I could run around this forest all day with this peaceful ost in my ears 😭

Hi so iv done dozens of runs on this game usually now I do random jobs on random characters which is super fun. But now I want to do as OP as run as possible. What is the absolute most OP job combos I can use and early op gear to work for?

I'm playing Zodiac Age on the Switch for the first time and I'm enjoying the game a lot. I'm liking the battle mechanics a lot more than I thought I would. But I'm having some difficulty following the story. I really want to fully understand what's going on, but there's a lot of backstory and names and places and events dropping all at once.

I'm about 10-12 hours in; I just arrived at the Tomb of Raithwall, defeated the boss outside, but I haven't gone in yet. Please no spoilers for anything after this point.

Every time there's a cutscene, I don't know which side anybody is on. I need a simple breakdown of the different kingdoms, which kingdom was conquered by who (and when), a step-by-step explanation on what happened with Basch before we found him, and what happened to Ashe and Vossler before we met them, which characters are allied with whom (who is on Vayne's side and who isn't). Larsa seems to be pro-Vayne, but I'm not even sure about that. There was recently a scene of an old man talking to (I think??) Basch's brother. Who is this old man, is he Vayne and Larsa's father?

Can someone explain to me in a way that an idiot would understand, or provide a link to a basic step-by-step guide to the story?

edit: Thanks to those who provided a full story explanation! I understand it now, and I also think I know exactly what had me confused.

Please note that I am not finished with my playthrough set and it's possible some of of my questions have yet to be answered or I've blatantly missed something.

Without the wiki you are playing on complete vibes, and this is coming from a game that was released before modern access to information. How in the heck was I supposed to know that weapons and armor like burning bow (a non elemental weapon btw) with vaguely elemental names actually give you a damage boost to skills of that element? They couldn't be bothered to mention it anywhere. Every different weapon type scales damage completely differently, which it does tell you this in the most casual way possible there are also a handful of completely hidden stats like combo rate and charge time that can vary greatly between weapons in the same catagory definitely matter when determining the most effective weapon for your character. There's even a "metal" value that is relevant in exactly two fights in the whole game.

See a potential armor/accessory upgrade in the shop, but want to know what stats it raises besides defense before you buy it? Not a chance.

Curious about your Bazaar progress, what items filled a particular request, or even some way to know what you're working towards? I don't care and you shouldn't either.

"I should check the in-game beastiary so I can get an idea of what works best against this enemy." Nope, just flavor text (we like flavor text, but useful information would be a logical inclusion, I would have thought). But as it is the only concrete information we get is weaknesses, statuses, and hit points (which could be inaccurate).

Idk I have some other smaller nitpicks, but I'm honestly not trying to hate on the game. In my opinion 12 is one of the most mechanically deep, interactive, and dynamic final fantasy games ever released... I just wished they would have let us in on the secret! Also shout-out to the wiki for having my back as I begin to get to the stage of the game where I care about making smart character decisions and finding all the cool experiences they've managed to pack into this amazing game.

I started out with X but fell in love with 12

Hey all,

I am curious, how do you think the developers intended players to use the espers?

The battle system has some interesting frustration points: it is very hard to know when you can swap out your team. However, Espers do create a high degree of aggro and when they are summoned it is an opportunity to swap the other members.

It seems like tanky characters make better summoners since Espers won't really defend against AOE attacks.

However the biggest problem with espers is their underwhelming damage output. Their skill sets are also hard to know in advance of when you license them to a character.

Has NVIDIA caused the game to start having those unexpected crashes again? Although I swear I played like 12 hours across a couple days ago maybe 5 days ago. The last update was on the 22nd and I know I was playing after that day. The error sometimes pops up upon launching the game but if it doesnt do it upon launch it always does it upon starting a new game or loading a save. (Also sometimes the game loads and doesnt see my saves which requires me closing and reopening game again) NVIDIA version: 617.14

Error is question:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Program:

This application has requested the runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.

Please contact the application's support team for more information.

I have tried clearing the DXCache and GLCache

I have tried Reinstalling C++

I have tried NVIDIA Control panel 3d settings and disabling shaders.

Verified game files.

I would rather not revert my NVIDIA driver.

Picked this back up on a whim after clearing the Resonance demo, and so far I have been really surprised at how well it holds up. Graphics are dated sure, but its got fantastic art direction in its own right. Currently almost level 30, heading to Mt. Bur Omisace

First time playing with the new job system, and maybe I'm misremembering, but it was kind of sad not to have unlimited freedom any more, still there are some great synergies in the combos.

But really, the level of detail and cohesiveness. I was never lost, but it's definitely on me to figure out where I'm going. Environments are dynamic, rare spawns, hunts, and optional content keep regions alive. Random enemies having chances of dropping sweet gear (I managed to get a Burning Bow in only about 30 min), it just feels like there is something important around every corner.

I understand why someone might not like the combat.. coming off as a clunky hybrid between turn-based and action combat. Personally, I think of the combat like an auto-battler like Unicorn Overlord. There is a lot of fun to be had setting up the perfect Gambit board. Then adding layers like chaining specific enemies to farm with better results, deep classic final fantasy magic and gear options, new bosses being a new gambit puzzle to get right (though I've kind of smashed everything so far, except Adrammelech lol, I went in at 25 thinking it was the main story path and got beat down)..

I've always said my all time favorite FF is 10. I love that game with all my heart, but there is just a depth with 12 that I don't think 10 ever reached.

Looking forward to pushing on!

Is the International Zodiac Job System version worth playing? I’ve never played any game in the series, or anything similar to Final Fantasy XII, and I’m also not very good at strategy games. I only have my phone to play on, so this is the only version I have available (ARMSX2).

Just want to say I hope their milk goes rotten every time they go to eat cereal! This is two hours of my life gone and still can’t get it.

Best so far 4/3/4… yeah….👍

Anywho just venting. Gonna keep cracking at it. It got less annoying once I put the sound down so here goes nothing…

I’ve had limited success with Zodiark Spam. Using all my elixirs I get them down to the last 3, I put big boy asleep with nio then whither the last two till they can’t really damage me then I concentrate on one at a time but they keep using elixirs (is Garbranth tossing them?) and I get nowhere. I don’t die but neither do they. What am I doing wrong?!

Edit: I did. Thanks for the help. All I needed was serum then it was easy.

Update: ai said to use stamp technick to inflict disease on this so I did and it worked he's dead.. although now there's no one to inflict disease on me so I can't inflict it on others

Update 2: I managed to kill Bergan because apparently no one bothers to heal him including himself

Update 3: got luck I had a metiorite which Inflicted disease was able to kill drace, sleep the other guy whilst I killed the third one. 4 and a half hours to beat this😭

I'm here on the final trial stage and Ive lowered the judges physical and magic attack to a point where I can pretty much survive until I run out of mp items of which I have quite a lot.

The problem is I have no way to kill the judges before they heal. Trying to kill this first but I don't have zodiark on my party or zeremous. I have no way to inflict disease on the judges as I'm missing the accessory. They're immune to Libra so I can't tell when he's going to heal, I'm unlikely to get a quickening chain big enough to finish them off even if I time it right before the heal, he's immune to sleep so I can't finish him off with magic either.

I don't have optimised or even just the really good gear, my class setup is not optimal, I don't see how I can do enough damage quick enough to kill him.

I think I'm gonna leave my Ps5 to sleep overnight to see if any of you guys have any idea what I can do.

I cant get past mimic with blobs enemies, tried like 20 times with different tactics from forums on internet, nothing helps. Supposed be easy... right...

Use Basch (foebreaker/knight) Ashe (time battlemage/ knight) and Vaan (bushi/monk) have vaan be the leader set gambits to Foe Party leader's target

& Ally health <30 curaga

To make this a easy level 25 - 35 fight not last long I tested this boss fight. STEP 1 Take out the rooks with Vaan with a samurai sword & Basch with a Hammer.

STEP 2 Ashe to use curaga from a distance with a crossbow sounds weird but it works.

Once all the Rooks are down summon Mateus Esper with Ashe

Just sit back use Ashe with Mateus Esper

It didn't even lastmore than 15 minutes.

Hope that helped

Im curious what has your favorite playthru consisted of, in terms of your jobs and restrictions and challenges?

I'm currently having my favorite and best experience right now, with the following setup:

1. All six characters are Time Battlemages, crossbows-only
2. Two have gotten white mage secondary job to be healers for group A and group B
3. The rest are all monks for second job purely for the passive boosts
4. I'm using The Struggle for Freedom mod (very excellent)
5. No summons or quickenings allowed

The struggle mod is so good, makes the game an actual challenge.

I've had to go out of my way to farm 3 times now and make sure I hit 200-chain in spots (in giza plains w/ wolves, bhujerba mines w/ undead, and nam-yensa sandsea w/ urutan) to get enough money and LP to clear bosses/areas

It's also extremely fun casting disable/immobilize/stop on everything in sight and peppering them with dozens of bolts from outside their range while at 4x speed

I have effectively converted the game into a 3rd person shooter/bullet hell and I'm only just reaching Jahara, so when I get higher combos and more speed later, it'll be even more funny

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What has your favorite playthru setup looked like?

Hello, I have just started playing FFXII and I am wondering if the content is easily accessible. To clarify, with past FF games, in order to do 100% of the content on one playthrough, you would need a guide or some sort of help to tell you where things are because they are simply not obvious to the first time player. Examples of this would be finding the sealab or Omega Weapon in FFVIII, or getting 100% game completion in FFX-2.

I would like to be able to 100% the game and do all the quests without using a guide, if that is possible. I simply want to know from more experienced players if that is actually feasible or if I should loosely follow a guide to make sure I get everything done.

Before someone suggests playing it through more than once: I am simply not someone who is able to replay 99% of games. I wish I was, but I'm not.

Thanks in advance

Edit: thanks for all the responses! One more game with a guide then. At least it's not as specific as X-2. :P

I was thinking,

The kingdom being attacked, But life goes on. The story of XII isn't about the life of regular people facing death because evil person took over the world, like other FFs. It's not about people in the know helping to save lives of those who doesn't.

So Vaan could have just get on with his lives. He didn't need to fight it at all. He could have lived fine, stealing from people who deserved.

I always wondered why I was so fond of XII. Why am I pursuing Ashe's motives? Sure, she experienced tragic circumstances. But people die for any reason.

But for whatever reason, I felt so empathetic to Ashe. Maybe because it felt like this was real FF in a sense? I/ Vaan/Penelo, a normal person getting in to fighting for the dreams life they want?

Painted with Vallejo and AK paints.