So I’ve just started FFXII. And I know about gamefaqs. Since my question is oriented towards general strategy, I thought I’d try asking here. ^^
So: I’ve put about 7-10 hours into the game, and even with my gambits logically ordered I’m having a lot of trouble, especially with the longer levels (my healers run out of MP and ethers are too expensive. Once the white mages are gone, the tanks fall quite quickly). I was hoping anyone who has had a lot of experience in the game could point out any obvious flaws in my strategy.
My current party, and the roles they’re in, are as follows:
Vaan: Jack-of-all-trades. He has enough combat skills to do damage on par with the tanks, and enough white, black, and green magic to play caster if I need him to. His main problem is low HP.
Balthier: Roguelike. He has heavy emphasis on distance attacks, time magic, and green magic. He generally spends the battle poisoning and blinding the enemy. (I honestly haven’t used him that much.)
Fran: Black/White centered spellcaster. She’s my secondary healer and primary offensive magic user.
Basch: Damage-inflicting tank. High hp, pretty good offensive power.
Ashe: Damage-soaking tank. Her HP and shield skills are several orders of magnitude greater than the rest of the group.
Penelo: Pure white mage; high MP, very fast, lots of Channeling and Magick Lore licenses.
Anyway, since a lack of MP has been my main issue, you’ll notice that I’ve made the bulk of my characters casters with ability in white magic. This is because I’ve taken to keeping my two tanks in the party at all times and rotating each of the casters through in turn, using one healer until his or her MP expires, then sending a fresh caster in to tag out their predecessor.
Am I missing something blaringly obvious here, or is that a fairly logical way to go about the game?
For starters, you’re stacking tank and damage dealer together. The nature of the game is that they can be seperated. It’s better to have one character with strong defensive equipment and bonuses (shields!) and another with lots of damage-inncreasing bonuses and a two-handed weapon.
Secondly, your spellcasters can get MP back though a number of ways, not just ethers. You’ll want emergency gambit healing on everyone, but vary it up a bit and let different peeps take the slack. One primary healer is good for battles, but afterwards swap it around. That way no-one ever runs totally out of magic.
Finally, try getting some more spells for Balthier and using him. Set some gambits so he tosses off spells like Blind or Poison against healthy foes, then joins in the thrashing. This lets him weaken enemies, then help kill them efficiently.
And don’t forget the Proect spell (after 10 hours I imagine you can buy it). More or less halves all physical damage. Set it to cast whenever it runs out (just have everyone with cast on self and it automatically happens, no MP wasted).
First off: Have you bought the Charge technic and unlocked it for all of your casters? If not, do so as soon as possible. It should be available to you in Rabanastre, Nalbina, and Bhujerba, I think. Charge means you’ll never be out of magic for long–at worst, it fails and you have to try it again. Syphon is even better.
Honestly, I haven’t found most of the offensive magics to be particularly useful in general. I mostly use them when my melee fighters are dealing with flying enemies (or I did so until I got Telekinesis) and with bosses/marks/espers that raise palings against physical damage. I don’t really use tanks as such, either–my team is mostly melee-focused (so they’re basically all tanks), and I swap in Fran and Balthier for ranged attacks when necessary.
Laying off the offensive casting will leave you more MP for buffs (which are, IMHO, more useful than offensive spells) and healing. Also, it’s worth pushing your augments. Several of the magic augments help your MP recovery substantially as long as you keep fighting. Headsman, Martyr, and Inquisitor help a great deal, and you already know the benefits of Channeling.
Finally, if you’re still running really low, you can always run in circles. Each character recovers MP while moving. Just clear a safe space and run in a big enough circle that all of your characters are forced to move, and you’ll slowly build back up.
Secret: Once you’ve gotten to the Necrohol of Nabudis, you have access to a hidden Baknamy merchant. He’s hidden in the corner of a room in the Hall of Effulgent Light (the area nearest the Salikawood exit). He sells ethers at a pretty good price. He also sells some very nice armor and the Telekinesis technic late in the game.
I wouldn’t worry as much about leveling everyone equally; pick your three favorites and stick with them for the majority of the game, making them as powerful as possible.
That’s a reasonable approach, and what I do for the most part. I did make a point of getting all the quickenings for every character, however, to maximize the effect when I swap someone out to start a quickening new chain. If you do that, you can clobber quite a few boss-type fights with nothing but repeated nuking.
Of course, you can also abuse Negalmuur and the gambit system and level everyone to an outrageous extent…not that I would powergame or anything.
My guys are all about level 71 now, and I agree that the magic in this game is not as geared towards offensive strategy as it has been in previous games. Make sure you are unlocking licenses that increase MP with hits taken/dealt etc. Refer to a gamefaqs license board map and get a good license strategy, they really make a difference.
I mainly stuck to magic to buff and heal and all my damage is done by melee/ranged weapons and the occasional technick. My characters are as follows:
Basch-melee with spears (currently has the Zodiac Spear). No shield but strong and quick. Party leader Party 2.
Vann-tank with Deathscythe and Demon Shield. Strong and tough. Party Leader Party 1
Ashe-melee with Save the Queen. Like Bash, strong and quick. Main healer Party 1.
Penelo-melee with Masamune. Very quick and very strong. Also my main healer for Party 2.
Balthier- Ranged with Volcano (hand bombs). Buffer and secondary healer as well.
Fran- ranged with bows (forget which one she’s using). Buffer and secondary healer.
As you can see, my characters are set up in two groups of 3 with their gambits aimed a Party Leader being the main damage dealer and defensive fighter. The healer has a strong weapon but is quicker and fights up front. The secondary healer hangs back to buff and dispel, dealing damage with powerful ranged weapons.
You can choose whatever configuration works for you, but I found that specializing in this way helped my teams build levels fairly quickly. I rotated the party leaders/healers/buffers in and out as everyone gained levels and all 6 characters are at level 70 or 71 right now.
But fill out your license board first, with those licenses that boost mp/hp recharging abilities and make sure you have solid gambit strategies.
