In previous Final Fantasy games, when you summoned a guardian or an aeon its power was unleashed automatically. And in FFX-II, you had the opportunity to make your Aeon's more powerful by building up their character's traits; and there were quite a few of them. Anima, was by far my best Aeon in the game. Don't get wrong, Bahamut was great too. I remember the strategy guide saying that once you obtained Anima not to summons him while you were fighting Seymour. That was a bunch of you know what!!

In my first battle with Seymour, I used Anima on him causing massive damage; and not once did he die. Anyway, enough of that. My question is how do you unleash the power of your espers? When I call them up, they do absolutely nothing. They just sit there like a bump on a log!!! To me, it's just a waste of time. Why bother to even get them? Now, if the makers of Final Fantasy were to go back to the old way of using them, then you got something.

Do you mean in FF12, because if so I'll agree with you in that they definitely lost their overall appeal as Quickenings were more affect for your mist charges than Summons, making the summons silly for regular combat.

I'm assuming you're referring to the Espers of Final Fantasy XII. I don't see why they should stand around, doing nothing (unless you're just exaggerating), as Espers in FFXII have their own preset gambits that control what they do. (If you're playing the International Zodiac Job System version, then I think you're given control over their gambits. Not sure.) Most of them should attack regularly, or cast magic or whatever normally, though their final attacks differ a bit. Probably about half of them will use their final attack either when they've got 10 seconds remaining or when they're in the critical range of HP, but others will require specific circumstances. (Should be a guide somewhere that'll explain those details.)

Though yeah, I do agree that the Espers in FFXII are pretty much useless. It's fun to run around with Cúchulainn and a tank character, though.

Hi Hoodman,

Yes! I meant FF12. It's bad! On my first try of this game, I remember calling up "Zeromus" and all he did was loaf around. There was no action. He was like a sitting duck waiting for his feathers to be plucked. And when they did get plucked, he was dead. No! Give me the Aeon's of old any day. They were the best. At least they did their job when you asked them to. I just hope that the future FF games are not like this one.

Thanks for writing back!

Let me say this, I don't exaggerate about anything. I've been playing FF ever since Nintendo came into the picture some 25 plus years ago. And I watched it graduate into what it is today. Your "Espers" back then were called "Guardians", then after that they were called "Aeons".

The Aeon's in FFX-II, were not only great but they were also powerful as well; outside of "Yojimbo" of course. He was a waste. But what made this interesting, was that you had a chance to build their characters traits to make even more powerful. Bahamut was good but Anima was my best.

What I'm saying is that the makers of FF took all that away. Right after I got Bellias, I used him in my first, but not so strong boss fight. He did nothing!!! Not even a strike! However, had I been using any one of my Aeons from FFX-II they would have been toast in no time. So when I say that they don't move I don't exaggerate. Then again, everyone has their own opinion. Right ? Take care!!!

I fail to see how you wouldn't be exaggerating by saying that Belias literally did nothing in a boss fight, unless he just got killed before he could do anything. Belias' gambit setup is as follows:
1. Summon Time Remaining < 10 Seconds : Hellfire
2. If HP < 30%: Hellfire
3. If the enemy can absorb Fire: Attack
4. If the enemy is weak against Fire: Painflare
5. If an enemy is spotted: Painflare

Unless your game is simply defective somehow, then Belias should be either using Painflare or physical attacks when you summon him. There's no reason he should be doing nothing, unless he's hit with a negative status effect such as Disable, or if there are no enemies around.

That aside, what exactly was your purpose in creating this topic? The Espers in FF XII don't really require an explanation of how to use them, since they pretty much just act on their own once you summon them from the menu (Mist > Summon > [insert Esper name])... And as I said before, I'm sure there's a guide explaining their gambit setups (the official BradyGames guide does; that's where I got Belias' gambit info from for you), so if you just look around a bit, you can see how each of them are set up to act. If they're still doing "nothing" in your game, then I really don't understand why they would be, but maybe try another copy of the game or something?

Although, as others are likely to agree with, the Espers are somewhat pointless in FF XII (However, they're not completely useless, as you seem to suggest.), so it probably won't matter much if you can't get them to do what you want anyway.

I'd agree they're almost completely useless. With the HP range bosses in the game reach towards the middle to end sections, the Espers simply can't supply the kind of damage output needed. They're amazing in the early parts though, Belias really helps me out in a few of the hunts available on acquiring him, and Zodiark's special does good damage.


Also, Chalryn is right, there's no reason at all for your Espers to simply stand there unless there's nothing to kill or they've effected with a debuff that stops them acting, their gambits don't let them. If you insist that it's the case, I can post the gambits of every Esper in the game, that way you can see that it's simply out of the question.

Just a minor note to Agent Mulder.
The "Guardians" have had various names, such as Espers in Final Fantasy VI, Summons in Final Fantasy VII, Guardian Force in Final Fantasy VIII and Eidolon in Final Fantasy IX.
If you really have played all of them, why didn't you name these, instead of Guardian and Aeon, which was the name in Final Fantasy X.
And aeons in Final Fantasy X-II...?

I agree with Agent Mulder, the summons of FFXII are a joke if compared with any summon, particularly X.
(BTW, shouldn't Aeons had venished at the end of FFX, how can they be in X-2?!?!)

The only use I have for them is BAIT, when I need to run!

A real dissapointement, their attacks are very weak and so is their HP, the earliest summons may be killed with a single blow by half-to-end bosses and marks, while later summons may in fact do NOTHING, since their attacks so powerfull the gambit conditions are insanely rare!

Take Ultima, for instance, it was a trip to hell to get it, and the chances of activating her special attack are nearly impossible!

I have the original FFXII, so I can't change the Sumons gambits, not even see them!

I'd be ok with not controling the summons, if they at least had decent gambits to be set!
And the possibility to make them stronger, because I don't think the summoners level have anything to do with, and it didn't seem to evolve by itself either! I sure don't recall any "Belias leveled up" messege...