Pink Poogle Toy Forum

I've decided basically to go for only one or two weapons per character.

Fran has a lot of the black magic skills, so she could get her Quickening earlier on. Up to the elemental -aga spells. Basically, all the rest of the characters are building into the bottom left, and I think all of them have level 1 white/black magic (lots have cure on their gambits, and black for any encounters with monsters like bombs, and flans, though I'm sure they have a different name...). Penelo is the furthest so far. I'm working on getting the +100HP and +150HP skills with a few of them at the moment.

Weapons:
Penelo: Staves
Vaan: Daggers
Balthier: Guns
Fran: Bows
Basch: Poles
Ashe: Spears (looking to go to Katanas, though)

I would give Panelo something other than Staves, because magic is pretty useless until you get the -aga spells, they take too long to cast, and then end up mucking up your cure spells because only one spell can be cast at a time. (if you have 3 people casting cure, and their Action Bar is full, one will have to cast their spell before the second person will, and the third has to wait until their done. A huge problem with spells, unfortunately. :\) Not only that, but spells below "agas" are pretty useless. Elemental weapons are better until then.

The rest are fine (so long as you get rid of Ashe's spear and change it to katana. ) I'd probably give Basch a spear or axe instead of a pole, but it's still doable.

I'm not sure if you've read up on this, but I thought it would help you on deciding what to use with which character. (taken from Commander_Greil's Final Fantasy XII Weapon FAQ on Gamefaqs.com)

Swords/Greatswords:

Swords have decent Speed and good strength. Damage from Swords is calculated
by character's strength, swords attack rating and the enemies defense.

Daggers:

Daggers have better speed than Swords. Damage from a Dagger is calculated
from a character's Strength and Speed, and the enemies defense.

Axes & Hammers:

Axes are faster than Hammers. Damage is calculated by your character's
strength, Vitality and Weapons attack rating.

Maces:

Maces are helpful for a supportive type character. Damage is calculated by
Weapons attack power, magick power of character and the defense of the enemy.

Measures:

Measures are basically used for a upgrading weapon. Damage calculations by
attack power of Measure and nothing else, it ignores defense just like Guns

Katanas:

Katanas have one best combo rate of any type of weapon, so they pretty
awesome. Damage is calculated by characters strength, magick power, attack
rating and opponents defense. Damage based on Magick is helpful because even
then your support characters can deal good damage.

Ninja Swords:

Ninja Swords have BETTER combo rate than Katanas, so they pretty awesome
too. Damage is calculated by character's strength, speed, sword rating and
enemy's defense. Genji Gloves/ Cat-Ear Hood make these swords WAAAY better.

Spears:

These weapons have the strongest weapons in the game. Damage calculation is
strength, attack rating and the enemy's defense.

Poles

Poles are another weapon that have a high combo rate. Damage calculation is
character's strength, attack rating of Poles, and against enemy's magick
defense(other than the normal defense)

Rods:

Rods can add Magick Power to your character. Damage calculation by
character's strength, attacking rating, and enemy's defense.

Bows:

Bow damage is affected by weather in the area, such as Rain in Giza Plains.
Damage calculations by character's strength and speed, arrows strength, and
enemy's defense. Bows give no Added Effects or Evasion.

Crossbows:

Crossbows can miss, but not very often. Damage calculation by character's
strength, crossbows attack rating and bolt power and enemy's defense.
Crossbows give no Added Effects themselves, but Bolts can.

Guns:

Guns are a slow weapon type, but 100% accurate. Damage calculation by attack
power of gun and ammo. Note-It doesn't matter about enemy's defense. It
pierces right through.

Handbombs:

Hand-Bombs can do massive damage OR little damage. Damage calculations by
character's strength and vitality, attacking rating of hand-bomb and the
enemy's defense. Hand-Bombs don't Evasion or Added Effects.

Well I fiiiinally got FFXII (it got released last Thurs here, so I was finally able to get it)

And so far, though I'm juggling time with both my brother and dad (we're all obsessed with it ) Its soooooo awesome!!

I love the Gambit system, and the License Board's pretty decent too.

My plans for my characters (when I finally get them all ) are basically:

"Tank characters": Basch (cause he's so damn cool) with either Great Swords.. or Spears.. or maybe both.
And Penelo (cause she's my fav girl character, and its so contradictory from the usual "Support" role everyone seems to be giving her) with Katanas probably. And both will have a bit of Arcane and Black Magic probably.

"Support characters": Vaan (it seemed to fit him so well XP) with Staves, Black and White and little Green Magic.
And Ashe, who'll probably have like... Rods.. or maybe Maces..

"Ranged/Back-up Support characters": Fran and Balthier, with Bows and Guns respectively. It fits them both so well already.

So yeah, having lots of fun with it so far.

Yeah, I did a little research and found it best to have permanent characters, as opposed to levelling them all. I was planning to get rid of the stave after finding it to be utterly poop.

Plan:
Balthier: 'Tank', spears and the like. Actually, he's just using a spear at the moment, but planning to move onto Katanas (not ninja swords, as they're ALL darkness element) when the time comes.
Fran: Ranged attacker, using bows. Support magic too.
Penelo: Magical attack, gun for attacking, and using elemental shots and stuff. xD She's basically ready for being magically orientated, now I just need to get better spells.

Vaan smells. So does Basch. It was a toss up between Ashe and Fran, though.

Heheheh, well I like all the characters, but my plan was to use the 3 girls as my permanent characters, but I'll still use the guys a bit cause they're all cool.

Um... permanent character is one of the worst set-ups you things you can make? o_0 Not sure where you read it was best to only level 3.

There's a reason you can switch out to the other three characters you have when your normal party is decimated. You have and need those extra three people to be strong enough to escape if they need to or to beat a boss if your normal party is taken out.

Well, it's much easier to level up, and you never need to switch them as characters are never required, so I've read. I've heard people supporting permanent party members, but none saying switching out is better. Heh, I don't intend to be dying... often.

No one intends on dying, this game can catch you off guard, though (unless you're using a walk-through the entire game, which sort of negates the point of playing the game in the first place. ) But if those characters do go down, you HAVE to change to the other characters.

Whoever said you should ditch three of the characters and that it was better to do so [the entire game] was full of it, as the only thing it has over using all characters is leveling speed (and once you get to the most difficult stuff in the game, you'll need them). and leveling up faster is rather insignificant too, as weapons and equipment > levels. Once you get the boosts and have above-average weapons, levels really don't have a massive bearing on great a character is. (I mean, it does, but this is one of the games where the boosts and equipment are more important than level (you can do a level 2 or 3 game, I believe). Unless you're doing a hasty speed-run through the game and don't plan on doing everything in the game, you're going to be maxing your 3 characters out rather early, if I kept the same characters, I would probably be at level 70 or so by now, and I'm in Giruvegan at the moment.

Then again, once you get the Embroidered Tippet, you can level level a Level 15 character to 40-50 in about half an hour or less, so it wouldn't be too much of a problem to catch the others up, I suppose, though they'd get their butt kicked by high-leveled enemies.

To each their own, I suppose, but no matter how you slice it, permanent party members have one pro which becomes somewhat insignificant later in the game.

By the way, tell me how your party turns out, because that seemed like somewhat of an unusual party you have there, and I want to see if how it works out. xD (I've always used at least two melee character, except near the beginning of the game, and I want to see how well it works out, because I may try it, though I'm using an all-melee party just to train now in Giruvegan, where the training is insane.

It's going well so far! I've got loads of gil, well, 20,000, with no need to spend any of it as both armour and weapons are fully upgraded, everyone on my main party has hit level 27, and are currently going for the +500 HP boost (well, Balthier already has it, the others were held up getting armour licenses). Fran and Penelo are reasonable strong, magically, and I have no trouble surviving thanks to my lovely gambits. Currently, I'm looking for some Viera person who ran away. Hah. I'm sure I'll find her soon.

Hmm... I've changed my main party to:

Vaan -- Equipped with a 1-handed sword (Deathbringer, I think, though I found that about 15-20 levels ago. -_-) as a buff-warrior.

Ashe (though originally Basch) -- Equipped with a 2-handed sword (Save the Queen) as a Heavy-Melee Lure Warrior

Panelo -- Equipped with a stave (Cloud Staff) as my main mage. He kind of sucks, though, since Panelo can hit for 9999 damage and she's only 54 (though my highest levelled). >_>

I guess she'll probably be in my party for a while.

Yeah, a gambited mage at where I am in the game is soooo overpowered. o_o It's not like you have to worry about MP anyway if you gambit Syphon (unless it's a boss you can't Syphon from).

I'm going around doing marks and Espers now. o_o Just finished the one that I had been hoping to take down for a loooooong time. x) I won't post spoilers, as I can't spell the name of the Esper, but it was a freaking pain in the butt (well at least the most difficult battle I've had in a looooong time)

I totally love this game. It's just so good...

I got to level 31 today, heh, and found the Viera. I found Tiamat really easy, a simple Esuna cured any problems I had with disable, which to be honest, were basically non-existent. With Penelo having Cura <50% HP, and Curaga 0% HP, it made the battle really easy. I managed to get passed the forest, though I did find the boss hard on the first try, and reset the game. I ended up going back to fight for a while, so I could get enough LP to receive Haste for every character. I set up some gambits to deal with the status problems he inflicted, and from there on, found the battle pretty simple. I got to Mt. Bur-Omance, or whatever it is called, and upgraded all my equipment, purchased all the magic. I have quite a lot of gil, too.

But yes, heh, it's really good. I'm enjoying it a lot. It's a shame I have to do school work, as well... ah well. I have Friday off, so can see myself playing for quite a while. I'd quite like to know I'm not missing any Espers so far. Reassure me.

I've finally started playing. I found a moogle that actually says 'Oh Noes!' LOL

where is that?

on using only three characters, the game is capable of being played however the user wishes. the game is nice like that, being customizable and all: the player can chose how they wish to progress.

I decided to go Rambo today and venture into the Zetrinian Caves. Then, I hit the save crystal and decided to explore some more. Guess what, I bump into that Esper!(Pssst. It's weak to Ice. ^^) And i won at like, the 7th try (no, I didnt get killed. <_< My MP ran out. <_<) Still at Phon Coast though.
Mist Quickenings FTW!

Vaan & Balthier: Icebrand and a shield (Vaan- Diamond; Balth- Ice)
Basch: Kogarasumaru
Fran: Burning Bow, Lightning Arrows
Ashe & Penelo: Crossbows (Ashe: Disable bolts; Penelo: Slow bolts)

Doing Marks, as they trigger cutscenes too and have good rewards ^^

Balth has almost all buffs and G slots, almost all Magic too. altough anything else aint his department <_< (Golden Amulet PWNS)

I always use Bubble+Regen, is this a good combo? and where do I get Syphon?

ktnxbai

Ashe, Vaan and Balth as Main, lvl 37~ish
Basch, Penelo and Fran, in-training lvl 29~ish