FF12 Speedrun Anyone?

Edit history:

FatalPhantasms: 2006-11-15 09:27:03 pm

2006-11-15 09:23:53 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I was wondering, would anybody be interested to see a speedrun of Final Fantasy XII?

<spoilers>

-The game was just recently released in the U.S., so I'm still in the process of beating it for the first time. However, upon beating it, I'd like to try and see if I could do a speedrun. My first inclination would be a normal speedrun using 3 characters, however I think it'd also be something if you could do a speedrun using just one character (such as a Basch Solo Speedrun), though much harder.

-Methinks, like FFX-2, FF12 is a game that you could beat in little over 5 hours or less. Basically a segmented rush through, under-leveled, skipping cinematics, story events, and skipping ALL sidequests. Aiming for the fastest time possible from the tutorial battles to the Sky Fortress Bahamut.

Word on the nets is that you can be as low as level 40 to beat the final boss, though for the purposes of the speedrun, you'd probably be in the mid-late 20s if not lower.

-Tricks would be to make your guys "Red Mages," basically melee fighters who use curative magick. Get Quickenings right away, get Cure, Cura, Curaja, Protect, Shell. Get Bubble to double your max HP. Some Boss Battles might be tough (DemonWall) and require numerous resets.

Focus on using a core party of 3 characters (say, Vaan, Basch, Ashe). Make two swordsmen, one rifleman (or riflewoman) so she can hit air and get some ranged attacks in. Have Ashe focus on healing while Vaan and Basch beat the crap out of the enemies and bosses, eventually using Zodiac Spear / Demonsbane, and Genji equipment for 2X hits.

-Basically for this run, in many places you would zip through areas without fighting monsters, holding R2 and FLEEING. FF12 also has teleport stones that will allow you to teleport from golden crystals.

-In FF12 just running around restores your MP slowly. So basically, we're running across the field, gaining MP. You can kill a monster or a supertough monster like the Lvl 34 Werewolves or Saurian using Quickenings, then run across the field restoring your MP, then kill another thing when you have enough MP, then repeat, on your trek across the fields.

Thread title:

I was wondering, would anybody be interested to see a speedrun of Final Fantasy XII?

-The game was just recently released in the U.S., so I'm still in the process of beating it for the first time.  However, upon beating it, I'd like to try and see if I could do a speedrun.  My first inclination would be a normal speedrun using 3 characters, however I think it'd also be something if you could do a speedrun using just one character (such as a Basch Solo Speedrun), though much harder.

-Methinks, like FFX-2, FF12 is a game that you could beat in little over 5 hours or less.  Basically a segmented rush through, under-leveled, skipping cinematics, story events, and skipping ALL sidequests.  Aiming for the fastest time possible from the tutorial battles to the Sky Fortress Bahamut.

Word on the nets is that you can be as low as level 40 to beat the final boss, though for the purposes of the speedrun, you'd probably be in the mid-late 20s if not lower.

-Tricks would be to make your guys "Red Mages," basically melee fighters who use curative magick.  Get Quickenings right away, get Cure, Cura, Curaja, Protect, Shell.  Get Bubble to double your max HP.  Some Boss Battles might be tough (DemonWall) and require numerous resets.

Focus on using a core party of 3 characters (say, Vaan, Basch, Ashe).  Make two swordsmen, one rifleman (or riflewoman) so she can hit air and get some ranged attacks in.  Have Ashe focus on healing while Vaan and Basch beat the crap out of the enemies and bosses, eventually using Zodiac Spear / Demonsbane, and Genji equipment for 2X hits.

-Basically for this run, in many places you would zip through areas without fighting monsters, holding R2 and FLEEING.  FF12 also has teleport stones that will allow you to teleport from golden crystals.

-In FF12 just running around restores your MP slowly.  So basically, we're running across the field, gaining MP.  You can kill a monster or a supertough monster like the Lvl 34 Werewolves or Saurian using Quickenings, then run across the field restoring your MP, then kill another thing when you have enough MP, then repeat, on your trek across the fields.

Bp_

2006-11-15 09:40:13 pm

gl if YOU want to do a run of this game cause I'm pretty sure it really HUGE.

I didn't read the spoiler cause still didn't bought the game (Christmas Sad

) but I doubt this game is in the -7 hrs completion.

____
Out off topic. I'm really bored of ppl making thread of doing a speed run of a game that is out since less then a month.

Saestrol

2006-11-15 09:55:06 pm

Speed Running Joy-bringer

To be honest, I think this game is definitely in the 7-hr range.

But... it definitely wouldn't be an easily accomplished feat. And I just got the game. SO we can't really be sure of anything yet.

spineshark

Edit history:

spineshark: 2006-11-15 10:06:24 pm

2006-11-15 10:02:12 pm

新世紀進歩的羽扇子音楽

a) the second thread on this game is barely more than a week old
b) the japanese time right now is 7:16:16

speedrunning this game is not as simple as quickening spamming every boss, I think.

FatalPhantasms

2006-11-15 10:09:24 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Quote:

To be honest, I think this game is definitely in the 7-hr range.

But... it definitely wouldn't be an easily accomplished feat. And I just got the game. SO we can't really be sure of anything yet.

I think it should be possible. I've been reading the threads for FF7 and FF8. Those games it seems getting it under 10:00 is hard as heck.

However, the "structure" of FF12 is fundamentally different from previous FFs. FF10 is pretty linear - you're basically following a pre-determined path (the Summoner's Pilgrimmage) from Bikanel Island all the way to Zanarkand Dome. There is nothing you can do to sequence break.

Although you can say that about pretty much every FF (i.e. there is no such thing as bona fide sequence break) in FF12 they have teleport stones and since battle takes place in real-time, you can just run FLEEING from area to area. There is the problem however that bosses don't give you EXP, whereas the FF7 speedrunners are relying on bosses to give them their EXP needed to level. And in FF8 you simply junction 100 Ultima magic and voila 9999 HP, 255 ATK.

One way to speed things up in a certain part of the game:

<spoiler>

After rescuing Basch from Nalbina and completing the underground area with all the Mimics, run FLEEING across the Windswept Naze, to the West. Go to the coast area and enter the small shanty town by the sea. There is a Golden Teleport Crystal. Use that to teleport to Rabanastre, provided of course you have Teleport stones. Using teleport, you have saved navigating through most of the Estersand to get back to Rabanastre.

[quote]To be honest, I think this game is definitely in the 7-hr range.

But... it definitely wouldn't be an easily accomplished feat. And I just got the game. SO we can't really be sure of anything yet.[/quote]

I think it should be possible.  I've been reading the threads for FF7 and FF8.  Those games it seems getting it under 10:00 is hard as heck.

However, the "structure" of FF12 is fundamentally different from previous FFs.  FF10 is pretty linear - you're basically following a pre-determined path (the Summoner's Pilgrimmage) from Bikanel Island all the way to Zanarkand Dome.  There is nothing you can do to sequence break.

Although you can say that about pretty much every FF (i.e. there is no such thing as bona fide sequence break) in FF12 they have teleport stones and since battle takes place in real-time, you can just run FLEEING from area to area.  There is the problem however that bosses don't give you EXP, whereas the FF7 speedrunners are relying on bosses to give them their EXP needed to level.  And in FF8 you simply junction 100 Ultima magic and voila 9999 HP, 255 ATK.

One way to speed things up in a certain part of the game:

After rescuing Basch from Nalbina and completing the underground area with all the Mimics, run FLEEING across the Windswept Naze, to the West.  Go to the coast area and enter the small shanty town by the sea.  There is a Golden Teleport Crystal.  Use that to teleport to Rabanastre, provided of course you have Teleport stones.  Using teleport, you have saved navigating through most of the Estersand to get back to Rabanastre.

spineshark

2006-11-15 10:13:36 pm

新世紀進歩的羽扇子音楽

Unless you're manipulating them from monster drops or doing hunts, you will run out of Teleport stones VERY quickly Sad

Pitted

2006-11-16 02:04:59 am

The Zodiac Spear and Fomalhaut, which are the ultimate spear and gun respectively, can be obtained with little effort pretty early on in the game. I'm thinking at least the Fomalhaut will be a requirement, since it'll most likely be doing 1-2k damage when your other weapons are hitting for 300-500. I'm sure only two characters using good weapons would really be required since the third will most likely permanently be casting buffs and heals and esunas or using phoenix downs.

There is also the deathbringer sword. It would take a little extra time to obtain but it could also make the game a little easier. You can also steal as many as you like and sell them for 16k each so that money doesn't become an issue in the late game.

Axel Ryman

2006-11-16 02:09:52 am

We all scream for Eyes Cream

Quote:

Unless you're manipulating them from monster drops or doing hunts, you will run out of Teleport stones VERY quickly Sad

Just ride the airship and you'll be able to purchase them. Just need the money for them.

Also where do you get the Fomalhaut?

spineshark

2006-11-16 02:11:09 am

新世紀進歩的羽扇子音楽

Hahaha good luck with that one in a speedrun. Roll Eyes

You have to finish off the Antlion (a level 5 elite mark, which is giving me major problems at level 37) to get it.

illuminated

2006-11-16 02:23:17 am

Geez people...give the game some time to stew...

Thats like what...? Three or four games that are only a week old and people already regailing us with tales of speedrunning? give it some time people!

And at this time I would like to announce my speedrun attempt at Super Mario Galaxy. Grin

_{That last part was a joke if anyone notices.}

Veysey

2006-11-16 07:28:49 am

Outclassed!

Although talking about speedrunning a game before it comes out or before you've played it does seem a little stunned... talking about something like this after its come out... I don't see the issue... personally, I beat it... and in a community like this, wouldnt speedrunning be more desirable than a perfect save?

As for running, wouldn't it be more productive towards your funds to have a steal gambit setup for two of your characters and nothing on the one you control? That way on each screen you've got a good chance of stealing at least one item while you pass through... after stealing, start running (from what I noticed, you actually walk faster when running). Also, I would dare say that after returning from the tomb, doing a few hunts to get teleport stones at the clan shop would be in the best interest of speed... granted I've only played through once, so... yeah

FatalPhantasms

Edit history:

FatalPhantasms: 2006-11-17 06:37:29 am

2006-11-17 06:35:48 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

<Spoiler>

I just beat the first Demonwall in King Raithwall's tomb and got the Demonsbane sword in the secret chamber after 30 minutes of trying to get it. Basically I beat the Demonwall, then saved. Then I run down there to the chest. Sometimes the chest has some gil or a random potion or something. Sometimes the chest doesn't even appear. After thirty minutes of running down there, resetting, then running down there, then resetting, I finally nabbed the Demonsbane.

Question is, would this be an allowed optimization trick during a hypothetical speed run? Meaning, assuming its segmented, what if someone were to get 3 Demonsbane swords for all three of their main battle party after 30 hours of doing Demonsbane runs (90% of which are failed runs, and thus are reset and omitted from the final recording). Obviously, only the run in which you obtained the Demonsbane would be recorded and complied in the run's recording.

Demonsbane is an awesome sword. Vaan's attack went up from 39 (Zwill Blade) to 59. He was doing 300ish damage on the Urutan-Yensas in the sandsea prior to the tomb. I just went back equipped with Demonsbane, and now he's doing like 600 damage per hit, which is more than my heavy-hitting tanker Basch does, even when Berserk'd. Imagine giving all three of your guys Demonsbanes. It only costs 30 LP and packs a punch until you get some really good crap later on.

I just beat the first Demonwall in King Raithwall's tomb and got the Demonsbane sword in the secret chamber after 30 minutes of trying to get it.  Basically I beat the Demonwall, then saved.  Then I run down there to the chest.  Sometimes the chest has some gil or a random potion or something.  Sometimes the chest doesn't even appear.  After thirty minutes of running down there, resetting, then running down there, then resetting, I finally nabbed the Demonsbane.

Question is, would this be an allowed optimization trick during a hypothetical speed run? Meaning, assuming its segmented, what if someone were to get 3 Demonsbane swords for all three of their main battle party after 30 hours of doing Demonsbane runs (90% of which are failed runs, and thus are reset and omitted from the final recording).  Obviously, only the run in which you obtained the Demonsbane would be recorded and complied in the run's recording.

Demonsbane is an awesome sword.  Vaan's attack went up from 39 (Zwill Blade) to 59.  He was doing 300ish damage on the Urutan-Yensas in the sandsea prior to the tomb.  I just went back equipped with Demonsbane, and now he's doing like 600 damage per hit, which is more than my heavy-hitting tanker Basch does, even when Berserk'd.  Imagine giving all three of your guys Demonsbanes.  It only costs 30 LP and packs a punch until you get some really good crap later on.

slowbro

Edit history:

slowbro: 2006-11-17 06:45:09 am

2006-11-17 06:43:10 am

I'm almost 100% sure that luck manipulation like that would be allowed.

Can you sell Demonsbanes? (just an idea, I don't have the game yet)

Rumina

2006-11-17 07:55:22 am

!!!

There's more effective strats than that in ffxii. I was happy when I got the demonsbane too but if someone were to kill king bomb then quickly run down to level 3 of the Nechrolis and grab the zodiac spear (best weapon in the game you can get relatively early, +150 or 160 atk power) it would be enough to handle the rest of the game assuming you used haste and maybe berserk. Demonsbane becomes pretty lame pretty quickly. The best part about grabbing zodiac is it has a 100% chance of being there.

FatalPhantasms

2006-11-17 05:56:27 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Yes Tom you can probably sell Demonsbanes, but since its a random probability that determines whether the chest even appears, whether it contains random loot or gil, or nothing at all, and it took me thirty-minutes of resets to get it to drop a Demonsbane, its not exactly a fast way to earn lots of gil, is it? You'd be better fighting a bunch of skeletons in the sky city mines and chaining bone fragment drops which sell for a lot.

Indeed, as Rumina suggested, get powerful swords like Demonsbane, then upgrade to Zodiac Spear. Lets say your main battle party is Vaan, Basch, and Ashe. Basch is my heavy-hitting melee tank, so I'll give him Zodiac Spear. Vaan keeps Demonsbane until he gets a better sword or another weapon to deal out more damage/faster.

Ashe will be the primary healer/buffer/de-buffer/black mage, armed with a gun so she can sit in the back lines and snipe at enemies and hit air targets with accuracy.

In order to optimize your speed, you really DO have to hold R2 until it says FLEEING. I thought you could just turn off Gambits and run past enemies, however, you will lose a few seconds because even if Gambits are turned off, if the party is being targeted by an enemy or approaches target range, they will unsheathe their swords / bows / guns - but if Gambits are turned off, they won't do anything but stand there with their weapons in hand. Thus, you lose a few seconds when they see the enemy and pull out their swords.

Thus, the best possible optimization (even to save a few seconds) is to turn Gambits off AND hold R2 to Flee through dungeons and overworld areas. If there are regular enemy battles that you must fight, you should turn Gambits on two of your characters, but never your main character (assuming its Vaan) you always wanna control him on your own.

Like FFT, I think it would be fastest to have just one person, i.e. Vaan solo, but this may not be possible because we're going to be low levels. If it were just one person to beat the whole game he would have to be Lvl. 50. But with three people I think it might be manageble with a Lvl. 11 - 15 party at the lowest range (given that we're fleeing from most monsters). Just Quickening spam unique powerful monsters like the T-Rex in Estersand or the Werewolves in Starfall Field to gain loads of EXP.

Luck manipulation is the key of course. Lots of Resets are in order too. It IS possible to beat bosses at low levels, but you have to be really lucky. I.E. if the boss casts Poison three times in a row, then Stop, then Doom, then Gran Cross, you're better off resetting.

If I were to do such a Run, I would segment each boss, so you can download just the part where we fight the boss if you wanted to. I don't think everyone wants to see Vaan, Basch, and Ashe running from area to area FLEEING. But more people might be interested in downloading like "Segment 14 Boss Battle Vs. Judge Ghis", "Segment 25 Boss Battle Vs. Judge Gabranth," etc.

Yes Tom you can probably sell Demonsbanes, but since its a random probability that determines whether the chest even appears, whether it contains random loot or gil, or nothing at all, and it took me thirty-minutes of resets to get it to drop a Demonsbane, its not exactly a fast way to earn lots of gil, is it? You'd be better fighting a bunch of skeletons in the sky city mines and chaining bone fragment drops which sell for a lot.

Indeed, as Rumina suggested, get powerful swords like Demonsbane, then upgrade to Zodiac Spear.  Lets say your main battle party is Vaan, Basch, and Ashe.  Basch is my heavy-hitting melee tank, so I'll give him Zodiac Spear.  Vaan keeps Demonsbane until he gets a better sword or another weapon to deal out more damage/faster.

Ashe will be the primary healer/buffer/de-buffer/black mage, armed with a gun so she can sit in the back lines and snipe at enemies and hit air targets with accuracy.

In order to optimize your speed,  you really DO have to hold R2 until it says FLEEING.  I thought you could just turn off Gambits and run past enemies, however, you will lose a few seconds because even if Gambits are turned off, if the party is being targeted by an enemy or approaches target range, they will unsheathe their swords / bows / guns - but if Gambits are turned off, they won't do anything but stand there with their weapons in hand.  Thus, you lose a few seconds when they see the enemy and pull out their swords.

Thus, the best possible optimization (even to save a few seconds) is to turn Gambits off AND hold R2 to Flee through dungeons and overworld areas.  If there are regular enemy battles that you must fight, you should turn Gambits on two of your characters, but never your main character (assuming its Vaan) you always wanna control him on your own.

Like FFT, I think it would be fastest to have just one person, i.e. Vaan solo, but this may not be possible because we're going to be low levels.  If it were just one person to beat the whole game he would have to be Lvl. 50.  But with three people I think it might be manageble with a Lvl. 11 - 15 party at the lowest range (given that we're fleeing from most monsters).  Just Quickening spam unique powerful monsters like the T-Rex in Estersand or the Werewolves in Starfall Field to gain loads of EXP.

Luck manipulation is the key of course.  Lots of Resets are in order too.  It IS possible to beat bosses at low levels, but you have to be really lucky.  I.E. if the boss casts Poison three times in a row, then Stop, then Doom, then Gran Cross, you're better off resetting.

If I were to do such a Run, I would segment each boss, so you can download just the part where we fight the boss if you wanted to.  I don't think everyone wants to see Vaan, Basch, and Ashe running from area to area FLEEING.  But more people might be interested in downloading like "Segment 14 Boss Battle Vs. Judge Ghis", "Segment 25 Boss Battle Vs. Judge Gabranth," etc.

Purple_Lizard

Edit history:

Purple_Lizard: 2006-11-17 06:24:40 pm

2006-11-17 06:16:50 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Keep in mind the LP costs to even GET to those higher level weapons. Demonsbane costs 40LP, not to mention the squares you have to license to even get there, which is most likely best going from either sword 2 or shield 2. If you're speedrunning though, your levels will be rather low, and you'll be hurting for LP, so even defeating Evil Wall #1 will be a feat in and of itself. At 20,000 HP plus a time limit, Quickenings are a must to beat it, but they are also 50LP apiece, plus the LP needed to get there. The three quickest (and relatively cheapest path) are next to mace3, Acc4, and Acc9. Also, if you're putting yourself on the path to obtain quickenings ASAP, you are sacrificing other builds, like for armor and better weapons. You'll also most likely need to get really lucky with ethers in chests prior to that.

Deathbringer and Zodiac Spear are really down the build chain, and will be LP expensive regardless of what path you take. Also, to even access Deathbringer, you need to do the Barheim Passage open sidequest, which requires you to first do the flowering cactoid hunt, then go back and forth around Estersand several times to get the key. Also keep in mind that it's not just luck manipulation you have to worry about when stealing Deathbringer... it's even surviving the stealing process, because at low levels, you are trying to get past several lvl36 surianders and an Adamantitan, and that Ithuno you need to steal from is no lightweight either.

I agree with Shark on the Fomalhaut thing. You could theoretically get it and run past everything, but Antlion is BIG, and he has lots of friends, and they all hurt, so you would need a lot of luck to be able to snatch and run.

Oh, and late game enemies/bosses are vicious. One boss in the great Crystal area has like, 180,000 HP. Even with the Fomalhaut at lvl50ish, you're doing around 6000 on a critical hit, 3000 on average, and that's one of your stronger attacks.

On the other hand, your party members join you at the same level as I think the party average, so it would be beneficial to solo Vaan for a little bit beginning of the game to get Balthier and Fran to join at a higher level.

Edit: Zodiac Spear costs 235LP. The 3 squares around it cost 160, 120, and 155. I THINK the closest Vaan starts to it is Smallswords. It seems the cheapest path to Zodiac Spear from here is Sword1 (15) -> Spear1(15) -> Spear2(25) -> Spear3(30) -> Bloodsword(30) -> Spear4(35) -> Spear5(40) -> Dragon Whisker (60) -> Sagittarius (120) -> Zodiac Spear (235)

Total LP needed: 605, which is quite a bit...

Keep in mind the LP costs to even GET to those higher level weapons.  Demonsbane costs 40LP, not to mention the squares you have to license to even get there, which is most likely best going from either sword 2 or shield 2.  If you're speedrunning though, your levels will be rather low, and you'll be hurting for LP, so even defeating Evil Wall #1 will be a feat in and of itself.   At 20,000 HP plus a time limit, Quickenings are a must to beat it, but they are also 50LP apiece, plus the LP needed to get there.  The three quickest (and relatively cheapest path) are next to mace3, Acc4, and Acc9.  Also, if you're putting yourself on the path to obtain quickenings ASAP, you are sacrificing other builds, like for armor and better weapons.  You'll also most likely need to get really lucky with ethers in chests prior to that.

Deathbringer and Zodiac Spear are really down the build chain, and will be LP expensive regardless of what path you take.  Also, to even access Deathbringer, you need to do the Barheim Passage open sidequest, which requires you to first do the flowering cactoid hunt, then go back and forth around Estersand several times to get the key.  Also keep in mind that it's not just luck manipulation you have to worry about when stealing Deathbringer... it's even surviving the stealing process, because at low levels, you are trying to get past several lvl36 surianders and an Adamantitan, and that Ithuno you need to steal from is no lightweight either.

I agree with Shark on the Fomalhaut thing.  You could theoretically get it and run past everything, but Antlion is BIG, and he has lots of friends, and they all hurt, so you would need a lot of luck to be able to snatch and run.

Oh, and late game enemies/bosses are vicious.  One boss in the great Crystal area has like, 180,000 HP.  Even with the Fomalhaut at lvl50ish, you're doing around 6000 on a critical hit, 3000 on average, and that's one of your stronger attacks.

On the other hand, your party members join you at the same level as I think the party average, so it would be beneficial to solo Vaan for a little bit beginning of the game to get Balthier and Fran to join at a higher level.

Edit:  Zodiac Spear costs 235LP.  The 3 squares around it cost 160, 120, and 155.  I THINK the closest Vaan starts to it is Smallswords.  It seems the cheapest path to Zodiac Spear from here is Sword1 (15) -> Spear1(15) -> Spear2(25) -> Spear3(30) -> Bloodsword(30) -> Spear4(35) -> Spear5(40) -> Dragon Whisker (60) -> Sagittarius (120) -> Zodiac Spear (235)

Total LP needed:  605, which is quite a bit...

BDA

2006-11-17 07:33:41 pm

Let's fight to computer!

IIRC my party was half Lvl15 and half Lvl16 when I got Penelo and Ashe; Penelo was Lvl16 and Ashe was Lvl17, so I don't think "joins at the same level as party average" right.

Smelly Stinks >.&am

2006-11-17 07:55:21 pm

^ A bug called Stinks.

Wow. Already making a FF12 (XII) speedrun already? Good luck Cheesy

Purple_Lizard

2006-11-17 08:00:31 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Quote:

IIRC my party was half Lvl15 and half Lvl16 when I got Penelo and Ashe; Penelo was Lvl16 and Ashe was Lvl17, so I don't think "joins at the same level as party average" right.

Eh, it was a rough guesstimate. I think it's not too unlike FF6's system, where party members would join at (party's average levels) + 2 or something like that.

Actually, according to the power levelling guide on gamefaqs, when other party members join permanently, they join at Vaan's level +1 or 2.

FatalPhantasms

Edit history:

FatalPhantasms: 2006-11-17 09:15:38 pm

2006-11-17 09:13:53 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

When you get Ashe in your party for good for the first time on Judge Ghis's ship, and then Penelo for good in party a moment later, they have like 800 - 900 LP ready to spend because I spent so much time grinding wolves in the Estersand with Vaan, Basch, Balthier, and Fran.

Thus, formulaically, Ashe / Penelo will be near the same level as Vaan when you rescue them from the Leviaathan, and they will have magically accumulated ALL the LP you have thus far earned in the game for Vaan.

This system is much better than having them start at Lvl 1 with 0 LP, because you can actually use them right away instead of having to level them.

Pitted

2006-11-18 05:29:07 am

Getting the Fomalhaut:

Getting the Zodiac Spear:

These are not my videos. All credit goes to ASephiroth at youtube.

rms4wwf

2006-11-18 05:37:45 am

secret of mana master.

i'm stuck at this game. i'm at this leviathan (sp) ship, and got kill by this big ass guy with some half sword/half axe thing name judge ghalis-whatever and he kills me. so yeah, i have no idea on what to do... hehe.

FatalPhantasms

2006-11-18 06:17:30 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Quote:

i'm stuck at this game. i'm at this leviathan (sp) ship, and got kill by this big ass guy with some half sword/half axe thing name judge ghalis-whatever and he kills me. so yeah, i have no idea on what to do... hehe.

You, my friend, must be severely under-leveled. When I fought Judge Ghis (not "Ghalis") on the Airship Leviathan, I was around Level 12ish. He ain't all that. My opening move was Basch's Level 3 Quickening (yes you heard me, Level 3. The dude has three Quickenings already), followed by Ashe's Level 2 Quickening, and Vaan's Level 1 Quickening.

After all the Quickenings, our MPs down to zero, so I have everyone charge. Unfortunately, I should have aimed the Quickenings when his minions were near, because then they would've been wiped out. Instead, I had to fight his minions, and the Judge himself. Most of the battle I wasn't even actively participating because it was late at night and I was half asleep. My gambits took care of healing and I just hit Attack from time to time. I don't think he's weak to any magic, so just use Attack.

Piece of cake. Of course, I did grind levels like a mofo on wolves in the Estersand, and on Undead in the Lhusu Mines before being captured by Judge Ghis.

For you I recommend loading up your save file on the Leviathan, and grinding (repeatedly fighting) the Imperial Soldiers in the halls of the Leviathaan. That's how you beat any Final Fantasy boss. Level up a lot.

[quote]i'm stuck at this game. i'm at this leviathan (sp) ship, and got kill by this big ass guy with some half sword/half axe thing name judge ghalis-whatever and he kills me. so yeah, i have no idea on what to do... hehe.[/quote]

You, my friend, must be severely under-leveled.  When I fought Judge Ghis (not "Ghalis") on the Airship Leviathan, I was around Level 12ish.  He ain't all that.  My opening move was Basch's Level 3 Quickening (yes you heard me, Level 3.  The dude has three Quickenings already), followed by Ashe's Level 2 Quickening, and Vaan's Level 1 Quickening.

After all the Quickenings, our MPs down to zero, so I have everyone charge.  Unfortunately, I should have aimed the Quickenings when his minions were near, because then they would've been wiped out.  Instead, I had to fight his minions, and the Judge himself.  Most of the battle I wasn't even actively participating because it was late at night and I was half asleep.  My gambits took care of healing and I just hit Attack from time to time.  I don't think he's weak to any magic, so just use Attack.

Piece of cake.  Of course, I did grind levels like a mofo on wolves in the Estersand, and on Undead in the Lhusu Mines before being captured by Judge Ghis.

For you I recommend loading up your save file on the Leviathan, and grinding (repeatedly fighting) the Imperial Soldiers in the halls of the Leviathaan.  That's how you beat any Final Fantasy boss.  Level up a lot.

Rumina

2006-11-18 07:35:24 am

!!!

Quote:

Getting the Fomalhaut:

Getting the Zodiac Spear:

These are not my videos. All credit goes to ASephiroth at youtube.

I watched the Zodiac one. There were so many pointless actions in that video. I ran it at around 30 with all my party members out in a direct path to the chest without the pointless stops and made it just fine. Regen, Protect, and Shell make it simple.

Zen

2006-11-18 10:39:18 am

Forward standard-by-ten .

I really think that all of these strategies you guys are mentioning are going to prove useless. None of the equipment past marks is going to be worth the time it takes to get, maybe even if the EXP/LP aquired on the way are needed. I think the real key is going to be abusing green/arcane magic to hit bosses' vulnerabilities. I think there are many such opportunities.

No WAY is Zodiac Spear going to be viable. And as for that quick return to Rabanastre, you can just use the Nalbina crystal and it's even quicker.