Now that the game is out, here are some (very) useful tips you should concider reading before venturing deep into the game.

Liscense Board

In my experience, the best thing to aim for as soon as possible and spend your LP on is the stat boosting section of the liscense board. And specifically the three slots that each increase your action speed by 10%. Get all three of them and you'll notice a drastic change. It's like having an Auto-Haste of sort. Get it as quickly as you can. You can avoid the ones increasing your strength for now if you want to, as it only seems to up your attack power by 1 point. (Which a Level Up does as well.)



Burning bow (Att 63)

First off, here's something I did which helped me immensely early on.
When you're free to move around in the outside world, you'll notice that playing as Vaan alone won't get you very far. You need some team mates. Go down to Giza plains and get Penelo to join you, as soon as you get a chance to. (Though she's a temporary member until you fulfill a certain quest, so ignore that quest for now.) Instead do the guild mob hunts, and other various places you want to explore. Make your way through the desert as far as it takes you. And make sure to learn at least one Quickening with Vaan and one with Penelo in order for this to work. (Possibly two with one of them. That would be even better.)
Now venture all the way to the end of the Westersands and you'll come across a friendly enemy bird. "Green life bar". Don't attack it right now because it's very powerful, but instead go to the save point and save. Now you can try to attack it and kill it. But the only way to do that right now is to use the Mist option and Quickening. If you're lucky, you'll be able to kill it. This bird randomly drops a bow with power 63. That's insane for the beginning of the game. And trust me, it will last for a loooong time.
But... this bird seems to drop it very rarely. I guess I was lucky because I got it on my third kill, and I didnt even know about it, so it was by chance. If you feel it won't drop it any time soon, you can skip this. There are other rare weapons and things later. But this one possibly gives you the greatest power jump in the game.

Gladius (Att 45)

Another good one, and more easy to do is to get the Gladius sword. You should do this at least before you venture off to "save" a certain somebody. (Also early in the game, and after the castle event with Balthier and Fran.) To get the Gladius is pretty simple. Go out to the first area of Westersands as soon as you leave from Rabanastre, and start killing wolfs only. When you get a certain amount on your "chain" (16 or so) it will flash. Now go to the south-western dead end area and there should be a rare huge wolf there. Steal the Gladius from him. It's very very handy in the next place you're going because a majority of the enemies have a weakness to the Gladius element.

Shielded Armor (Defense 24, Auto Protect)



Go to the area in the picture above that leads to the Zertinan Caves from the Ogir Yensa sandsea. It will take you to a very small secluded passage of the caves that only leads in one direction. Once you get out to the other side, kill all enemies and make your way to the top of the bulding and cross over to the other side and stand still in the circle area for a few seconds. A large bird will soon appear. You can steal Shield Armor from it, which is a very good armor to have as it has much higher defense than your standard armor at that time, plus it has Auto Protect at all times. You can come back and steal from it as many times as you want.

Demonsbane (Att 59)

Demonsbane is a sword found in a secret area. To get access to this area you must kill the demon wall boss that appears when you enter the Tomb of Raithwall. If you manage to kill it then a shining light will appear on the wall behind it's original position. To be able to press this light/button you have to activate the first teleporter in the dungeon, so go do that first and it will take you back to the entrance. Once you activate the shining switch, two paths will appear, but it doesn't matter which one you chose. They both lead to the same destination. And at the end of that destination lies a treasure chest. Here's the thing though. The chest itself appears randomly. Some times it's there, some times it's not. But the good thing is that it respawns infinitely. All you have to do is either reset the game and go there again. Or go back, save, and then reset. (If you got something good)
The chest appears randomly, and once it does it will contain one of three things. 20 Gil. Knot of Rust, or the Demonsbane sword. This is a very good sword. I got three of them. It may take a few tries, but I thought it was worth it.

Monographs

I suggest to buy the different monographs from the bazaar as soon as possible. They will appear in the bazaar when certain conditions are met. (Usually it's talking to different type of shop owner a certain amount of times. For example, talk to a Magick shop owner 30 times.) And once you are in a posession of one of these, certain enemy types will drop better loot. Even though it's expensive it will pay off very quickly, and you'll get your money back.

You'll find them under the 18 000 - 25 000 price range, and called "Forgotten Grimoire"

~Edit~

High Level equipment

This is (should be) available right after Tomb of Raithwall. What you need to do is get a hold of a key that will allow you back into The Barheim Passage. This is where you were held captive and first encountered Bash.
In order to get this key you need to travel through the Eastersands. Hopefully you already did the "Cactuar with a flower on its head" mob hunt before. The procedure is pretty simple. You need to help the man who originally gave you that request (he is at the little camp in the first area of the Eastersands) and his wife. Go up to the coast where the Eastersands Teleport Savecrystal is located and talk to the kid guarding the boat if you already haven't, and do that side quest first though. After this, exchange words with the wife and the man and get them the things they want. I remember that the wife wanted some seashells which can be located at the shore right outside of the village. (Pick up some of the shiny things and go back and talk to her). To get one of the items she wanted you needed to talk to her husband. And another is located in the Mosphoran Highwaste. (The first area with the cliffs. There are some trees growing by their sides with pink leafs. Touch them and return to her)
After you get the key, go to the second entrance of The Barheim Passage, which is directly southeast of this village if you look at the map. But as you exit the village, just stick to the left side and keep walking and you should reach it.

(If you have problems getting the key or finding the place, try one of the FAQ's at gamefaqs for more detailed info.)

Now that you're inside again, there's a new area available to the west that you couldn't access before. Beware though, it has some really powerful enemies, so you may have to do some running here. But that's ok as long as you survive. Use Shell, Protect and Regen if you have to. Make your way across the bridge and all the way to the new savepoint. Beyond this savepoint is a new Esper, but it's up to you if you want to face it or not.

Before you go there though, go save your game on the Orange Save Crystal in the old area.

Deathbringer (Att 96)

Go south to the next room and then go west. Here you have a choice between two roads. Chose the more southern one. It should lead you to an area with touroise like enemies, and it's a bit of an open area. (You can see a lake) Make your way to the giant turtoise and kill it.
Right after this keep walking (northeast on the map) and you'll get to a dead end area. As soon as you enter this area, or as soon as you'll get a roof over your head, notice the pile in the middle of this corridor. It's to your uper right as you enter. On the other side of this pile/structure you'll somtimes find a treasure chest. But it is actually a rare enemy that mimics a treasure chest. You'll notice it looks a bit brighter than the other treasurechests. Try to open it and you will engage it in battle. But instead of killing it keep stealing until you steal the Deathbringer swors. Now kill it, go back and save and repeat. (If you want more than one sword. It's very good.)


As for the other items, I'll list how to get them starting from the new save point right before the Esper.
Oh and keep in mind that the treasure chests appear randomly, and contain these treasures randomly as well. (It's usually Knot of Rust, so keep trying.) They also respawn infinitely if you save and/or reset, so you can get as manya s you want.

Dragon Mail

Exit back out to the direction you just came from. Avoid the enemies rather than killing them because there's no point in killing them if you don't get the treasure and have to reset. Right in front of you are some railroad tracks, but as you can see there is a rift somewhere up ahead and they break your path so that you have to go around. The Dragon Mail is actually in the treasure chest on the other side of this rift. So un around and open it. Reset the game and try until you get it. Then run back and save.

Cerebrant Mitter

A very good magic resist hat.
This one is a bit further away than the dragon Mail. You need to ruin all the way back to the bridge again, where the skeletons are. Just make your way back across it until you encounter another rift in the bridge that divide the railroiad tracks. (Just like where you get the Dragon Mail) It should be exactly at the center of the bridge. Only this time the treasure you are going for is the one that is closest to you. So you don't need to go around this rift. Just get the one in front of you. (Remember that the treasure chest may not always be there. It's random)

A few questions...

Is there a lot of crap you can do off the main path of the game? I heard that this game is very wide open compared to the other final fantasies so does it always pay to go off the beaten path to level/explore/loot?

Do you recommend power levelling or is it not that kinda game? Is it easy to power level?

I'll probably have some more questions but I'm still working my way around the beginning. =x

I guess this could have gone in the general discussion thread but since you've played the game more than anyone else here ( I think I remember you saying something like that... ) I figured you'd be the man to ask and it'd help anyone else who may have the same questions for your tips thread.

Sonic beat the game already so he probably knows more than I do, but I did play very thoroughly up to the point I am right now.

And yeah there's a lot of things you can do aside from the main quest. A reviewer said theres around 60 - 70 hrs worth of sidequests. And it seems to be pretty accurate.

Is it worth it? Well I never worried much about my characters Level. (Besides from the very beginning, where it did make a difference) It's more the equipment you have on, and your Liscense Board progress that matters. But, you probably won't regret exploring and powering up. The additional characters that join you will match your current level, so you're not leaving anyone behind if you're recriuting them at Level 25 when you're suppsoed to meet them at Level 8. Same for their LP. They'll have LP that matches yours. So don't worry about putting the main story on hold. Explore new areas if you want to. They're accesible, but some times hard to get through. Though the equipment and experience you gain from those places will speed up your progress through the main quest, as you'll be strong enough to plow through enemies and bosses much easier. For a while at least.

The only reason I can think of not to explore is if you find it boring. But most people who've played this game seems to like that part, and so did I.

Here's a tip though if you're at the beginning. If you have met Penelo at the Giza plains village, then don't progress with the main story. (Because she will leave after a certain event) Go through the Eastersands until you get to Nalbina Fortress. You can buy better equipment there. It will help you get through the Westersands and other places.

I had already lost Panelo after I went back to see Dalan. I progressed all the way to the part where I have to go to the Aerodome, but I decided to go to the Westersands and kill that bird, I doesn't drop the Burning Bow. I killed about 6 of those huge birds and I usually get a Wind Magicite and sometimes a handkerchief. I guess you were really lucky to get one on your third bird kill.

Oh yeah whats this Forgotten Grimoire in the Bazaar? It appeared after I completed the second Monster Hunt for this guy. It costs 18000 Gil, pretty damn expensive, is it worth purchasing? I also got this Dusty Letter. Whats it about because it seems to be a riddle?

The Forgotten Grimoire is one of the Monographs. They're worth getting. See my Monograph section above. I'll update it later on how to unlock all the Monographs.
As for the Dusty Letter, I don't know. Is it an item you can buy from the Bazaar?

I'm going to add a new section later on how to obtain some of the best equipment in the game, and it's available right after Tomb of Raithwall. (It's not among the best equipment, more like 3rd best)
The equipments are in this category on the LB:

Heavy Armor 8 (out of 11)
Mystic Armor 9 (out of 13)
Swords 6 (out of 7)

There's also the Ultimate Shield in this area, but close to impossible to obtain at this point, so I won't recommend it.
I'll add this update a bit later.

The only backside to this is that you may feel like you've overpowered yourself too much. But it seems this didn't last as long as I thought, so it's okay. The game isn't way too easy anymore. (Although it's not quite caught up with me yet.)

You get the Dusty Letter after you complete a Monster Hunt defeating a Wraith. The reason the bill was put up is because a boy locked himself in the vacant apartment in Lowtown and won't come out until the Wraith is killed. Once you complete the monster hunt you can go into the vacant apartment and there sits the Dusty Letter with the word "East Southeast East Southwest Southeast" scribbled on it.

Oh I got that one as well, but I haven't done anything with it yet.
You could try asking someone in the general FF 12 topic.

There is a lot of crap to do off the main path there are mob hunts to do, mini games to play, 80 rare monsters to hunt, idiotic bosses with millions of hp to defeat, rare items such as weapons/armors/accessories to find, extra espers to get and I perhaps some of the things I forgot to mention.

As for power leveling, it really depends on what purpose are you leveling for. If you do intend to go after all the bosses the game throws at you then yes it is recommended because underleveled is not option. I havent heard someone defeat Omega MK. II and Yazmat at low levels though. ^^;; On the other hand, power leveling can make the main storyline "REALLY" (notice the emphasis and I'm not kidding) easy. So just decide on what you want to do in the game and go for it.

I noticed something odd. The Forgotten Grimoire is up for sell in the Bazaar, but the odd thing is I bought it already and there are two Forgotten Grimoire listed. One costs 25000 and the other 22000. Is this common to see an item you already bought from the Bazaar to appear multiple times?

They're all different Monographs. You just won't know which one until you buy it. There are around 7 or 8 monographs in total. It's worth having them all. I'll list the requierments of unlocking them all in the Bazaar later. (Tomorrow probably.)

First post updated with a High Level equipment section.

Puh... that will be my last update. Hope you find it useful.
Maybe I should start playing this game again rather than writing about it...

I tried to stealing from that bird like 20 times and no Shield Armor. You must have been lucky to be able to steal from it. I tried stealing from it until my other characters finally killed it.

Just set gambit Foe Hp=100% steal to avoid killing it.

It should be pretty easy to steal it. It can take a minute or two, but I've done it 5 - 6 times, and I watched my friend do the same thing. You can set your Gambit like Sonic recommended.
Or you can do what I do and add a "Steal from nearest enemy" gambit right above the "Attack enemy, closest".
But since the top ones take priority, have the steal Gambit shut off, and switch it on when you need it. All three party members will only steal, and won't hurt the bird. Once you have the object, shut the steal gambit off again.

For some odd reason the chest that contains the Demonsbane Sword is gone it just disappeared. I reset and the game and when I went back it was not there.

Keep going. It will be there eventually. Down the stairway.

Finally got around to getting the Demonsbane and I got three of them. I gave them to Vann, Basch, and Ashe. I also stole a Shielded Armor from that bird. I'm going to try to get the Burning Bow by killing as many of those birds in a row. Are those birds considered Avions because I got the Hunter's Monograph and I'm hoping that will give me a better chance that the bird will drop it.

Okay, I've fought the Dive Talon about 10 times now.. the first 3 times i kept trying to steal from it and i never stole anything, andi killed it all 10 times and it never dropped the Burning Bow. Am I doing something wrong?

No I don't think you're doing anything wrong. You're not supposed to steal it though.
But I've heard the same story from many people. That it very seldom drops the bow. I got it on my third/fourth kill, and I didn't even try because I didn't know about it at the time. So I may have been lucky.

The other items I posted are much easier to get. That one in particular seems hard to get.

And I don't know if it's an Avion, AnimePaul, but I think you can check that in the Bestiary logs.

Large Wolf??? Are you thinking of the Thextera Hunt by any chance?? Or is there actually a wolf that appears ever 16 chains or whatever??






And my own tips:
Athrun says when you get Penelo and whatnot when you're Vaan it's good to go around and train your characters to the max, but I think it's much easier to do at 2 specific times: *Spoilers?* I dunno it's not really that big



1. When you're on the Leviathan, just set off guard traps and continously slaughter the guards that come, you rack up real good chains, it's great exp, and there are save crystals nearby that help. Not to mention, Vossler is in your party to make it easier.


2. This is where I did most of my leveling. When you get to the Sandsea deserts, and you're on your way to Raithwall's Tomb, Vossler joins your party again, and he'll go whever you want. I took this time to take my characters all up like 8 levels, get tons os LP (The wolves and Uxtera (bird things) are really good because it's one hit kills and you get AP.)

A. Complete all the hunts available after you get TONS of quickenings. Once you have your quickenings it's insanely easy to complete many of the hunts available.
B. When you have to go to Bhajurba for the 4th Hunt, the mines are a great place to level because the bats are 2 hit kills, and the skeletons are like 4 hit kills, but they actually give out minor experience for your characters.
C. Just spend time going through the deserts back and forth. This time period is crucial because Vossler jacks your team up dramatically with an overkill 4th member, and because *SPOILER* You're gonna lose him soon. * END SPOILER* So make use of this time.


After going through these killings and whatnot, I already have 2 Quickenings for 4 of my characters, and 3 quickenings for my last 2 members. I also have all of them with the +500 and +200 HP Bonuses, I'm working on getting the action time up, and with the money you get, you can really jack up their weapons and armor to make them good. It's definitely worth it. I did it all for about the last 6 hours of gameplay (I'm 18 hours in), and it's totally worth it all.

A large wolf appears in the area I mentioned after a certain amount of wolf chains. Every rare enemy looks different than regular enemies. You've probably encountered a few already. They are listed as 'Rare Game' in the bestiary.


I didn't say thats a good spot to train your characters to the max.
I said that with Penelo in your team, you can make your way through the places I listed, and aquire the rare items I listed. And the experience you get will help make things go smoother when you proceed in the story.

Yeah i misconstrued it a lil bit, but my point was that it's better and easier with Vossler and your whole party :-)

Of course, but it's not hard with Penelo either. She's just enough to tip the scales in order to easily get you to Nalbina Fortress where you can buy new equipment. After that you can make your way through the Westersands with her.
And the sooner you get Burning Bow and/or Gladius, the better.
And when Fran and Balthier join you, their levels will match yours, as will their LP, so you wont have to waste time leveling them up.

Well, I got the ffxii strategy guide, and there's the part about the demonbane sword in the tomb. I've killed the optional Wall guy, and pressed his light which let me take the side paths. I didn't find any chest. I then googled it, found this, and tried using that teleporter you mentioned (right next to the map urn), but still, no chest.

So, I'll explain, and hopefully you can tell me where I messed up. I go from save point (after both walls were killed, and I touched the light and the teleporter which took me back), then I take one of the side paths from that first room. Both paths head West. After going through the door at the end of the path, I continue down the one way hallway (the one where the non-optional wall fights you), and go through the door on the end. Now, I end up at an area which has a staircase on either side. When you go down the staircase, it takes you to a hallway which loops around. There is no chest along any of this loop. I see hallways below me, but am confused as to how to get there. Please help.

Do you find the big fire blobs (i dont know the names for them rofl)?

I think you're going the right way.

1. Touch the jewel
2. Follow EITHER opened path (They're both symmetrical and mirror imaged)
3. Enter the next room which is just a long hallway. On your map your little triangle should be somewhere off in space.
4. Now, go down either flight of stairs on the right or left in the next room
5. There should be 2 bats on either side if you're goin down the right stairs.
6. Eventuall you'll get to a long platform where there are the blobs I'm talking about. If you were to go across, you'd eventually come to the staircase back up. The chest should be somewhere in the middle there.


Now. It's true the chest is random. It doesn't ALWAYS show up, but usually, and doesn't ALWAYS have the Demonsabane, but it does sometimes. So if you're going down the stairs and you see no chest, restart, and try it again. If you open the chest and no Demonsbane, restart and try again lol.

I had to restart and try again about 8 times, I think Athrun got it in less. It's a pain, but the sword IS worth it, really. And if you want to get more than one (Which I did, and was lucky enough to get it on the first try after), it's definitely worth it

good luck man

I finally got one, and it effectlively doubled Basch's dmg from 400 to 800, and I'm happy... Now to get one for Vaan...

If you liked the Demonsbane, you're going to love Deathbringer and Dragon mail. Theres a section for those weapons/armors as well in my first post. =p
But you might want to run around and explore some areas you're not really suppsoed to go to yet, now that you have the Demonsbane, such as Sailikawoods and Mosphoron Highwaste, etc. It will make you stronger as you take on stronger enemies.

Might be wise befroe attempring to go for Deathbringer and the other things.

Ya, you read my message about the genji armor. When you sucessfully get the armor, you will find it is the best out there, and should probably put the information about getting it up here as well.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but earily on if you can spare the LP get Horology. It can do some insane damage if all 3 party members use it in tandom. just think of it this way. 1 Party member uses horology and it hits 4 mobs each for 900+ damage and the other 2 party members do the same move and hit the same damage ammount. that will whittle a mobs hp down quickly if not kill it easily. Explore the LB and think ahead of what you want and how you will customize each of your party members and you should be able to perform some killer moves that dole out some serious damage

Eh I haven't really tried much with the Techniks yet, I find them all pointless except Steal. Attacks and magic are not only easier, but much more efficient.

I definitely recommend everybody get the Deathbringer sword. I actually had lots of trouble getting one, simply because the random chest never appeared when I tried it. But the time it DID show up, GOD was it worth it. I'm pwning mobs left and right. I'm going to get another soon so that both Vaan and Basch can have it.

I haven't gotten the Dragon Mail yet, but I probably will since I'm going back to Barheim to get another Deathbringer.


i dunno, so far here are some tips that have helped me IMMENSELY:


1. Level up like CRAZY in the Yensa Sandsea when you have Vossler in your party right before Raithwall's Tomb. I gained ridiculous levels there, and got LOADS of LP because the mobs cluster and are so many.

2. Get the Demonsbane. Get two. That sword will help you kill off bosses and mobs IMMENSELY.

3. Know where Quickenings are on the License Board, when leveling in the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea from number 1, make sure you get all your characters at least 2 Quickenings. Map out where you want each character to get their Quickenings
(for instance, with Vaan I made him get the 3 that are mixed in Accessories and Black Magic. With Ashe, I figured she'd probably use maces and things more than any other character, so I had her get the three on the bottom left hand of the entire grid. I thought Balthier would use guns and katanas more than the other characters, so ihad him get the two Quickenings right above the 3 where i told you Ashe's were, etc.)
the Quickenings are the BIGGEST damage dealer when you have 2-3 Quickenings for all your characters. I buzzed through so many bosses with them. Not only that, but when you get a Quickening, your MP is doubled or whatever. So my characters had like, 230 MP very early in the game, VERY helpful.


4. When you get to Bur-Omisance, get the Golden Armlet ASAP. This doubles your LP and will prove UNBELIEVABLY helpful. With double LP, i let my characters max out all the squares that boost your stats. I also got them to ALL learn nearly ALL the magic spells. Which is helpful when you can cast Green Magic and Time magic with all your characters.


5. Get the Forgotten Grimoire. This allows normal land mobs to drop rare items easier, and more items in general more frequently. The money you make back from the 22,000 Gil Grimoire will supass the amount you bought it for in absolutely NO TIME. This is important, because by selling the loot from the Grimoire, you can buy the Golden Armlet, better Katanas when you get to Bur-Omisance, better armor, and more magic spells. It makes the game SO MUCH EASIER.

6. Once you have Demonsbane swords, and your characters are dishing out about 600-1000 damage per hit, and you've successfully gotten them to levels with LP HP boosts so their HP is around 2000 a piece, get to the Barheim passage and get some Deathbringers. This sword will let you easily breeze through mobs. By getting more powerful weapons, you can defeat more mobs quickly, which means you get more LP and with the Golden Armlet you get DOUBLE LP, and the more mobs you kill, the more money you get from the Grimoire. It's a big cycle. This is critical.

7. Around the time of the game when you're at Bur Omisace, you should have the Deathbringer Swords and higher HP, if not Deathbringer at least the Kogasurame-whatever Katana and Demonsbane sword. Because the best area to train I found, to gain exp, was north of the village in the Estersand, where the kid on the ferry takes you. When you get to those northern plains on the way to the Mosphoran Highwaste, those mobs take about 3 or 4 hits to kill, but give great EXP, and bunch together, and the wolf-thing mobs are easy chains. If you continue north, you can get to the Highwaste which is also great mobs (considering you have the HP boosts and the good weapons), and eventually the Feywood (whose mobs are very hard). I actually got the highwaste and feywood RIGHT BEFORE I went to Mt. Bur-Omisace. I could only fight 3 - 5 tough mobs in the Feywood before my party was depleted, but definitely helped because it improved levels, and by accessing the save points, it gave me more options for Teleport Stones after the events at Bur-Omisace.



I mean, so far I'm 33 Hours into my game, and I just finished the trip to The Stilshrine of Miriam. My leader (Vaan) is level 33. My other fighters (Ashe, Basch) are 30. Penelo is 28, Fran is 25, and Balthier is 23. They all have 3 quickenings. And Vaan has about 2500 HP. Balthier has about 1800 HP. I've been very successful in the game so far, and the tactics I listed about will help a lot.

I'm working on my 14th try at getting the demonsbane... Still no luck. I swear if I don't get it soon, I'm going to ##### a brick. I beat the 2 demon walls with one quickening (23k 14 combo for the last one, both did 23k), then found out after that fran was unarmed, lol. So i would have done like 30k. Lmao... It's revenge I tell you, I pwned them so bad, they want me to work for that stupid sword.

Yeha it's totally just luck if it shows up. I remember it took me 5 tries to get my first Demonsbane, and when I completed the dungeon, I was like, fsck it I'll just go down there on my way back out, and when I went down just by CHANCE there was another Demonsbane. so i mean, i got 2 with no effort at all.

But i know what you're saying, but at least all you have to do is reload your game. I'm trying to get Deathbringers, and you have to actually RESET the game if the chest isn't there, which blows because you have to sit thru the opening stuff, load the game up, do all that fun bullcrap. and i've done it 10 times and still haven't gotten another deathbringer

You keep beating the demon walls? if you don't see the chest, go out until the teleport crystal area, at least three screens away, before going back to the chest. The probability of demonsbane isn't that low.

hello,

just wondering about the Gladius sword. can you only kill the wolves in the first area?
also which dead end part do you mean?
is it the small part just south of the first area?

cheers

Im not sure, but as long as each wolf kill adds to the "chain" then it should be fine.
The dead end area is in the south west part of trhe first area I believe. It's hard to miss because it's the only exit that doesn't really lead anywhere other than to a small secluded area. That's where the special wolf will show up.

Up until this point I have no gained any quickenings for any characters... Basically I hate the idea of using all my MP for an overpowered attack... I also see it as a waste of lisence points considering I'd have to use a bunch of lisenes I don't need yet. However am I just making the game much more difficult that I need it to be? So far I haven't had much difficulty (Although I still haven't done the first Demon's Wall <.<) and now I'm just going through the flooded Ginza plains. Are Quickenings over-rated or nessecary. I guess I also ask the same question about Espers...

Quickenings can be pretty useful, you should try them out. And you need to activate those things anyway because each additional quickening after the first gives you twice the max MP. You'll have 3 separate MP bars when you get all three quickenings for a character. (But it still functions as one long MP bar for magic. For quickenings they're treated as three separate bars.)
I never used Espers. I'm not sure exactly how it works either, but the Esper seems to have a will of its own.

You summon an Esper, it does one attack over and over again, then if you meet the requirements for the specific Esper it uses it's special attack then goes away. I'm still getting them, but so far they all suck with the exception of Zalera when I don't feel like attacking anything and just want to run through a dungeon. They take alot of work to get and blow once you get them, so if you want to just fight some really hard bosses, then get them, but if you want them to make the game easier... don't bother, they're not worth it.

Zodiark is pretty handy, particularly against Omega Mark XII, and Hell Wyrm, and Yizamat. The amount of damage that can be done is immense, and it is exceptionally handy if you're fairly weak when taking on OMXII. That's one tough bastard (I know, I've beaten the #####).

Quickenings are extremely useful because of the MP boost. You can have low-level characters with 300+ MP, and that's very useful for leveling up, or just doing whatever. Additionally, if you have all 6 characters at decent levels with 3 quickenings, you can unleash one chain (and hopefully get Black Hole Concurrence, which will cause over 60,000 points of damage), and then switch those characters out and immediately unleash another quickening chain. If you have gambits equipped that replenish MP, or better yet, have some of the abilities that allow you to regenerate MP when attacking, taking damage, or using magic, you can charge up again quickly, and pound that boss some more.

Only problem is, decent concurrences are extremely hard to get. You need 4 level 3 quickenings, 4 level 2 quickenings, and 4 level 1 quickenings to trigger it. Level 2 and 1 are usually no problem, but getting those level 3 quickenings before time runs out can be a difficult thing. I've gotten Ark Blast so many times when I thought I'd get black hole that it's not worth counting.

I'm having trouble against the Elder Wyrm just after leaving the Viera town for Bur-Omisace. I think I may be a little too weak to be fighting it, but I try anyway. Unfortunately my team is a little one sided, as Penelo, Balthier and Fran are only around level 12 - 14 whereas my main team are around 24 - 26. I've tried the approach of blasting it with Quickenings, but running out of MP isn't much fun, especially if he shoots off a spore attack... My equipment isn't up to much either really. Vaan's weapon is a Javelin, Ashe has a sword (Don't know the name, has 29 ATP) and Bashe has an axe I got back on the Leviathan.

Can anyone give me some advice about it, please?

Supposedly that thing is like entirely optional. You don't have to beat it to beat the game.

Or so I was told. :D

I'm having a little trouble with a mark, Behemoth King. I already beat all the mosnters in the two specific areas that you must beat them. Problem is after I get back to one of them to find the mark it doesn't spawn. I've already did a list of all the mosnters I kill and i'm even careful with the respawn of the monsters, but I can't get it to spawn. I'm certain the other monsters don't spawn and I'm also certain that I kill everything else, before trying to find him... Any ideas?

I had a little bit of a problem with this stupid thing as well. To go on you do need to beat it, it is not an optional creature to fight. You should have your characters that are weaker like Penelo, Balthier and Fran up to the same level as the main team, and then all together try and get all of your characters to up to the thirties area of levels. So even if it means you have to run around fighting everything in existance, do it. It really pays off in the end. You should also have some remedies, and super good Quickening attacks so focus on getting those until they get to the ultimate quickening attack-thing. (I just kept using Quickening on the damned thing until It fell over). what also helps it boosting up their weapons, even though it sounds strange the majority of the parties are better with Axes. Better as in they had more oomf to fighting than people using bows, swords, guns and javelins

I had that problem a couple days ago when I went after him. You just have to walk around the area a few times to make sure nothing else spawns, then go on to the next and do the same, then once you return to the previous area you need to look around a bit because you have to be somewhat close to see it. btw.. I hope you have some powerful Magick ready.

Ahem, I went down to Giza plains hoping to find Penelo, but instead I get insta-killed by an enemy which did 240+ damage. Are you really supposed to get her this early? I've only just seen Vayne in the ceremony, maybe I shouldn't be going down the Giza Plains just yet?

Oh I'm sure you definitely can. There's no real "should" or "shouldn't" in this game, it's pretty wide open for exploration. To get down to the Giza plains, just level up a tiny bit arround the Rabanastre area where the enemies aren't too tough. Alone it can still be tough though. And watch out for the austridge looking birds. They're pretty tough when you're allone.
If you get into the village area of Giza (you can avoid some enemies if you want) you'll find Penelo. She wants you to take her somewhere but I suggest keeping her for a while. Go through the eastersands and to a Fortress area. Having Penelo in the party helps a lot. (After using Penelo to level up a bit. Quickenings help to take out strong enemies) There you can buy stronger weapons and armor.

Okay, I've found her. I guess I'll try getting that Burning Bow next. I've no idea what the Mist option and Quickenings are, though (I haven't had an in-game tutorial of Quickenings yet, and I'm going to assume Mist is a skill or something). I've been in the Estersands for leveling up, sadly Penelo got KO'd in one hit by a beast that looks like a T-Rex. ^^''

I'll stick with leveling up some more, before I move on with anything else.

hey xerny, you definatly don't want to fight the t-rex, it's like level 36 or something, so you'll always die untill you level up enough.

I'm a little ways into FFXII now, myself, and I've been hearing about the probability of getting powerful weapons from treasure chests. Which treasure chests do you usually find them in and how can you increase the chances of getting them. I havent seen any in-game tutorials for this, so I was wondering if it was just a rumor or something.

I figured it was way beyond my current level, I tried fighting it once but first of all it took zero damage and secondly it insta-killed both Vaan and Penelo with just one hit. I guess my pitiful level 4 is no match for the advanced enemies yet. xD

Though I'm surprised such high-level enemies can already be encountered, it seems exploring too far ahead just gets you into trouble... o.o''

Well those extremely powerful enemies pretty much always have a green life bar, which means they are friendly unless you provoke them. Don't cast any support magic while you're close to it, or try to attack it of course.

The bird with the Burning bow is also a "friendly enemy" but you'll only have one chance of killing it, if you fail, then run, or save at the save point and reset. The only way to kill it now is by using Quickenings, and with a bit of luck. Try to have one for Penelo and one for Vaan. Preferably two Quickenings for one of them if possible. That will help a lot. It's a rare drop though so if it doesn't come, don't waste too much time but move on instead. It without a doubt makes the biggest power difference in the game with the exception of getting the Zodiac Spear early, so it will be more powerful than any other weapons you'll get for many many hours to come if you get it. There are other good items I listed that are much easier to get though. But keep leveling a bit with Penelo. And check out that fortress town to the north east of the Estersands I mentioned if you want to buy stronger equipment.