FFXII The Zodiac Age

Tips and Tricks

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A few basic and general tips



Great Leveling Places for Level 1-99


lv  1 - 20 = You can chain Dustia in [Dalmasca Westersand / Corridor of Sand]
             very early on in the game with Vaan alone. It gives 1000+
             experience. Approximate time needed 20+ levels in under an hour.

lv  1 -  5 = Chain Wolf foes in the Dalmasca Estersand or Hyena foes in Giza
             Plains (Dry season).

lv  5 - 10 = Barheim passage, let lights go out and just kill Skeleton foes.

lv  5 - 10 = Repeatedly kill two Ichthons in [Dalmsca Estersan / Banks of the
             Nebra]. It is advised to buy best available armor in Nalbina
             before challenging them as they're a bit on a tough side.

lv  1 - 25 = Chain 99 Dustia foes in [Dalmasca Westersand / Corridor of Sand].
             Approximate time needed is 45 minutes.

lv 10 - 20 = Chain Skeleton foes and Skull Defender foes in [Lhusu Mines /
             Shunia Twinspan].

lv 13 - 18 = Kill stuff while going thru Ogir-Yensa Sandsea.

lv 16 - 26 = Kill stuff while going thru Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, Nam-Yensa Sandsea
             and Tomb of Raithwall. Emphasize on kill stuff, please.

lv 18 - 21 = Kill stuff while going thru Golmore Jungle.

lv 20 - 30 = Chain two Werewolf foes in [Giza plains / Starfall Field]. Kill
             them (can also be put under Petrify), then zone east two screens,
             come back for respawn, rinse, repeat. Can be done with Vaan alone
             before the storyline events in Rabanastre palace - good thing is
             that when Balthier and Fran join, they will automatically have the
             levels proportional to Vaan's.

lv 20 - 30 = Chain Jelly foes in [Henne Mines / Pithead Junction B]. You must
             press the switch for them to appear, once they are gone, zone two
             areas away and return to repeat. Recommended magics are Fira and
             Firaga.

lv 25 - 33 = Bring Nihopalaoa and lots of Phoenix Downs to Necrohol of Nabudis.
             Approximate time needed is 4 - 5 hours, which equals around 260
             Baknamy foes and Elvoret foes.

lv 25 - 33 = Kill stuff while going thru Ozmone Plain, though be careful of
             Sylphi Entite in case of cloudy weather.

lv 30 - 33 = Kill stuff in [Stilshrine of Miriam / Walk of Reason].

lv 33 - 40 = Chain Mirrorknight foes in [The Feywood / Walk of Dancing Shadow].
             Approximate time needed is 3 - 4 hours, which equals about 600
             Mirrorknights. This is also a good opportunity to get some fast
             gil by selling loot you get.

lv 30 - 35 = Kill three Dragon Aevis foes in [Stilshrine of Miriam / Ward of
             Velitation] and kill all Blood Gigas foes in [Stilshrine of Miriam
             / Ward of the Sword-King]. Keep going back and forth between the
             two areas to respawn the monsters.

lv 35 - 45 = Chain Dark Skeleton foes in [Golmore Jungle / Rustling Chapel].
             You must first clear the area of other monsters, then Dark
             Skeleton foes start to appear.

lv 34 - 38 = Kill stuff in [Sochen Cave Palace / Falls of Time] and [Sochen
             Cave Palace / Temptaion Eluded].

lv 35 - 45 = Chain Malboro Overking foes in Tchita Uplands, in addition to
             getting some pretty girls... I mean gil for Malboro Fruits.

lv 39 - 54 = Kill stuff in [Stilshrine of Miriam / Throne of Veiled Gods].

lv 40 - 60 = Negalmuur auto-leveling. It can last for 24 hours (or more) while
             you do something else. Here's a link to the guide that explains
             all of this endeavour in details.
             

lv 40 - 60 = Chain Necrophobe foes in the top layer of the Great Crystal (see
             Foe Habitat section for names of areas where they spawn) and use
             Phoenix Downs for instant defeats; approximate time needed is
             about 4-5 hours, not counting traveling to and from, or about 690
             Necrophobe foes using Embroidered Tippets.

lv 45 - 50 = Chain Mirrorknight foes in [The Feywood / Walk of Dancing Shadow].
             Main reason for adding this one is because it will get you a lot
             of great loot if you chain about 90 - 100 Mirrorknight foes,
             though if you do not need gil stick with Dark Skeleton foes.

lv 50 - 55 = Kill stuff in Giruvegan - go as far as the 'Way Stone' in
             [Giruvegan / Gate of Fire], take it so that you land in [The Great
             Crystal / A Prama Vikaari], return to Giruvegan using same 'Way
             Stone' you just used, and then return to Giruvegan's entrance,
             killing respawned stuff. Rinse and repeat.

lv 50 - 60 = Kill stuff in Nabreus Deadlands with Embroidered Tippets.
             Recommended place is [Nabreus Deadlands / Overlooking Eternity].

lv 60 - 75 = You can chain Abysteel foes much earlier than lv75. I did it at
             lv60 and I was fine. You just need to set up a couple of gambits
              Sleepga> and  Curaja>,
             along with Faith status on and that'll do the job. Or you can use
             Main Gauche with Demon Shield combo.

lv 60 - 75 = Chain Dead Bones foes in [Nabreus Deadlands / Overlooking
             Eternity]. Approximate time needed is about 7 hours with
             Embroidered Tippets - or around 1640 Dead Bones foes.

lv 75 - 99 = Chain Abysteel foes in [Henne Mines / Pithead Junction C]. To get
             access to optional parts of Henne Mines, you must have 10+ espers,
             must have finished Mindflayer hunt, and must have talked to
             Geomancer Yugelu in Jahara. Then the doors in [Henne Mines / Ore
             Separation] (the place where you fought Tiamat) will be open and
             you can explore the rest of the mine. To get Abysteel foes to
             swoop in on you, you have to press the switch.

Making Gil Quickly

Gil making technique 1: Chaining Mirrorknights in the Feywood. Once you have acess to the Feywood, head to the zone west of the save crystal. Attack Mirrorknights (enemies), and chain them. Don't head north, and try not to break your chain.

Once done, head to the area with the save crystal, and zone north a zone from the save crystal, but don't attack any enemies to break your chain. Now, head back into the zone west of the save crystal, more Mirrorknights shuold have spawned.

Kill them all and use the trick above to respawn them again. After chaining around 90-100 of them at once, taking around 20-30 minutes of time, go to a merchant and sell all of the items you've recieved from this. You should earn around 200,000 gil.

Getting Zodiac Spear really early

Note: This method is for the original FFXII only. To get the Zodiac Spear in The Zodiac Age version, please visit the secrets section.

Also note: Unlike the original FFXII, you no longer have to avoid certain chests to get the Zodiac Spear. So open any treasure chests you want without any fear!

By: Jerome
If you guys do the power level up guide, then this secret is for you. You can get it just right after you finish The Tomb of Raithwall part.

Once you finished, go to the Nabria Fortress and check if a person named July is there sitting and spying on the guards, if she's not, your to early in the game. If she is there, go near the guards and there will be a cut scene. Once the cut scene's done, you will now know that one of the guards is affraid of chocobos.

So go get yourself a chocobo and go near them and scare the hell out of him. once he's gone go through Mosphoran Highwaste and all the way North until you reach Salika Woods. Once there go all the way North again until you reach a place with a Teleport Crystal. SAVE! Because your about to fight a very annoying and hard boss (well for your level). This boss' name is Bomb King. And he's such an annoying and wimpy boss because when you kill the other bombs and take 25% of his hp away, he's gonna run and call for help. I can't really help you here, just check out the \"Boss Battles\" section.

After that's done, head Northwest and when you reach Necrohol of Nabudis, have every single positive status effects on you because every single monsters here are very hard, and all you can do is run. Now run straight until you reach 2 ways, go to the left and just keep going straight. when you reach the end of the hallways, the monsters should have stopped following you, now heal until you have full health.

Now run straight again until you reach a dead end, head South and follow the trail until you reach the stairs. Now all you have to do again is heal and run East then North, then East again the keep going straight until you see the second way to East.

There should be stairs there, climb it. Head East once your up thestairs. Just keep going East until you reach a place with 2 ways, one North and one East. Head North until you reach the first West.

Zodiac Spear is the second one on the Southwest. After that, run as fast as you can because you might get killed and do this thing all over again. I know I did.... Hope it helps, bye-bye ^_^

High Level Experience Points

This levels you extremely  quickly.  
I would recommend you be at least level 50 before attempting this 
one, but it's up to you how much of a risk you want to take.  


Teleport to the Jahara and enter the Lull of the Land area.  At the northeast 
corner you will find a Garif identified as Geomancer Yugelo.  You must have 
met the following conditions: completed the Hunt to defeat the Mindflayer, and 
second, you must have acquired at least 10 Espers.  


Assuming you have met these conditions, he will send a Garif warrior to open 
up the locked area in the Henne Mines.  That is your next destination.  
Teleport to the Henne Mines and head north, then east to reach the Phase 2 
Dig.  I would suggest looking down a little for the recommended Gambit setup, 
as it will help you not only at your destination, but on the way there was 
well (though you may want to keep Sleepga off until you get there and just use 
Curaja).


Make your way south through the Phase 2 Dig (there are paths leading down that 
don't appear on the map).  Eventually this will take you to Crossover C.  Head 
down to the southwest corner of Crossover C (watch out for the dangerous blob 
enemies, you may want to just flee there) and enter Pithead Junction C.  This 
is your main destination.


Pressing the switch in this junction will spawn more than a dozen of those 
powerful bats.  No doubt they would have very little trouble wiping out your 
entire party if given the chance, but a proper Gambit setup can tip the scales 
in your favour.  here's my personal favourite setup for this leveling trick:


Self: MP < 10% -> Charge
Self -> Haste
Ally: Any -> Arise
Ally: HP < 60% -> Curaja
Ally: Any -> Esunaga
Foe: Undead -> Sleepga
Foe: Undead -> Curaja
Ally: Any -> Bubble


Also, make sure to equip everyone with the Embroidered Tippet.


There are a few differences I suggest between the characters.  Your main tank 
should have the Self -> Decoy spell right above Sleepga (equip this character 
with a shield to hopefully block some of the bat attacks).  Another character 
should have Ally: Any -> Protectga (again to reduce damage). 
 Finally, I 
personally like to remove Foe: Any -> Sleepga from one character so that you 
are at least doing damage consistently even if one of the enemies refuses to 
fall asleep (I usually equip this character with Mystic armor so that the 
damage from his/her Curaja is as high as possible).


The basic idea is that the Sleepga spell will put all the bats to sleep 
(quickly).  The Curaja spell will do heavy damage to all the bats (since they 
are undead) and not wake them up (since it's Magick damage).  Bubble and 
Protect will help keep you alive until all the enemies are asleep.


Killing all of the enemies in here with the Enbroided Tippet equipped will net 
you more than 60000 EXP every single time.  Now all you have to do is press 
the switch again (no more spawns after the first press) to open the east door, 
head east to the Phase 2 Shaft, north to Crossover C, then turn around.  
Since 
you just moved two screens you can now go back and press the switch again.  
The enemies will respawn.  Rinse and repeat this over and over and you'll 
reach the 80's in no time flat.

Permanently Missable Things

The Genji armor set, make sure to steal it from Gilgamesh.

Zodiac Spear (1/1000 chest rate in Henne mines) Make sure to not touch the 4 chests (check the secrets section for information about the Zodiac Spear) (Note this this does NOT apply to The Zodiac Age. Only in the original FFXII)

Everything else you can get at any point in the end game.

Guests Stealing your XP

Note that when you have a guest in your party, the XP you recieve from enemies is shared with the guest even though they do not gain levels. Good advice for when you have a guest and need to XP quickly, or don't need the guest, kill them off. To kill a guest, go to attack, and then press L1 to target the guest.

General Good Advice

I've found a few things that ease battles / leveling up / gaining LP / etc. A quick rundown:
1. Level up whenever you get the in-game opportunity and some free time at home. Just run around and fight monsters for a while. It's fun!
2. Get the Monographs (check the Monographs section of the site) early. It's like giving yourself a raise at work.
3. Equip everyone - even those not in the active party - with Golden Amulets. Double LP speeds things up nicely.
4. Spend lots of time in the 'Augments' section of the License Board. Spend LP on equipment as necessary, of course, but those Augments are the real powerups.

Experience Points for High Levels

Levelling up getting too tedious once your average level is above 60? It's understandable since the game is designed to be possible for completion when you're level 60 (or even less), so there aren't many places where you can level up fast and easy after reaching 60. High-levelled optional bosses and rare games are an option, but they're not always available and comes by only every once in a while.

The Necrohol of Nabudis may sound like a good place, but it's got wide hallways (possible ambush!) and different types of enemies with different elemental properties. So look no further: the Nabreus Deadlands' got what you need.

Considering you're at 55-60, you might have defeated Roblon at Overlooking Eternity--accessible through a secret path in the Northwestern of The Slumbermead section of Nabreus Deadlands. Overlooking Eternity is a tiny, narrow area and has only one type of monster roaming inside after you defeated the Roblon: the Dead Bones. Now these are a pretty tough bunch and they're aggressively fast, but each could dish out about 1,100+ EXP when defeated.

The trick is to cast a bunch of positive status on your party (Haste, Shell, and Regen at the least), have a tanker character equip a Holy Lance (or some other Holy-augmented weapon) and equip Embroidered Tippets which could double the EXP earned before entering Overlooking Eternity (while still in The Fog Mutters).

Once inside, the Bones will quickly spawn like mad--even as high as five at a time--and there's a high possibility that you'll be overwhelmed even when you're at 60. It's best that everyone in the party gangs up on one Bones at a time--this would allow you to focus on killing one faster before another comes forward. Don't split your party to take out many at once because these things have a considerable amount of HP and is very quick and generous on dishing out magic damage--most could take out 800-1,500 HP depending on your characters' levels and assigned equipments.

Just kill ONE each at a time (unless you're very confident on your abilities) and proceed systematically to avoid more spawning than necessary. They will keep on spawning and then stop after a while (after about a chain of 20); take this short break to cure everyone and recast your positive status--avoid walking around when doing this because it would activate another spawn--then when you're ready just get moving and they will re-appear.

An average day in Overlooking Eternity is a field day of at least a chain of 50 kills in a single entry--more than enough to obtain high-quality loots and tradeable goods, and since one Dead Bones gives you about 1,100 EXP, 50 would give about 55,000--doubled with the Tippet into more than 110,000... just do the math. When the spawning has completely stopped, just exit two screens (saving at a nearby Teleport Crystal would be a good idea) and enter again to find the spawning as good as new. If you did it right, depending on your level, a half an hour in this cozy little spot could guarantee for at least one level up for each active character.

How to get the technick: Telekinesis

It's easy; It is in the secret shop in the Necrohal of Nabudis (Click here for a map) In the entrance to Necrohal of Nabudis from the Salikiawoods. Avoid the enemies and keep running. When you see a second corridor going up, you take it. (should be when you are at two squares on your map) Also you have to kill the Envorets.

(I tried avioding them an running through, but I got trapped at the shop and got killed). Go into the room, and if you look carefully, there's another pathway, which isn't on the mnimap. Keep going, and you'll see the "!!!" in the down right corner. Check it out, and you'll have access to the shop. Have fun getting there. (Not sure how long this question has been up here) If you still can't find the shop, look up a Necrohal of Nabudis online, and it'll show you where the shop is. :D Have fun!

Lots of Cash/XP with easy kills

If you use the teleport stone to go to the Tchita Uplands, exit east and head toward the area at the end of the next zone where there's basically a "fork" in the road between going north and going east.

There are Coeurl spawns both at the fork and on both sides of it. Because of the 2-zone distance between them, the spawn never depletes on the far sides, and you can chain up as many as you like!

Stealing will also get you embroidered tippets if you have thief's cuffs and those are very valuable. Loots include Coeurl Pelts (450 gil) Quality Pelts (800+ gil) and Storm Crystals (160 gil). Be sure to buy the grimoire for beasts before to maximize your profit! Happy hunting!

Respawning barrel/chests

Find any item barrels around the Save Crystal, open the barrel to get the item, save your game now, then quit the game and load it back, go to the same place will see the barrel is still there, you can get another random item. You can also walk 3 zones away, then back, and it will also respawn.

Get LP quickly

Equip Golden Amulet to your character, it will double your LP gain,you will easily get 500LP only by killing easy monster at Eastersand with one slash in 10minutes,but it depends of how much time do you want to spend to do it

Neutral Elementals Aggro

Although there are neutral elementals that roam around and keep to themselves, keep in mind if you use any magic around them, they will attack you. So be careful!

Quick High Levels

This is for people that just started the game when they only have Vaan and nobody else. All you have to do is level up Vaan and whenever you get somebody added to your party they will be at his level or about 2 levels higher. So level up Vaan in the beginning of the game to whatever level you want but for this to really work good you should probably spend about 9 to 10 hours leveling up Vaan.

Beat vossler in a snap

Once you defeted Belias you will go on the airship Shiva to fight vossler as soon as the battle begins, summon belias, and belias will take 900hp from vossler on ever hit. Meanwhile you can beat the soldiers(just make sure you bought the license for belias before you do this) This is great help because people often forget to use espers thinking they are useless. But for early battles such as this, they could be really helpfull. Don't forget the espers all have final attacks which deal lots of damage.

What kind of weapons for my character? (Note ORIGINAL FFXII only)

Each person, can equip different things, no character has a certain "class", generally characters with most str+def, should be tanks, and therefore, defense specs, 1H+shield, while support class, with lots of dmg, should be spears, and generally imo, caster/healer should be guns, to hit from afar, stay out of range.. hope this helps

Active Battle Mode

When you first start the game, you can choose between "active" and "wait" battle modes. Active is a lot more fun, and more challenging, but the game sets the default to "wait". If you are finding the game too easy, or do not like the "wait" system, I suggest you switch it to "active" and see for yourself the difference it makes. Just make sure to turn it back to "Wait" mode during bosses :P.

Auto Leveling Guide


Written by Albedo Piazzola and Crimson Skys
Special Thanks To: OnceUponAB10nd3 and The Final Fantasy XII
board!

This is a trick to exploit the endless spawning of Ghast by
Negalmuur to gain
endless Levels, EXP and LP.


Step 1: Preparations.

-Get all of your characters to at least LV. 30
-Equip them with the most up to date weapons and armors.
-Having all three mist charges is recommended because of the MP
boost you get.
-A short while after defeating Mateus you will be able to buy
remedies at loot shops. Buy 15-20 depending on how long you want
to level up.
-Get "Remedy Lore 3" on the license board. It allows remedy to
cure Doom.



Step 2: Gambit Setup.


Character 1 (Party Leader):

Self - Haste
Ally: HP < 70% - Cura
Ally: Any - Raise
Ally: Any - Esuna
Ally: Party Leader - Remedy
Foe: HP < 3,000 - Attack
Self - Charge

Character 2:

Self - Haste
Ally: HP < 70% - Cura
Ally: Any - Raise
Ally: Any - Esuna
Ally: Party Leader - Remedy
Self - Decoy
Foe: HP < 3,000 - Attack
Self - Charge

Character 3:

Self - Haste
Ally: HP < 70% - Cura
Ally: Any - Raise
Ally: Any - Esuna
Ally: Party Leader - Remedy
Self - Decoy
Foe: HP < 3,000 - Attack
Self - Charge



Step 3: Clear the Stillshrine of Miriam

Finish the whole stage at least to the point that the "Sword of
Judgment" is lifted from the path in the "Ward of the Sword-King";
this is required to be able to clear the whole "Ward of the Sword-
King" of any enemies.


Step 4: Hunt for Negalmuur.

In "Ward of the Sword King" which is the corridor at West from
Save Crystal (go bottom from Save Crystal), kill all enemies
there, exit and re-enter. Keep re-entering it might take up to 20
or more tries before you encounter Negalmuur but each time you
leave the area make sure it is totally cleared of ALL enemies.


Step 5: Reap the Rewards.

During the battle with Negalmuur with the setup above mentioned he
will summon a Ghast every 4-8 seconds and your characters will
keep attacking them only because they have less than 3,000HP and
Negalmuur has over 18,000 HP with each kill you get 1LP and about
340EXP per character (Assuming you have a party of 3). This can
also be further enhanced with accessories that multiply the EXP
and LP gained he will endlessly summon the Ghast. Remedies will
only be used when Doom is cast on the leader. If any other status
effect is cast on the leader like Petrify, Esuna will be used.
Because the other characters have Decoy the leader having Doom
cast on him will be rare so not too many remedies will be used.
Once you have gotten to the point where you want to stop DON'T
kill him leave the room and save in the save crystal in the next
room and re-set your game this will let you encounter him in the
future.


==================================================================
FAQ
==================================================================

Q: Where can I buy remedies?

A: Remedies can be bought in loot shops after fighting Judge
Bergan. They sell for 400 gil each. If you don't have enough gil
for them, start this strategy without remedies but keep an eye on
it so the leader doesn't die. If he dies switch leaders and the
other characters will revive the leader automatically. Eventually
you will get 99 Festering Flesh which sell at any store for around
50k gil altogether. That money should get you about 80-90
remedies.



Q: Will this work without remedies?

A: Even though Negalmuur will target the characters that have
Decoy for most of the time, sometimes the leader will have Doom
cast on him even after a few hours. So it is recommended to have
a few remedies just in cast it happens. This strategy will work
without them, but you will have to check on the game occasionally
to see if the leader died because when the leader dies the game
pauses.



Q: All my remedies are used up and its only been an hour! What
did I do wrong?!

A: NEVER change the remedy gambit to anything other than "Ally:
Party Leader" because if you change it to something like "Ally:
Any Remedy", remedies will be used EVERY time someone has Doom
which is quite a lot. The gambit "Self Remedy" will work but
ONLY when used in the leaders setup. Also make sure to put it
under the Esuna gambit in everyone's setup in case the leader has
a status effect other than Doom.



Q: I always get killed in the first 10 minutes. What should I do?

A: Make sure you have all the latest weapons and armor equipped.
If you're in your lower 30's you might also want to baby-sit your
characters until your leveled up enough for them to start doing
everything on their own. Leave it running until you've almost
died with all three characters then go into the save crystal room
and let them heal automatically. Then go back to Negalmuur's room
and keep doing it. Negalmuur and all the spawned enemies will
still be there. Personally it didn't start to really work on its
own for me until I was in my upper 30's early 40's.



Q: Are there any other ways to set up the gambits?

A: Yes. People have found that if you set the Charge gambit to
"Self: MP < 10% - Charge" the characters wont use Charge whenever
they don't have any other actions to do, which might lower their
MP to 0 after getting a high MP. "Self Charge" still works
though and is available earlier in the game. There are probably
thousands of ways to set the gambits up and I know that everyone
will want to share their own way of setting it up because the
gambits are all about customizing your own strategy. But this
strategy has been found by many people to be flawless.


Q: Can I save and still go back to Negalmuur? Will he disappear?

A: Yes you can save and still level up using this strategy without
having to find Negalmuur again. The only way Negalmuur can
disappear is if you go two rooms over. If that happens the Blood
Gigas will spawn again but you will still be able to find
Negalmuur by clearing the room of Blood Gigas and entering/exiting
the room again. Saving from the save crystal in the next room will
only effect the chain level because as soon as you touch the save
crystal the chain level will drop back to 0.



Q: Can you leave the game all night using this trick?

A: Yes. This strategy was made for that reason. So you will be
able to leave it running all night and not have to check on it to
see if the game paused. Everything will still be running fine
when you wake up. You just have to buy enough remedies because if
you run out Negalmuur will cast Doom on the leader and when the
leader dies a message comes up which pauses the game. So be
prepared before going to the Stillshrine of Miriam by buying as
many as you think you might need. Around 20 are recommended for
leaving it on all night.



Q: Where is Negalmuur supposed to appear?

A: When you enter the hallway from the save crystal room he's in
the area straight ahead in front of the statue that will sometimes
come to life in later parts of the level. Negalmuur will appear
when you get close to that area so you wont be able to see him
from a distance.



Q: If I kill Negalmuur will he reappear again?

A: Yes. It has been confirmed that Negalmuur will reappear no
matter how many times you kill him.



Q: What will the spawned enemies drop?

A: Mostly Festering Flesh and yes they will drop Teleport Stones
when your chain level is high enough. If you leave it running for
a while it's possible to get 99 of them!



Q: Where do I get the "Foe: HP < 3000" gambit?

A: In the room called "Walk of Reason" in the Stillshrine of
Miriam go to the bottom right corner of the room and you will find
four treasure chests. The gambit is in one of them but if it
isn't make the treasure chests respawn by going two rooms over and
try again. It can take a long time to find it but it's there. It
can also be bought at gambit stores later in the game after
completing a certain part of the story.



Q: How many levels will this get me per hour?

A: It really depends on what level you are because the required
amount of XP per level always goes up. And there are also ways
you can speed up leveling by using accessories.



Q: Will I ever run out of MP?

A: Charge is a technique and not a spell so it doesn't require MP.
Your characters will use it even when their MP is 0 so you will
never run out of MP even if Negalmuur uses Annul, which drains
your MP to 0.



Q: Will the game still be fun?

A: Personally I thought the game was very fun even after auto-
leveling to 75. The game still has a lot of challenging parts and
the later boss fights can get pretty tough. It really depends on
the person though and how you feel about it. There's always going
to be people who will say "Eh this isn't for me it'll make the
game to easy I would rather spend time leveling on my own instead
of having it done for me". But others will look at this and be
relieved from not having to spend hours doing the same actions
over and over.

Spoiler Free FAQ




1 - Can I invert the camera controls?

No, sorry, they're stuck like that.

2 - The voice acting doesn't seem to have the highest quality!

This is because it is compressed to quite a large degree. The voice acting is 
still very good, and you will get used to it.

3 - How many playable characters are there?

There are six, and there are no secret characters. However, sometimes a Guest
 party member will join you.

4 - What is the License Board?

The License Board is essentially a system to make your characters more
 powerful. For every magick, technick, armor and weapon you acquire, you must 
 first have a LICENSE to use that object. The License Board is the SAME for 
 every party member. Killing a monster will earn you License Points, and you 
 can spend these on the License Board. As you get more licenses, stronger 
 licenses will become available next to the license you just learned.

5 - I got the license of Cure on my License Board but I can't use it!
 Why not?!

Just because you have the license to use Cure doesn't mean you have the spell 
Cure. Every magick and technick must be bought from a shop before it can be 
used, given that you have a license to use it.

6 - What is a Gambit?

A Gambit is a set of actions that your party members will perform. These 
actions consist of two components: a Target and an Item/Magick/Technick. 
As you progress through the game, you will be able to select from more 
targets. Some of the targets become very specific, which allows for some 
very strategic gambits to be made. Note that the order you put the 
gambits will actually determine the priority of those gambits. It's a 
wise idea to put all your healing gambits as the first lines. You 
don't want your character to keep attacking when he should be healing someone.


7 - How does the battle system work?

If you have played FFXI before, you will feel right at home with FFXII. 
If not, the battle system may seem a little weird/confusing. Basically, 
instead of party members remaining stationary while waiting for the ATB 
(Active Time Bar), they can move around, thus it feels more interactive.
Generally you'll be controlling one character, and letting the other 
two work off their Gambits. However you'll have to intervene from time
to time just so everything runs smoothly. There are no random battles
in FFXII. Despite how the game plays, you CAN NOT push a button to block 
an attack, or evade an attack (unless you run from an Area of effect spell). 
Every action you perform must conform to the ATB. Even if three of your 
characters die, you are able to swap them out for your reserve members. 
So technically you have six members at your disposal.

8 - How do I powerlevel at the start of the game?

It basically involves getting mist quickenings and using them on tough mobs
for good xp.
These mobs include:
The dinosaur monster in the Estersand,
Werewolves (exit Rabanastre at the west gate, go southwest to the next 
area and they will be there). These guys drop the kotetsu, a katana with
50 atk power.
Limble Wolf. This guy is also south-southwest of the area outside the
Rabanastre west gate. You can steal a gladius from this wolf. 
(ATK +45, wind strike)
Powerlevelling is best done before Penelo joins your party.

Note: You don't need to powerlevel to beat this game.

9 - Which path do I take on the license grid?

This is all personal choice, but I'll give you my opinion. Generally
you're going to want everyone to have white magic, so I'd take everyone
down that path first. Then when you start getting more license 
points (LP) you can take them down the augment path, which is 
south west of the white magic. The augment path contains many 
licenses which increase the EFFECTIVENESS of your character. 
Eg HP +500, reduce MP cost, reduce ATP time etc. If you learn 
these early, you will have an easier time with the start of 
the game. Of course, you'll have to continue to learn your 
armor and weapon licenses to use the higher level equipment. 
I don't find the technicks too helpful, but Steal and Charge 
are MUSTS. Charge will allow you to gain MP back without running
around for ages.

10 - Does each character have their own path on the license grid?

This is entirely up to you. You can choose to make EVERY character 
EXACTLY the same, or you can make them all different. In my opinion 
though, it is more beneficial to make three all rounders than three
individual classes.

11 - Argh! It's so hard to make money!

Yes, it is. However, don't worry! All you have to do is choose your 
technicks, magicks and weapons/armor wisely. If a new weapon only adds
 3 more atk to your character, DON'T BUY IT! Save your money up for a
  more vicious weapon later. If you read a magick description and you 
	don't think you'll use it, just don't buy the magick! White magick is
	 pretty much always good to buy though.

To make money, you pretty much have to start stealing from the get go.
Selling loot is the primary way of making money in FFXII. To make 
stealing less tiresome, you can set up a gambit.

Target: Foe if HP=100% Steal
Target: Party leader's target Attack

This will make the character steal from a mob that has 100% health, 
then as the monster gets damaged, the character will stop stealing 
and begin attacking. The downside to this is if you are versing more than 
one mob, the character will steal from the other mob CONTINUOUSLY because
 it will have 100% HP.

Stealing becomes even more beneficial when you get Thief's Cuffs,
 an accessory which lets you steal more rare items. You can buy 
these once you get to Mt Bur Omisace.

12 - What loot should I sell?

You can sell everything except teleport stones, arcana and items
you get from quests. These items are used later.

13 - Which magick is good to get at the start?

As I said before, white magick is the way to go. Also good is 
Protect(Green), Shell(Green) and Haste(Time). Decoy is also
 good to make sure your enemy is attacking one person. Black
  magick is ok against vulnerable types of foes. I generally
don't use status magic on foes, as it rarely works.

14 - What's the difference between mystic, light and heavy armor?

Mystic armor boosts your magic ability.
Light armor boosts your HP and speed
Heavy armor boosts your defense and strength

It is up to you which armor you want to go with. Most people agree that the 
HP boost provided by light armor is the most beneficial bonus. However if 
you have a tank, you may want to give him heavy armor, and if you have a
 caster you could give him mystic armor.

15 - What is a Mist Quickening?

A Mist Quickening is the 'Limit Break' or 'Overdrive' of FFXII. To be able
to use a mist quickening, you must first learn it on the license board. 
You do not need to buy a quickening from the shop to use it, you just have
to buy the license. You need full MP to use a quickening. There are 18 
quickenings on the license board, and each character can have three, 
NO MORE. Once a quickening license has been bought on the Board, it
cannot be used by another party member. A Mist quickening is only
semi effective when only one character has one. When three characters 
have one, you can start to combo. When you activate your quickening,
you will see the names of your party members and a bar that will 
decrease over time. You must push the correct button next to a character's 
name to continue the combo. Sometimes, however, no button is available to
be pushed. In this case, you can push R2 and it will shuffle the buttons, 
and hopefully a button will appear next to a character's name. This is 
pretty much based on luck. Sometimes you can get 10 in a row, other times 
you won't get any hits. After a certain amount of hits, your character 
will perform a finisher which deals a lot of damage. However, even this 
damage is random and sometimes it won't deal as much as you want it to. 
If a character is used to perform a combo during a mist quickening, his 
or her MP will be reduced to 0. Mist Quickenings are useful when a boss 
has half of his HP left, because a mist quickening can do enough damage 
to take that entire HP away. As a character gains more Quickenings, the
combos become more powerful.


16 - What's the deal with Espers?

Espers are the summons of FFXII. Generally you have to defeat an Esper 
before it will become a part of your License Board. Once again, you do
not have to BUY the esper to use it; you just need to have the license. 
However, unlike Mist Quickenings, a party member can have as many Espers 
as he or she wants. Once a member gains the license for an Esper, no other 
party member can summon that Esper. So choose your Espers wisely. Espers 
generally aren't very useful in FFXII. Summoning an Esper will reduce your MP 
to 0. Espers also have their own sort of limit breaks.

17 - What are some useful gambits?

Steal Gambit:

Target: Foe if HP=100% Steal
Target: Party leader's target Attack

Cure Gambit:

Target:Ally HP < 30% Cure

The gambits above are used throughout the game. Your gambits should
continue to change as you enter new areas and combat new foes.

18 - How can I travel in this game?

At the start, all you can do is run around; use teleporting save crystals
or hop on an airship (Rabanastre West Gate)

19 - What is the bazaar for?

When you sell your loot, the shop keepers will make items out of them. 
These items are solid in the bazaar. Sometimes there are packs of items, 
and sometimes it will be weapons, etc. Once you buy the items from the bazaar, 
it will disappear, until you sell the right loot again.

20 - What is a Battle Chain?

As you kill more and more of the same type of monster, you'll begin to chain 
them. Every time you kill a monster, your chain will go up by one. As the chain 
increases, you have increased chance that the monsters will drop a rare item. 
Also, you'll get other bonuses such as protect, shell and cure when your chain
becomes higher. When the chain levels up, it means that your bonuses will 
increase. When the battle chain starts flashing, it means a rare mob has 
appeared.

21 - I can't seem to hit this flying monster!

You can't hit flying monster with melee weapons unless you have a Technick 
called Telekinesis. The only other way to damage a flying monster is by 
using bows, crossbows, guns, bombs and magick.

22 - How do I get the Zodiac Spear?

The Zodiac Spear is the most powerful weapon in the game. However there 
is a trick to getting it. There are several treasure chests that you MUST 
NOT open in order to get the Zodiac Spear EASILY. There is another way of 
getting the spear if you have opened one of those chests.

These are the chests you MUST NOT open:
Treasure chest in front of Daran who lives in the lowtown of Rabanastre.
Elixir chest in Rabanastre palace, which is in the south east corner of the 
cellars. The treasure chests inside Nalbina Dungeon in the room where you get 
your inventory back
And finally, the 16 chests in the south east area of Phon Coast.

If you have opened none of these chests, the spear will appear in the 
Necrohol of Nabrudis. In the third area there will be a room with sixteen 
chests. You can open all of these. One of them will contain the Zodiac Spear.

If you did open one of these chests, there is a very difficult way of getting 
the spear. In the Henne mines there is a chest that appears 10% of the time. 
This chest will usually just have gil in it (90% of the time). If the chest 
has an item in it, 90% of the time it will be an Elixir. All in all, you 
have a 1/1000 chance of obtaining the Zodiac Spear. According to the 
FFXII guide, you cannot be wearing a diamond armlet when you get the spear 
from Necrohol, but you must be wearing the diamond armlet to get the 
spear in the Henne mines. Worth the time? Not really, in my opinion.


23 - How can I get a powerful weapon early?

If you defeat the first demon wall in Raithwall tomb, there is a chance 
there will be a Demonsbane sword in the area unlocked.

24 - How can I join a clan?

As soon as you get to Rabanastre, go to the northern street and you will find 
the Clan Headquarters. Speak to the Bangaa at the entrance and he will let you
in. In here you will find Montblanc, a moogle who will give you items for
defeating certain bosses, provide mob hunts and also give you items when 
your clan rank increases. There is a clan shop in the Rabanastre bazaar 
which sells some good stuff. The stuff the clan shop sells gets better as 
your clan rank increases.

25 - What are Mob Hunts?

A mob hunt is exactly what it sounds like. Basically, someone posts a monster 
(mob) on a bulletin in an inn and when you read that post, you go and speak to
the person who posted it. They will tell you wear you can find the monster. 
If you can't find the person who posted it, open your map and he will appear 
as an exclamation point. Once you have defeated the mob, visit the man who 
posted the mob hunt and he will give you a reward! Simple, huh? Note that
Montblanc in the Clan Headquarters also provides mob hunts.

26 - Tell me about the weapons!

Some weapons are fairly straight forwards, such as swords. However, some
weapons have their own little quirks. For example, guns ignore the defense
of enemies. A katana's attack power is based on magic power. Axes 
are breakers, meaning they do a LOT of damage at the start, but their
damage fades over time. Some weapons are more useful than others. For
example a one hand sword does consistent damage and you can wear a 
shield with it but a ninja sword is not as strong and you can't wear
a shield. In the end you have to decide what you like and what you 
think works/looks best.

27 - I'm having trouble with a boss!

Don't worry! This game is quite difficult. Sometimes you just need to level 
up a bit more. Sometimes you need better equipment. Sometimes you need to 
change your gambits/strategy. In any case, keep trying. The boss will fall 
eventually. I will give you some tips.

If a foe is physically strong, make sure your tank has protect.
If a foe is magically strong, make sure you have shell.
Set up a healing gambit on one or two characters so they can help in a pinch.
Remember that you can use all six of your party members. You don't necessarily
need to, but they are always there to help. It's a pain to keep your reserve 
members leveled but it pays off. Some shields can halve the damage of 
elemental attacks. Use these when you verse elemental bosses.
Remember that you can always use a Mist Quickening to finish a boss off. All 
you need is one good combo. Use Charge when you have no MP left!
Most of the time you should take out the weaker enemies first, before attacking
the boss. There are exceptions to this though. If you still can't beat the
 boss, just take a break and do some mob hunts, by the time you come back you
  will be kicking ass!


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