Except draw out has a chance to literally destroy the weapon every time you cast an ability. It is a useful class but very costly. Plus the damage for the abilities scales on MA while the physical attacks still require PA. Not the easiest class to get the most out of in my opinion.
I wish Dark Knights were a bit more easier to get. By the time you level up those classes to 8, you'll probably outlevel a lot of content. Also "killing" a unit is kinda boring :P
I never got into tweaking Brave/Faith, too tedious for me. You can OP well enough pretty soon w/o that.
Definitely save all the time in different save slots, yeah. You can go back and save over old ones eventually, you typically won't ever need to go too far back, and it's pretty obvious why we are suggesting that, you'll know.
Honestly, for relatively casual runthroughs, I'd take the named characters into your party when you get them, instead of the generics you start with or "buy". But eventually some unique, named characters will join your party, and they are typically easier to do well with for low effort.
This. And like Fry said, story fights are fixed level while random fights scale with you. The game - outside of 2-3 missions - is pretty forgiving because of it, and you'll likely outpace the story as it goes on.
Especially after you get
Cid
Late in the game. His ranged attack feels like cheating.
If that doesn't work, blame yourself or god (that's a quote from the original version).
Except draw out has a chance to literally destroy the weapon every time you cast an ability. It is a useful class but very costly. Plus the damage for the abilities scales on MA while the physical attacks still require PA. Not the easiest class to get the most out of in my opinion.
I just used the trick to copy weapons. No way was I risking the Masamune I stole from a tough boss.
I wish Dark Knights were a bit more easier to get. By the time you level up those classes to 8, you'll probably outlevel a lot of content. Also "killing" a unit is kinda boring :P
You could just do what I did and use level down traps in the first desert level to keep your level at a reasonable level and not make random encounters impossible.
When my daughter was born and I was up at night all the time, it turned out endlessly leveling in FFT was the exact right amount of engaging to keep me awake while I got her to sleep and boring enough that I didn't have trouble getting back to sleep when she was down.
Holy shit I need this. I'm current playing FFT on my phone but it's the most generic run ever. My previous one ended in a rage quit when a pack of lv 60 chocobos owned my band of adventurers.
There's a Final Fantasy soundtrack CD for sale at the Tokyo Game Show where every track on the CD is just a different arrangement of Clash on the Big Bridge.
I just got to Archades in FF12... Can anyone give me a rough estimate on how I'm doing progress-wise? I was able to essentially run through all of the areas without trouble with my Basch who is level 43 now.
I just got to Archades in FF12... Can anyone give me a rough estimate on how I'm doing progress-wise? I was able to essentially run through all of the areas without trouble with my Basch who is level 43 now.
That is a pretty good spot for that level. You are about halfway at this point. Honestly you don't really need to grind unless you want to do the optional content,like me.
I just got to Archades in FF12... Can anyone give me a rough estimate on how I'm doing progress-wise? I was able to essentially run through all of the areas without trouble with my Basch who is level 43 now.
That is a pretty good spot for that level. You are about halfway at this point. Honestly you don't really need to grind unless you want to do the optional content,like me.
Archades is probably 2/3 - 3/4 through the main story depending on how much the challenging portions stump you. Areas left:
Laboratory, Feywood, Giruvegan, Great Crystal, Cerobi Steppe (optional), Ridorana Cataract / Pharos, Bahamut. That's not a ton of areas, but Giruvegan / Great Crystal and Pharos are massive.
It's maybe halfway if you're going to 100% the game, depending on how long it takes you to do post-game content. Note that post-game content is not actually available after you beat the game like FF13; it's more like, say, FF7 where you do it with a save from before the final sequence.
Fleur de Alys on
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
I am right there as well. I finished Yiazmat off pretty easily since he is now vulnerable to wither and expose. He was hitting for around 100 per attack for the entire fight. Still need to finish the bestiary, explore every location, and do all the concurrences. That last one has me worried since I am not very good at doing them.
Got Omega at level 70 or so. Wither ftw. Took a bit to get it going because of misses, but once it was on it was done. This is easier than the old Decoy + Reverse method of destroying superbosses.
Now I just have to get the Quickening trophy, which means scoring a Black Hole, before doing trials. Will need some more levels to get the last few trials down.
This has been a ton of fun, but I'm ready to move on.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
Man fuck that last trial. What a shit storm to get through without an incredibly specific set of equipment. Now to finish hunting down all these precious rare animals....
Man fuck that last trial. What a shit storm to get through without an incredibly specific set of equipment. Now to finish hunting down all these precious rare animals....
Yeah, going from the second to last trial straight into that final one is butts-ville.
I went in with reverse on all 3 of my active party members. So every time I failed I had to reload only for them to start throwing elixirs at my team. Thankfully zodiac spam did most of the heavy lifting.
The spawn conditions on some of these rare game are so obtuse as to be just a big advertisement for the strategy guide. Damn square enix makes some poorer decisions sometimes.
I went in with reverse on all 3 of my active party members. So every time I failed I had to reload only for them to start throwing elixirs at my team. Thankfully zodiac spam did most of the heavy lifting.
The spawn conditions on some of these rare game are so obtuse as to be just a big advertisement for the strategy guide. Damn square enix makes some poorer decisions sometimes.
Ah, so they got rid of the Zodiac Spear bullshit only to add something else?
I went in with reverse on all 3 of my active party members. So every time I failed I had to reload only for them to start throwing elixirs at my team. Thankfully zodiac spam did most of the heavy lifting.
The spawn conditions on some of these rare game are so obtuse as to be just a big advertisement for the strategy guide. Damn square enix makes some poorer decisions sometimes.
Ah, so they got rid of the Zodiac Spear bullshit only to add something else?
No they also had that in the original. Honestly every change in this version was for the better. There was just a lot of bullshit in the game to begin with.
I went in with reverse on all 3 of my active party members. So every time I failed I had to reload only for them to start throwing elixirs at my team. Thankfully zodiac spam did most of the heavy lifting.
The spawn conditions on some of these rare game are so obtuse as to be just a big advertisement for the strategy guide. Damn square enix makes some poorer decisions sometimes.
Ah, so they got rid of the Zodiac Spear bullshit only to add something else?
No they also had that in the original. Honestly every change in this version was for the better. There was just a lot of bullshit in the game to begin with.
Well, good thing I don't plan to go for platinum. I'll be satisfied if I get Behemoth King and Yiazmat dead (the two hunts I never beat on the original).
I went in with reverse on all 3 of my active party members. So every time I failed I had to reload only for them to start throwing elixirs at my team. Thankfully zodiac spam did most of the heavy lifting.
The spawn conditions on some of these rare game are so obtuse as to be just a big advertisement for the strategy guide. Damn square enix makes some poorer decisions sometimes.
Ah, so they got rid of the Zodiac Spear bullshit only to add something else?
No they also had that in the original. Honestly every change in this version was for the better. There was just a lot of bullshit in the game to begin with.
Well, good thing I don't plan to go for platinum. I'll be satisfied if I get Behemoth King and Yiazmat dead (the two hunts I never beat on the original).
Good news then! They are massively easier because the techniks that reduce strength and defense now work on both! After using both Yiazmat was hitting for less then a hundred damage. No way to negate the 5% instant death chance per hit though.
I started FFXV last night, finally, after owning it since December. Seems good so far? I'm having trouble dodging in large encounters and end up taking a lot of damage. But I found a cactuar encounter early and it gave me enough exp to go from level 3 to 12 in one rest, so that has helped.
I saw that they gave an official release date to the multiplayer patch for XV. Has anyone played the beta? Is it any good?
Despite my overall major dislike of XV, I don't want to see the game fail. I would love to see them turn it around for good in the long term. If the multiplayer actually has a decent chunk of content and is fun, it might get me to reinstall the game and mess around with it again.
I started FFXV last night, finally, after owning it since December. Seems good so far? I'm having trouble dodging in large encounters and end up taking a lot of damage. But I found a cactuar encounter early and it gave me enough exp to go from level 3 to 12 in one rest, so that has helped.
Yeah that cactaur event is a great way to level. Everyone's main problem of the game shows up at about half way through the game. I still loved the game in the end, however.
Platinum get! Final levels: 78. That last trial was a doozy. Thankfully I dealt with Omega by using Wither instead of Reverse, so I didn't have to deal with instant kills. But wow, what a complex puzzle of a battle. Not sure how I'd have ever gotten it without a guide. I actually had to set up a Sleepga gambit at the top of my list when I was down to the last 2, because the one asshole kept waking up and insta-healing the other before I could react. Elixirs + Zodiark were borderline mandatory for getting through the incredibly rough opening segment.
It took four and a half hours to do all 100 trial levels in a single run. I probably should have spent one of those hours gaining another 5-10 levels; probably would have gone faster. Didn't bother with the Tournesol or Wyrmhero Blade this time around.
Final verdicts on the character builds:
Uhlan / Time Battlemage (Vaan)
This was a very effective character. Spears are a straight upgrade to Time Battlemage's crossbows, so basically Vaan was a Haste(ga)/Float machine that hit really hard. Very rarely I had a crossbow that was superior to my current spear, but most of the time there just wasn't any reason to use them thanks to spears being able to hit flying units. Access to only heavy armor was a downside; Vaan struggled to keep his MP up until quite late in the game.
White Mage / Machinist (Balthier)
Healbot with a side of guns. Nothing surprising about this build; it was simple and effective. Late game I occasionally ran around with a pure White Mage build, using Holy and the Holy Rod or Euclid's Sextant, but it wasn't very efficient due to the long spell animation (the target would often be dead before the spell would finish and land). The guns were only occasionally useless; even though the damage was much lower than my other characters, it was still a more effective contribution than rod-slapping.
Archer / Red Battlemage (Fran)
I liked this character a lot. Burning Bow + Ardor was super effective against Fire or Oil-vulnerable foes, and otherwise she functioned well as Healer #2 and Black Mage #2. I didn't use the maces in the early game, but once I got the Bone of Byblos and Zodiac Escutcheon, Fran was damn near untouchable, especially with a Ribbon to complement the package (when I wasn't forced to use an Opal Ring instead). Having an invincible healer is quite nice.
Black Mage / Monk (Ashe)
Monk was almost entirely wasted here. From the moment I unlocked Black Mage until the very end of the game, it was just superior in damage output to anything the Monk had to offer. That's a shame given that the Monk has so many Battle Lores. The only times I switched her to a Monk build were if she got berserked (Omega Weapon mostly) or if the enemies had Reflect, pre-Opal Ring / Dispel. In particular the lack of heavy armor options meant I couldn't really get the Monk's strength high. It wasn't all bad news, though - Ashe actually had a ton of HP, which is good because of low Black Mage defenses, and the Esper-unlocked White Magic meant she could take away some buffing burden with Protectga/Shellga. Since she usually recovered as much MP as she used to cast spells, this was very helpful.
Knight / Bushi (Penelo)
This combo came into its own rather late. For most of the game it was outshined by nearly everything else but the healer. But once the late-game White Magics were unlocked and better weapons were available, this combo became a prime go-to engine of death. In particular the Excalibur + White Robes combo slays vs the many dark-vulnerable enemies. I didn't find the Masamune to be very effective here, and I'm not entirely sure why. The damage seemed pretty low, and I just couldn't get the combo attacks that I was expecting, even with Genji Gloves. Having to max both Str and Mag was the primary source of awkwardness, I think, and Penelo's inherent stats are absolutely unhelpful in that regard.
Foebreaker / Shikari (Basch)
I used Shikari daggers precisely once, and that was the Zwill Crossblade against the Air-weak entite type enemies in the Trials. I didn't even bother with the Main Gauche + Shield + Decoy combo, though it probably would have made the early moments of a couple battles just a bit easier (Yiazmat and Omega come to mind). For most of the game, Basch equipped the Berserker Gloves and the best hammer/axe available and went to work. Damage output here was the only thing that rivaled the Black Mage for the majority of the game. Late game this fell off a bit, even with the Scorpion Tail. This is mostly because Berserk was too risky to keep up (too many instant-kill attacks that would require tossing a Phoenix Down, or other bad statuses that would need immediate cures). At this point I largely switched to Germinas Boots + whichever ninja sword best targeted enemy weaknesses (or the Mesa if none). I skipped Ninja Swords 1, and that seems to have worked out well enough for me.
Overall, while I liked some things about all these combos, in practice most of them wound up coming down to majoring in just 1 of those jobs, enjoying side benefits (like Quickness or situational gear access) from the other.
The biggest take-away is that trying to cover every job is probably a bad strategy. I think a better strategy is to give some kind of caster to every character, then pair it with either another caster or a physical job that complements it. Black Mage is so good that I wouldn't mind having 3 of them, and a second Time Battlemage would have come in handy as well. Bushi probably combines better with Red Battlemage if you're wanting to focus on katanas, and pairing Knight with White Mage for full paladin goodness saves on some esper requirements while still giving you White Robe Excalibur slaughter.
Not gonna be starting NG- right now, but I got the save file for that future rainy day when I decide I really want to hate life for a few dozen hours.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
I got the platinum last night. I spent the same amount of time on trial mode as I did trying to trigger a black hole concurrence. Total play time just shy of 63 hours.
Gamertag: KL Retribution
PSN:Furlion
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Like Captain K I just started 15 after sitting on it since Christmas, and I'm midway through Chapter 3 but doing a lot of quests because of trying to maximize not dealing with loading/driving times.
I think I've overshot my leveling (at 24 right now going to the waterfall tomb) but the one thing that's messing with me is not only the clunky targeting in battles (had to nearly suicide bomb a barrel to get the Deadeye explosion AP because you couldn't target the barrel itself), but the soldiers with guns just tear through my team, and Prompto is already hella weak. Is there any viable solution at this point in the game? I try to let Gladius do his big sweep to try and take them out ASAP but Ignis and Prompt still have trouble.
Posts
PSN:Furlion
This. And like Fry said, story fights are fixed level while random fights scale with you. The game - outside of 2-3 missions - is pretty forgiving because of it, and you'll likely outpace the story as it goes on.
Especially after you get
Late in the game. His ranged attack feels like cheating.
If that doesn't work, blame yourself or god (that's a quote from the original version).
I just used the trick to copy weapons. No way was I risking the Masamune I stole from a tough boss.
You could just do what I did and use level down traps in the first desert level to keep your level at a reasonable level and not make random encounters impossible.
When my daughter was born and I was up at night all the time, it turned out endlessly leveling in FFT was the exact right amount of engaging to keep me awake while I got her to sleep and boring enough that I didn't have trouble getting back to sleep when she was down.
Long story short I had a full squad of dark knights by Brigand' Den https://imgur.com/a/FM4u0
Yup. Dark Knight and Balthier from FFXII were added to the war of the lions version.
Edit: Oh, and onion knight and Luso from FFTA2.
That is a pretty good spot for that level. You are about halfway at this point. Honestly you don't really need to grind unless you want to do the optional content,like me.
PSN:Furlion
HALF WAY? Christ Al-mighty.
Thanks
Like really...long.
It's maybe halfway if you're going to 100% the game, depending on how long it takes you to do post-game content. Note that post-game content is not actually available after you beat the game like FF13; it's more like, say, FF7 where you do it with a save from before the final sequence.
Also checked my game time for the first time....ever and it's at 83 hours. Good lord...
PSN:Furlion
Now I just have to get the Quickening trophy, which means scoring a Black Hole, before doing trials. Will need some more levels to get the last few trials down.
This has been a ton of fun, but I'm ready to move on.
PSN:Furlion
Yeah, going from the second to last trial straight into that final one is butts-ville.
The spawn conditions on some of these rare game are so obtuse as to be just a big advertisement for the strategy guide. Damn square enix makes some poorer decisions sometimes.
PSN:Furlion
Also fuck flying units.
Ah, so they got rid of the Zodiac Spear bullshit only to add something else?
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
No they also had that in the original. Honestly every change in this version was for the better. There was just a lot of bullshit in the game to begin with.
PSN:Furlion
Well, good thing I don't plan to go for platinum. I'll be satisfied if I get Behemoth King and Yiazmat dead (the two hunts I never beat on the original).
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Good news then! They are massively easier because the techniks that reduce strength and defense now work on both! After using both Yiazmat was hitting for less then a hundred damage. No way to negate the 5% instant death chance per hit though.
PSN:Furlion
Despite my overall major dislike of XV, I don't want to see the game fail. I would love to see them turn it around for good in the long term. If the multiplayer actually has a decent chunk of content and is fun, it might get me to reinstall the game and mess around with it again.
Yeah that cactaur event is a great way to level. Everyone's main problem of the game shows up at about half way through the game. I still loved the game in the end, however.
It took four and a half hours to do all 100 trial levels in a single run. I probably should have spent one of those hours gaining another 5-10 levels; probably would have gone faster. Didn't bother with the Tournesol or Wyrmhero Blade this time around.
Final verdicts on the character builds:
This was a very effective character. Spears are a straight upgrade to Time Battlemage's crossbows, so basically Vaan was a Haste(ga)/Float machine that hit really hard. Very rarely I had a crossbow that was superior to my current spear, but most of the time there just wasn't any reason to use them thanks to spears being able to hit flying units. Access to only heavy armor was a downside; Vaan struggled to keep his MP up until quite late in the game.
White Mage / Machinist (Balthier)
Healbot with a side of guns. Nothing surprising about this build; it was simple and effective. Late game I occasionally ran around with a pure White Mage build, using Holy and the Holy Rod or Euclid's Sextant, but it wasn't very efficient due to the long spell animation (the target would often be dead before the spell would finish and land). The guns were only occasionally useless; even though the damage was much lower than my other characters, it was still a more effective contribution than rod-slapping.
Archer / Red Battlemage (Fran)
I liked this character a lot. Burning Bow + Ardor was super effective against Fire or Oil-vulnerable foes, and otherwise she functioned well as Healer #2 and Black Mage #2. I didn't use the maces in the early game, but once I got the Bone of Byblos and Zodiac Escutcheon, Fran was damn near untouchable, especially with a Ribbon to complement the package (when I wasn't forced to use an Opal Ring instead). Having an invincible healer is quite nice.
Black Mage / Monk (Ashe)
Monk was almost entirely wasted here. From the moment I unlocked Black Mage until the very end of the game, it was just superior in damage output to anything the Monk had to offer. That's a shame given that the Monk has so many Battle Lores. The only times I switched her to a Monk build were if she got berserked (Omega Weapon mostly) or if the enemies had Reflect, pre-Opal Ring / Dispel. In particular the lack of heavy armor options meant I couldn't really get the Monk's strength high. It wasn't all bad news, though - Ashe actually had a ton of HP, which is good because of low Black Mage defenses, and the Esper-unlocked White Magic meant she could take away some buffing burden with Protectga/Shellga. Since she usually recovered as much MP as she used to cast spells, this was very helpful.
Knight / Bushi (Penelo)
This combo came into its own rather late. For most of the game it was outshined by nearly everything else but the healer. But once the late-game White Magics were unlocked and better weapons were available, this combo became a prime go-to engine of death. In particular the Excalibur + White Robes combo slays vs the many dark-vulnerable enemies. I didn't find the Masamune to be very effective here, and I'm not entirely sure why. The damage seemed pretty low, and I just couldn't get the combo attacks that I was expecting, even with Genji Gloves. Having to max both Str and Mag was the primary source of awkwardness, I think, and Penelo's inherent stats are absolutely unhelpful in that regard.
Foebreaker / Shikari (Basch)
I used Shikari daggers precisely once, and that was the Zwill Crossblade against the Air-weak entite type enemies in the Trials. I didn't even bother with the Main Gauche + Shield + Decoy combo, though it probably would have made the early moments of a couple battles just a bit easier (Yiazmat and Omega come to mind). For most of the game, Basch equipped the Berserker Gloves and the best hammer/axe available and went to work. Damage output here was the only thing that rivaled the Black Mage for the majority of the game. Late game this fell off a bit, even with the Scorpion Tail. This is mostly because Berserk was too risky to keep up (too many instant-kill attacks that would require tossing a Phoenix Down, or other bad statuses that would need immediate cures). At this point I largely switched to Germinas Boots + whichever ninja sword best targeted enemy weaknesses (or the Mesa if none). I skipped Ninja Swords 1, and that seems to have worked out well enough for me.
Overall, while I liked some things about all these combos, in practice most of them wound up coming down to majoring in just 1 of those jobs, enjoying side benefits (like Quickness or situational gear access) from the other.
The biggest take-away is that trying to cover every job is probably a bad strategy. I think a better strategy is to give some kind of caster to every character, then pair it with either another caster or a physical job that complements it. Black Mage is so good that I wouldn't mind having 3 of them, and a second Time Battlemage would have come in handy as well. Bushi probably combines better with Red Battlemage if you're wanting to focus on katanas, and pairing Knight with White Mage for full paladin goodness saves on some esper requirements while still giving you White Robe Excalibur slaughter.
PSN:Furlion
I think I've overshot my leveling (at 24 right now going to the waterfall tomb) but the one thing that's messing with me is not only the clunky targeting in battles (had to nearly suicide bomb a barrel to get the Deadeye explosion AP because you couldn't target the barrel itself), but the soldiers with guns just tear through my team, and Prompto is already hella weak. Is there any viable solution at this point in the game? I try to let Gladius do his big sweep to try and take them out ASAP but Ignis and Prompt still have trouble.