Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System

So, I'm about to start my first game of FF12 zodiac. I've played through part of the first chapter of FF12 so I'm somewhat unfamiliar with the license boards, though I have skimmed the forums and picked up some advice, however I haven't seen too many specific reasons why.

I'm definitely going to have an archer in my team, which is actually the reason I dropped FF12 and went for zodiac. I've seen everyone suggest Vaan and Basch as the top archers, is their strength scaling the only reason for this? Would I be gimping myself if I made, say, Penelo or Ashe an archer instead?

Another question is I've seen suggested parties that do not include Vaan. Does this mean it's not a requirement to bring him along for fights? That'd be great news for me, as I dislike his character design a lot, in fact if there are any methods to replace his model with his brother or someone else I'd love to know!

I've seen suggested parties that do not include Vaan. Does this mean it's not a requirement to bring him along for fights?

Nope, like in regular FF12, he's completely optional once you have more than one character. However, I personally find it
a bit of a waste not to use every character - and thus, Job you've chosen - equally, so I'm a big advocate of the two-team setup.
(Also, Vaan's great all-round stats make his suited for pretty much any Job, so that might help endear him to you? Maybe? Lol dunno.)

Would I be gimping myself if I made, say, Penelo or Ashe an archer instead?

Sort of, yeah. Unless you use Shemhazai to unlock Heavy Armor (though IMO, passing on Renewing Morion / Brave Suit = madness),
you'll have worse damage than necessary on an already not that offensively impressive (though IMO at least sufficient) Job.
Of course, if you simply like the idea of a female Archer and are okay with slightly suboptimal damage, then, by all means, go for it.
If your main reason for considering Ashe / Penelo is (their good MAG for) Cura however, then I'd seriously advise against them,
Archer is a physical Job and should use Item Lores to heal, let e.g. Red Mage take care of your Cura needs.

Speaking of, if you want Archer and Red Mage together, I strongly suggest a Monk addition to that,
to e.g. cover (some of) the higher White Magic and to add physical Breaks to the Archer's magical ones.

Vaan - Monk
[female] - Red Mage
Basch - Archer

is a team that covers a wide variety of abilities, leaving you prepared for pretty much anything.
Vaan has great STR, good MAG / MP for the (mage gear / licenses-lacking) White Magic and innate Steal (yay stealing semi-tank).
The RM should be female for their innate Cure, which RMs lack. (Fran also brings Fire / Thunder but those aren't really vital.)
See the intro, even the game agrees that Archer Basch = awesome :P Yay Shear helping both Monk and Red Mage.

With that, how about a second team of ...

Fran - White Mage
Balthier - Uhlan
Ashe - Samurai

(which would leave the RM spot for Penelo.)
Fran has innate Steal which is neat to give the WM something else to do besides healing / buffing / mediocre damage
(when not facing undead), WM team leaders (self-buff'd) can draw aggro and leave the other two at full HP, for max damage on their part.
Innate Fire / Thunder is also neat for some early (pre-Shades of Black) AoE damage.
Uhlans are neat, they hit HARD - even against flyers unlike e.g. Knight - and (even limited) Item Lores are always good.
(Like with Archer though, don't be fooled into thinking their Black Magic makes them a mage-y Job, they are physical monsters.)
Samurai Ashe is a lot of fun, IMO. Not as much focused nuking power as a Black Mage (awesome Job BTW but Samurai brings Libra)
while still capable of dishing out magical hurtings with Shades of Black and Motes, and of course their Katanas
- augmented by Blazer or Genji Gloves, maybe (critical HP and) Steel Gorget - aren't exactly harmless, either.
Ashe has innate Cure (for "free" heals), the best natural MAG for SoB and Motes and can uniquely reach 99 STR / MAG with Genji Gear.
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How does Shemhazai unlock heavy armor by the way? Are there other ways to unlock item classes?

Again, thanks for the response!

I just picked up Balthier and Fran and looked up Balthier's stats. Wouldn't he be one of the better archers due to his speed? Also, I think I may be leaning towards Ashe(once I get her) as a Knight, or would that be a waste of her magic?

his marginally higher damage per hit

He doesn't even have that, though - Basch has consistantly higher STR than Balthier, and STR is worth more than SPD. (I think?)

Ashe is, actually, the best Knight

Stat-wise, of course - best MAG / MP, (decent) STR is made somewhat irrelevant by Heavy Armor anyway - but
I have to mention that a Knight with Steal innate makes for a great stealing tank (slash healer).
Knight is one of the slower Jobs and pretty useless against flyers, giving them this alternative / additional role is a nice option, IMO.
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You want an awesome free Collectible Card Game?
~~~~~~~~ www.cardmasterconflict.com ~~~~~~~~