimes to drop into the room. I figure with gambits turned on and protection vs the statuses they inflict, you'd be able to just let the game go without touching anything.

I'm disappointed with gambits. It seems like you don't get any useful ones until much later in the game... The yellow panel only has one for me so far (target: self) which is useless for most abilities. :x Well... anyhow.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

The only practical set-ups for measures I can think of are buffers that oppose ailments. Setting a gambit for Ally Status = Slow with Attack, while equipped with the Haste measure, would be a free and quick way to fix the problem. Personally I rather have the 2000 extra damage on the enemy when I already have Hastega + Ally Status = Slow.

You sell loot for money more than you sell loot for bazaar goods. Worthwhile bazaar goods tend to come from rare loot you're unlikely to find unless you have all the grimoires and hunt for the loot. Don't assume any bazaar item is good. If it indicates some sort of cure for status ailments, aim for ones you don't have magic for. If it's healing, always buy. If it's equipment, and the price is close or less than what your current equipment is, don't bother. In many cases, bazaar bundles cost more than the items seperately.

If you find equipment becomes available before you can license them, it probably means you don't bother getting LP and opt to advancing the story. Every enemy gives the same LP, so exploit one-hit kills in a previous dungeon (ie: Llushu Mines) to rake in LP in just minutes. The battle system is that streamlined, it isn't a chore to kill 50 enemies in a row unlike past FFs. The game will spike enemy levels frequently, and 1 or 2 levels gained the last dungeon won't be enough, especially if you weren't able to afford the best defenses at any given time. You should soon be reaching the first case of the spike in enemy levels, Silverlance.

Already have a few times. So far it's been no biggie for me because I spend a LOT of time just wandering around, either completing hunts or enjoying the scenary. Back in my days, a game lasted a few months, and I'll be damned if I use up this one's potential in just a few weeks!

One thing I really hate about the liscence system, other than the concept as a whole (heh...) is the fact you gain 1 LP per enemy. No matter what. Even "big" bonuses where you gain about 4 LP in one kill are laughable - after the tomb of Raithwall my main characters are just about maxed out on the board... :x

I really hate how you have to unlock equipment to use it. That's not innovative - it's just stupid. :x Skills, I can understand. But when you know how to use a dagger but can't use a near-identical dagger at all just because you don't have the liscence, that's dumb. Biggest issue I have with liscences so far...

I find, though, that the difficulty is well-balanced so far if you don't run from fights. Nothing outright exploitable yet, except MAYBE quickenings (few things can stand up to 41k damage yet, but I only got that once so far so it's a moot point. )

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

The Quickenings lose usefulness later on when you need to conserve MP for spells and whatnot. But then again, there are those Augments that can refill your MP...

Well, the Licenses aren't about knowing how to use a weapon, it's the actual privelege of using that weapons as established by the Archadian Judges. It's similar to those law cards in FFTA, though, not nearly on that scale of frustration. I just unlock the necessary equipment I need as I come across it in stores.



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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

At least FFTA had actual judges monitoring the fight in the event that you broke a law. In FFXII it just sounds like a needless restriction. Or some way to use up more space on the grid because they ran out of ideas (the liscence board is really tiny all things considered and highly uninteresting - other than giving you the priviledge to equip stuff or cast spells/abilities you otherwise have to buy before getting, there are only a handfull of effects. Most of which are repeated ~3 times.) At least the gambit system makes up a good deal of character customization, and makes up for this.

I'm actually stunned at just how big the game is. 40 hours into the game, I only have one summon out of 13. This means I still have about a dozen dungeons to go through at least before seeing everything - and even then that's the minimum. To boot, the area around Rabanastre keeps getting bigger. I've only recently beaten the boss in the sandstorm and unlocked a whole new area. Cool.

I love how sidequests take up so much of the game and run alongside the main storyline. I only find myself completing a storyline event every couple of days, spending the rest of the time exploring and doing hunts.

Does anyone know where you're supposed to bring that ring after the cockatrice hunt (given to you by the guy in the village after the rains start)? He keeps mentioning the person I should give it to should be nearby but is about as helpful as a wet noodle.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Quote (Silverlance @ 29th November 2006 11:33)

I got ahold of my first Measure last night. What the heck good are they? They hit for pathetic damage and cause positive status effects. I figure they'd be useful to use against your own party members, but how that's any more useful than casting spells eludes me.

Measures are good for support characters and provide an evade bonus, in addition to being one handed, which means you can still equip a shield with said character. Great for a mage character that can then attack allies for buffs, i.e. Penelo with a measure that adds haste and and a mid level shield equiped. Keep her in the back and set her gambits to attack allies, or just manually control (which is what I do, gambits are okay but I like to have a greater control.)

Just a suggestion.

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This is a webcomic and gaming blog where I rant about nonsense. Enjoy.

I was a soldier, now I just play one in video games.

Quote

Does anyone know where you're supposed to bring that ring after the cockatrice hunt (given to you by the guy in the village after the rains start)? He keeps mentioning the person I should give it to should be nearby but is about as helpful as a wet noodle.

Hm, I know you have to return when Giza Plains is dry, and talk to one of the women there. I can't remember specifically who right at the moment.



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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

The Chief is the woman you have to talk to. For a little closure, return to the man in the rainy season to see another scene.

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

Right now I just finished beating the King Bomb, which was very difficult. I kept killing the little Bombs that King Bomb summons and whenever it seemed like I would get the King Bomb to say, 25% HP, it would use Renew and get back to 100% HP. So, I tried using Reflect on the Bomb King before it would use Renew, but it seems that Renew would nullify the effects of Reflect. Nonetheless, I believe that it ran out of MP by the third time, but it kept using Fira on me. But, it was a fun fight. I'm currently near the entrance of the Necrohol, but I'm not sure if I have to go there or not...

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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)

I just cleared the

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Pharos

. I'm really enjoying the story now! Now, to infiltrate the final dungeon.

Although, after I beat the game, I should probably catch up on all the hunts/side-areas I've been ignoring. xD

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

I just got to the Sochen Cave Palace after defeating those hilarious Mandragora bosses. My characters are about 44-45 with all three Quickenings and all passive Abilities learned. To top it off, my three main characters(Vaan, Ashe, and Basch) have Embroidered Tippets equipped(x2 experience, can be stolen from Couerls).

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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)

Completed it yesterday. What a nice ending! And...a very difficult final boss. His first two forms are pretty easy, but his last form just doesn't give a break.



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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

i dont really like the game...it jest doesnt fell like final fantasy no more ...since the got rid of the old battle system and the summons like shiva and ifrit...its like pokemon dugeon, it a little to differnt to belong in the series...its like they jes started copying things off of tactics, too...and the characters seem to show a strong resemblince to characters from the other final fantasies

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delete me

How can the creators of Tactics 'copy' Tactics?

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

The king bomb was a pain - I got there too last weekend. It used renew a good 4-5 times on me before overwhelming my party. So I figured I'd do things the hard way and started off with a quickening right away.

19 hits later, I ended up killing it in one attack. Wham, biatch!

I figure I must be getting near the end by now. 65 hours, and I just reached archades.

Is it just me or is the voice acting really cheap? It seems like they only had a handfull of voice actors and had to resort to text-only sequences every other cut scene. One cut scene you're there, treated to a nice voice-acted scene, the next? Zilch. This game needs more Fran. :/

I rather like how the plot isn't some HUGE epic journey with some psychotic villain trying to destroy the world 'cuz it's the "in" thing for villains to do. You travel a restricted section of the world (partly due to Balthier's airship being inoperable through the magic of plot devices) and the villain isn't exactly some psychotic madman trying to use the Seven Gems of Khandor to awaken the Great Destroyer of Willowack to destroy the known universe (har har!!)

This post has been edited by Silverlance on 4th December 2006 18:35

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Quote (Zeromus_X @ 4th December 2006 01:19)

How can the creators of Tactics 'copy' Tactics?

well thats not what i mean (if u were adressing me because of what i said) i mean that u went to places like the giza plains which were in ffta

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delete me

Why are there moogles in every game? Why is there an Omega Weapon? An Excalibur? See where I'm going here? Besides, the Ivalice of FFXII is the same Ivalice of FFT/TA and Vagrant Story, but in different time eras. It makes sense that some locations would still be the same.

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Oh, and on that topic, do you think that Final Fantasy XII occurs before or after Tactics Advance? I believe that XII occurs before Tactics Advance.

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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)

Seeing as there has never been any direct link between FFs, I doubt it's the "same" Ivalice. In the same sense that Cid from FF7 is a redneck whereas the one in FF6 is a walking advertisement for rubbers (who ever gave him a suit like that anyways?)

The histories clash considerably, unless XII were taking place before Tactics. But Tactics didn't have the races XII has. And Tactics Advanced? That was just a made-up land in the mind of a kid, not a real place. Besides both Tactics and Tactics Advanced have a world called Ivalice, but they're not the same. Why should XII not follow suite?

Just got to the Necrohole. Nasty place. I'm level 50 but survival is rather difficult. I figured I'd leave it alone for a bit.

I also finally got all concordances last night after getting Black Hole in a dozen hits. Sweet.

Right now I'm hunting Carrot (a level VII mark - probably too hard right now, but then again maybe not.) Can't find it though. I also got the esper in Barheim, which was a cool way to end my session last night.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivalice

Quote

In May 2004, Yasumi Matsuno explained in an interview with a French magazine his vision of Ivalice: "Ivalice is a world I have been creating since I joined Square in 1995. It is a very complex world with a very long history. What's more, the locations in which the stories Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy XII unfold are quite close on the map of Ivalice"[3].

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Im borrowing it and am enjoying it alot, ill probably get it at some point..

I've chalked up 20 hours now, and just got out of the Lhusu Mines, after a flee for my life quad-boss encounter. At level 11 for everyone.


I'm loving it so far. The Gambit System makes things so much quicker, and more fun. The liscense board is also great. I finally figured out what all the armors specifically do, and the weapon options, there's so many!


The story is pretty cool, nothing mindblowing thus far, but I like it. Definitely has potential to overtake most of the other FF's I've played (6,7,8,9,10,10-2).

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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"