Final Fantasy XII Power Walkthrough / In-Depth Information Version 1.11 Last updated November 15, 2006 Written, edited, and compiled by Arthellinus and many others Copyright (c) Arthellinus (arthellinus@yahoo.com) 2006, all rights reserved. =============================================================================== Legal Stuff =============================================================================== This FAQ is for personal use only and is not to be reproduced for any other reason. It CANNOT be placed neither in part nor in its entirety on any website other than the following: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission from the author. Use of ANY part of this guide on any other website or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. =============================================================================== Version History =============================================================================== Version 1.11 (11/15/06) - Added note on Zodiac Spear. - Added small note on Ichthons at the beginning of the walkthrough. - Clarified method to obtain multiple Deathbringers from Ithuno. Added in a map detailing the locations of the high-level armor. - Added in tip on how to get High Arcana from Adrammelech easily, referenced in Tournesol details. - Added in Grand Armor trick. Version 1.10 (11/14/06) - Error regarding early Francisca fixed. - Added in auto-leveling trick. - Minor addition to Tournesol info. Added in Scorpion Tail and Stone Shot info. - Expanded on character-weapon proficiency testing. Version 1.05 (11/13/06) - I wasn't going to throw in another update so soon, but I happened upon -the- weapon damage formula, so how could I resist? - Added in a new sub-section for character proficiencies at using different weapon types. - Added a separate credits section. - Various smaller updates and corrections throughout. Version 1.00 (11/12/06) - Revisions for Q&A section. - Various notes added throughout the walkthrough. - Significant Section 3 updates. - Huge Section 4 updates. Version 0.95 (11/09/06) - Changes made regarding the Rod at the start of the walkthrough. - More details on obtaining stuff in Barheim after Raithwall. - Major changes in Sections 3. - Other minor errors fixed throughout. Version 0.90b (11/08/06) - I have now added a changelog. It will be listed at the end in case people don't want to know later names or places in advance or whatever. Unfor- tunately, I lost track of any details regarding updates before the last one (0.90a), so we'll just have to start from there. Shout out to Dave G. for the suggestion. - Credits are fleshed out. - Moved Zodiac Spear and Nalbina information to Section 1. - Capitalized "Read First" because people need to READ it FIRST. Also added a READ FIRST tag to the walkthrough's Assumptions. - Big update for for the beginning of the walkthrough, smaller updates throughout. Version 0.90a (11/07/06) - Various updates and corrections - Changed e-mail address (see top). Please send all of your queries there from now on. Anything sent to the old e-mail will henceforth be ignored. - Not sure when the next update will be. Keep sending in your suggestions and in the case that I won't get to another update for a while, I will notify you if I plan to use your submissions. Version 0.85 (11/06/06) - Many syntax and content corrections and updates. Too many to detail. Kind of a frantic update, but more to come (hopefully). Version 0.80 (11/04/06) - Well, it's minimally proofread, incomplete, and unorganized, but the bulk of it is there. =============================================================================== Contents =============================================================================== 1. READ FIRST ....................................................... [010] 2. Speed Power Walkthrough .......................................... [020] a. Assumptions (ALSO READ FIRST) ................................. [02a] b. Early Power-Leveling .......................................... [02b] c. Blitzing, Part 1 .............................................. [02c] d. Zodiac Spear and Other Goodies ................................ [02d] e. Blitzing, Part 2 .............................................. [02e] f. Catching Up ................................................... [02f] g. Clearing Draklor .............................................. [02g] h. Balfonheim and Beyond ......................................... [02h] 3. Tips and Tricks .................................................. [030] a. Auto-Leveling ................................................. [03a] b. The Big Glitch ................................................ [03b] c. Other Helpful Hints ........................................... [03c] d. Rare Item Details ............................................. [03d] e. Character Stats ............................................... [03e] 4. Analysis [040] a. Weapon Speed .................................................. [04a] b. Weapon Damage ................................................. [04b] c. Character-Weapon Proficiencies ................................ [04c] d. Weapon Combo/Critical Affinity ................................ [04d] e. Weapon Accuracy ............................................... [04e] f. Overall Weapon Ratings ........................................ [04f] 5. Changelog ........................................................ [050] 6. Credits .......................................................... [060] =============================================================================== 1. READ FIRST [010] =============================================================================== Q: Aha, you missed something! A: It's likely. This guide still has quite a few holes. Feel free to e-mail me if you want, I will give you credit if I haven't already made a note to myself to add or fix something. You'll just have to trust me on this one. However, I WILL NOT necessarily accept all suggestions. For example, if you write to tell me that you can steal the so-and-so weapon from Monster A even though your current weapons (if you follow this guide) are either much stronger or about to become much stronger, I will not bother to put it in because it will not make that much of a difference. While I certainly appreciate as much constructive correspondence as possible, please make sure that you have methods that are clearly more effective before submitting them. Q: Who should use this guide? A: This guide is for people who want to do a completionist run through Final Fantasy XII in as little time as possible. It involves maximizing efficiency in terms of leveling and acquisition of high-rank items and equipment. This guide also has a large chunk of miscellaneous bits of useful and/or interesting information about various nuances of the game. However, be aware that this guide does NOT actually tell you how to do or get everything in the game. This guide is supposed to act as a companion piece to whatever real full walkthrough you are using. Q: Who should NOT use this guide? A: This guide is NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT for anyone who is looking for a traditional walkthrough that takes the player step by step through every single area and task in the game. I do not recommend that first-timers or casual players use this guide because it contains a lot of methods that can grow tedious very quickly, and if you are playing the game for the first time, it really ruins the experience and also takes most of the challenge out of the game. Unless, of course, doing the kind of stuff described in this guide is EXACTLY why you play RPGs. Q: Spoilers? A: Location spoilers, I suppose. And "name" spoilers, maybe. But no plot spoilers. Q: What can I expect in future updates? A: More outside contributions as I receive them. The walkthrough is more or less set in stone barring any significant revelations. The focus from Version 1.00 on will be on the supplementary sections. Q: Why won't you respond to my e-mail regarding how to beat (so and so)? A: See first two questions. Do NOT come to me if you're having trouble with a boss if you're playing through the game regularly. There are other resources for that. The strategies that are listed in this document are VERY specific and are the exceptions, not the rule. I will ONLY respond to questions that actually pertain to the context of this guide. Use proper judgment if you have a question and make sure that it really warrants a response from me. Q: Can you tell me how to do/get (this and that)? A: If it's not in the guide, it's not in the guide. There are already several excellent walkthroughs that cover how to get everything in the game in great detail. Again, what is here is very specific and circumstantial, and if I don't mention something, it is for the purposes of this document irrelevant. Q: Haven't I seen a lot of this stuff before? A: It's likely, but isn't a compilation nice? I do give out proper credit, of course. Q: How do I get the Zodiac Spear? A: In order to gain easy access to the Zodiac Spear (Attack +150), one of the best weapons in the game, you must NOT open certain treasure chests. They are listed as follows, in CHRONOLOGICAL order. 1. At the southern end of Rabanastre Lowtown, do not open the chest that sits in front of Old Dalan's house. 2. In the Rabanastre Palace Cellar, do not open the treasure chest(s) that sit in the southeast corner of the map. There are either one or two chests that may appear there. Do not open anything in either case. To be specific, do not open the chest with the Elixir in it (on your left as you approach the southeast corner), but that chest is not guaranteed to show up. Just play it safe and don't open anything you see in the southeast. 3. In the Nalbina Dungeons, do not open any of the treasure chests that appear in the room where you get the map for the area and regain your equipment (Confiscatory). 4. At the eastern-most section of the Phon Coast (Vaddu Strand), do not open any of the 16 chests that are there. This step is irrelevant, because if you are going to follow the walkthrough in this guide, you will obtain the spear way before you ever reach the Phon Coast. The Zodiac Spear will be in a treasure chest in the Necrohol of Nabudis. For more details, consult the appropriate section of the walkthrough. Note that I said EASY ACCESS. There is another way to get the Zodiac Spear, but it involves a treasure chest elsewhere late in the game (Henne Mines secret area) that has a 10% chance of appearing, 10% chance to contain an item, and if it does hold an item, 10% chance that the item is the Zodiac Spear, making your effective probability 0.1% each time you try to respawn the chest. The exact location of this chest will not be dealt with here; look elsewhere for that. Q: How do I get to Nalbina Fortress? A: I REALLY don't understand why people are having trouble with this. No, you do NOT have to cross the Nebra River. Take the eastern exit out of Yardang Labyrinth in the Estersand. That's it. No more questions on that, please. =============================================================================== 2. Speed Power Walkthrough [020] =============================================================================== Or is it a power speed walkthrough? --------------------------------- 2a. Assumptions (ALSO READ FIRST) [02a] --------------------------------- As you are reading this, I am making the following assumptions: - The reader understands ALL game basics. If you don't understand Quickenings or anything like that, learn what you need to on your own. You should not be reading this guide yet if you are not FULLY comfortable with the game's mechanics. I will NOT respond to e-mails that ask basic questions regarding Gambits/Quickening/etc. - The reader has a good general idea of how to spend LP beyond whatever specific recommendations are made in this walkthrough (e.g. focusing mainly on augments and getting only whatever equipment/magick licenses are necessary). - The reader completes clan hunts with some regularity in order to obtain rewards and unlock higher-level hunts. ------------------------ 2b. Early Power-Leveling [02b] ------------------------ [Timeframe] After the Rogue Tomato hunt and before breaking into Rabanastre Palace. [Objective] Level Vaan, and Vaan only, on his own to approximately Lv 25-30. Acquire some good equipment and monographs along the way. Since all of your other party members join permanently at Vaan's level plus one or two, and Balthier and Fran are counted to join permanently as soon as you get them, this is really your best timeframe to maximize the benefits of the level carry-over. [Locations] Dalmasca Estersand, Dalmasca Westersand, Giza Plains. [Notable Items and Events] (hereafter listed as [Notables]) Rod/Iron Sword, Leather Shield, Bronze Helm, Bronze Armor, Kotetsu, Gladius, Hunter's Monograph, Warmage's Monograph. [Procedure] I'll just mention this up front. Complete the Thextera hunt whenever you feel comfortable doing so. Also, join Clan Centurio as soon as it's convenient. I want to take a moment to credit freakazoidz for being the "original" (well, on GameFAQs anyway) FFXII power-leveler. However, the approach I outline here is very different from his. Anyway, make sure Vaan is alone when you do this. You can do the Giza Plains event with Penelo and wait until she leaves before doing all of this stuff. People say it's easier to farm LP with Penelo in the party. That's fine, but it most certainly is not easier to level, and in the long run, the levels matter more, since you're going to amass LP fairly quickly anyway if you're overpowered and one-shotting everything in your path. Okay, first of all, let's get a good weapon before we do anything. This entire paragraph is courtesy of x3mgame@gmail.com. Head into the Estersand. Kill some stuff to buff up a level or two if you think you're a little on the weak side, exploring the Estersand as you do so. Go to the Sand-swept Naze (two screens south of the South Bank Village) and don't touch any treasure chests. Take the southeastern exit. You will end up in a small area where there's a save point. Save your game and head back to the Sand-swept Naze. Now move to the SMALL CLIFF that juts out slightly a little east of north-center. There might be one treasure chest here. If you see it, open it. There's a chance that you'll receive a Rod (+30 rod). If you don't get it, or if you don't see the chest (which happens 9% of the time), reload your game and try again. Keep doing this until you get the Rod. Remember that we are STILL IN THE ESTERSAND. The blue save crystal I am referring to is in the small area known as Passage Entrance. For some cold, hard numbers, the target chest has a 75% of appearing, a 60% chance to contain an item, and a 50% chance for the item to be the Rod. Your net probability is 22.5% for each time you reset the area. If your patience runs out, that's okay, just keep going for now. Now we can get down to business and one-shot most of the stuff that comes our way (if you didn't get the Rod, it'll take two rounds; no big deal). Stay in the Estersand and chain Wolves. Lots and lots of them. Make sure you don't kill indiscriminately because you want the chain for the loot. Money is hard to come by and you want to make as much as possible. Spend all LP on moving closer to the Quickening licenses in the accessories corner (upper right section). You can also head to the Giza Plains and kill Hyenas without breaking your chain, because Wolves and Hyenas are the same class of monster. However, Wolves are far more plentiful. Up to you. Thanks to Gavin B. for reminding me about the Hyenas. Once you have 2000 gil, head to Nalbina Fortress. Purchase the Bronze Helm and Bronze Armor to bolster your defenses. Buy the Leather Shield as well. It will be of use later. If you did NOT get the Rod, buy the Iron Sword here when you can. It'll cost another 1200 gil (for a total of 3200). Now, I do not recommend killing the Ichthons along the coast of the Banks of the Nebra (as originally suggested by freakzoidz) for an extended period of time. It IS a good way to gain a few levels when you're weak, but eventually, you're going to want to switch your focus to LP. While Ichthons give out much more experience compared to Wolves, they are only a temporary fix. We want to reach our Quickenings on the License Board as soon as possible, and to do that we need LP. So kill a few Ichthons to gain some levels quickly, then go back to chaining Wolves for LP and loot. Thanks to hellfire185@gmail.com for making me clarify myself here. Once you have two Quickenings (or MQs), switch your LP spending to augments. From Steal, head down and go through First Aid, Poach, Traveler, Shield Block, Battle Lore, and +100 HP. You don't have to do this immediately, but it's the easiest path to dive into the augments section (since the Gambit licenses are just empty spaces at the moment). You can pick up your third Quickening next to the +100 HP license, but I again don't recommend this because you don't need three MQs right away. You should save it for one of your other party members to access it easily. Instead, go for the last Quickening in the upper right. But again, don't fret over this now. This is long-term stuff. Getting back on track, you can stop chaining Wolves once you have two MQs. If you want to mix things up, head to the Westersand and fight there. dwm042@email.com suggests killing Cockatrices one screen north of the Galtea Downs. Move two screens away and come back. Anyway, it's up to you. You should be Lv 10-12 at this point (after some Ichthon killing and a lot of Wolf chaining). Now get out of the Estersand and head to the Giza Plains. In the southwest section (Starfall Field) there are two Lv 20ish Werewolves stalking around. There is a save point east of that area in the Crystal Glade. Keep your distance from the Werewolves and head for the save point. Save your game and get ready to beef yourself up. A lot. Now target one Werewolf with an MQ. Try to combo 3 Red Spirals. This will trigger Inferno and likely a) kill the targeted Werewolf and b) severely damage the other. The second one will immediately rush you, so run, run, or you'll be well done, until you reach the save point. Take a deep breath and head back to Starfall Field. Wipe out the other Werewolf with an MQ. This whole process nets you roughly 2400 Exp and 4 LP. At Lv 10-12 your levels should start to jump up after each round. By the way, I had you learn two MQs just in case. If you must use White Whorl, then by all means, use it. Note that sometimes Inferno won't be enough to kill the first Werewolf if your level's on the low end. If that's the case, you just have to hit and run twice before finishing the job on your third trip. When you've rested at the save point after killing your first two Werewolves, run east to the South Bank and then two screens west back to Starfall Field. The Werewolves have respawned. Now it's just an increasingly mindless cycle, with intermittent level-up music. Yay. Keep doing this until you're Lv 20-25. If you're lucky, you'll have gotten a Kotetsu (+50 katana), or even multiple ones. If not, you will eventually, you've got a lot of Werewolves to go through and the odds favor you. Anyway, having just one is fine. At this point, you should have learned the Shield Block license I mentioned earlier. Time to get another weapon. Go back to Nalbina and buy the Blind spell, and learn it via the License Board. Head to the Westersand and start killing Wolves there. Once you've killed 20+ of them, go to the southwest exit of the Galtea Downs, which leads you to a small, isolated area. The Lindbur Wolf should be here. De-equip your Kotetsu and equip your Leather Shield for defense. Keep casting Blind until it hits. You may need to run in and out to heal while you are doing this. Once the Lindbur Wolf is blind, kill its minions and then proceed to steal. Eventually, you will get the Gladius (+45 dagger)! Waste the Lindbur Wolf with your Kotetsu, or with the Gladius you just stole. By the way, I want to thank AmanoJ for confirming my suspicion that a flashing chain number is NOT an indicator of when a rare monster appears. I had left the tidbit on here about having your chain flash to get the Lindbur Wolf to spawn because it is more or less a true conditional in this case, but in general, you should NOT make this correlation. Werewolves are much easier to kill now since they are weak to Wind (inherent in your shiny new Gladius), so you can just whack them with regular attacks. You can continue to level up as much as you want. I recommend hitting around Lv 30. This process should not take longer than 9-10 hours if you've been doing everything correctly. Some of you might be wondering why I didn't tell you to go get a Gladius early. If you want to, by all means, go ahead. It'll speed up your werewolf-skinning if you manage to steal the Gladius at a low level (and survive). My method is merely safer and lessens the frustration when you do go after the Lindbur Wolf. It's not necessarily more efficient in this case, but that really depends on how lucky you are in terms of stealing the Gladius. Just a mild disclaimer. Go back to Rabanastre and unlock all of the Forgotten Grimoires: - 18000 gil -> Hunter's Monograph, enhances loot from beasts/avions Speak with Gatsly in the Muthru Bazaar after completing the Thextera hunt. - 19000 gil -> Knight's Monograph, enhances loot from giants/insects Talk to any weapon merchant more than 30 times. - 20000 gil -> Warmage's Monograph, enhances loot from amorphs/undead Read the hunt bulletin board more than 20 times. - 21000 gil -> Mage's Monograph, enhances loot from fiends Talk to any magick merchant over 25 times. - 22000 gil -> Scholar's Monograph, enhances loot from constructs Talk to any armor merchant more than 15 times. - 22000 gil -> Dragoon's Monograph, enhances loot from dragons/plants Read the hunt bulletin board more than 40 times (you can save this one for later if you want to differentiate between Scholar's and Dragoon's). - 25000 gil -> Sage's Monograph, enhances drops from elementals Talk to any merchant over 100 times (this doesn't take much additional effort after unlocking all of the other ones). It's unrealistic to want to buy all of these now. You should get either the Hunter's or Warmage's Monograph immediately, since you should have enough money to afford one or the other. If you have enough left over, get the other one. If not, make the other one the next one you get. Get the others in any order you want, but generally the Sage's Monograph should be obtained last, since you're not going to be chaining elementals anytime soon (or ever). Whew, now to actually advance the story! Unless ... OPTIONAL: You can head into Zertinan Caverns and chain Slimes to pick up a Winged Helm (+13 MDef, +5 Str, +3 Spd) or two (or six), or you can use MQs on Dive Talons in the Westersand to pick up Burning Bows (+63 bow), but this is really overkill and ultimately not efficient. The Dive Talons might have been if you could use regular attacks, but since it's a flying monster you'd have to spam MQs again, and I bet you're sick of that. Remember, that's what this guide is about. Efficiency. Let's move on. -------------------- 2c. Blitzing, Part 1 [02c] -------------------- [Timeframe] Between and including Rabanastre Palace and the Tomb of Raithwall. [Objective] Get through these areas as quickly as possible. There are optional pit stops to level further and gain lots of money, but they are entirely that: optional. Go through the Barheim Key sidequest. [Locations] Garamsythe Waterway, Royal Palace of Rabanastre, Garamsythe Waterway (again), Nalbina Dungeons, Barheim Passage, Dalmasca Estersand, Rabanastre (again), Bhujerba, Lhusu Mines, Dreadnought Leviathan, Rabanastre Westersand, Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, Nam-Yensa Sandsea, Tomb of Raithwall. [Notables] Francisca, Flowering Cactoid hunt, Nidhogg hunt, Demonsbane(s). [Procedure] Race through the game up until you exit the Barheim Passage into the Estersand. If you got a Mage's Habit from a Mimic in Barheim, that is a big plus. If not, no big deal. After you head back to Rabanastre, everyone will leave and you will have Vaan by himself again. Now that you have Gambits to play with, as well as the Protect spell, you can go back to killing Werewolves, which will be REALLY easy. You can chain them with impunity at this point. However, Balthier and Fran do not gain any experience with you, so they will not have any extra levels you add here once they rejoin (which is almost immediately, in terms of story progression). Basch, however, has not yet permanently joined (again, he will almost immediately), so he does reap the benefits here. Do what you want. Note that you can also head back into the Garamsythe Waterway and beat up on Gigantoads and Malboro Overkings, which individually give more more experience than the Werewolves, but you cannot efficiently defeat them with regular attacks like you can Werewolves. Therefore, I do not recommend this method for leveling. HOWEVER, you can do this for other reasons ... Credit here goes to branflakecereal@gmail.com. You can obtain a Francisca (+89 axe) from the Bazaar right now by selling off Wind Magicite x6, Malboro Fruit x4, and Pointed Horn x2. Wind Magicites are dropped by Dive Talons in the Westersand. Malboro Fruits are dropped by the Malboro Overkings in the sewers. Finally, Pointed Horns can be dropped by the Lizards in the sewers. The axe costs 10350 gil. You can only get one of them, but it's a huge boost for where you are in the game and doesn't take too long. ramza723@yahoo.com gets thanks for catching my error here (I originally said Gigantoads instead of Lizards). While we're here, take up the Flowering Cactoid hunt and complete it if you haven't done so already. Take the flower you get to Dantro's wife in the South Bank Village. Next up are Bhujerba and the Lhusu Mines. Big money to be made here. The second bridge in the Lhusu Mines has skeletons popping up en masse. Once you've mopped them up, run two sections away and come back. Chain as much as you want here. 99 Bone Fragments sell for 19107 gil. I will say that money is not that important right now. If you kill everything that comes your way, you can buy what you need to buy. As you will see, this only includes key accessories and enough armor to get by (skimping on armor is possible because we will focus on obtaining some killer weapons). The other Monographs generally don't make themselves worth it this early on (although now you understand why I told you to get the Warmage's). However, if you want to put your mind at ease and farm until you've bought up all the Grimoires, I won't blame you. Once you touch down in the Westersand after the events on the Leviathan, go back to Rabanastre and sign up for the Nidhogg hunt. Take a detour and ride an airship to Bhujerba. Make sure you choose the leisure craft option. Aboard the airship, buy a bunch of Teleport Stones. Traveling will be much easier from now on. Complete the Nidhogg hunt in Bhujerba. Thanks to dwm042 for catching this slip-up of mine (I originally said Nidhogg was in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea, oops). Anyway, hold on to that Great Serpentskin. In addition, you should complete the Rocktoise hunt in Bhujerba while you're at it. If you've been doing hunts diligently up to this point, your clan rank should have upgraded to Rear Guard, which means that you can now purchase Teleport Stones from the Clan Shop in the Muthru Bazaar. Thanks to M.W. for this tip. Now, keep going until you reach the Tomb of Raithwall. With your high levels, you may be tempted to try your luck with the first Demon Wall. He's not exactly a pushover, but he's pretty close. Just use your Kotetsu(s) and Gladius and MQ it to oblivion at your leisure. Once you defeat the first Demon Wall, kill the second one as well. Activate the side stairs in the area of the first Demon Wall by examining the area where the Demon Wall was and then save your game outside at the Gate Crystal. Now take those stairs all the way to the back. Go all the way down until the two paths converge. There is a 70% chance that there will be a chest here. If there is, there will be a 22.5% chance that it holds one Demonsbane (+59 sword). You can fight through all of the Tallows, or just grab the chest and run. If the chest isn't there or if you don't get the sword, reload your game and try again. If you run out of patience, then don't worry about it. The Demonsbane is merely temporary and will become obsolete once we get out of Raithwall. However, the fun part is that the chest respawns, so you can grab the Demonsbane, run back to the save point, save, reload, and try your luck again ad infinitum/nauseum. Get as many Demonsbanes as you want. If nothing else, they sell for 3000 gil each. Normally I wouldn't go into such detail on an optional item, but if you feel entitled to some reward for power-leveling to beat the first Demon Wall, then ... One other note, courtesy of civicized@hotmail.com. The Tallows can drop Broadaxes (+59 axe), if you want any of those. Like with the Demonsbanes, you don't have to do this, for the purposes of this guide. Due to the Francisca discovery that was mentioned earlier, this tip is now somewhat obsolete in the context of this guide, but I will leave the credit here. Let's assume you obtained one Demonsbane and move on. Well, what are you waiting for? Clear Raithwall. ---------------------------------- 2d. Zodiac Spear and Other Goodies [02d] ---------------------------------- [Timeframe] After returning to Rabanastre from Raithwall and before going to Jahara. [Objective] Defeat the Bomb King (and exploit it for gil). Grab the Zodiac Spear from Nabudis. Get the Barheim Key and steal one or more Deathbringer(s) from Ithuno. [Locations] Rabanastre, Nalbina Fortress, Mosphoran Highwaste, Salikawood, Necrohol of Nabudis, Dalmasca Estersand, Barheim Passage. [Notable Items and Events] Thief's Cuffs, Golden Amulet x6, Zodiac Spear(!), Barheim Key, Deathbringer(s), other stuff in Barheim (optional), Loxley Bow. [Procedure] Read this section IN ITS ENTIRETY before you decide on what to do. You'll see what I mean. First, go back to the Estersand. Complete the chain of events that unlocks the ferry for your usage and ends with Dantro's wife informing you that the Serpentskin you gave her (you still had it, right?) will speed up her mystery guest's recovery. I will not detail the sidequest here; it is well-documented elsewhere. Thanks to dwm042 (again) for pointing out that you can't do this until after you come back from Raithwall. If you sold the Great Serpentskin for some reason, all is not lost. However, you might not be able to do the Barheim stuff (see end of section) until a little bit later in the game (i.e. after some more story events). Okay, now back to the main task at hand. Head back to Rabanastre. Make ABSOLUTELY sure that all six characters know Libra, Protect, Shell, and as many HP augments as possible. This is the trickiest part of the game, but it doesn't take a genius to see that once this step is complete, the rest of the game is a breeze. I recommend that every character have around 2000 HP. To be on the safe side, I also recommend that you have a healthy supply of Phoenix Downs (maybe 30 or so) because you'll be using them. Purchase the best armor available in Rabanastre. When everything is set, go to Nalbina Fortress. Approach the two guards that block the Mosphoran Highwaste entrance and listen to their babble (hmm, those names look kind of familiar, no?). Speak to July nearby and hear her end of it before heading over to Gurdy and renting a chocobo. Now run at the guards again and pretty soon the way to Mosphoran will be open (and you can eventually get a Salamand Halcyon from July the next time you see her, which will be when you reach Archades and go to the Magick Shop). Stay on the chocobo and race through Mosphoran Highwaste to the Babbling Vale. Save your game and approach Luccio, the merchant. He has Thief's Cuffs and Golden Amulets for sale. Buy 1 Thief's Cuffs and 6 Golden Amulets. This sets you back 30000 gil, but doubling your LP gain for the rest of the game is not a bad trade-off, wouldn't you say? If you don't have 30000 gil, you should at least have 3000. Just buy the Thief's Cuffs. Run through the rest of Mosphoran and into the Salikawood. Head straight for the Gate Crystal in the middle. Save your game. The Bomb King is one screen away from you. Put on your game face and head north. The Bomb King will start out with some minions, so get rid of those first. However, once you've done so, pull back out to the crystal. The little ones won't be there when you go back (unless you reload your game or teleport out), so let's consider our options. If you equip the Thief's Cuffs, you can steal Bomb Shells from the Bomb King. The best part is, you can steal, exit, re-enter, and the Bomb King's stash will have renewed itself instantly! Bomb Shells sell for 896 a pop, so you can easily stand to make 80000-90000 gil in an hour. If you didn't have enough money to buy the Golden Amulets, definitely stay here and grab enough Bomb Shells to sell off so you can afford those. Otherwise, it's up to you how greedy you want to be. Be aware that if you leave the area (to sell your loot or whatever), the bomb kids will be back, so you should kill them off again first thing. However, if you want the Zodiac Spear, you're going to have to kill the Bomb King. So when you're satisfied with the fatness of your wallet, take a step back and examine your characters. You should still have one or more of each of the following: Kotetsu, Gladius, Demonsbane. Equip as many as you can. As far as your characters go, make sure that you have at least four characters that know MQs. This shouldn't be an issue by now, but it's the bare minimum if you want to be safe, and for those four, it is preferred that at least three of them have attained their Level 2 MQs. Once your characters are set up, rush in. Hack away at the Bomb King until it starts to call for help (reviving the little Bombs). This usually happens with 50% to 60% of its health remaining. When you see this, immediately start your MQs. Sometimes your chain won't kill it immediately. If this happens, you must not allow the Bomb King to stick around for much longer, since it will cast Renew to heal itself completely, so swap out one character for your fourth character with MQs and start another chain, hopefully one that will do enough damage to finish it off. Obviously, if you have more characters with MQs, you can repeat this process up to two more times. That was the hard part. Now for the fun part. Retreat to the save point again and rotate all of your characters around so that every single one of them has an active Libra/Protect/Shell. Save your game. Now, reform your party so that it has only one member. Run through where the Bomb King previously stood and take the left branch. Keep heading west and you will enter the Necrohol of Nabudis. This area is filled with deadly traps and difficult enemies. With your level of equipment, it is stupid to pick fights in here. That's not why we came, anyway. Avoid all traps and run from all the enemies. In the first area, keep heading west while searching for the exit. This is the hardest area to get through, since Baknamys are extremely aggressive. When you lose a character (and you will), swap out another one, but ONLY one. This guarantees maximal survivability. Once you reach the second area, stop to revive, heal, and recast Libra/Protect/Shell on everyone. Keep running, this time heading northeast. Eventually you will reach Cloister of the Highborn, the central area and home to what is for the most part the strongest weapon in the game. Make a right from where you come in and then the next left. You should be heading down a corridor heading north. Take the first left; this room should have sixteen treasure chests in it if you left the right chests alone earlier in the game. The Zodiac Spear (+150 spear) is in the second chest from the left in the row closest to you as you enter the room. You will likely have Elvorets on your tail, so grab the weapon and get out of there. Backtrack through the first two areas and exit out to the Salikawood. Make your way all the back to the Gate Crystal. Congratulations! Take a deeeeeeeeeeeep breath ... By the way, you can head back into the Necrohol if you're particularly desperate for Ethers. The Baknamy Merchant sells them at 222 gil each, which is a great price. Refer to sephirosuy's map for the location of the shop. Keep in mind that you should come back here later for Magepower Shishaks, Maximilians, Telekinesis, and Scathe. The first three are available after Giruvegan, and Scathe is available after the Pharos at Ridorana. There are a couple of other things we can do, and they're actually kind of optional, since you flat out don't need anything else to blast on through, but you should now be able to get the Barheim Key from the South Bank Village in the Estersand. Talk to Dantro's wife and then head on back around her hut. Her former patient will give you the Barheim Key. Head to Murmuring Defile to re-enter the Barheim Passage. Make your way to the Gate Crystal in the middle of the map. The credit for this following tidbit goes to goldeneye86. I have more or less paraphrased (rather minimally) his initial write-up. Go south one screen. Follow the bending tracks to the right. Take the left path when the tracks split again. In the next area (Special Op. Sector 5), run past the Silicon Tortoise and keep going until you see a rock on the right side of the tracks. On the far side of that rock there will be a chest. If there are two of them, the silver-looking one is Ithuno. If the silver chest is not there, reload your game. Examine the silver chest to provoke Ithuno. Let it chase you all the way back to the entrance of Special Op. Sector 5. At this point, just keep stealing until you get a Deathbringer (+90 sword). If you need to heal, go back one screen and heal before returning (Ithuno will still be there, like the Lindbur Wolf). Don't move back two screens or you will reset the area. Once you've obtained your Deathbringer, head back to the Gate Crystal and save your game. Now quit and reload. Repeat the entire process if you want another one. Rinse and repeat as many times as you like. goldeneye86 was also kind enough to inform us that you can obtain some very strong armor from enemies deeper within, or get them through drops. I've looked through GameFAQs and done some research on my own, and I've compiled the following as high-powered equipment you can collect in addition to Deathbringers: - Dragon Mail (+53 Def, +8 Str) from a chest. Credit GnatB: Head to the West Annex, which is the zone south of Barheim Passage/The Zeviah Span, and east of Barheim Passage/Terminus No. 7 Adjunct. Looking at the map of that section, there's a large area to the east, a fairly small section to the west, and a thin path that connects the two. The Dragon Mail is in a chest at the tip of the southwestern "peninsula" of the large east part. Like most chests, it may or may not be there, and it may contain the armor, a Knot of Rust, or some gil. - Cleric's Robes (+37 Def, +9 Mag) from a chest. Credit GnatB: The Cleric's Robes is in that tiny little bit of the Zeviah Span that's only accessible from the West Annex. - Gigas Hat (+38 MDef, +530 HP) as a rare steal from Dead Bones. - Celebrant's Miter (+50 MDef, +6 Mag, +5 Spd) from a chest. Credit Kimber Boh: To get the Celebrant's Miter, go to the Zeviah Span, the long, crooked elevated train track area. The main span there is fractured in the center, where the train tracks are. The chest with the Celebrant's Miter is on the SOUTH side (using the auto-map) of the fractured train tracks. The NORTH side of this chasm has a chest which is always a Mimeo. - Francisca as a rare drop from Mimeos. Get more of these here if you want to. spirit_guy_25 has provided me with a nice map for the armor locations: http://www.geocities.com/arthellinus/barheimchests.jpg I also don't think it's entirely necessary to get everything because the Zodiac Spear and Deathbringers are good enough at making the game much easier already. No matter how good your armor is, the enemies are not going to die any quicker. I don't see this as an indispensable step, but it's hard to deny that you can get some incredibly potent stuff here while you're hunting for Deathbringers. Just be aware that the enemies within are fairly powerful. The area with the Dragon Mail in particular has a ton of high-powered undead. It may take some time before you are comfortable surviving here (you could also formulate a strategy similar to how you ran in to get the Zodiac Spear). However, all of this takes time that you don't really need to spend. Remember, you'll STILL need to farm LP so that you can actually use all of this stuff. ***NOTE*** I do realize that if you go into Barheim FIRST and try your luck at getting Dragon Mails and such, you'll have a much easier time with both the Bomb King and the Necrohol. However, you'll have to survive Barheim instead. It's up to you to decide, since I'm not going to rearrange everything because I'm lazy. Finally, if you want a decent ranged weapon to round out your offense, complete the "Viera Rendezvous" (or "Viera Lover") sidequest in Rabanastre, which pretty much consists of running around for 5-10 minutes (minimal effort). Again, you can check the strategy guide (which erroneously reports that you have to visit Jahara first; you don't) or any other full walkthrough for details. You'll get a Loxley Bow (+51 bow), which is fairly nice. Now your weapons will be unstoppable for quite some time. You might be thinking something like, "Great! Now time to grind until my PS2 breaks!" However ... -------------------- 2e. Blitzing, Part 2 [02e] -------------------- [Timeframe] From the Zodiac Spear events to Archades. [Objective] Blast through everything with your superpowered weapons through to Archades. [Locations] Giza Plains, Ozmone Plains, Jahara, Golmore Jungle, Eruyt Village, Henne Mines, Paramina Rift, Mt. Bur-Omisace, Stilshrine of Miriam, Rabanastre (optional), Mosphoran Highwaste (optional), Salikawood, Phon Coast, Sochen Cave Palace, Old Archades, Archades. [Notables] Yoichi Bow, Embroidered Tippet x3. [Procedure] You heard me. Why? Because this guide is about efficiency. We want to get our hands on the Embroidered Tippet as soon as possible to maximize the amount of experience obtained. Since your party's levels should be in the mid to upper 30s, you should have little trouble getting through this portion of the game with the Zodiac Spear and, if you bothered to get them, your Deathbringers. The only thing I want to make note of is what you can do after clearing the Henne Mines. The -ra spells (Fira, Blizzara, Thundara) will be available at Eruyt Village (as well as Golden Amulets, but you have those already, right?). This is a good time to head back to Rabanastre for a hunt. If you've been doing hunts on a regular basis, the bill for White Mousse (Rank V) should be up. Doing this hunt right now will net you a Yoichi Bow (+76 bow), which is very useful. The fight is not hard; you have the Zodiac Spear and Fira does a ridiculous amount of damage to the mark. Now, technically you could have done this hunt immediately after Raithwall. I put it here because Fira makes the fight that much easier (I'm talking about 2000 damage per blast). Otherwise, just make your way to Old Archades. Don't run from fights COMPLETELY since you can always use more gil. Just fight whatever you see along the way, while taking the most direct path to your next destination. Take shortcuts if you can. For instance, you can just teleport from Mt. Bur-Omisace to the Salikawood with zero hassle. Also, you can give the wayward chocobo north of the Hunters' Camp a peck of Gysahl Greens and ride it all the way to the Gate Crystal in the Tchita Uplands. If you don't have any Gysahl Greens, go kill some Black Chocobos on the Ozmone Plains, or just buy them during an airship ride (much like how you got Teleport Stones, of which you should still have a healthy supply). You can steal Embroidered Tippets from Coeurls in the Tchita Uplands (with Thief's Cuffs). Thanks to Shane G. for pointing this out. However, I still recommend that you keep on going until you reach Archades. Once you arrive at Old Archades, buy some Embroidered Tippets if you don't have three already. But don't go running off just yet! I recommend that you complete the events in Archades, which will grant you access to the Gate Crystal. Now, we can finally have some fun. --------------- 2f. Catching Up [02f] --------------- [Timeframe] After accessing the Gate Crystal in Archades and before reaching the Draklor Laboratory. [Objective] Do everything you've been skipping, and doing it very easily. Accumulate lots of levels and money. Acquire Fomalhaut, as well as most of the requirements for Ultima Blade. [Locations] Anywhere, but specifically Golmore Jungle, the Feywood, Lhusu Mines Site 9, Dalmasca Westersand and Zertinan Caverns. [Notables] Fomalhaut, Gnoma Halcyon x1, Adamantite x1, Death Powder x2, Adrammelech, High Arcana x4. [Procedure] Buy the best armor you can afford in Archades, as well as the Aeroga spell, and go do whatever you need to do. Hunts, Monographs, all that good stuff. However, I will focus on the locations I singled out. By the way, just to remind you, your active members should have Embroidered Tippets equipped at all times, except when taking down hunts and bosses. Switch to Golden Amulets then. As for your reserve members, they should have Golden Amulets on all the time. - Golmore Jungle With Lente's Tear, enter the southernmost section. Clear out all of the Coeurls and Hellhounds (and Diresaur) and you will find your second massive skeleton spawning locale! You can easily manage a 90-chain before having to exit the area. When you come back, you'll have to kill all the Coeurls, etc. all over again, but it's worth it. These suckers (the skeletons) give out 950+ Exp each (with three members, and not counting the Embroidered Tippet effect) and are MUCH easier to kill than any other enemies that give a similar amount of experience. Just make sure to have a Blindna or Eye Drops gambit handy, since they use Flash very often. Also, a Grave Lord will sometimes show up during your skeleton chain. He shouldn't be too bad with the Zodiac Spear, and the Deathbringer's KO effect works on him. The Sturdy Bones and Burgeonets dropped make for nice cash, as well. My advice is to stick around here until you're around Lv 45. Thanks to gen_esis@yahoo.com for reminding me that you can Phoenix Down these guys to make things very easy. I don't recommend doing this for the whole time since you need to spend a bit of gil restocking, but this is efficient for the first few levels' worth of skeletons. After that, just stick to attacking regularly to save money, since you should need no more than one round to take out each skeleton after a few levels. Of course, you can also cast Cura/Curaga/Raise on them as well. Thanks to koalainusa@hotmail.com for notifying me of my negligence. You might be wondering about the Coeurls here. I told you earlier that you can steal Embroidered Tippets from Coeurls. So right now you might be asking me why I didn't tell you to simply come here and steal them immediately when you first gained access to this area. My answer is that according to the strategy guide, you CANNOT steal Embroidered Tippets from THESE Coeurls. They must be the ones in the Tchita Uplands. However, we all know that strategy guides are far from error-free. Please let me know if you absolutely, positively know that this information is wrong, and I will reconsider some things if it is indeed incorrect. - The Feywood (by the way, the music here is great) Enemies here are a lot harder and only give marginally more experience than the Golmore skeletons, but the drops here are ridiculously good. In fact, I will now introduce you to Kairi's "200000 gil in 20 minutes" guide, with minor editing: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This requires Lente's Tear. You need this so you can enter through the magic barriers in the Golmore Jungle. Head south in the Golmore Jungle until you get into Feywood. Once you get into Feywood, you will be in "The Feywood / Walk of Flitting Rifts". There are two southern exits; you will want to take the western one, which is "The Feywood / Walk of Dancing Shadow". Head all the way south and then to the east, so and zone into the next area, which is a safe zone with a blue save point crystal. This map is called: "The Feywood / Antiquity's End". When you moved past the southern part of "Walk of Dancing Shadow", you probably killed a few of the Mirrorknights. These are the guys that you will be chaining. Locate and get a general sense of where they are, and what you will be doing is circling the southern part of this map killing all the Mirrorknights. I prefer to do a clockwise run, starting at the bottom of the map and going around. Below are the spoils: Mirrorknights - CHAIN x95 Windslicer Pinion x99 = 113652 gil Mirror Scale x7 = 13664 gil Wind Crystal x46 = 7360 gil Aries Gem x3 = 450 gil Mirror Mail x19 = 76950 gil ---------------------------------- Total profit = 212076 gil Total time = 23 minutes Your time may vary, since my guys are at Lv 68, but when I originally posted this I was only Lv 50, which is plenty good enough to kill these guys. (By Kairi) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Fomalhaut Complete the Antlion hunt. The Killer Mantises that swarm you along with the Antlion can be nuked with Aeroga, since they are weak to Wind. Afterwards, return to the Lhusu Crystal and save your game. Head back to the place where the Antlion was. Hopefully there is a chest at the back of the room, and hopefully it contains Fomalhaut (+50 gun). No Diamond Armlet is needed. If you don't get it, just reload and try again. - Ultima Blade Enter the Westersand while there is a sandstorm. Locate the Gnoma Entite in the middle section, one screen north of the entrance to the Zertinan Caverns. Equip the Thief's Cuffs and commence stealing from the Entite. Once your steal is successful, run towards the western exit and re-enter. The Entite, which you made hostile, will be neutral again. Furthermore, if what you stole was NOT a Gnoma Halcyon, you can simply try your luck by stealing again. If you don't get it, exit and come back, and the Entite will be neutral again. Repeat this until you get your Gnoma Halcyon. It is one of the ingredients for Ultima Blade, which we want as soon as possible. Now for the Zertinan Caverns. Complete the Marilith hunt if you want. Find the save crystal, which is two screens away from the Athroza Quicksands (if the minimap becomes blurry, you're in the Athroza Quicksands, so turn around and get out of there immediately). Now save your game. If you feel pretty good about your chances (and you should), head into the Athroza Quicksands and meet Adrammelech (since it's a flying creature, it's a good thing you got Fomalhaut, right?). NOTE: It will be worth your while to try to steal High Arcana x4 from the Esper so you don't have to worry about getting these later. You need 6 of them for the Tournesol, and you can get 2 for free (see Section 3d). You can steal from Adrammelech, exit, re-enter to steal again, and repeat the process until you have enough. The High Arcana is a rare steal, so this might require some patience, but this is better than having to go out of your way later. After you've had your way with the Esper, make your way to the western end of the caverns. There are Bogeys located in both Drybeam Cavern and Darkened Wharf. Kill these guys until you get two Death Powders. If you were lucky, you might have stolen one from Ahriman in the Sochen Cave Palace. If so, you only need one more here. Finally, complete the Darksteel hunt and you will obtain one Adamantite, so only one more is needed before the Ultima Blade becomes available. You can't get it just yet, however. NOTE: I am aware that there are Adamantitans in the Barheim Passage. However, according to the strategy guide, these Adamantitans do NOT drop Adamantite (this is much like my earlier note about the Coeurls in Golmore). Of course, I'm as skeptical of the strategy guide as the next guy, but I have heard no news of this being disproven yet. Don't spend TOO much time leveling. There are better places still. Do what you need to and let's move on. -------------------- 2g. Clearing Draklor [02g] -------------------- [Timeframe] After accessing Gate Crystal in Archades. [Objective] Clear Draklor Laboratory. [Locations] Draklor Laboratory. [Notables] There are none. Just clear Draklor. [Procedure] Did I mention that this section just tells you to clear Draklor Laboratory? This should really take no more than 10-15 minutes, not including cutscenes. ------------------------- 2h. Balfonheim and Beyond [02h] ------------------------- [Timeframe] After reaching Balfonheim. [Objective] Break open the rest of the game. [Locations] Everywhere there is to go. [Notables] Everything you haven't gotten yet. [Procedure] Could I be more vague? Well, yes ... but barring the best places to level in the game and one other thing, I leave the rest up to you. I'll make mention of things worth mentioning. - Ultima Blade, Finale Once you can access Cerobi Steppe, you can kill the Adamantitans for the second piece of Adamantite you need. Alternatively, return to the Phon Coast and begin the Rare Monster Trophy sidequest. Your very first target, Thalassinon, has an Adamantite ripe for plucking (stealing, in other words). Once you have it, congratulations. This is the earliest that you can obtain Ultima Blade (+118 greatsword). Now you have the Zodiac Spear, Ultima Blade, and Fomalhaut immediately after you first arrive at Balfonheim. Not bad. - Leveling to 60-70 Head into the Nabreus Deadlands and find the Gate Crystal (careful, there's a Crystalbug you have to get rid of first). From the crystal, go south into The Slumbermead and hug the northern edge of the area. You will see a path that winds around the back of the second rock you come across that is unmarked on the map. Follow this trail and you will end up in The Fog Mutters. Keep moving west and you will enter a small area called Overlooking Eternity. This is the third and ultimate mass field of skeletons. You can generally wipe out about 40-45 of them per visit. Return to The Fog Mutters and then come back, and we have ourselves a party. It has been documented by both myself and others that with Embroidered Tippet equipped, you can gather about 1200000 Exp (that's 1.2 million) in an hour. The numbers speak for themselves. That's great, you say, but looking at some other numbers, it would still take a long time to get your levels REALLY high. Oh well, it can't be that easy, right? Right? - Leveling to 99, Minimal Effort Edition Go whoop on some Espers if you haven't already. In fact, you could have chosen to skip the Deadlands altogether and come straight here if you met the necessary requirements. I'm talking, of course, about the secret area of the Henne Mines, which you can only unlock after you gather 10 or more Espers AND complete the Mindflayer hunt. Thanks to goldeneye86 for reminding me about the Mindflayer. Naturally, it would be easiest to defeat everything but the three hardest ones, which are Chaos, Ultima, and Zodiark, so that is what I recommend. And of course, you can't even reach Zodiark before unlocking this area anyway. If you don't want to wait that long (i.e. until after the Pharos, since you'd need Hashmal and Famfrit), you pretty much have to beat Chaos and Ultima first. Neither is particularly difficult at Lv 70, although you should make sure you get Telekinesis before you fight Chaos, since the Attack command is sealed for that fight. Regardless, if you do some quick counting, you'll realize that this area cannot be accessed until after you clear Giruvegan and obtain the Treaty- Blade. So do your thing however you like and then speak with Geomancer Yugelu in Jahara to open up this area (he's across from the shop). Before entering this extremely dangerous place, you must have the following: - Arise - Curaja - Disable OR Sleepga, although Sleepga is preferred - Bubble - Protectga - Float Faith, Hastega and Shellga are nice, but not necessary. Teleport to the Henne Crystal. Now cast Protectga, Bubble and Float on your whole party and start running through Phase 2 Dig (east of where you fought Tiamat). Head straight all the way to the end, where a Gizamaluk is duking it out with a couple of Abysteels, and grab the map. You might have to fight the creeps, but the bats should be weakened and the Gizamaluk is pretty easy. Now open up the map and locate Pithead Junction C. This is where you want to go, so keep running all the way until you get there, refreshing Float as is necessary. Take a breather for a minute once you reach Pithead Junction C. This is a very suspicious four-way junction with a blue-red gate switch. The suspicion, of course, stems from memories of about twenty Jelly enemies dropping down on you when you hit the switches in other areas of the Henne Mines. Here, you get to deal with about twenty Lv 65ish Abysteels when you hit the switch. But that's GOOD news for us. Why? - Abysteels are undead and therefore can be damaged by healing spells. - Abysteels are weak to Disable (credit leeboo1211) AND Sleep (credit Garbo). - At Lv 65, Abysteels give out 3000+ Exp each. That's when you have three party members. That's without factoring in Embroidered Tippet. So basically, Disable/Sleepga + three waves of Curaja = tens of thousands of experience in about 20-30 seconds. The actual numbers come out to something like 3 million per hour. Believe it! Of course, keep Bubble and Protectga up at all times because even one bat can still kill a vulnerable character. However, once your gambits are set, you don't really have to do much of anything. With your Warmage and Headhunter augments active, the rate at which you regain MP by beating up on Abysteels is utterly ridiculous, so MP is essentially a non-issue. If you want to play it extra safe, buy three Demon Shields from the shop in Nabudis and equip all of your characters with measures. This will give them +65 to Evade, so the bats will barely touch you. You can even reasonably risk not using Disable/Sleepga, although the damage still piles up very quickly if the bats do hit you. By the way, Abysteels drop Demon Shields themselves, and you can sell a bunch of them for a huge chunk of cash. The first time you flip the switch, it will turn from blue to red. After you kill the Abysteels, take the east exit. Make the first left (it isn't very far) over to another area. Now double back and head back to the switch room. Hit the switch again, which makes it go from red back to blue. The Abysteels come down again. Mop them up and then hit the switch, turning it red again. Now exit out east, take the first left, return to the switch room, and so on. Very, very fast. Well, I can't think of a better note to end on. Happy trails and all that. I hope that by following this guide, you will be able to do everything in the game in MUCH less time than if you simply progressed through it normally. =============================================================================== 3. Tips and Tricks [030] =============================================================================== ----------------- 3a. Auto-Leveling [03a] ----------------- There is a trick to auto-level that is well-documented on the GameFAQs boards. It involves returning to the Stilshrine of Miriam after accessing Mateus. Now, I personally am not a fan of auto-leveling tricks. Admittedly, it's "efficient" because you don't have to do anything, even though it takes a lot more actual time, but I think that it takes even more fun out of the game than the power- leveling methods I've supplied in the walkthrough, which take much less time with a minimal amount of effort that at least makes you feel like you're at least putting something into it. However, for completion's sake, I will grant you all the inclusion of the auto-leveling method in this document. I take absolutely no credit in the development of any of this. The original method, by Crimson Skys (edited as I see fit): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Exploiting Negalmuur’s Endless Spawns This is a trick to exploiting 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 3 MQs 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 10-20 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 Stilshrine 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 the Ward of the Sword-King, which is the corridor west of the 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 only them because they have less than 3000 HP and Negalmuur has over 18000 HP. With each kill you get 1 LP and about 340 Exp per character (assuming you have a party of three). This can be further enhanced with Embroidered Tippet. He will summon Ghasts endlessly. 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 will rarely have Doom cast on him so not to 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 at the save crystal in the next room. Reset your game; this will let you encounter him in the future. (By Crimson Skys) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are other versions of this trick (i.e. different gambit setups), but you can search for those on your own time or come up with your own methods. I have given you the basic idea, so if you want to use this, be my guest. Do realize, however, that you'll have to leave your PS2 on for a long time if you want to do this to get all the way up to Lv 99, since each Ghast gives you a measly amount of experience. Do NOT e-mail me to ask about this section, since I claim no responsibility for its content. ------------------ 3b. The Big Glitch [03b] ------------------ The big glitch in Final Fantasy XII is as follows: 1) During a chain, if the player successfully petrifies an enemy of a different type that, when defeated normally, would break the chain, the chain will not be broken once the different enemy type turns to stone. In addition, any loot dropped by this enemy will match the quality of the loot being dropped by the chained enemy. For example, if after chaining 60 Hyenas, the loot being dropped is Level 4 Chain loot (represented by a large golden ball), petrifying a Wildsnake mandates that any loot dropped by the Wildsnake will also be of the Level 4 Chain type (i.e. also a large golden ball). (Credit: ??? <- someone let me know so I can assign proper credit) 2) Furthermore, after the petrified enemy is vanquished, if the player moves far enough away (e.g. one minimap screen away from its original position), the petrified enemy will immediately respawn upon returning, without requiring that the player move two screens away and back. (Credit: Garbo) To make a long story short, if you're hunting for those Snake Skins on your way to get the Tournesol, you can chain a bunch of Hyenas before petrifying the Wildsnake in the Toam Hills in order to get multiple Snake Skins at once. ----------------------- 3c. Other Helpful Hints [03c] ----------------------- - Chaining Rare Monsters Yes, you can chain rare monsters. Obviously, this refers to non-trophy rare monsters, and more specifically, this only applies to monsters that show up only as a matter of chance, meaning you don't have to specify certain conditions like killing x number of monsters of a different type. This is a good way (good being relative, since it's all still rather painful) to obtain Grand Helms and Yagyu Darkblades, since those two pieces of equipment are RARE drops from rare monsters. For details, it's just easier to refer to my notes on the Yagyu Darkblade, which is in the next sub-section. - Stealing from Neutrals If you steal from a neutral enemy (thus making it hostile) and move one screen away, the enemy will be neutral once you re-enter. Its stash will also be intact again! This makes stealing those Halcyons from various Entites much easier, although it's still pretty annoying. I have already referred to this trick earlier in my discussion of the Ultima Blade. - Stealing from Rare Trophy Monsters Since trophy monsters do not reappear once you kill them, and since some of them have very good loot for stealing, if you need more than one of what they hold, steal from them, return to a save point, save, reload, steal from them again, return to the save point, etc (of course, you need to keep at it until they show up again). This is particularly useful when you are farming ingredients for the Tournesol. [more later] --------------------- 3d. Rare Item Details [03d] --------------------- This is for all of you lunatics out there who need one of every piece of equipment or one of every item or something to that effect. Lunatics like me. This section also contains strategies to obtain SOME of the high-rank Bazaar trades. I say SOME because I will only discuss the ones where there are various degrees of shortcuts in obtaining them. The listings in this section are in ALPHABETICAL order. When I discuss rare monster in some of the loot-obtaining tricks, I will NOT go into details on how to actually make them appear. There are other great resources for that. Eksir Berries ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can return to the place where you got the Eksir Berries before reaching Raithwall (northeast section of the Nam-Yensa sandsea, where the blue save crystal is) at some later time. The plant there will have flowered again, and you can pick some more Eksir Berries. Elixirs / Hi-Ethers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With a Diamond Armlet equipped, many regular treasure chests (that normally give you insignificant items or amounts of gil) have a 10% chance to reward you with either an Elixir or a Hi-Ether. Roughly speaking, if you walk around opening everything in some of the late-game locales while wearing a Diamond Armlet, you have a chance to get an Elixir or Hi-Ether roughly one out of every ten chests. The Feywood is especially good for this; almost all of the chests there hold Elixirs at a 10% chance with Diamond Armlet. Needless to say, this is also an excellent way to boost your stockpile of Knots of Rust. Grand Helm ~~~~~~~~~~ The Tower on 88F of the Pharos Third Ascent drops this (rare). You probably had to fight it on your first trip up. Go back to the Pharos and return to the top. You can take a bunch of lifts to skip through most of the First and Second Ascents, but you have to crawl through the entire Third Ascent. It won't take too long, though. Now that you're at the top, save your game. Take the looooooong trek back to the 90F elevator and return to 88F. The Tower won't be here, so take the way stone to 79F, where you'll end up on the other side of the room with the map urn for the Third Ascent. Now teleport back to 88F. Keep doing this until the Tower shows up. Now, if you fight it where you stand, it will fall over the edge when it dies, essentially putting it "out of bounds". It will NOT drop anything if this happens. Therefore, because it seems to prefer to target your leader, move around behind it. This will turn it around. If it doesn't turn around, manually take control of each of your characters and move all of them behind the Tower so their backs are against the edge. Now it will fall fully onto the platform when it dies, enabling it to drop an item. Once it falls, teleport to 79F again. Turn your gambits off. Run through 79-80F and run through the entire Third Ascent again back to 88F, skipping all fights along the way. Unfortunately, you have no choice, because you need to move two areas away, but the doors enclosing the map urn area are one-way, so once you teleport back down to the Second Ascent, for example, and return, they will be closed again, so you can't just go back the way you came. It only takes an extra minute or two anyway. The annoying part after coming back to 88F is the shuffling back and forth to 79F using the way stone until the Tower shows up again. However, this is the only way to chain Towers. Keep going until you get your Grand Helm(s) to fill out your collection. In my opinion, though, the Magepower Shishak is better anyway, because you get a +5 boost to Magick Power at the expense of -1 Magick Defense and -1 Strength. I'd take that. Grand Armor ~~~~~~~~~~~ You can get Grand Armors from Helvineks in the Necrohol of Nabudis. To get a Helvinek to appear, you must kill six Oversouls. The Helvinek will appear after you kill the last Oversoul. Oversouls show up randomly in the Necrohol, so just spend some time there to get them to appear. (I know, I know, I said I wouldn't provide details on how to make rare monsters appear. Well, I guess I feel generous about this one.) IndigoSage describes a wonderful trick in order to obtain the Grand Armor, although he says that he did not originally devise it. In any case, thanks to IndigoSage for bringing it to my attention. It turns out that you can actually chain Helvineks, possibly due to some glitch in the game that may or may not be effective only on the Helvinek, the Darkmare family, or enemies that can teleport in general (like Bogeys and Oversouls). At the very least, I tried to pull off the following trick on non-teleporting enemies and it didn't seem to work. Anyway, in order to chain Helvineks, kill your six Oversouls and then lure the Helvinek that pops up to the edge of the screen (as in, to the line separator). If you kill it and exit the screen BEFORE the Helvinek completely collapses and you get the Exp/LP indicator on your screen, the Helvinek will IMMEDIATELY respawn once the next screen loads (essentially following you), with full health and its bounty replenished for your convenience. You have about two seconds to grab the loot and exit the screen after each kill, so you'll need to do some juggling with your party. Set one of your characters up to be the main attacker. Set another character to have a high defense and set a Self -> Decoy gambit for this second character. Turn gambits off for your third character and take control of him. Now, let your other members do their thing. With the character you have under control, push up against the Helvinek at all times and nudge him so that he's as close to the line as possible. Once the Helvinek falls, push up against him some more and leave just as you grab the loot. Sometimes the Helvinek will teleport a few steps away. If he doesn't have much health left when he does this, forget about the loot and concentrate on keeping the chain alive. Watch for the chain number to appear and leave immediately. There's no point in risking your chain in this case. Make this a general rule of thumb. If you're cutting it close, choose the chain over the loot. Naturally, you should clear the area of any other enemies before you go to work on the Helvinek. I find that shuffling between the second and third screens (counting from the Salikawood entrance) is the best. There's a wide staircase there and you have plenty of room to work with. But is the Grand Armor worth using? It provides +61 Defense and +12 Strength. The Maximilian provides +58 Defense, +1 Magick Defense, +9 Strength, and +6 Speed. I'm going to give the nod to the Maximilian here, unless you really are dying to have that extra +3 Strength. Here are the various combinations for Magepower Shishak/Maximilian/Grand Helm/Grand Armor. Heavy Armor 9 ........... +58 Def | +40 MDef | +20 Str | +5 Mag | +6 Spd Heavy Armor 10 .......... +61 Def | +40 MDef | +24 Str | | Grand Helm/Maximilian ... +58 Def | +41 MDef | +21 Str | | +6 Spd MPS/Grand Armor ......... +61 Def | +39 MDef | +23 Str | +5 Mag | As I've said previously, I greatly prefer the Magepower Shishak to the Grand Helm (and it should be obvious why), where as the Maximilian vs. Grand Armor comparison is a bit harder to call. I'm still attracted to the boost to Speed, but it's up to you. Koga Blade / Iga Blade ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is only a 50% chance that the treasure chest inside the Pilgrim's Door in the Sochen Cave Palace (you know, the waterfall puzzle) holds the Iga Blade. Otherwise, you get the Koga Blade. Although you can obtain a Koga Blade from the Cockatrice sidequest, there is no obvious alternative method to get an Iga Blade. If you missed out on the chest and you really want an Iga Blade, it is a rare drop from Bogeys in the Zertinan Caverns. Interestingly enough, Koga Blades are also rare drops, but from the much tougher Ash Wyrms (Mosphoran Highwaste, Great Crystal Upper Layer). Sagittarius ~~~~~~~~~~~ The Sagittarius is the best bow in the game. Buy this from the Bazaar for 60000 gil by selling off Sagittarius Gem x4, Beastlord Horn x3, and Moon Ring x3. > Sagittarius Gem + Steal from Shemhazai. + Rare steal from Slime (Zertinan Caverns), Oiling (Stilshrine of Miriam), Hecteyes (Henne Mines). These are a snap to get from Oilings. Go to the Stilshrine of Miriam and head to the Ward of the Sword-King (one screen west of the blue save crystal). Clear out all of the enemies there (Blood Gigases and usually a Darkmare). Now just hang around and wait near the southern end of the north-south corridor for a minute or two. Keep your field of vision south (towards the colossus). Scour the area again to check for respawning enemies (and kill any you find). Return to your waiting spot and wait around some more. If you start to move again, you SHOULD see a new passage on the minimap open up on the west side, around the central part of the corridor (off the southernmost wall section to the west). Take this new passage and go up the stairs. Head all the way to the end and cast Float before you leave the stairs, since there is a Berserk/Confuse trap waiting for you. Now exit the stairs at the top and immediately double back. Now, as you head down the steps, Oilings will drop down en masse. PETRIFY these guys. The trick works. After you've petrified them, start stealing with Thief's Cuffs. Using the petrify trick will grant you an unlimited supply of Oilings on these stairs until you have enough Sagittarius Gems. By the way, if you return to the area up top (with the Berserk/Confuse trap), there is a chest with a 50% chance of holding a Shell Shield. > Beastlord Horn + Drops from Humbaba in the Mosphoran Highwaste. The petrify trick works on these guys as well! Chain Worgens around the Highwaste before using the trick on the two Humbabas in the southern portion of Summit Path (near the Estersand entrance). These guys are your prime targets because there will be little clutter once you clear the other enemies in the area, which should be just Worgens. Easy pickings. > Moon Ring + Reward for Ring Wyrm hunt. + Drops from Ash Wyrm (Mosphoran Highwaste summit after Exodus is defeated, Great Crystal Upper Layer). You can try your luck with the Ash Wyrm at Mosphoran, but there is only one there and you can't chain or petrify it. It's easier to wait until you gain access to the Great Crystal Upper Layer. Referring to sephirosuy's map on GameFAQs, the best place to fight the Ash Wyrm is the four-way junction north of the Capricorn Gate. Kill the first one, then head south and east (past the Capricorn Gate) and return to the junction to find another Ash Wyrm to continue your chain. Scorpion Tail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Scorpion Tail is the best melee breaker (axe/hammer) in the game. Buy this from the Bazaar for 60000 gil by selling off Scorpio Gem x4, Wyrm Bone x3, and Charged Gizzard x3. > Scorpio Gem + Drops from Gargoyle Baron (Giruvegan). If you want to chain, use the area just past the first blue save crystal (the screen where you eventually encounter the Tyrant). Double two screens back towards the entrance to reset the area. + Steal from rare monster Larva Eater (Great Crystal Upper Layer, XIII and XIV way stones). > Wyrm Bone + Drops/steal from Skulwyrm (Zertinan Caverns, Great Crystal Upper Layer). These are pretty easy to get. In Zertinan, Skulwyrms appear west of the Athroza Quicksands (where Adrammelech is). > Charged Gizzard + Drops/steal from Thunderbug (Henne Mines). For the quickest method to get them, head one screen east from the Gate Crystal. Circle around to the southwestern corner of that area. There should be two Thunderbugs there (remember, they're mimics). Steal from them and kill them, then run back up north to where you fought Tiamat (two screens away), which resets the area. Now rinse and repeat. Stone Shot ~~~~~~~~~~ These is the best gun ammunition in the game. Buy this from the Bazaar for 15000 gil by selling off Libra Gem x3, Mirror Scale x2, Tyrant Bone x2. > Libra Gem + Drops from many enemies that also drop pelts (Wolf Pelt, Quality Pelt, and so on). To be more specific, you can get them from Tartarus (Feywood, north of the save crystal) and Ose (Great Crystal), for example. > Mirror Scale + Drops from Mirrorknights (Feywood). Mirrorknights have already been detailed in the walkthrough as a great way to make money, so getting Mirror Scales should be no problem. > Tyrant Bone + Drops from Wild Saurian (Dalmasca Estersand). + Steal from Pylraster. I recommend that you do this. Teleport to the Pharos Gate Crystal. If you accepted the Pylraster hunt, your mark will be just outside the tower. Exit, steal from him, re-enter the tower, exit again, steal again, etc. It's a semi-rare steal, but it shouldn't take too long. Tournesol ~~~~~~~~~ The Tournesol is the strongest two-handed sword in the game and has the unique property of having a higher combo rate than any other greatsword. Buy this from the Bazaar for 600000 gil by selling off Serpentarius x3, Empyreal Soul x3, and Gemsteel x3. As you examine the following lists, I highly suggest that you repeatedly steal from rare trophy monsters when you can, since they will be GUARANTEED steals. Refer to Section 3c, "Stealing from Rare Trophy Monsters", for details. Regarding these first three "primary" ingredients, you can buy them from the Bazaar more than once. You should be able to infer this since, for example, I have said that you need Gemsteel x3, yet I have only provided two ways to get Gemsteels. Anyway ... > Serpentarius + Obtain from Montblanc when you control all 13 Espers. + Steal from Zodiark. + Buy "Jewel of the Serpent" at the Bazaar after selling High Arcana x1, Snake Skin x4, Serpent Eye x2 (see info on secondary items below). > Empyreal Soul + Obtain from Montblanc after reaching the "High Guardian" clan rank. + Buy "Jewel of Creation" at the Bazaar after selling High Arcana x1, Soul Powder x1, Wargod's Band x2 (see info on secondary items below). > Gemsteel + Obtain from Montblanc when you control 8 Espers. + Buy "Matchless Metal" at the Bazaar after selling Scarletite x1, Damascus Steel x2, Hell-Gate's Flame x2 (see info on secondary items below). As for the secondary items: > High Arcana + Obtain from Montblanc after reaching the "Paragon of Justice" clan rank. + Obtain from Montblanc when you control 4 Espers. + Drops from rare monsters after obtaining Canopic Jar. + Rare steal from any Esper. As I have detailed in the walkthrough (Section 2f), it is easiest to repeatedly steal from Adrammelech until you have enough. Credit to JonathanEyoon for making me aware that you can run from Adrammelech. + Buy "Life Crystal" at the Bazaar after selling Arcana x10, Feystone x1, Soul of Thamasa x2. * Arcana : Drops from any regular monster after obtaining Canopic Jar. * Feystone : Steal from any Entite. : Steal from any Crystalbug. * Soul of Thamasa : Reward for Deathscythe hunt. : Drops from Oversoul (Necrohol of Nabudis, random). : Steal from rare trophy monster Ishteen (Barheim Passage, The Zeviah Span). > Snake Skin + Drops/steal from Wildsnake (Giza Plains Dry, Toma Hills). This is the ONLY place that I know of where there's a Wildsnake, and there is ONLY the one that is there. I suggest that you either run through the nomad camp to the east and then back again to make it respawn or chain some Hyenas and then use the petrify trick. > Serpent Eye + Reward for Marilith hunt. + Drops from Basilisk (Feywood, any area south of Redolent Glade where you fight Rafflesia). > Soul Powder + Reward for Ixtab hunt. + Drops from Etem (Henne Mines secret area). + Steal from rare trophy monster Vorres (Necrohol of Nabudis, Hall of the Ivory Covenant). > Wargod's Band + Drops from Leynir (Nabreus Deadlands). There is a group of three just north of the Gate Crystal. You can chain them, move two areas south past the crystal, head back and chain some more. Sometimes a fourth or fifth Leynir will run over from the western part of the area. Don't be in a rush to head over there yourself, since two Baknamys are in the way. + Steal from rare trophy monster Victanir (Nam-Yensa Sandsea, Yellow Sands). Unlike for other rare items, I don't really recommend that you opt for the stealing route with Wargod's Bands. Chaining Leynirs is pretty painless and will give you quite a bit of experience as well as a large chunk of gil after selling their drops. > Scarletite + Drops from Emeralditan (Nabreus Deadlands). + Steal from rare trophy monster Aspidochelon (Cerobi Steppe, Feddik River). > Damascus Steel + Drops from Bune (Pharos). + Steal from rare trophy monster Bluesang (Cerobi Steppe, Crossfield). + Steal from rare monster Anchag (Paramina Rift, Karydine Glacier). > Hell-Gate's Flame + Drops from Cerberus (Feywood, areas north of the save crystal). Tartarus and Cerberus are the same family of monsters, so you can use both to chain if you want. Phew. Pretty ugly, ain't it? Yagyu Darkblade (YD for short) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Complete the Antlion hunt and head to the Phon Coast after unlocking the Ancient Man of Mystery hunt (you should wait until you're Lv 65-70 because of the ramp up in difficulty). Don't accept the hunt just yet. Now, at the Phon Coast, near the western end of the Hunters' Camp, there will be a Bhujerban who apparently fell from Bhujerba and (...) survived. Anyway, pick up the Site 11 Key next to him and teleport to the Lhusu Crystal, which you should have passed on the way to Antlion. Now unlock Site 11 and make your way to the Lasche Span. Of course, if you've already done the hunt when you read this, then whatever. If you accepted it but haven't completed it, you'll have to fight a battle just west of the Gate Crystal before you move on. Make sure you steal the Genji Shield (after the mark is down to 40% health) and Genji Gloves (after the mark is down to 20%) during this fight. You won't complete the hunt here. When you do go to complete it (much deeper into the mines, past the Lasche Span), make sure you steal again at these intervals during the second fight for the Genji Helm and Genji Armor. But I digress. At the Lasche Span, you should see two Lv 60 Aeronites (very tough) and possibly Bombshell. Bombshell is the guy we want. If you don't see him, skip to the next paragraph. If you do see him, kill him but do NOT kill the Aeronites. This starts your chain of Bombshells. You can adjust your gambits by setting your target to Foe: water-weak. If he drops a YD, then you are one lucky son of a submariner. If you kill Bombshell and he doesn't drop it, retreat to Site 9 (two screens away) via the shortcut that you should have opened (i.e. the upper entrance) and return. If Bombshell is there, repeat the process. If not, read on. Now run straight through the Lasche Span to Site 5. Turn off your gambits and start holding down on your analog stick without changing the camera. This means that you will start shuffling back and forth between the Lasche Span and Site 5. Do this for about half a minute to one minute (you might as well find something else to do while you're doing this). Head back to the Lasche Span and run through it. I can virtually guarantee you that the Bombshell will be there again. Lure it towards one end of the screen (so that the Aeronites will hopefully leave you alone) and turn on your gambits again. Kill it and your chain will go up by 1 ... It took me 2 hours and 21 minutes before he dropped 3 YDs all at once on the 27th try. I hope you have better luck than I did. However, I did not start following my own method until around the last half hour or so. I estimate that it takes about 5 minutes to kill one Bombshell, head to Site 9, come all the way back and then do the entering and leaving thing for a bit. Here's the explanation. After the enemies on the Lasche Span are completely reset, which involves moving two screens away, the Bombshell has a chance of spawning every time you enter the area. You can exit and re-enter until he shows up. Once he DOES show up, he will NOT disappear if you move one screen away. If you move two screens away, he MIGHT disappear because you've reset the Lasche Span again. Hopefully, this makes sense. So basically, if you keep exiting and re-entering, Bombshell will show up eventually. Once he's there, he'll stay there. Now that you know this, you can chain any non-trophy random-spawning rare monster you want. Of course, the only other one you really need to bother with is the Tower in the Pharos, which I covered above. Also, you can't really apply this method to chaining Towers anyway. Note that I chose to run in and out of Site 5 instead of Site 11 because Site 5 loads much faster, for some reason. Zodiac Escutcheon / Brave Suit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (in reference to sephirosuy's Great Crystal Upper Layer map on GameFAQs) The treasure chest behind the Taurus II gate holds either a Zodiac Escutcheon or a Brave Suit. My advice is to definitely go for the shield. The one in Barheim is horrendously annoying to get, where as the other Brave Suit in the Henne Mines secret area is a guaranteed reward from a chest that has a 25% chance of appearing, which isn't too bad. [more later] ------------------- 3e. Character Stats [03e] ------------------- Here is a breakdown of stat growth for the party members, taken from the strategy guide. These are base stats and do not take into account Quickening cartridges or augment licenses. The abbreviations should be obvious. Vaan ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | LV | HP | MP | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | 1 | 82-84 | 25-27 | 23 | 20 | 24 | 24 | | 10 | 282-316 | 40-51 | 28 | 24 | 27 | 25 | | 20 | 645-742 | 62-89 | 33 | 28 | 31 | 26 | | 30 | 1111-1293 | 84-127 | 39 | 33 | 35 | 28 | | 40 | 1552-1814 | 111-176 | 44 | 37 | 39 | 29 | | 50 | 2257-2650 | 134-217 | 50 | 42 | 42 | 31 | | 60 | 2878-3387 | 156-255 | 55 | 46 | 46 | 32 | | 70 | 3230-3802 | 172-282 | 61 | 51 | 50 | 33 | | 80 | 3637-4281 | 188-309 | 66 | 55 | 54 | 35 | | 90 | 4192-4938 | 199-325 | 72 | 60 | 57 | 36 | | 99 | 4818-5681 | 204-330 | 77 | 64 | 61 | 37 | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Balthier ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | LV | HP | MP | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | 2 | 99-103 | 20-22 | 25 | 17 | 24 | 24 | | 10 | 277-311 | 32-41 | 29 | 20 | 27 | 25 | | 20 | 630-725 | 51-75 | 34 | 24 | 31 | 26 | | 30 | 1084-1261 | 71-109 | 39 | 28 | 34 | 28 | | 40 | 1513-1768 | 95-153 | 44 | 32 | 38 | 29 | | 50 | 2198-2581 | 115-189 | 50 | 36 | 41 | 31 | | 60 | 2803-3299 | 134-223 | 55 | 40 | 45 | 32 | | 70 | 3146-3702 | 149-247 | 60 | 44 | 48 | 34 | | 80 | 3542-4168 | 163-271 | 65 | 48 | 52 | 35 | | 90 | 4082-4808 | 173-285 | 71 | 52 | 55 | 37 | | 99 | 4691-5531 | 177-289 | 75 | 56 | 58 | 38 | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Fran ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | LV | HP | MP | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | 2 | 85-89 | 25-27 | 23 | 18 | 20 | 23 | | 10 | 256-288 | 38-49 | 27 | 22 | 23 | 24 | | 20 | 594-685 | 60-88 | 32 | 26 | 26 | 25 | | 30 | 1029-1199 | 83-127 | 37 | 30 | 30 | 27 | | 40 | 1440-1684 | 110-177 | 42 | 34 | 33 | 28 | | 50 | 2097-2464 | 134-218 | 47 | 39 | 36 | 30 | | 60 | 2677-3151 | 156-257 | 52 | 43 | 40 | 31 | | 70 | 3005-3538 | 172-284 | 57 | 47 | 43 | 32 | | 80 | 3385-3985 | 189-312 | 62 | 51 | 46 | 34 | | 90 | 3902-4598 | 200-328 | 67 | 55 | 50 | 35 | | 99 | 4486-5290 | 205-333 | 71 | 59 | 53 | 36 | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Basch ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | LV | HP | MP | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | 3 | 138-145 | 19-22 | 26 | 21 | 20 | 23 | | 10 | 306-340 | 28-37 | 30 | 23 | 22 | 24 | | 20 | 673-772 | 46-68 | 35 | 27 | 25 | 25 | | 30 | 1146-1330 | 64-99 | 40 | 31 | 28 | 26 | | 40 | 1593-1858 | 86-139 | 46 | 35 | 31 | 28 | | 50 | 5307-2706 | 105-172 | 51 | 39 | 34 | 29 | | 60 | 2937-3453 | 122-203 | 56 | 43 | 36 | 30 | | 70 | 3294-3873 | 132-225 | 62 | 47 | 39 | 31 | | 80 | 3706-4359 | 149-247 | 67 | 51 | 42 | 33 | | 90 | 4269-5025 | 157-260 | 72 | 55 | 45 | 34 | | 99 | 4903-5778 | 161-264 | 77 | 58 | 47 | 35 | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Ashe ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | LV | HP | MP | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | 3 | 100-106 | 31-34 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 23 | | 10 | 253-284 | 43-54 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 24 | | 20 | 589-679 | 66-94 | 31 | 30 | 29 | 25 | | 30 | 1020-1189 | 89-135 | 36 | 35 | 33 | 26 | | 40 | 1428-1671 | 117-186 | 42 | 40 | 36 | 28 | | 50 | 2081-2445 | 142-220 | 47 | 45 | 40 | 29 | | 60 | 2656-3127 | 165-270 | 52 | 50 | 43 | 30 | | 70 | 2982-3511 | 182-298 | 58 | 55 | 47 | 32 | | 80 | 3359-3955 | 199-327 | 63 | 60 | 50 | 33 | | 90 | 3872-4563 | 210-344 | 68 | 65 | 53 | 34 | | 99 | 4452-5251 | 216-349 | 73 | 69 | 57 | 36 | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Penelo ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | LV | HP | MP | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- | 1 | 65-66 | 36-37 | 20 | 18 | 23 | 24 | | 10 | 244-275 | 51-62 | 25 | 23 | 26 | 25 | | 20 | 570-658 | 73-100 | 30 | 28 | 30 | 26 | | 30 | 989-1153 | 95-140 | 35 | 33 | 34 | 27 | | 40 | 1385-1621 | 123-189 | 40 | 38 | 38 | 29 | | 50 | 2018-2372 | 146-231 | 45 | 43 | 41 | 30 | | 60 | 2577-3035 | 168-270 | 50 | 48 | 45 | 31 | | 70 | 2894-3407 | 185-297 | 55 | 54 | 49 | 32 | | 80 | 3259-3838 | 201-325 | 60 | 59 | 53 | 34 | | 90 | 3758-4428 | 212-341 | 65 | 64 | 56 | 35 | | 99 | 4321-5096 | 217-346 | 70 | 69 | 60 | 36 | ---- ----------- --------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Alternatively, here's another way to look at it. For the equals signs, the character that is listed first holds a slight edge when considering stats at ALL levels. HP: Basch > Vaan > Balthier >> Fran > Ashe > Penelo MP: Penelo = Ashe > Fran = Vaan >> Balthier >> Basch Str: Basch = Vaan > Balthier > Ashe > Fran > Penelo Mag: Ashe = Penelo > Vaan > Fran > Basch > Balthier Vit: Vaan = Penelo > Balthier > Ashe > Fran > Basch Spd: Balthier > Vaan > Penelo = Fran = Ashe > Basch As previously mentioned, there are ways to permanently increase stats via the License Board. Battle Lore: +1 Str (x5) = +5 Str Magick Lore: +1 Mag (x5) = +5 Mag HP Augment: +50, +100, +150, +200, +500 HP = +1000 HP MP Augment: Max MP doubles after 2 MQs obtained, triples after 3 MQs obtained. Implicit Augments: Swiftness (x3) and Spellbound effectively increase relevant Speed and Vitality parameters respectively. =============================================================================== 4. Analysis [040] =============================================================================== Filling in this section will undoubtedly require a lot of tedium, as well as messing with numbers and statistics. I'd like nothing more than to be able to do it on my own, but I DO have other priorities. Also, even if I end up doing all of these tests myself (which I wouldn't bet on), it would be nice to have another set of tests to make sure that the data is consistent. Any help with this stuff would be greatly appreciated. There is quite a bit of math here. I think the explanations I have provided should be clear enough for those of you who have an interest in this stuff. DO NOT write me to ask me to explain any of this stuff if you don't understand it UNLESS I have VERY OBVIOUSLY neglected to spell something out. ---------------- 4a. Weapon Speed [04a] ---------------- Here, I used a stopwatch to time the time it takes for the bar to fill up for physical attacks using each weapon type. I started once I saw "Attack" being displayed and timed it to stop once I saw the damage being dealt. Anyway, here are the results for each weapon type. Stats to keep in mind are: - Speed stat for the character doing the trials is at 35. - All three Swiftness augments learned. - Slowest battle speed. - Average times rounded off to two decimal places. I'll group them by what I think are the significant separations. The weapons listed under one particular group should be considered to have equivalent speed, although I will list the specific numbers that I obtained. The weapon in parentheses is what I used to test each different type. > Class I (Fastest) Dagger (Zwill Crossblade) / 2.17 seconds average (10 trials) Ninja Sword (Koga Blade) / 2.21 > Class II Spear (Zodiac Spear) / 2.43 Unarmed / 2.47 > Class III Pole (Whale Whisker) / 2.61 Katana (Masamune) / 2.61 Axe (Golden Axe) / 2.62 Greatsword (Excalibur) / 2.64 > Class IV Crossbow (Gastrophetes) / 2.76 > Class V Rod (Holy Rod) / 2.87 Measure (Caliper) / 2.87 Mace (Zeus Mace) / 2.88 Staff (Cloud Staff) / 2.89 Hammer (Morning Star) / 2.91 > Class VI 1H Sword (Deathbringer) / 3.26 Bow (Sagittarius) / 3.28 > Class VII Hand-Bomb (Volcano) / 3.49 > Class VIII (Slowest) Gun (Fomalhaut) / 4.43 The speeds seem to hold for all weapons of each weapon type. Obviously, the Wyrmhero Blade is an exception, but I haven't gotten it yet. Comment: I was very surprised at how slow one-handed swords and bows were. It seems that in the overall scheme of things, bows aren't very good. But it's still too early to say for sure. To calculate new times based on the different speed settings in the Config menu, use this formula: (Time shown above) x (0.87)^n where "n" is a number corresponding to the setting intervals. n = 0 for Slow, and n = 5 for Fast. Again, I am referring to the Config menu. If you just want to know what things will be like on the fastest setting, take the numbers shown above and multiply by 0.55. If you have no Swiftness augments learned, your new results will be 10/7 times the numbers shown above. The multiplier could also be 100/73, since I'm not sure if Swiftness is cumulative, but it shouldn't make that big of a difference, especially since I'm sure most of us use the faster speed settings. I will go with 10/7 as the multiplier for now. Here is a chart that separates and extrapolates the data for the different settings. You will likely be most concerned with the last two columns. All numbers are times in seconds. ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ | Class | Weapon | S/NS | F/NS | S/AS*| F/AS | ======= ============= ====== ====== ====== ====== | I | Dagger | 3.10 | 1.70 | 2.17 | 1.19 | | | Ninja Sword | 3.16 | 1.74 | 2.21 | 1.22 | ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ | II | Spear | 3.48 | 1.91 | 2.43 | 1.34 | | | Unarmed | 3.53 | 1.94 | 2.47 | 1.36 | ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ | III | Pole | 3.72 | 2.05 | 2.61 | 1.43 | | | Katana | 3.73 | 2.05 | 2.61 | 1.44 | | | Axe | 3.75 | 2.06 | 2.62 | 1.44 | | | Greatsword | 3.77 | 2.07 | 2.64 | 1.45 | ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ | IV | Crossbow | 3.94 | 2.17 | 2.76 | 1.52 | ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ | V | Rod | 4.10 | 2.26 | 2.87 | 1.58 | | | Measure | 4.10 | 2.26 | 2.87 | 1.58 | | | Mace | 4.12 | 2.26 | 2.88 | 1.58 | | | Staff | 4.12 | 2.27 | 2.89 | 1.59 | | | Hammer | 4.15 | 2.28 | 2.91 | 1.60 | ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ | VI | Sword | 4.65 | 2.56 | 3.26 | 1.79 | | | Bow | 4.69 | 2.58 | 3.28 | 1.80 | ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ | VII | Hand-Bomb | 4.99 | 2.75 | 3.49 | 1.92 | ------- ------------ ------ ------ ------ ------- | VIII | Gun | 6.32 | 3.48 | 4.43 | 2.43 | ------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ S/NS = slowest battle speed, no Swiftness augments F/NS = fastest battle speed, no Swiftness augments S/AS = slowest battle speed, all Swiftness augments F/AS = fastest battle speed, all Swiftness augments * = column of original data Again, I will update this once I obtain the Wyrmhero Blade or come across any other exceptions or mistakes. ----------------- 4b. Weapon Damage [04b] ----------------- Before we get into any numbers, let's lay out the basics as they are provided by official documentation. Each weapon type depend on certain factors in determing how much damage is done when it is used. I would like to credit Aeana from GAF for originally posting a general damage formula from the FFXII Battle Ultimania, which has been helpful in my quest to come up with a coherent general damage formula. First, let's define some variables for usage in our formulas. D = net damage done x = the attacker's weapon's Attack rating y = the target's Defense rating y' = the target's Magick Defense rating r = randomness factor, defined by the Ultimania to have a MINIMUM value of 1 and a MAXIMUM value of 1.125 r' = randomness factor, defined by ffsky.com to have a MINIMUM value of 0 and a MAXIMUM value of 1.111 z = cumulative status modifier, takes a default value of 1 with no statuses in effect STR = the attacker's Strength MAG = the attacker's Magick Power VIT = the attacker's Vitality SPD = the attacker's Speed LV = the attacker's Level Now let's designate the different types of weapons. These groupings are fundamentally different from the ones for weapon speed, even though there are also eight of them. ==================== =================================================== | Weapon Type | Damage Formula | ==================== =================================================== | Group 1 | | | > Swords | | | > Greatswords | | | > Spears | | | > Rods (except for | D = (x*r-y) * [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+STR)] * z | | Healing Rod and | | | Rod of Faith) | | | > Crossbows | | | | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- | Group 2 | | | > Poles | D = (x*r-y') * [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+STR)] * z | | | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- | Group 3 | | | > Maces | D = (x*r-y) * [1 + 1/256 * MAG * (LV+MAG)] * z | | | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- | Group 4 | | | > Katanas | D = (x*r-y) * [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+MAG)] * z | | > Staves | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- | Group 5 | | | > Daggers | | | > Ninja Swords | D = (x*r-y) * [1 + 1/218 * STR * (LV+SPD)] * z | | > Bows | | | | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- | Group 6 | | | > Axes | | | > Hammers | D = (x*r'-y) * [1 + 1/128 * STR * (LV+VIT)] * z | | > Hand-bombs | | | | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- | Group 7 | | | > Guns | | | > Measures | D = (x*r)^2 * z | | > Healing Rod | | | > Rod of Faith | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- | Group 8 | | | > Unarmed | INCOMPLETE | | | | -------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Note that if you do a test run and average out the damage done by a string of hits using one weapon type, you will see that the value of r averages out to around 1.0625, or exactly halfway between the minimum and maximum values. What's left? Well, we can go over the values that z might take on. These are cumulative, so effects stack. For example, if the attacker has Bravery and the target has Protect, the value of z would be 1.3 * 0.7 = 0.91. ========================= ======================== | Status in Effect | Value of z | ========================= ======================== | Bravery (attacker) | 1.3 | ------------------------- ----------------------- | Berserk (attacker) | 1.5 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Critical* (attacker) | 2.0 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Focus< (attacker) | 1.2 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Adrenaline@ (attacker) | 2.0 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Petrify (attacker) | 0.1 * (time remaining) | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Elemental Enhancement | | | (attacker) | 1.5 | | - e.g. from Staves | | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Protect+ (target) | 0.7 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Last Stand$ (target) | 0.5 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Sleep (target) | 1.5 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Oil (target) | | | - vs. Fire Magick only | 3.0 | | | | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Petrify (target) | 0.1 * (time remaining) | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Elem. Weakness (target) | 2.0 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Resistance (target) | 0.5 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Immune (target) | 0.0 | ------------------------- ------------------------ | Absorb (target) | -1.0 | ------------------------- ------------------------ * Refers to a critical hit by a ranged weapon. < Bonus damage at full HP (license). @ Bonus damage at critical HP (license). + Shell if the attacker is using a Group 2 weapon. $ Defense boost at critical HP (license). Credit maltzsan for finding these formulas and translating them from: http://bbs.ffsky.com/ShowJH.aspx?ID=9583 The preceding charts are accurate according to tests that I have performed, which have been rather numerous. However, I shall not neglect to give special thanks to rmdsc for coming up with a different formula (after collaborating with my data) that actually also fits the data pretty well. His effort definitely deserves recognition. ---------------------------------- 4c. Character-Weapon Proficiencies [04c] ---------------------------------- Now that you know how much damage physical attacks do, you might be wondering who is best at what weapon. Well, wonder no more. Let's revisit our character stat tables. HP and MP are not considered because they are irrelevant. New columns detailing the base modifiers for each weapon type have been added. These columns are labeled "BM#", where BM stands for "base modifier" and the # designates the weapon group in question (as denoted from the charts in Section 4b). I will arrange the new tables in terms of LEVELS so you can effectively compare characters. The first table will be at Level 10, since that is the first level at which all six characters can be compared without ambiguity. When I say "base modifier", I am referring to the factor in the damage formula that depends on a character's base statistics. For example, in the case of Group 1 weapons, the base modifier is: BM1 = [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+STR)] Obviously, you want the highest BM value as possible. There is no BM value for Group 7 weapons, and no damage formula has been finalized for Group 8 weapons, so there will be no BM7 or BM8 columns. Also, BM1 and BM2 are identical. I have kept the distinction for organizational purposes. Physical Damage Modifiers by Level ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 10 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 28 | 24 | 27 | 25 | 5.16 | 5.16 | 4.19 | 4.72 | 5.50 | 4.55 | | Balth | 29 | 20 | 27 | 25 | 5.42 | 5.42 | 3.34 | 4.40 | 5.66 | 4.69 | | Fran | 27 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 4.90 | 4.90 | 3.75 | 4.38 | 5.21 | 3.98 | | Basch | 30 | 23 | 22 | 24 | 5.69 | 5.69 | 3.96 | 4.87 | 5.68 | 4.25 | | Ashe | 26 | 25 | 26 | 24 | 4.66 | 4.66 | 4.42 | 4.55 | 5.06 | 4.16 | | Pen | 25 | 23 | 26 | 25 | 4.42 | 4.42 | 3.96 | 4.22 | 5.01 | 4.02 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 20 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 33 | 28 | 31 | 26 | 7.83 | 7.83 | 6.25 | 7.19 | 7.96 | 7.07 | | Balth | 34 | 24 | 31 | 26 | 8.17 | 8.17 | 5.13 | 6.84 | 8.17 | 7.27 | | Fran | 32 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 7.50 | 7.50 | 5.67 | 6.75 | 7.61 | 6.25 | | Basch | 35 | 27 | 25 | 25 | 8.52 | 8.52 | 5.96 | 7.43 | 8.22 | 6.65 | | Ashe | 31 | 30 | 29 | 25 | 7.18 | 7.18 | 6.86 | 7.05 | 7.40 | 6.43 | | Pen | 30 | 28 | 30 | 26 | 6.86 | 6.86 | 6.25 | 6.63 | 7.33 | 6.36 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 30 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 39 | 33 | 35 | 28 | 11.51 | 11.51 | 9.12 | 10.60 | 11.38 | 10.40 | | Balth | 39 | 28 | 34 | 28 | 11.51 | 11.51 | 7.34 | 9.84 | 11.38 | 10.25 | | Fran | 37 | 30 | 30 | 27 | 10.68 | 10.68 | 8.03 | 9.67 | 10.67 | 9.17 | | Basch | 40 | 31 | 28 | 26 | 11.94 | 11.94 | 8.39 | 10.53 | 11.28 | 9.56 | | Ashe | 36 | 35 | 33 | 26 | 10.28 | 10.28 | 9.89 | 10.14 | 10.25 | 9.36 | | Pen | 35 | 33 | 34 | 27 | 9.89 | 9.89 | 9.12 | 9.61 | 10.15 | 9.25 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 40 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 44 | 37 | 39 | 29 | 15.44 | 15.44 | 12.13 | 14.23 | 14.93 | 14.08 | | Balth | 44 | 32 | 38 | 29 | 15.44 | 15.44 | 10.00 | 13.38 | 14.93 | 13.91 | | Fran | 42 | 34 | 33 | 28 | 14.45 | 14.45 | 10.83 | 13.14 | 14.10 | 12.48 | | Basch | 46 | 35 | 31 | 28 | 16.45 | 16.45 | 11.25 | 14.48 | 15.35 | 13.26 | | Ashe | 42 | 40 | 36 | 28 | 14.45 | 14.45 | 13.50 | 14.13 | 14.10 | 12.97 | | Pen | 40 | 38 | 38 | 29 | 13.50 | 13.50 | 12.58 | 13.19 | 13.66 | 12.69 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 50 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 50 | 42 | 42 | 31 | 20.53 | 20.53 | 16.09 | 18.97 | 19.58 | 18.47 | | Balth | 50 | 36 | 41 | 31 | 20.53 | 20.53 | 13.09 | 17.80 | 19.58 | 18.27 | | Fran | 47 | 39 | 36 | 30 | 18.81 | 18.81 | 14.56 | 17.34 | 18.25 | 16.29 | | Basch | 51 | 39 | 34 | 29 | 21.12 | 21.12 | 14.56 | 18.73 | 19.48 | 17.23 | | Ashe | 47 | 45 | 40 | 29 | 18.81 | 18.81 | 17.70 | 18.44 | 18.03 | 17.02 | | Pen | 45 | 43 | 41 | 30 | 17.70 | 17.70 | 16.62 | 17.35 | 17.51 | 16.50 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 60 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 55 | 46 | 46 | 32 | 25.71 | 25.71 | 20.05 | 23.77 | 24.21 | 23.27 | | Balth | 55 | 40 | 45 | 32 | 25.71 | 25.71 | 16.63 | 22.48 | 24.21 | 23.06 | | Fran | 52 | 43 | 40 | 31 | 23.75 | 23.75 | 18.30 | 21.92 | 22.71 | 20.81 | | Basch | 56 | 43 | 36 | 30 | 26.38 | 26.38 | 18.30 | 23.53 | 24.12 | 21.50 | | Ashe | 52 | 50 | 43 | 30 | 23.75 | 23.75 | 22.48 | 23.34 | 22.47 | 21.42 | | Pen | 50 | 48 | 45 | 31 | 22.48 | 22.48 | 21.25 | 22.09 | 21.87 | 21.01 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 70 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 61 | 51 | 50 | 33 | 32.21 | 32.21 | 25.11 | 29.83 | 29.82 | 29.09 | | Balth | 60 | 44 | 48 | 34 | 31.47 | 31.47 | 20.59 | 27.72 | 29.62 | 28.16 | | Fran | 57 | 47 | 43 | 32 | 29.28 | 29.28 | 22.48 | 27.05 | 27.67 | 25.66 | | Basch | 62 | 47 | 39 | 31 | 32.97 | 32.97 | 22.48 | 29.34 | 29.72 | 26.90 | | Ashe | 58 | 55 | 47 | 32 | 30.00 | 30.00 | 27.86 | 29.32 | 28.14 | 27.01 | | Pen | 55 | 54 | 49 | 32 | 27.86 | 27.86 | 27.16 | 27.64 | 26.73 | 26.07 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 80 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 66 | 55 | 54 | 35 | 38.64 | 38.64 | 30.00 | 35.80 | 35.82 | 35.05 | | Balth | 65 | 48 | 52 | 35 | 37.82 | 37.82 | 25.00 | 33.50 | 35.29 | 34.02 | | Fran | 62 | 51 | 46 | 34 | 35.39 | 35.39 | 27.10 | 32.73 | 33.42 | 31.02 | | Basch | 67 | 51 | 42 | 33 | 39.47 | 39.47 | 27.10 | 35.29 | 35.73 | 32.43 | | Ashe | 63 | 60 | 50 | 33 | 36.19 | 36.19 | 33.81 | 35.45 | 33.66 | 32.49 | | Pen | 60 | 59 | 53 | 34 | 33.81 | 33.81 | 33.04 | 33.58 | 32.38 | 31.67 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 90 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 72 | 60 | 57 | 36 | 46.56 | 46.56 | 36.16 | 43.19 | 42.61 | 41.84 | | Balth | 71 | 52 | 55 | 37 | 45.65 | 45.65 | 29.84 | 40.38 | 42.36 | 40.71 | | Fran | 67 | 55 | 50 | 35 | 42.09 | 42.09 | 32.15 | 38.95 | 39.42 | 37.14 | | Basch | 72 | 55 | 45 | 34 | 46.56 | 46.56 | 32.15 | 41.78 | 41.95 | 38.47 | | Ashe | 68 | 65 | 53 | 34 | 42.97 | 42.97 | 40.36 | 42.17 | 39.68 | 38.48 | | Pen | 65 | 64 | 56 | 35 | 40.36 | 40.36 | 39.50 | 40.10 | 38.27 | 37.57 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Lv 99 | St | Ma | Vi | Sp | BM1 | BM2 | BM3 | BM4 | BM5 | BM6 | ======= ==== ==== ==== ==== ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= | Vaan | 77 | 64 | 61 | 37 | 53.94 | 53.94 | 41.75 | 50.03 | 49.04 | 48.63 | | Balth | 75 | 56 | 58 | 38 | 51.98 | 51.98 | 34.91 | 46.41 | 48.13 | 46.50 | | Fran | 71 | 59 | 53 | 36 | 48.15 | 48.15 | 37.41 | 44.82 | 44.97 | 42.66 | | Basch | 77 | 58 | 47 | 35 | 53.94 | 53.94 | 36.57 | 48.22 | 48.33 | 44.41 | | Ashe | 73 | 69 | 57 | 36 | 50.05 | 50.05 | 46.28 | 48.91 | 46.21 | 44.98 | | Pen | 70 | 69 | 60 | 36 | 47.21 | 47.21 | 46.28 | 46.94 | 44.35 | 43.98 | ------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- BM1 = [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+STR)] (1H Swords/2H Swords/Spears/C-bows/Rods<) BM2 = [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+STR)] (Poles) BM3 = [1 + 1/256 * MAG * (LV+MAG)] (Maces) BM4 = [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+MAG)] (Katanas/Staves) BM5 = [1 + 1/218 * STR * (LV+SPD)] (Daggers/Ninja Swords/Bows) BM6^= [1 + 1/128 * STR * (LV+VIT)] * 0.5 (Axes/Hammers/Hand-bombs) < Except for Healing Rod and Rod of Faith. ^ The 0.5 is used to compensate for the fact that Group 6 weapons have the potential to deal essentially 200% base damage, due to the 1/128 factor. Thus, comparative BM6 values are one-half of actual BM6 values. It is interesting to see that at low levels and with equivalent Attack ratings, Group 5 weapons are actually the most effective (highest BM values). This is due to the fact that the weight factor is 1/218 and not 1/256. Therefore, Group 5 weapons are better than they initially seem. Nevertheless, their BM values drop off as Speed growth slows to a crawl. So now if we rank the characters by the values shown: Overall Weapon Proficiencies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Again: Group 1 = Swords, Greatswords, Spears, Rods (except for Healing Rod and Rod of Faith), Crossbows Group 2 = Poles Group 3 = Maces Group 4 = Katanas, Staves Group 5 = Daggers, Ninja Swords, Bows Group 6 = Axes, Hammers, Hand-bombs ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 10 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Balth | | | 2-Balth | 2-Balth | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Balth | 2-Vaan | | | 3-Vaan | 3-Vaan | 3-Basch | 3-Ashe | 3-Vaan | 3-Basch | | | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 3-Pen | 4-Balth | 4-Fran | 4-Ashe | | | 5-Ashe | 5-Ashe | 5-Fran | 5-Fran | 5-Ashe | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 20 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Balth | | | 2-Balth | 2-Balth | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Balth | 2-Vaan | | | 3-Vaan | 3-Vaan | 3-Pen | 3-Ashe | 3-Vaan | 3-Basch | | | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 4-Basch | 4-Balth | 4-Fran | 4-Ashe | | | 5-Ashe | 5-Ashe | 5-Fran | 5-Fran | 5-Ashe | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 30 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | | | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Basch | 1-Balth | 2-Balth | | | 2-Balth | 2-Balth | 2-Pen | 3-Ashe | 3-Basch | 3-Basch | | | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 4-Basch | 4-Balth | 4-Fran | 4-Ashe | | | 5-Ashe | 5-Ashe | 5-Fran | 5-Fran | 5-Ashe | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 40 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Vaan | | | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Pen | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Balth | | | 2-Balth | 2-Balth | 3-Vaan | 3-Ashe | 2-Balth | 3-Basch | | | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 4-Basch | 4-Balth | 4-Fran | 4-Ashe | | | 4-Ashe | 4-Ashe | 5-Fran | 5-Pen | 4-Ashe | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Fran | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 50 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | | | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Pen | 2-Basch | 1-Balth | 2-Balth | | | 2-Balth | 2-Balth | 3-Vaan | 3-Ashe | 3-Basch | 3-Basch | | | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 4-Balth | 4-Fran | 4-Ashe | | | 4-Ashe | 4-Ashe | 4-Basch | 5-Pen | 5-Ashe | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Fran | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 60 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | | | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Pen | 2-Basch | 1-Balth | 2-Balth | | | 2-Balth | 2-Balth | 3-Vaan | 3-Ashe | 3-Basch | 3-Basch | | | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 4-Fran | 4-Balth | 4-Fran | 4-Ashe | | | 4-Ashe | 4-Ashe | 4-Basch | 5-Pen | 5-Ashe | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Fran | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 70 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | | | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Pen | 2-Basch | 2-Basch | 2-Balth | | | 3-Balth | 2-Balth | 3-Vaan | 3-Ashe | 3-Balth | 3-Ashe | | | 4-Ashe | 4-Ashe | 4-Fran | 4-Balth | 4-Ashe | 4-Basch | | | 5-Fran | 5-Fran | 4-Basch | 5-Pen | 5-Fran | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Fran | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 80 | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Ashe | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | | | 2-Vaan | 2-Vaan | 2-Pen | 2-Ashe | 2-Basch | 2-Balth | | | 3-Balth | 2-Balth | 3-Vaan | 3-Basch | 3-Balth | 3-Ashe | | | 4-Ashe | 4-Ashe | 4-Fran | 4-Pen | 4-Ashe | 4-Basch | | | 5-Fran | 5-Fran | 4-Basch | 5-Balth | 5-Fran | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Fran | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 90 | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Ashe | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | | | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 2-Pen | 2-Ashe | 2-Balth | 2-Balth | | | 3-Balth | 3-Balth | 3-Vaan | 3-Basch | 3-Basch | 3-Ashe | | | 4-Ashe | 4-Ashe | 4-Fran | 4-Balth | 4-Ashe | 4-Basch | | | 5-Fran | 5-Fran | 4-Basch | 5-Pen | 5-Fran | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Fran | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | Lv | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ==== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= | 99 | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Ashe | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | 1-Vaan | | | 1-Basch | 1-Basch | 1-Pen | 2-Ashe | 2-Basch | 2-Balth | | | 3-Balth | 3-Balth | 3-Vaan | 3-Basch | 3-Balth | 3-Ashe | | | 4-Ashe | 4-Ashe | 4-Fran | 4-Pen | 4-Ashe | 4-Basch | | | 5-Fran | 5-Fran | 5-Basch | 5-Balth | 5-Fran | 5-Pen | | | 6-Pen | 6-Pen | 6-Balth | 6-Fran | 6-Pen | 6-Fran | ---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- Note that since Group 3 weapons depend only on Magick Power, you can also use the Group 3 listings to determine the mage rankings for your characters at each ten-level interval. In terms of chart movers, it seems like Basch does very well at low levels before eventually being overtaken by others in half of the weapon categories. The other four characters hold pretty steadily throughout. If you need cold, hard proof of Vaan having the best overall stats in the game, look no further. Poor Fran. She has the unenviable distinction of being the only character not to be in the top 3 in ANY of those charts. But ultimately, how much does all of this equate to in terms of numbers? If you look at the differences between values, you can calculate the net effect by taking some differences and multiplying by the basic (x*r-y) factor (difference between attacker's weapon's weighted Attack and target's Defense). If we're not discussing lopsided fights such as one between a Lv 99 character wielding a Zodiac Spear and a Lv 4 Wolf, you can probably expect (x*r-y) to take on a value of somewhere between 30-100 on average for all but the most unbalanced match-ups. Consider a fight between a Lv 99 character wielding the Zodiac Spear (Attack +150 Group 1 weapon) and Omega Mk. XII (Defense +38). Your (x*r-y) value is 121.4, assuming that you use r = 1.0625 (or the "average" r value). Let's compare Vaan (Str 77) to Penelo (Str 70). Vaan: 121.4 * BM1 at Lv 99 = 121.4 * 53.94 = 6548.32 base damage points Penelo: 121.4 * BM1 at Lv 99 = 121.4 * 47.21 = 5731.29 base damage points Difference = 817.03 Average = 6139.81 I think most would agree that this is fairly significant. Just to make sure that this isn't a fluke, let's do another contextually appropriate example. Let us now use as the test weapon a Demonsbane (Attack +59) against Mateus (Defense +21) at Lv 30. Our weapon is still classified as Group 1. Our new (x*r-y) value is 41.69. Let's again take the difference between the largest and smallest BM values, which are Basch's and Penelo's. Basch: 41.69 * BM1 at Lv 30 = 41.69 * 11.94 = 497.78 base damage points Penelo: 41.69 * BM1 at Lv 30 = 41.69 * 9.89 = 412.31 base damage points Difference = 85.47 Average = 455.05 These results also does not take into account the value of z (status modifiers like buffs) or bonuses to Strength via the Battle Lore licenses or equipment. Both factors will amplify the difference between the resultant BM values. In the case of Battle Lores/equipment, even though the disparity in Strength would remain the same, the fact that the actual Strength values go up would make a difference in the calculations. Just to really see this, let's return to Lv 99 and compare Vaan to Fran, both wielding the Masamune (Attack +93, Group 4 weapon) against the Hell Wyrm (Defense +32). Assume the following for both characters: All Battle Lore augment licenses learned ....... +5 Str All Magick Lore augment licenses learned ....... +5 Mag Magepower Shishak equipped ..................... +11 Str +5 Mag Lordly Robes equipped .......................... +5 Str +15 Mag Total .......................................... +21 Str +25 Mag This improves our base statistics to: Vaan: 98 Str, 89 Mag Fran: 92 Str, 84 Mag Let's add in both a Bravery and Berserk effect for the hell of it, so z = 1.3 * 1.5 = 1.95. Now ... Vaan: BM4 = [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+MAG)] = 72.97 Fran: BM4 = [1 + 1/256 * STR * (LV+MAG)] = 66.77 Both: (x*r-y) = (93*1.0625 - 32) = 66.81 Vaan: D = (x*r-y) * BM4 * z = 66.81 * 72.97 * 1.95 = 9506.50 Fran: D = (x*r-y) * BM4 * z = 66.81 * 66.77 * 1.95 = 8698.76 Vaan does almost 800 more points of damage per hit. If we're talking about Masamune + Genji Gloves, which combos at an insane rate, think about the number of hits that you get in over the course of a minute or two and multiply that number by 800 to get an estimate of the difference in damage ... So yes, I do think that the significance is there, even though the degree of significance obviously varies given different mixes of (x*r-y) and BM values. But in the end, unless you're REALLY obsessed with stuff like this, there is no reason to lose sleep over it. Some of the differences in BM values are REALLY REALLY small and make several of the separations essentially negligible. The biggest thing it might affect is your psyche and sense of aesthetics when you look at the stats and wonder why Fran is so gimped. But hey, you can still give her Masamune + Genji Gloves and go to town on everything in sight (like I do). The game isn't hard enough to warrant overly serious consideration of any of these numbers. In other words, you should in no way feel restricted by all of the crap you see up there. If you want Penelo to be your main fighter, then have at it! ---------------------------------- 4d. Weapon Combo/Critical Affinity [04d] ---------------------------------- I'm not sure when this section will get off the ground, but here's some basic info. - For weapons that can combo (melee): Masamune > Ninja Swords > Poles > Katanas > Tournesol? > Daggers > everything else (as of now) - For weapons that can critical (ranged) ??? (haven't gotten anywhere with this yet) The Masamune seems to combo more frequently than other katanas, while the Tournesol seems to combo more frequently than other greatswords. More details in Section 4f. ------------------- 4e. Weapon Accuracy [04e] ------------------- Again, I don't know when I'll be able to put anything here. There is nothing in the game to indicate exactly how accurate certain weapons are. Guns constitute the lone exception, since they are 100% accurate. Otherwise ... well, we'll see if this goes anywhere. -------------------------- 4f. Overall Weapon Ratings [04f] -------------------------- I don't want to dive into this yet because there are still so many unknowns. I suppose deriving DPS (damage per second) for each weapon would be helpful, but at a glance, the weapons seem pretty balanced for most of the game on a normal playthrough. After all is said and done, there isn't THAT big of a difference between most weapons because if you're playing on the fastest speed, all of the numbers should add up to be pretty close to each other anyway. Nevertheless, I will dissect each weapon type as soon as I figure out everything in the previous sections. But who knows how long that will take. I do want to say this. Once you have access to the Bravery spell, and once your levels start really climbing, and once you complete the Ancient Man of Mystery hunt and steal the Genji Gloves from the mark, you can REALLY start to dish out damage. Because your damage per hit is capped at 9999, your heavy-hitting weapons like the Zodiac Spear are eventually going to level off in terms of damage potential. However, as your characters' stats continue to increase, weaker weapon classes will start to catch up. The high-combo weapon classes (Ninja Sword, Pole, Katana, and Dagger) become particularly intriguing. With Bravery and Genji Gloves, you can increase the frequency at which you do multiple hits of 5000+ damage to an alarming rate. Now to consider each of these categories: - Ninja Swords Highest combo rating and second fastest weapon class, but the elemental attribute is a detriment, and there are plenty of enemies who resist or absorb Dark (typically undead). Finally, ninja swords take into account Speed, and while you can really buff up this weapon with a Cat-ear Hood, this removes the ability to equip the Genji Gloves. The +50 Speed boost will increase the likelihood of a combo, but nowhere close to as much as the Genji Gloves do. Overall, this is not the best choice. - Poles Poles tend to have the highest raw power of any of these weapons, and by quite a bit, since they are also the only weapon type that has Strength as its sole damage factor. This seems like a fairly good choice. - Katanas It is interesting to note that since katanas factor in Strength as well as Magick Power, you can really boost the power of this weapon by equipping a Magepower Shishak (+11 Str, +5 Mag) and Lordly Robes (+5 Str, +15 Mag). Your defense will be pretty shoddy, but if you can Decoy someone else or something to that effect, you can just watch your katana user rip apart anything in sight. And THAT is a fun thing to watch. - Daggers This is the only one-handed weapon type on the list, which gives it an advantage because you can equip a shield. This is also the fastest weapon class in the game. However, daggers also factor in Strength and Speed, like ninja swords, so you face the same Cat-ear Hood vs. Genji Gloves dilemma. In conclusion, high-level characters with either poles or katanas and Genji Gloves shape up to have a lot of damage potential. However, we must also consider the effects of a couple of ultimate weapons. As I've said before, I don't want to make this official because I've hardly tested this extensively, but it SEEMS to me that both the Masamune (+93 katana) and the Tournesol (+140 greatsword) combo far more often than any other weapons in their respective weapon classes. I could be hallucinating, but I could also be providing a justification for why both weapons require extremely lengthy loot-gathering quests and cost a huge amount of gil. Stay tuned and (hopefully) I can dig up some more concrete data for this. If this is true, there is no reason to use Genji Gloves for anything other than either of these two weapons. By the way, the Masamune still combos much more often than the Tournesol, or even anything else, really. For this reason, it is my tentative belief that the Genji Gloves are BUILT for use with the Masamune. This wouldn't be too much of a surprise, given the context of the game during which you get both items (though you can attain a second Masamune through the Bazaar, as I've mentioned). Putting everything I've said together, I am crowning the Masamune + Genji Gloves combo as the ultimate damage-dealing setup in the game at higher levels. I have a full disclaimer for this entire spiel, but from what I've seen around -the internets-, my claim seems to be supported. [needs cleaning up] =============================================================================== 5. Changelog [050] =============================================================================== All names taken from Final Fantasy XII listed in this document are copyrighted by Square-Enix. Below are the details for updates that I deem significant (as in, excluding minor syntax/formatting changes). Listed in parentheses besides each update is the section which was updated. Updates are listed in the order in which they appear throughout the guide. Version 1.11 (1, 2b, 2d, 2f, 3d) - Added in details on how to get the Zodiac Spear if you opened the wrong treasure chests. (1) - Made a clarification about fighting Ichthons at the very beginning of the walkthrough. (2b) - Threw in a note on how to steal multiple Deathbringers from Ithuno. Also linked to a map of the armor locations, courtesy of spirit_guy_25. (2d) - Added in notes on how to obtain High Arcana easily in both the walkthrough and the notes for the Tournesol. Thanks to JonathanEyoon's input. (2f, 3d) - Added method to chain Helvineks for Grand Armor. Thanks to IndigoSage for this info. (3d) - Various other little things. Version 1.10 (2c, 3a, 3d, 4c) - Fixed the error regarding the early Francisca (Gigantoads -> Lizards). Thanks to ramza723@yahoo.com for this. (2c) - Inserted documentation on the auto-leveling method in Miriam, developed by Crimson Skys. I wasn't going to do this, but goldeneye86 convinced me that it would be nice for completion's sake. You can thank him for that. (3a) - Made a note on the renewable nature of Bazaar ingredients for Tournesol. Also added in details for Stone Shot and Scorpion Tail. (3d) - Added in Masamune damage comparison. (4c) Version 1.05 (2c, 4, 6) - Added a small tidbit on the Rocktoise hunt and Teleport Stones at the Clan Shop. Thanks to M.W. for this. (2c) - Added final (I think) version of damage formula, as well as values for status modifiers. Credit maltzsan for the majority of the content in this section. (4b) - Added in a new section detailing character proficiencies with different weapon types. (4c) - Added a stand-alone credits section. (6) Version 1.00 (1, 2b, 2c, 2f, 2h, 3c, 3d, 4a-4c, 4e) - Updated the Q&A to reflect the evolution of this document. - Minor correction about amount of Exp Hyenas give. Thanks to GreenDave for the heads-up. (2b) - Made some changes to notes on the Lindbur Wolf. (2b) While we're on this, I want to give a shout out to AmanoJ for his studies into the proper significance of a flashing chain number. As I have thought for quite some time now (although I've never bothered to test it), you should not make the assumption that a flashing chain number causes a rare monster to appear. For more details on what its proper meaning might be, visit the GameFAQs FFXII boards and put "mystery of the flashing chain number" into Search. - Added in method to obtain Franciscas after exiting Barheim for the first time. Thanks to branflakecereal@gmail.com for this. (2c) - Added in some notes on Embroidered Tippets and Ultima Blade. (2f) - Minor addition to Leveling to 99 section. (2h) - Added info on Sagittarius. (3c) - Added in Character Stats section. (3d) - Made corrections to Weapon Speeds that should've been made from the start. Also tidied things up a bit and added in a comprehensive chart. (4a) - Began filling in the Weapon Damage section. Thanks to Aeana from GAF for originally posting the information from Ultimania. Also, shout out to rmdsc for making big progress towards the results in this section. (4b) - Cleaned up comments on the Masamune and Tournesol. (4c, 4e) Version 0.95 (2b, 2d, 3b, 3c) - Made some corrections regarding the Rod at the start of the walkthrough. I threw in some percentages for the appropriate chest. I also added back in the Iron Sword and Leather Shield as a backup. (2b) - Added in details on how to obtain high-level armor in Barheim after you obtain the Barheim Key. (2d) + Dragon Mail and Cleric's Robes, courtesy of GnatB. + Celebrant's Miter, courtesy of Kimber Boh. + Gigas Hat and Francisca. - Added Stealing from Rare Trophy Monsters section. (3b) - Alphabetized rare items stuff. (3c) - Added in details on Tournesol. (3c) - Other minor errors fixed throughout. Version 0.90b (2b, 2e, 4e, 5) - Upgraded the beginning of the walkthrough (Rod instead of Iron Sword/Leather Shield). Thanks to x3mgame@gmail.com for the great advice. (2b) - Added a tidbit about Hyena chaining (carry-over from Wolf chaining). Thanks to Gavin B. for the reminder. (2b) - Threw in the note about using Raise against the Golmore skeletons. Thanks to koalainusa@hotmail.com for this. (2e) - Added some interesting thoughts about Tournesol and Masamune in the weapon ratings section. (4e) - Created changelog (yay for circular reference). Thanks to Dave G. for suggesting that I clean things up. (5) Version 0.90a (2c, 2e, 3b, 3c, 4a-4e) - Outside contributions inserted into the walkthrough. + Made corrections on the location of the Nidhogg hunt, as well as on when the Barheim Key sidequest becomes available. Credit goes to dwm042@email.com. (2c) + Also made a note on how to get Broadaxes in the Tomb of Raithwall. Credit goes to civicized@hotmail.com. (2c) + Note on the availability of Embroidered Tippet before Archades. Credit goes to Shane G. (2e) + Note on leveling in the Golmore Jungle (using Phoenix Downs). Credit goes to gen_esis@yahoo.com. (2e) - Added new section to focus on weapons. + Moved all existing weapon sections there. (4a, 4b) + Added new sections. (4c-4e) - Added Stealing from Neutrals and Grand Helm sections under Miscellaneous. (3b, 3c) Pre-0.90a Thanks to: - freakazoidz for the original power-leveling method. - redmem for reposting the aforementioned method. - goldeneye86 for the early return to Barheim and getting Deathbringers. - Kairi for the moneymaking tip in the Feywood. - leeboo1211 for the first mention of Abysteels and their weakness to Disable. - Garbo for Sleepga vs. Abysteels and the petrified respawning glitch. =============================================================================== 6. Credits [060] =============================================================================== Here is a filtered credits section. Author - Arthellinus Contributors - Aeana - AmanoJ - branflakecereal@gmail.com - civicized@hotmail.com - Crimson Skys - Dave G. - dwm042@email.com - freakazoidz - Garbo - Gavin B. - gen_esis@yahoo.com - GnatB - goldeneye86 - GreenDave - hellfire185@gmail.com - IndigoSage - JonathanEyoon - Kairi - Kimber Boh - koalainusa@hotmail.com - leeboo1211 - maltzsan - M.W. - ramza723@yahoo.com - redmem - rmdsc - Shane G. - spirit_guy_25 - x3mgame@gmail.com Special Thanks - maltzsan - Garbo - rmdsc, EiEi, thrakkemarn, and everyone else from the "Damage from non-STR based weapons" thread on GameFAQs - sephirosuy - Kouli - CJayC