Anyone?

I don't remember when it's available but I know it doesn't open up until pretty far in the game. When you can do it you'll see a boy at the dock in the estersand village talking about his missing father. That will start the quest. From what I remember it had nothing to do with someone at Rabanastre.

Okay thanks. I expected it to be opened up pretty early since the sick lady at the village needs something from Broken Sands.

Pros:

-TERRIFIC art direction. Makes the somewhat dated graphics engine look impressive.
-GREAT character designs. Basch, Balfier, Al-Cid, Dr. Cid, Vossler, Gabranth, I can go on and on
-Great presentation.
-Good voice acting, although some of the accents can be cheesy/annoying
-Fun battle system

CONS:

-Can be a little complex/challenging
-Some dungeons are VERY repetitive
-Balthier would have been so cool if they didn't give him that greasy British accent and those corny lines
-The musical score, while solid, has no memorable tunes.
-the storytelling is too subtle...things are kind of implied. You never feel that immsersed in the story..the way the plot unfolds is similar to LOST, where it feels like the plot isn't really going anywhere.

but most of all....

#1 CON: THEY FORGOT TO FINISH THE STORY.

I feel like 10 major plotlines were planned but not completed due to deadlines....

Many characters were sorta like...cut from the story..they were set up to be major characters...then they just disappear, leave, or die just like that.

So much potential for a great storyline, but unfortunately they didn't utilize all the great characters with the great set up.

Haven't played this in awhile due to my Wii, but I found a video which shows a good leveling up strategy....apparently, it's even better if you use 'bubble' (i wouldn't know considering I'm at the Tomb of Raithswall and am in the mid 20s in terms of level)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCg6BDXSVe4

That's a cool video. The area he is in is only available much later in the game though. Those bats are freakin tough. You have to be at least level 55-60 in there and even then it's still hard.

My play time has slowed down a bit since I got the PS3 but I'm about 42 hours in and loving this game so far. This may end up being my favorite FF -- I'll see how it ends.

It's definitely one of my favorites in terms of gameplay and art style. Not quite as high for the story. My most recent save is at about 110 hours. I think I'm about ready to retire it for a while. All I have left are 3 optional fights and trying to make the best weapons.

Once you hit lvl 40, there's a great auto-level gambit for the Stillshrine. The only real point to it is to help finish the license board quicker, since the real boosts in FFXII are from equipment, spells and techniques, and those are unlocked based on where you are in the game and not what level you are.

In terms of leveling / LP, it's better than the one you linked to, as it's fully automated and by then you have golden amulets (doubles LP earned). You can ever return after you get the accessory that doubles XP earned. The mines one requires constant attention to move to different areas.

the trick in the shrine only gives you about 300 exp per enemy and once you run out of remedies it won't work since they cast doom on everyone and when your leader dies the game pauses. it's good for lp, but useless for exp.

You're not using a good gambit setup then. I use 3 remedies per hour on the average, and I've left the gambit running for about 8 hours at a time without a problem.

The trick to the gambit is to use decoy on everyone BUT your party leader, that way most of the Doom spells get cast on them. Then instead of using a remedy, you simply raise them when they die. Remedies are saved only for when the party leader gets Doom.

It works out like this:

PARTY LEADER:
Self - Haste (self explanatory)
Ally: HP < 70% - Cura (keeps all party members healed)
Ally: Any - Raise (brings back any party member killed by Doom)
Ally: Any - Esuna (takes care of any odd status ailments that show up)
Ally: Party Leader - Remedy (takes care of Doom on leader before he/she dies)
Foe: HP > 3000 - Haste (speeds up Ghast production)
Foe: HP < 3000 - Attack (attack ghasts that spawn but leave boss alone)
Self - Charge (keeps MP up after boss casts anull)

Other 2 party members:
Self - Haste (self explanatory)
Ally: HP < 70% - Cura (keeps all party members healed)
Ally: Any - Raise (brings back any party member killed by Doom)
Ally: Any - Esuna (takes care of any odd status ailments that show up)
Ally: Party Leader - Remedy (takes care of Doom on leader before he/she dies)
Self - Decoy (keeps Doom from being cast on party leader as often)
Foe: HP < 3000 - Attack (attack ghasts that spawn but leave boss alone)
Self - Charge (keeps MP up after boss casts anull)


Many people using the gambit for the first time think that Charge is a bad idea, since it can sometimes reduce your MP to zero, but I've found that it works just fine. Someone in the party always has MP to pull off the necessary spells. The thing to remember is that you don't go crazy with your weapons. Use something that will kill the Ghasts, but that's it. Occasionally a character gets Confuse cast on them, and they can hit another character before being cured by Esuna. If someone like Baash gets confused and gets a solid multi-hit in with a good weapon on your party leader, you'll come back to find a paused game.


As for the xp, don't forget the accessory that doubles your xp earned. Even before I got that accessory, I grabbed a quick 10 levels in there while I was working. Now that I have the accessory, I've gone from lvl 52 to 64 across my party. So as someone that has used the gambit setup correctly and successfully, I can certainly say that it's *not* useless for xp.

I used pretty much the same gambit setup when I tried it. When I heard about it my party was already level 50+. I let it run for hours and each member only gained I think 3 levels. The method in the mines gets you over 3000 exp per bat and about 10-15 bats appear at once. If you're looking to gain levels quickly and not worried about LP, this method works much better than the shrine does. In less than two hours I took 5 party members from level 59 to 65.

"Pretty much" is not "the same as" and is almost certainly why it's not working as well for you. All I can say is that using the exact gambit set-up I listed, my party levels much faster than it seems to have worked for you.

For me, the Stillshrine one works because I can let it run and I don't have to babysit it. The mines one may bring more xp, but you have to be on top of it constantly, meaning you're sacrificing playing time.

I don't get much time to play, so I'd rather run the leveling gambit when I'm not around, and then be able to actually play through the storyline when I have a rare moment to sit down and play the game.

Sadly I think I'm just about done with this game. There are only three fights left for me to do:

Yiazmat-I've already started the fight and gone through about 10 life bars. I really don't feel like dealing with the other 40.
The Seer-Getting enough black orbs to get to him is tedious and I don't know if I feel like doing it.
Omega Mark XII-This one I may still do but the path to get to him through the Grand Crystal seems like it would be a PITA to navigate to hit all the switches.

Other than that, there are still some rare items I can try to make but I'm not that much of a completist. The main fight I wanted to get through was Zodiark. He took me about 10-12 trys to take out. I had to level up a few times just to fight him. My party right now ranges from level 81-92 with a save time of just about 130 hours. Has anyone else completed this game yet?

I picked this up sooner then anticipated due to Toys R Us' 25 dollar deal, and after a couple hours in today i'm enjoying it quite a bit. Easily moreso then FFX. I think the politically slanted plot has me more interested then FFX where I was just confused.

Looking forward to taking my time with this

I had a feeling that my girlfriend got me this for Christmas, so I convinced her to have our Christmas early. Luckily, I was right. It's probably my favorite FF that I've played so far. It's much more fun than the last 3, in my opinion.

One of my favorite parts: no end of battle dance.

It's nice to just end a battle and walk off.

I have a question with loot. Does the game automatically keep track of the loot you have sold? Meaning if a bazaar item takes like 5 batwings and 8 crooked teeth, do I need to sell them in one stop or if I sell 2 batwings and 7 crooked teeth one trip and 3 wings and 1 tooth the next will the item become available.

Just picked this up yesterday for my brother. Definitely looking forward to it, but can't remember how I was able to dedicate 100+ hours to a game. Ohh, that's right, I was unemployed without a girlfriend in high school... ;-)

I picked up the Special Edition (tin case) at GameStop for $50, down from $60 last week-

Im only 30 hrs in the game, and I got it release day. Having a real life really cuts in my videogame time, stupid job and girlfriend . I can go a week at a time without really playing.

The game will keep track but if you buy a bazaar item, the loot used to make it will be gone.

Cool so might as well sell sell sell.

Yeah, I just wish there was a way to see what you have sold. It's hard to remember if you have gotten a certain amount of a certain type of gem.

Okay, so I guess I wasn't done with it like I had thought before. I've now completed every optional fight except for Omega Mark XII. My party ranges from level 78-93 and my most recent save is at 136 hours. The only other games that I've played for this long are Morrownd/Oblivion. Definitely got my moneys worth on this one.

Where exactly is the Clan Shop in Rabanastre? I am at the Pharos, and I still have yet to find the spell bubble.

Use the moogle to warp to the bazaar area and go behind where you'll start. It'll be down on the left.