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Just thought I would make a post where everyone can post up about their best weapons and or favorite set-ups for their characters. I also thought this would be a good way for everyone to share some about an easy way to get certain loot, places to find monsters who carry such loot and other stuff like that. I'll go first.

I just got the Durandal and it was surprisingly easy, it only took an hour or so.

First I was hunting shadowseer at the phaoros subterra, and when trying to collect black orbs I ran into a lot of necrofeinds which will drop lifewick sometimes. I ended up with 9 by the time I left so it's not to hard.

Next, the leshach halycon. I got this during the fafnir hunt, when it is storming on the parimina rift. When you are hunting fafnir and following the route to keep the storm up you will run into a few Leshach entities steal from them (I think) or just kill them and some will drop a leshach halycon. You only need one so don't bother trying to kill a bunch of these if you are low level they can be very dangerous.

Finally, the emperor scale. Go to the Zertinan Caverns and go to the southern side of balamka fault. There will be 2 archeoavis' there fighting a couple of gorgimeras. Try not to kill the gorgimeras as they will ruin your chain. You can poach the emperor scale from them (I am told) but I couldn't get anything except a battlewyrm carapace. I finally tried to just kill one and it just dropped it! If you can't seem to get any try chaining them, kill the first two you see and then flee south into the athroza quiksands, then follow the right wall and run west into the drybeam cavern area. Stay right and run back into the balamka fault area and they will be back. Repeat as necessary. I think I only had to kill 6 or 7 to get the 2 emperor scales.

Now, sell all of this loot to the bazaar and there you have it, the well-forged blade
costing 21,000 gil I think and you now have the durandal!

I'll post more later when something new comes along.

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

My setup now is kinda like this:

Fran - Level 47
Masamune, White Mask, Genji Armor, Genji Glove.

Basch - Level 47
Ragnarok, Genji Helmet, Maximillian, Jade Collar.

Penelo - Level 47
Zwill Crossblade, Demon Shield, Circlet, Maximillian, Thief's Cuffs.

Actually, I'm keeping Fireflies as my accessories when I'm exploring.

My Gambits are (roughly):

Ally: Any - Haste, Shell, Protect, Phoenix Down, Esuna

Self: MP < 10% - Charge

Foe: Flying - Telekinesis

Foe: Status=Protect/Shell/Haste - Dispel

Foe: Party Leader's Target - Attack

I'm toying with adding Bubble and Regen to my gambits.

I should note that the Abaddons in the Pharos are whipping my ass all over creation, so I've gone back to the Great Crystal to loot it. The only marks I have left are Seer, Yiazmat, Pylraster and Behemoth King, but I'm taking time off to do some Club hunts. I haven't figured out who to give my trophies to yet, but I'm leaning towards Atak.

This post has been edited by Asylum Outpatient on 27th January 2007 02:32

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You don't scare me, you talking blobs of oozing slop! I am impervious to pain!

In the present...

Vaan: Level 62

Ragnarok
EMPTY
Crown of Laurels
Maximillian
Thieff's Cuff (or Bubble Belt)

Basch: Level 68

Golden Axe
Demon Shield
Magepower Shishak
Maximillian
Embodied Trippet (or Bubble Belt)

Ashe: Level 68

Masamune
EMPTY
Black Mask
Genji Armor
Battle Harness (or Emboidied Trippet/ or Bubble Belt)

I change accesories depending on the situation. Most of the time, my main party has the first accesory.

When leveling up, the three characters have the Embodied Tippet on. and when the time comes to face tougher enemies the Bubble Belt comes into place.

The substitue party, conisisting of Balthier, Fran an Penelo are always equiped with the Golden Amulet so they constantly recieve double LP. They are all equiped with 'Maximillian" armor. Their weapons are, 'Save the Queen', 'Deathbringer' and 'Defender', in the same orther as they were mentioned. Fran has the "Crystal Shield", she is the only one able to equip a shield, as Balthier and Penelo all have (2H) weapons. Their accesories are the same as the main party. When the substitute party enters battle, the main party then is equiped with the 'Golden Amulet'.

My GAMBITS are very simple.

Party Leader:

Ally status KO: Phoenix Down
Foe flying: Telekinesis
Foe nearest visible: Attack

The other two:

Ally status KO: Phoenix Down
Foe flying: Telekinesis
Foe nearest visible: Attack
Party leader's target: Attack

The reason for my gambits been so simple and under use is quite simple too. For example. If an enemy has Protect/ Shell/ Haste or any other battle enhancing magics on, sometimes is not worthy dispeling it. Why? you mights ask. Very simple, sometimes they are so weak that they can be defeated anyway with out dispeling them. If dipel has to be used, I prefer doing it manualy.

Now for status effects. There's a chance that when an ally is hit with a status effect, one of my characters is casting Curaja. There's a posibility that the GAMBIT will cancel the spell to cure the affected character. That could give a chance to the enemy to kill one, or all my characters. Anyway, healing status ailments is something that I prefer doing myself.

Well, that's about it. I try to keep thing as simple as they can be. Hope this helps anyone who's reading it.

This post has been edited by SaffireWeapon on 2nd February 2007 22:29

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

A Gambit to cure a status ailment should never interrupt a Gambit to cure a character if the cure Gambit is higher on the list than the status-healing one.

Personally, I'm in the process of trying to get the Ultima Sword (still - I really shouldn't have killed that Earth Tyrant). Right now, my party includes Vaan (Save the Queen), Basch (Deathbringer/Crystal Shield) and Penelo (Perseus Bow/Parallel Arrows), with the other three characters being rather neglected.

I'm about to start over, actually, and see if I can't correct some of the mistakes I made in my first playthrough.

Correcting mistakes like opening all of the wrong treasures??? I did the same thing and didn't know I screwed up until I was a healthy 85 hours into the game.. I didn't want to start over so I resolved to get the Zodiac spear the hard way and I still haven't really tried (those bats are a pain sometimes.) Anyways, I got the 2 fomahaults for my upcoming 2nd encounter with Yaizmat, I also got 2 dark shots to further enhance the pain that will devour him.

Anybody have any luck getting the Yagyu Darkblade??? I know that bombshell drops it, but is there a better way, I tried for over 2 hours and he never dropped it... I did end up with a crapload of mallets though!

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

Since this is the FFXII equipment/weapon thread, here goes a question

Does anyone know if Ninja Sword's block is affected by Shield block licenses?

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

That's a good question Cloud_Strife510, Although I don't know the answer, I assume in order to get the bonus from Shield Block, you have to have a Shield Equipped, not a weapon with evade %.

If anyone knows... do tell....

As for getting the Darkblade sk8daysaweek, I've had no luck and I've fought the thing several times, including once when I was a really really REALLY low level (it took forever but he eventually died...)

I have the Ultima Sword Suunok, and Honestly IMO I don't think it's that great, I'd rather use the Masamune...

I haven't played XII in about a month, because I just started college :X so I've been busy, but all my characters are over level 70.

Generally speaking I stuck to axes/hammers with shields on male characters, and bows on females for the majority of the game.

The only exceptions being the Masamune once I beat Gilgamesh the 2nd time, (I was level 46 when I beat him the 2nd time!) and sometimes a two-handed sword every now and then, regardless of the fact they are so slow...

(even with haste/bravery/cat-ear hood/berserk I'd prefer the Masamune over any other two-handed weapon any day...)

I would also post some useful gambit combinations I used along the way, but seeing how this is an equipment thread, I'll leave it at that

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<FrPhoenix[Around]> "Burgleburgleburgle"

I understand the college thing, I too am hunkered down all the time with homework and studying. About the darkblade, I spent a few hours trying to get this today and got nowhere, I killed the Bombshell over 15 times and got only bomb ashes! I was pretty bummed, so I think I may have to give up on that one for a while. I finally got the Fomalhaut though, on the cerobi steppe. After I get the Yagyu darkblade I plan on taking on Yaizmat again, to really push home the pain... I plan on using only two handed weapons because yaizmat ignores evade, so 2 handers are the way to go... I really hate the damage cap at halfway though!

Another note, the fomalhaut can be obtained 2 times on the cerobi steppe and another time elsewhere, so in theory you can have a party of nothing but ranged damage dealers, another good plan for defeating said mark.

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

Quote (sk8daysaweek @ 7th February 2007 07:35)

Another note, the fomalhaut can be obtained 2 times on the cerobi steppe and another time elsewhere, so in theory you can have a party of nothing but ranged damage dealers, another good plan for defeating said mark.

I know the other location. It's where I found the Fomalhaut.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Return to the place in the Lhusu mines where you fought the Antlion, and you'll find a chest that has a 50% chance of giving you the Fomalhaut. Though I haven't tried it, I've read somewhere that that chest can be repeatedly opened to get several Fomalhauts.

Quote (sk8daysaweek @ 3rd February 2007 04:40)

Anybody have any luck getting the Yagyu Darkblade??? I know that bombshell drops it, but is there a better way, I tried for over 2 hours and he never dropped it... I did end up with a crapload of mallets though!

Do you have the specific monograph for the Bombshell to drop rare items, if not, get it!

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

Another suggestion to try to get those nice rare drops (besides the monographs*) is to try to form a long battle chain, I've had things drop with a long battle chain that the Guide says doesn't drop... but can only be stolen or poached...

This however, isn't very likely, and even impossible in some cases, and in others, it is possible, but not very easy.

(e.g. the Gargoyle Baron's in Giruvegan for example... good luck trying to avoid all those Behemoths/Vivians, its possible, but I never got more then 40 or so in a row.)

(And I don't think there are any other bomb-type creatures near the Bombshell)

* A note about monographes: Although (at least with the Canopic Jar) the use of monographes allows for normal enemies to drop semi-rare items such as arcana, I (personally) also noticed an increase in the drop of pebbles.

Which, to the best of my knowledge are utterly useless, and if I am wrong in this assumption, someone please correct me...

Overall, I didn't find the use of monographes that useful in finding rare items. But I could be speaking out of a one-sided lack of experience and bias, as I bought them early in the game and therefor may not have had ample experience to compare having them, to not having them.

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<FrPhoenix[Around]> "Burgleburgleburgle"

Nah, I have acquired all of the monographs and yes I have noticed the increase in drop rates for rare loot, but also pebbles as noted. I don't believe that there are any bombs nearby to get a chain going, I could be wrong though. Also, usually the bombshell is pretected by a pair of flyin beasties (I don't remember the name of them though) which are annoying in that they do pretty good damage when paired with the bombshell, so a chain is highly improbable, who can resist that urge to knock them out of the sky with some thundaga???

On a side note, has anybody been successful in getting the cerberus in the feywood to drop any hells gate flame??? That is starting to bug me also... I couldn't poach it nor would they drop it with a battle chain of 80 or 90. Meh, no worries...

Nice tip on the fomalhaut by the way, I will have to look into that, I already have 2! and 2 darkshots, so look out yaizmat eh?

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

Speaking of the Monographs/Canopic Jar, does anybody know what good the Arcanas are? They don't seem to unlock any Bazaar goods or even sell for very high. Am I supposed to stockpile them and wait for something to happen?

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You don't scare me, you talking blobs of oozing slop! I am impervious to pain!

I think the only good thing about the regular arcana is that they can be sold to bazaar along with some other loot to obtain high arcana which is used in obtaining rare loot, I think gemsteel and something else, I will have to think on this for a while and get back to you.

Has anyone here gotten the tournesoul yet??? pretty tough I think.



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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

Asylum Outpatient:

Arcana is used to obtain High arcana through the bazaar, which you need for a lot of the high end weapons and such.

But you also need to sell other things along with Arcana to unlock the High arcana which needs sold back anyway... if you want more info on the specifics you can send me a private message or something and I can tell you whatever you need to know.

sk8daysaweek:

I am close to getting the tournesoul, the only problem being that whenever I sell a High arcana it results in a Serpentarius gem because I sold way too much snake stuff, so its slowing down the proccess.

If you want to get hells gate flame, try forming longer battle chains, you can do this by killing a few of the dog-like enemies, and then leaving the area to the south (to where the save crystal is, but dont touch it!) and leaving that area as well to the south, then going back.

I have formed chains of over 300 dogs in this fashion, and it is how I got all the hells gate flames I needed... no poaching involved, just long battle chains.

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<FrPhoenix[Around]> "Burgleburgleburgle"

Yea, I had assumed that I would need a greater battle chain to get them to drop the hells gate flame, however, sometimes I don't have patience for it!

Oh and congrats on almost getting the tournesol, that is quite an accomplishment.

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

Where are the Masamune and Toursenol? -CSM

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The Masamune you get as a reward for the Gilgamesh hunt, but I understand it's a Bazaar good as well. The Tournesol, I'm told, is 100% Bazaar, no idea what the items necessary are. I'll buy the Strategy Guide soon enough and find out.

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You don't scare me, you talking blobs of oozing slop! I am impervious to pain!

Whatever they are, I can never seem to find them. These items are so damn hard to get. -CSM

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A tip: Whenever you're trying to acquire a specific item from the Bazaar, don't buy anything from the Bazaar until the item becomes available. Every time you buy something from the Bazaar, it resets the count of the component loot (the loot sold to make the item available) to zero, even if you sold more than was needed for the item. When this happens, if the item bought shares any requirements with the item you're trying to get, you've just set yourself back to square one on that particular component.

about what Suunok said, Its true that if you sell 3 times the required bazaar items you need to,you only get 1 bazaar package. So I assume that what the have said is true...

a note on the Toursenol: if you dont steal enough high arcana to create it from all the summons and other bosses you face, you'll most likely have to face a lot of oversouls in Nabudis later, for a required bazaar item to make High arcana.

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<FrPhoenix[Around]> "Burgleburgleburgle"

Quote (Suunok)

A tip: Whenever you're trying to acquire a specific item from the Bazaar, don't buy anything from the Bazaar until the item becomes available. Every time you buy something from the Bazaar, it resets the count of the component loot (the loot sold to make the item available) to zero, even if you sold more than was needed for the item. When this happens, if the item bought shares any requirements with the item you're trying to get, you've just set yourself back to square one on that particular component.

That explains so much, and thank you for posting that. The next time I play through, I might just go Bazaar-less until the best items start popping up.



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You don't scare me, you talking blobs of oozing slop! I am impervious to pain!

TOURNESOL STUFF (whoa! that's a lot of loot!)

Bazaar:Sell Gemsteel x3, Empyreal Soul x3, Serpentarius x3

Loot Locations:

1. Gemsteel

Bazaar: Hell-Gate Flame(2) ; Scarletite(1) ; Damascus Steel(2)
Hell-Gate Flame: Drops from Cerberus (Feywood)
Scarletite: Drops from Emeralditan (Nabreus Dreadlands) Steal from Rare Game: Aspidochelon (Cerobi Steppe)
Damascus Steel: Drops/Steal from Bune (Pharos) Steal from Rare Game; Vishno, Anchag, Bluesang

2. Empyreal Soul

Bazaar: High Arcana(1) Soul Powder(1) Wargod's Band(2)
High Arcana*:Drops from lots of monsters after you get Canopic Jar
Bazaar: Arcana(10) Soul of Themasa(1) Feystone(1)
Soul Powder: Drops from Etem (Henne Mines)
Steal from Rare Game;Vorres (Necrohol of Nabudis)
Wargod's Band: Drops from Leynir (Nabreus Dreadlands)
Steal from Rare Game;Victanir (Nam-Yensa Sandsea)

3. Serpentarius

Clan Reward for getting all 13 Espers
Steal from Zodiarc (Henne Mines)
Bazaar: High Arcana(1) Snake Skin(4) Serpent Eye(2)

High Arcana->Above

Snake Skin:Drop/Steal from Wildsnake (Giza Plains)
Drops from Rare Game; Grey Molter (Mosphoran Highwaste)
Drops from Rare Game; Midgardsormr (Golmore Jungle)

Serpent Eye:Drop from Basilisks (Feywood)

*Arcana: Drops from all monsters after obtaining Canopic Jar
Soul of Themasa: Drop from Oversoul (Necrohol of Nabudis)
Hunt Reward;Dead City Watch (Rank VI)
Steal from Rare Game;Ishteen (Barheim Passage)

Feystone:Drop/Steal from Entites monsters


The TOURNESOL has an Attack power of 140 and it's cost is 600k, yes people 600,000!

This post has been edited by SaffireWeapon on 9th February 2007 21:39

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

Good info on the Tournesoul! But the 600K price isn't really a problem after selling all of the loot needed and compiled by collecting all the rare loot! I am sitting on 3 mil with nothing to spend it on...

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

This is why I don't feel this weapon is worth it. -CSM

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But the perfectionists out there will certianly have to get their hands on it! Like myself, I won't stop until I have accomplished almost everything... I think I'm disfunctional or something...

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

Tournsol: LP req. 255, +25 Evade

Masamune: LP req. 55, +93 atk,(all katanas have 5 evade)

( I thought I'd mention the evade/LP since they weren't listed above.)

Given the fact that the Zodiac Spear has the highest attack power in the game (+150) the Tournsol is the 2nd most powerful weapon in the game and it has more evade then the spear does (all spears add +8 evade) ... and since its not hidden like the spear that's most likely why its so hard to get through the bazaar...

If you mess up like me and cant get the spear, and its so late in the game you don't want to start over... you may want to try to get it... just so you still have a powerful weapon...frankly, if I had both of them, I'd most likely use the sword over the spear anyway, just for the evade.

And like I said before, I'd rather use the masamune then any other 2-handed weapon in the game...

Except maybe: the Tournsol or Wyrmhero Blade
(Wyrmhero Blade = 2-handed sword, +130 atk, +50 evade, Holy Elemental cost: 65535)

(The Wyrmhero Blade is even harder to get then the Tournsol given the fact you have to sell ALL 3 sidequest badges to unlock the bazaar item...)

I would also like to note that There is NO license for the use of the Wyrmhero blade, and since I don't have it (and most likely NEVER will have it...) if anyone knows if there are any requirements or restrictions for its use, since none are listed in the Guide, please let me know

Also, below are the required bazaar goods you need to sell to get the masamune since SaffireWeapon only listed stuff for the Tournsol.


2x Gemsteel
3x Orichalcum
2x Mallet

(Orichalcum can be found in the Pharos, drops off of Deidar (the red Brainpans) and the rare monster Vishno)

(SaffireWeapon listed the stuff for Gemsteel above)

(Mallets can be found off of Purobolos (bomb-type creatures) also in the Pharos)

And I'm almost 100% sure Mallets and maybe even Orichalcum can also be found elsewere, but I cant remember where at the moment.

(edit: spelling)

This post has been edited by CT5Holy on 12th February 2007 21:32

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<FrPhoenix[Around]> "Burgleburgleburgle"

I stopped playing for a while, but I have picked it back up since. I decided that having one masumane isn't enough! So, I collected loot to get another from the bazaar. I got it in a few hours... The hells gate flame is definetly the hardest to get of the loot. So now I have two characters with Masamune swords. Vaan with Masamune + genji gloves, and fran with Masamune + cat-ear hood... Basch is still lugging around the ragnarok..

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"When skateboarding is outlawed only outlaws will skateboard."
-Joseph Stalin

Here's an interesting combo:
Equipment: Wyrmhero Blade, White Mask, Cat Ear Hood
Gambit: Self HP>30% - Attack

Because the Wyrmhero Blade is a holy element weapon, and the White Mask allows you to absorb holy, you can heal yourself with relative ease at no MP cost. The Cat Ear Hood is just there to help with multiple attacks, which may be necessary due to the Wyrmhero Blade's high evasion.

I had the same strategy with Ninja swords and the Black masks... The evade on them is lower, but so is the damage....

But...given the fact the Wyrmhero Blade isn't exactly the easiest thing in the game to obtain, (unlike the ninja swords,) this strategy was slightly more practical for me to test out.

I, however, found that it wasn't very effective... perhaps it's because of the low damage on the blades, combined with the high evade of the other characters I also attempted to heal... either way, it was a nice thought wasn't it?

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<FrPhoenix[Around]> "Burgleburgleburgle"