Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

[lithiumkatana17]

Got the email this morning saying that my copy of Zodiac Age has shipped!

 

[ForceStealer]

I'm waiting for my amazon gift card I got from redeeming credit card points. Why they have to mail it to me and not just give me a damn code is beyond me. However, it does mean FFXII and some other stuff will be free, so that's cool

 

[Tennyo]

Crap, this comes out tomorrow, doesn't it?

I forgot to pre-order, but I won't be home, anyway.

 

[ForceStealer]

No, Tuesday

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Zodiac Age is getting a collector's edition guide from Prima Games.

https://www.primagames.com/games/fi...asy-xii-zodiac-age-strategy-walkthrough-guide

I wish Piggyback was making one, as Lex successfully converted me into a Piggyback fan, but I'll shell out for this one if it's the only collector's guide that's released.

 

[Joker]

ewwwwww prima

I need to pick up the game but idk when - maybe next friday because payday? I have to set aside some serious money to buy someone a birthday ps4 though so ;.;

 

[Lex]

Prima are disgusting pieces of shit but it will indeed be the only official guide available.

 

[ForceStealer]

I know Piggyback are the most highly regarded, but I thought Bradygames were the shit ones. I guess I just assumed Prima were in the middle/neutral?

(EDIT: Discussed on Discord, they're the same company, I see )

 

[ForceStealer]

So in preparation for tomorrow, I'm trying to have at least a basic plan for my party's job classes. I'm not beholden to who will be the absolute best at any given job, I'm not trying to have the optimum stats at level 99, I'm just doing what feels right. Nevertheless, I've been researching a bit to help with ideas for people whom I'm less sure about. And...who programmed this game?

Firstly, and I've heard this before, Balthier is the worst Machinist, and Fran is the worst Archer. Because why wouldn't characters be the least suited to use the weapons they frickin start with? Meanwhile, Basch - beefy Captain sworn to defend the princess with his life - is the worst at Knight, Breaker, and Samurai....

The design of this game will never cease to baffle me.

Anyway. My A Team is gonna be Ashe, Balthier, and Fran, while the B Team is Basch on babysitter duty. Fairly decided on these so far:

Ashe - Knight
Balthier - Machinist (because eff stats, the man is a sky pirate and a relative of Mustadio, he uses guns dammit)
Fran - Red Mage (need some healing in this party but I kinda wanted her to be offensive magic, hurray class for the indecisive)

Now, for the B Team I'm a lot less certain. In my last playthrough I had Penelo focused on Rods and white magic, and Vaan on spears (Basch was basically a copy of Ashe). But looking at the stats, it might make more sense to switch those.

Vaan - Monk
Penelo - Uhlan
Basch - ...I have no idea. Narratively I really like Samurai for him, but between his stats and a need for magic on this party maybe a Time Mage/Archer or Archer/Time Mage?

Thoughts? For secondary classes I'm thinking Knight/Black Mage will be a good combo for Ashe and make her a pretty consummate badass. And maybe Shikari for Vaan. But after that I'm not really sure.

 

[Flintlock]

Are the characters' stats entirely determined by their jobs in this version of the game, or do they have base stats too? Because in the base game, Ashe is the best mage but a crap tank, while Fran is mediocre to bad in all categories.

 

[ForceStealer]

They still have their base stats, I believe they're unchanged.

 

[Russell]

So in preparation for tomorrow, I'm trying to have at least a basic plan for my party's job classes.

I'm clueless myself, I've never done any of the Zodiac Age stuff; I'm going in blind. Still...

Spoiler

Oh also i'm back after a 3 month break.

 

[Lulcielid]

Re: Judges fight, old video from Darkkefka:

Spoiler

Two things I didn't know/ notice before:

1) Reverse lasts longer in IZJS (cheating!!)
2) The most effective way to get through level 100 is to kill the Judges in the order you fight them in the game*. I find that to be a neat detail. (See end of the vid.)

* Drace and Zargabaath is not a fight ofc

Why doing all that when you can take the Judges down in just 10seconds

 

[Ami]

I'm not getting the game yet, buuut while I was looking for my FFX guide last weekend (God knows where it is!), I ended up finding my FFXII one. Still in fairly condition!

 

[Lex]

I am holding this in my hand but won't be able to play it properly until Thursday because I now have a static in XIV that raids on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. aaaaarghh

It has a very shiny "Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary" sticker on it.

EDIT: One of these days I'll get a PS4 game that's actually in the fucking disc slot and not jumping around the case when I open it

 

[Joker]

lots of words about party composition

Vaan makes an EXCELLENT Shikari/Hunter, and Ashe is fantastic at anything that uses her Magic stat - she's generally considered to be the best Samurai or Black Mage you can get (alternately, Penelo makes an amazing Black Mage as well).

My party in my previous playthrough was

Vaan - Shikari
Fran - Breaker
God-Queen Penelo - Red Mage (this is why she went from my least favorite to God-Queen)

and

Balthier - White Mage
Basch - Uhlan
Ashe - Samurai

That being said, I feel like the B team would've been better, more fun, and possibly my preferred team if Ashe had been a Black Mage. As it stands, I spent almost the entire game rolling enemies with the A team, typically controlling the God-Queen herself.

tldr it's largely base stats plus weapon damage stats times abilities, or (B + W)a

 

[ForceStealer]

I knew I could count on you for job discussions <3

And yeah, I've been toying with having Ashe go Samurai/Black Mage instead of Knight, but then I'm not sure where to put Knight. Samurai seems to pair a little better with Uhlan than Knight (though neither are ideal). And I know I don't actually have to use all 12 jobs and could simply have two people use Samurai...but I feel like I should try to use all 12 if possible.

 

[Fangu]

Re: Judges fight, old video from Darkkefka:

Spoiler

Two things I didn't know/ notice before:

1) Reverse lasts longer in IZJS (cheating!!)
2) The most effective way to get through level 100 is to kill the Judges in the order you fight them in the game*. I find that to be a neat detail. (See end of the vid.)

* Drace and Zargabaath is not a fight ofc

Why doing all that when you can take the Judges down in just 10seconds

That setup takes 4 characters, 2x speed and a good portion of luck. It's a very different challenge.

 

[Strangelove]

i think i had vaan as a shikari and basch as a samurai, but i wouldn't say my setup that i have forgotten now was worth imitating. still managed to beat the game, though

 

[Joker]

I knew I could count on you for job discussions <3

And yeah, I've been toying with having Ashe go Samurai/Black Mage instead of Knight, but then I'm not sure where to put Knight. Samurai seems to pair a little better with Uhlan than Knight (though neither are ideal). And I know I don't actually have to use all 12 jobs and could simply have two people use Samurai...but I feel like I should try to use all 12 if possible.

There's only 6 characters

I've heard that Monk/Red Mage/Archer is a popular setup as well.

 

[Flare]

^6 characters and each character can have 2 jobs, meaning you can use all 12 in one playthrough if you want.

 

[Joker]

oh shit, that's right, they added the double job nonsense

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Hokay:

I'm a little ways in, gotten my Sunstone, and just running around with Penelo now trying to level up. I was originally on the fence with deciding job classes, but I've decided to just say fuck it and choose Vaan and Penelo's classes already. Vaan is a Knight, and Penny is my Black Mage.

They are just TEARING through fiends right now! This new speed option is great for grinding early on when you just want to get a few levels under your belt. I'm sure I'll use it when I feel like farming later. Other than that, I like to run at normal pace and explore the scenery.

So far, my only complaint about this game is that the movie is utterly GONE from the menu. Where's my intro? Where's my Loop Demo? That was one of the best things about the damn game and you took it away! I'm chatting with one of my buddies while he watches my game on Shareplay; he said the into movie before the menu was one of the things that hooked him immediately when I first gave him an old PS2 copy many many years ago, which I was surprised to find out he still has.

So yeah, I want my intro movie.

BTW my Judge Magister Static Arts busts are feckin awesome.

EDIT:

oh shit, that's right, they added the double job nonsense

That double job nonsense is actually a great way to supplement your character's stats, which will be great for characters like Fran, who the strategy guide even admits has the most shit stats in the entire game.

 

[ForceStealer]

So Amazon screwed up and only sent the guide, didn't put the game in the box. Says both were delivered.

Went to Gamestop, I'll get a refund from Amazon. There's more than one way to skin a moogle.

 

[Joker]

Fran's shit stats make her an amazing Breaker, because who needs stats when you deal random damage and are a debuffer?