I felt compelled to make the topic, not too sure why. I know I did purposely make it so there shouldn't be any FFXII bashing taking place.

Now, to the topic at hand. With all of the weapons you can choose from, you can pretty much customize all your characters to use whatever weapons and be whatever kind of 'job' you want them to be. If you want Penelo to use a hammer and only green magic...sure. If you want Vaan to use a mace and be a black mage of sorts, whatever you want. Maybe not totally recommended, but really, people can use whatever they want for the characters. So, I was curious to see what weapons and 'jobs' of sorts players used the different characters for. Maybe we could help eachother out to use certain characters better too.

Anyway, I just recently loaded up my game again since I needed a break with the hours of monster killing. With some of my characters there aren't particular jobs, but I always have given them specific weapons to use, I don't change it up very often, except for one or two characters.

With Vaan, I give him a regular long sword, I will probably just keep it that way or maybe give him greatswords when they become available. I'm not too sure. But he's my best close range fighter, also probably my 2nd or 3rd best healer.

Balthier sucks with magic, not so bad as Basch, but he isn't that great with it. I've always made him use a gun, I probably always will, it just seems to work with him the best. It tends to work well against most things I face, regular monster and boss alike. One of my best long range fighters, plus he can handle taking some decent damage.

Fran is a slight oddity for me. Starting out she was a good healer, but now I use her more for black or arcane magic. Also starting out I gave her a bow, but now I have her using a katana which I think works well for her. Granted, her defense and HP isn't too hot compared to Vaan or Basch but I just like putting a katana on her. Depending on certain fights, I'll make her more of a supporting character and give her a bow, having her sling magic from behind. She's probably my most well rounded character though.

Basch is typical. A copy of Vaan at the moment, with a sword and shield, though with him I also alternate between sword and spear since I plan to give him the Zodiac Spear later in the game. Once I get a bit farther in the game I was thinking of just giving him great swords/spears to use until the Zodiac Spear, but I'm not sure.

Ashe is my big time healer, she has the best MP and seems to heal the best as well. I only equip rods on her for the added magic power and bonus MP. Not much else to say about her, she's the classic white mage.

Finally Penelo, she's probably the second best white mage besides Ashe. I tend to use her for casting support magic like Protect, Shell, Regen, those sorts of things and a secondary healer, sometimes behind Ashe. My least favorite character to be honest, in battle she's also fairly unremarkable. She's currently the only one I use a bow with.

And for a main team, I like to switch it up, I haven't quite found a team that's 100% solid and the best at what they do since all of them are fairly different. Vaan and Ashe usually are main stay's for a long going boss fight. Then probably Balthier for using his gun since it goes through defense. It depends on who the guest character is as well, assuming there is one.

I'm interested to see who everyone else likes to use and what weapons they put on what characters, etc. Maybe I'll learn something hehe.

Considering everyone is just about equal except for a bit in the stats I stuck with Vaan, Ashe, and Fran because I like being escorted by two lovely ladies.

Vaan and Fran were my tank characters, I have them in heavy armor with some minor spell talents, mostly in healing, and unlocked all the bonus attack/defense whatever the ##### they're called as well as the HP bonuses... I stuck with swords for the both with shields because the other weapons never seemed to offer much and all the shield block things you can unlock are sweet ass.

Ashe was my main caster with a bow so she could hang out and avoid damage while the other two went to town. Her magic skills generally dominated and I would equip her with weapons and items to either boost or take advantage of the magical crap.

Ah such a great game with so many options... I will beat it one of these days, I put in a few hours the other night. >_>

i always used balthier, ashe and fran.. but i occasionly put in basch when im bored.. i havent played this game in over 8 months it seems like...

Ah the memories.

Basch was a Tank and Status Mage, a combination I use on every FF game. He just sits there dealing out a good amount of damage while taking the brunt for the others, casting Hastega, Slowga, and things like that in the meantime. I eventually ##### up and he ended up with an enormous edge in offense over everyone else, so I turned him into a Berserker type character. Meaning he had Masamune.. or Murasame.. or whatever it was, Genji Gloves, and a Cat-Ear Hood and I had Bravery (or the other one like it, I forgot it's been forever), Berserk, Bubble, Haste, Protect, and Shell cast him almost always. My most useful character ever.

Ashe was more of a White Mage, I always had her with a bow or gun of some sort. She just always stayed away from the fights doing a little damage, taking basically none, and curing everyone else. I also gave her the Nipopatheloma (I completely forgot the name of it) and had her tossing out Remedies like crazy.

Vaan was just a multitasker, alright at everything. The most use I ever got out of him was just having him run around leading monsters all over the place so the other characters could get behind it.

Now I want to get FFXII again.

I made all my characters clones basically, all equipped with the best weapons and armour I could buy, all with healing capabilities and magic if the target was flying.

I use all my characters they're all at the same level, when one levels up i swap him or her out for someone who hasn't levelled up yet and I keep going from there. It gets boring at times, but I couldn't get into the game anyway. It sucked.

The weapons and jobs I used certain characters for varied.
Basch was my powerhouse/summoner, I would give him the best 2 handed weapon I had at any given moment.
Vann was my warrior/white mage/black mage/thief. He tended to be the multi tasked character.
Ashe was my white mage/summoner/powerhouse once I attained the Zodiac Spear.
Balthier was also a powerhouse.
Fran stayed an archer/white mage.
I never used Penelo.
After a while everyone became the same being I attained every gambit spot for every character and also attained many of the "ultimate" weapons like the tournesol, zodiac spear, masamune, excalibur, sagittarius, etc.

Yeah it's a real shame that you get total control over how your character develops.

I have to agree. I am not quite fond of choosing how my character develops. I would rather follow through them developing in their set profession.

@Bkoz: Ted was being rather sarcastic.

@Topic: I just started the game tonight, so I’m not far in it yet. I like using Vaan (usually go with those who have swords/main character anyway), but I can’t quite say what party characters I like using. As I get farther in the game, I’ll inform >.o. Quite fun so far though.

My main party is Basch (leader), Vaan, and Ashe.

Basch: Greatsword user, wielding the Tournesol. If needed, I occasionally switch off to the Excalibur, for the holy-elemental attack. With a Bubble Belt equipped, he's got the most HP than anyone else in my party, so he's basically the tank of my group. Oh yeah, and he uses all heavy armor. (Shishak + Maximillian.)
He casts Protectga whenever it's not on someone, though only if enemies aren't nearby. (This ties in with Vaan's support, which I'll mention below.) Shellga would probably be handy, but I just can't be bothered try adding it to my gambits at the moment. Oh yeah, he also casts Bravery on himself (outside of battle) whenever it's not in effect.

Vaan: My secondary attacker, geared up with the Masamune + Genji Glove combo. (Plus heavy armor. Shishak + Genji Armor.) Statistically, Vaan is probably the best candidate for a katana, since his STR and MAG are the closest of all the characters. (Keep in mind that both STR and MAG affect the attack power of a katana. If either stat is particularly lower than the other, then you will not be able to take full advantage of a katana's power.)
His support is Hastega whenever it's not in effect on someone, though only when no enemies are nearby. He also casts Bravery on himself (outside of battle) whenever it's not in effect. He's a decent caster, so if I feel the need to, I'll use a few offensive spells with him now and then. I also occasionally cast Berserk on him, if I feel I don't need to have access to his controls. Increased attack power, swing speed, and combo rate from Berserk, too, which is handy, of course. Oh, and he also casts Faith on Ashe whenever it's no already in effect. Unlike his other support gambits, this one takes priority over attacks, to ensure that Ashe's healing is kept up.

Ashe: My healer, and if needed, main caster. She generally keeps my HP up, with Cura set up HP > 70% and Curaja set to HP > 50%. (Or something like that. Those values may be slightly off.) She'll cast Curaga on anything undead, as well. From what the guide says, she's pretty much the best caster character. (Perhaps tied with Penelo? I think Ashe might have more HP, though, or something. I just prefer her anyway.)
For a weapon, I actually have her set up with a gun (Fomalhaut), usually with Stone Shot. (3 ATK, non-elemental, Petrify effect.) If needed, I'll give her elemental ammo, for the extra damage. At some point, I realized that guns are actually pretty much the ideal long-range caster weapon, since the only attack value that matters for physical damage is the gun's and the ammo's. Thus, lack of STR doesn't lower the attack power. In my file now, even against enemies around level 50-60, she tends to dish out around 2000-3000 damage, while usually keeping a safe distance from the enemies. While Basch and Vaan deal with enemies close-range, Ashe supports from behind, healing the whole party whenever necessary. Thanks to her Sage's Ring, all spells are cast at half MP cost, greatly helping her to keep her MP up. Oh, yeah, and I have her entirely dressed in mystic armor, for the MAG boosts. Currently, I think she has a Circlet + Glimmering Robes?

As for the others, their gambits are set up to copy the other party, though their equipment slightly differs.

Balthier: Copies Vaan's gambits (except Faith goes to Penelo), though I like to keep him the leader, due to having a shield equipped. On that note, I currently have him wielding an axe (Golden Axe) and shield (Aegis Shield, Venetian Shield, or Zodiac Escutcheon, usually). I'm pretty sure he has the highest VIT stat most of the time, which helps to add power to his axe. I also have him equipped with a Cat-ear Hood, to give the massive boosts to VIT and AGI, adding both attack power to his axe and speed for various purposes. (For one, axes are somewhat slow, so having a huge speed boost helps. Also, the speed boost should increase combo frequency a bit.) With the help of a good shield, he should be able to avoid some damage, but his HP isn't exactly terrible anyway, if memory serves me well. Armor's a Shishak + Maximillian.

Fran: Mimicks Basch's gambit setup. I've got her equipped with the Zodiac Spear. (I always wanted to give her a spear, just 'cause she reminds me so much of Freya from IX, somehow. Haha. So I'm happy I wound up doing this setup.) I originally used her as my main caster, but eventually realized that Fran actually has pretty crappy MAG. Haha. She's more geared toward physical attacks (hence, being referred to as a "master of weapons" in her profile in the guide), so I basically just had to decide between long-range and short. Her HP's a bit low for an attacker, which would make bows a better use of her, I'm sure, but... I just wanted to use the Zodiac Spear on someone, and she was a good candidate in my eyes. ^^; For an accessory, I believe she's got a Bubble Belt, though... which, actually, makes up for her naturally low HP, I guess. ("Duh," at myself.) Her armor's a Shishak + Maximillian. (Notice a pattern here? Hehe.)

Penelo: Mimicks Ashe's setup pretty much entirely. She's only using an Arcturus, since I can't be bothered to get her another Fomalhaut at the moment, though. I kinda switch between a Ribbon and Sage's Ring for her, though really, I don't use her much anyway. (Therefore, she's got the lowest level out of everyone.) She's just the lesser version of Ashe for me, in case I need to swap her in.


The next bit is gambit-related, which I guess is slightly off-topic, so feel free to skip it.

All of my characters are set up to automatically use an X-Potion if anybody's HP < 20%, which is somewhat of a waste at times, but it certainly keeps HP up. (X-Potions are easy for me to get now, anyway. Behemoth Steaks, for the win. ...And lots of cash in the first place.) I think all characters are set to use a Phoenix Down if somebody's KO'd, as well. I occasionally turn this one off on one or two characters, though, if I don't need to be so cautious. All of my characters are set up to automatically heal a handful of status effects as well, using items (or, if needed, spells). I mainly focus on more threatening effects, though, so basics like Poison are just done manually. Everybody's got disabling effects under control, though, such as Confusion and Disable, so if one is inflicted, anyone else can heal it.


Hm. Sorry for the huge size of this response. ^^;

I used Vaan and Basche as the tank characters, Basche normally with a Greatsword, or Axe. And Vaan with a regular sword, until I got the Zodiac Spear for him.

Fran and Penelo I didnt really use.

Balthier had the gun, with very little support magic, and a lot of items, he was the support, basically.

Ashe was the mage, she always had a staff, or a rod, mostly a rod. And I heavily upgraded her magicka skills. I would switch Ashe out with one of my tanks, So I'd have a tank, A support, and A mage/Support.

I hardly ever used the espers, save for the last one, which I forget the name of.

Gosh, it's been several months and I hardly remember any of this game.

But as for characters, they were all doing fairly well in battle. And that's "probably" because I used that little trick for mass leveling to lvl. 99 in that one place -which I don't remember the name of- with that summoning enemy that keeps spawning other enemies. I just left it on at night, and next day I had a super team. I did the same for my 3 other characters and had all my characters at lvl. 99 by the end of the day. Since then, I'd use anyone in battle, randomly switching around just for fun. =p

Well I keep my party pretty simple. I get every licence for each of them, I equip Vaan with the Zodiac spear, and always have Bravery, Haste, Protect and Berserk cast on him and equipped with a bubble belt. I do the same for Ashe, except I equip her with the Masamune and Genji gloves instead of bubble belt. And then for Penelo, I equip her with the best weapon leftover, whether it's Excalibur or Ragnarok, I give her the same buffs minus berserk and have her on healing duty/whatever needs to be done at the time.

It works great for me, though in major battles, such as Yiazmat, I'll on have Berserk cast on one member at any time, and that's always the member with the lowest MP a the time, in order to keep them all topped up as much as possible.

Kinda wish they localised the International Zodiac Job System version instead. In that game, license boards are tailored to specific jobs, and characters are forced to specialised earlier on...

The 'little trick' was the one temple..Where you get Belias from. I believe. It's a rare monster who summons other monsters, and theres a way to configure your gambits to only attack the spawn, meaning you can virtually leave it on forever, and continue leveling up, you'll just continue to kill the spawns and level. =P Cheap.


Did you at least play the game normally?

Depends on what you call normal. I did use that trick (very cheap, yes =P ), but I didn't use any cheats. It's not like I could have, I don't have a cheating device to begin with. However, I think I made it to the final boss with average levels, and then used the leveling up trick. But I just don't remember. I'll check the old topic and see. EDIT: Well, according to my last post in that topic I completed Giruvegan normally and then used the trick. Now if only I could remember what Giruvegan is... xP

I over grind all of my characters, till they reach maxed, then see what I feel like playing lol.

But usually is basch fran and ashe.

Lance.

Anybody try bating it without using any of the...Things in that grid (Its been long)

Also, Giruvegan is that place where Doctor. Cid is. o_O Or it's that place where you kill Dr. Cid o_O

I think its the place where belias unlocks the door.

WHO KNOWS

Started the game over, here's my plan for every character.

Balthier - Uses guns during special occasions, but I mainly give him Poles to use. I'll probably keep it that way considering he's one of my heavy hitters, and he can pull of a surprising amount of combos.

Vaan - Spears for the young one, and probably gonna give him Ninja swords as well, seeing as he has the best speed out of everyone.

Basch - My tank, when I get the option I'll give him an axe, and later on Greatswords. Equiped him with the best armor for amping up defense and attack, but his Magic D and Magic attack is horrid.

Fran - My Dark Knight, also makes use of black magic spells, and triples up as my archer. For close range I gave her a katana, and she does amazingly well with it .

Penelo - My white mage, she has the highest magic value so she was the obvious choice to choose.

Ashe - Paladin, basically same qualties of Basch and Penelo but none of their weaknesses.

I started over too. But I used an ARMax cheat for all Weapons, Armor, Accessories, and max LP this time to spice it up. Though I always do this ass backwards, I start out with overpowered weapons and by the end I'm using really crappy ones to make it tough. I might get bored and edit this to include what "classes" I'm going to try, but right now I may be following this. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/459841/45802

Even though you may be saying this sarcastically, I actually did find that to be a weakness in XII. Having every character as a Paladin or Darknight in a sense is one thing, but putting no limitations on what you could do is another. Tactic's development system was genius; your characters can have tons of different abilities and spells they can learn and utilize yet you are only allowed to do so much. In XII's case, sure, in the beginning you are picking and choosing on what you want each character to be, but eventually everyone can be good at everything, and it kind of takes some of the fun out of that.

I mainly used Penelo, Basch and Ashe

Penelo is the character I used the most, especially since she is my all-out magician. For most of the higher battles, I ALWAYS just threw Ashe and Basch into beserk, haste, bubble, whatever else goodness I can cast on them, and then let them do all the dirty work

Penelo just ended up casting black magic spells all the time.

I always had Balthier with the Formalhut (best gun) and some status-shot thing, Vaan with a spear and he was my theif, and Fraan with a bow, and she just basically kinda sucked... but she helps out in a pinch.

I loved this game especially since all characters are used and USEFUL!!!! (a think sorely missed in other FF games...)

You could, but it's not like you have to make every character a clone of each another. You are not required to spend license points when you receive them. You can customize your character to be a White Mage. If you want that character not to use Black Magic, then do not spend license points on the Black Mage's spells. It's not a weakness that you can customize your characters. You have a choice of making them a character that can use every possible ability or you can keep them one dimensional character for the sake of a challenge and/or avoiding characters just being carbon copies of each another.

Not sure how you control a character develops can be a weakness. You're in control, you can control what the character learns. You want Balthier to use guns, but not have access to other type of weapons, then do not spend license points on other weapons. You want him to use heavy armor? Just spend license points on heavy armor and no other type of armor. Like I said, you can choose if you want to fill in the entire license board.

If takes the fun out of the game to make everyone good at everything, then simply do not that.

Moving along, I used every character, all of them learned every possible ability on the license board, but before I reach that point, the women used magic and each used a specific weapon and equip armor that boast their magic and MP. The men used the support spells that were not dependent on their magic statistic. I split armors in two. Vaan and Basch stuck with heavy armor. Balthier and Fran stuck with hats and vests. Penelo and Ashe wore the magic gear. Balthier stuck with guns, Fran with bows, Vaan and Basch switch between spears and swords, Penelo and Ashe switch between rods and staffs.

I feel that the game should have put its own limiters on without me having to do so though. If I want my character to be something like a Samurai, then I should accept the fact that I can't use the magic he or she has, or I have make someone a mage I should become limited on some other things as well. That's not taking away any customization, it's just putting you on a scale, and I think that scale is what help defines customization.

How is FFXII's freedom a weakness? First, it takes away any unique element between one character and the other, which made everyone the same basically and in a way I think that was one element that weakened the character development in the story. It also takes away some challenges and strategies that the player could have improvised with. But those examples are small consequences compared to the irony of the XII's license system; that eventually customization gets thrown right out the window.

That's how you feel, but I'm debating how the freedom to choose is a negative. I can see you prefer limiters being place on you, but if you did it yourself, you end up with the same result in the end. At least the choice is there instead of not being there. If you want to challenge yourself, then go for it and do not fill up the license board.


It's your choice to take away the unique element. If you decide to do it, you can blame yourself, instead of viewing the freedom to choose as a weakness. It's more of a weakness on the player to avoid the temptation. If the character cast is no longer unique and you decided to make them like that. Why blame the game's freedom for what you did? Because the game did not restrict your ability to make a choice for yourself?

Though, I agree with part of your statement. Though, I expand upon it and find that idea to having the unique battle system contribute to it's lack of character development. I agree that the character development in the plot was lacking severely and would be the reason my interest died out in the game.


If you kept your character unique, then you can employ these strategies need to win a certain battle. The challenge factor is once again, your choice, you can make the game hard or easier when determining how you'll develop your characters. In a sense, you can play another RPG, train to a high level, then remove the challenge from said RPG, because you power level. No freedom was involved, like Final Fantasy XII, you make the choice whether to remove the challenge factor from Final Fantasy XII and a majority of other RPG's whether it's from filling the license board or power leveling, it all leads to same result in the end which would be the removal of a challenge.

You will find RPG's that make sure you cannot power level. They restrict your choice. If you like that, that's fine, but I do not see the freedom of deciding how much of a challenge you will receive as a negative.

Having everyone unique at something sounds like a good challenge, and is something that I, and I am sure many other gamers, did at the beginning of FFXII. And it is very possible to get through the main game like that if you wanted to, but the hunts and side quests are a different story. On one end, I am glad that FFXII was conscious about its own license board system and made some ridiculously tough quests and marks to kill. But the thing is that in order to to them, you pretty much are going to have to use your license points.

Look, my main grip about FFXII's License Board system is that nothing is unique at the end, which in my view takes away the fun of customization. Everyone becomes the same powerhouse as the next person who can all do the exact same abilities and use the same kind of equipment, and that is something I find flawed, and a bit lacking in creativity as well to take it one step further. I would not be as annoyed of that if filling up the license was not easy, but it is. Again, I point at Tactics because I think it is the perfect example of what I wished to see in FFXII, and that is a distinct difference between one person, or 'class' mainly, to another.

You have to realize though that is not something I found to be a big issue when compared to XII's other problems, which was mainly plot. But it is one that has always irked me.

About the power-housing issue, my main point with this argument isn't that I thought having every character being able to do everything made it too easy or that it takes away the challenge. As mentioned earlier, XII had a lot of hard challenges because I am very sure that the creators were well aware of what the player had access of. At the same time though, most of the marks became the same thing in theory with very few of them set them apart from one another.

haha, i did the negalmuur (sp?) trick, and it made the game so much fun XD Not really cheap. I'm sure SE thought about that when they put it in, its jsut another option. I did get freaked out though, because I went away and cam back a day later and a hidden staircase had appeared, i wa sliek "wtf, was that always there???"

I don't recall any hidden staircases. But yeah, I did that to just to get to level 50 fast, and I plan on finishing the game at that level. Zodiark here I come ############.

Good luck, Zodiark is a beast. . . . Now, let's get back to leveling up my characters.

Though I would not say impossible, I highly doubt that you could beat Zodiark at level 50. That summon is a bitch and a half. Oh yeah, at first you are going to be whopping him and be thinking "what are they talking about?" But you'll see, you'll see.

I kinda feel that in the end that the only main difference is what armor you give your characters. My "spellcaster" is the only one who has mage armor, and everyone else either has heavy/light armor.

lol, Guys I already beat FFXII on both a normal and restricted LB playthrough. Low level should be no problem, I have the equipment and Magicks it will require. I mean if I can down Yiazmat this should be a cakewalk, it just spams Darkja with a chance to instantly kill.