Hey all, I've decided that perhaps I may give FFXII a second go, thinking that maybe 13 year old me was too harsh on the game. However, if there's one thing that I do remember, its that I kind of screwed up the license board big time, not really knowing what the hell I was doing by the end, especially when it came to balancing learning new skills and spells with learning to equip better weapons and armor (that's what annoyed me the most, that I couldn't just put on new equipment). Any tips?

All of the passive buffs (upper part of the board) are way better than anything you can get in the other parts for quite some time; so focus on those (people claim to have low level runs through the game with all of those filled out so they're basically like level 30 or whatever). Don't worry too much about the rest except for Aeon (is that what they're called in XII?) locations; since those can be quite useful.

Generally you'll want to prioritize spells and augments before weapons and armor. As long as you have one or two characters in your party that know white magic as you acquire the spells, you should be good. Don't bother at all with Techniks, none of them are particularly useful throughout the main game. I usually like to just stick with one kind of weapon per character and don't bother unlocking the rest, then unlocking armor as it becomes available to purchase. As long as you focus on the augments (lower left of the top board) you really can't screw yourself.

Oh and make sure you have a few characters that can use black magic and Dark for those pesky flying enemies and ones that resist physical damage.

Thanks guys, so just focus on the passive buffs and spells first, got it.

it's not difficult, if you grind out a bit, your going to get EVERYTHING, except binding espers to one characters happens near the end.

@crithon:

Yeah, about that, do characters not in battle ever receive points for the license board? I don't remember how that system worked all the way.

Like the others said, I'd focus on the buffs and spells first, particularly white/green magic for healing and buffs. IIRC the top board is split up like this:

• Lower left; Passive buffs/gambit slots
• Lower right; Technicks
• Upper left; Magicks
• Upper right; Accessory slots

The directions meaning starting from Steal or the 1st Accessory slot you unlock (Orrachea Armlet). With the bottom board being all weapons, with the exception of the stuff in the upper right. For the most part my general advice is to not buy License slots that aren't passive buffs until you have a new piece of gear or whatnot. Another tip would be to buy the Golden Amulet in the Mosphoran Highwaste as soon as you can, as this doubles LP gained (even on characters not in your active party!!). What I usually do is buy at least 3 and then put them on the non-active members, with the double XP items on active party members. But as I recall the Golden Amulets are quite expensive so just do what you can. Hope you enjoy it, its one of my all time favorite games!

@adequatelyprepared: You should probably get steal on everyone as well.

@adequatelyprepared: hmmmm, no, it's just the ones you have in the party at the moment. The whole hunting down marks helps level grind, plus some of those marks are better then the actual game's story, like Gilgamesh is probably hands down the greatest fight ever.

@crithon: Nah, non-active party members still receive LP but not XP. Its why Golden Amulets are really valuable for them.

@two_socks:

I honestly liked some parts of FFXII, I thought, and still think, that the gambit system was a bit of genius on Square Enix's part, just basically letting the players code party AI however they want to.

@adequatelyprepared: Yeah totally! I loved the gambit system. Something about "programming" your party and watching it unfold perfectly really resonated with me. Its definitely not for everyone, but I just love it.

Focus on the top board and try to get certain buffs and spells on everybody as others are saying. Getting the quickening slots as well as the summons is handy as well. Only unlock the bottom board stuff when you have the gear to wear, or when you need to get to a quickening/summon down there.

I usually switch characters out all the time just to keep them on the same level. You don't actually lose until all of your party members die, so if the guys that I'd rather use bite the bullet I'd like to have a good back-up plan.

I like the idea of the license board a whole lot but I wish it gave you better direction.

I need to go back and finish Final Fantasy XII at some point. I was really enjoying the game, but then I had a very personal issue in my life that came up and I couldn't muster the will to beat it.

From what I recall, I basically tried to focus the party members on different aspects. So I had a character that learned all of the healing spells while another focused on black magic, and so on. It gave me incentive to keep swapping party members in and out and get the most out of all of them.

@adequatelyprepared: Yah, Its a pitty, the gameplay changes every generation, but the story doesn't.

I'm curious how far are you? Or at least that you could remember?

I got a fair ways in. I remember getting into the boss fight against Cid, though I can't remember how much of the game I played after that. I think there was a lighthouse or something you go to at one point (maybe?), and I know that I didn't quite get that far. I really don't know. The last time I touched the game was in early 2007.

@hailinel: oh..... hmmm well then you went through the capitol..... oh my, there's this bit later that NEVER GETS EXPLAINED. That's what you have to do next. Oh god, it's HORRIBLE, like they just introduce all this new things and they never explain it all, need a walk though for this bit, but then after that you are close to finishing.

If I recommend anything, is like, there's one INSANE Mark with Gilgamesh that's DELIGHTFUL! And John DiMaggio does his voice and it's the best thing out of the game entirely.

Man, I would love to replay this game right now..... you know, I probably would love to do this on PS2 emulation, those models look better then the CG renderings. The art is like telltale's walking dead style