_ _ ___ _ _ _______ ___ ____ _____ _______
| | | | / _ \ | | | | |__ __| / _ \ / ___| | ___| |__ __|
| |_| | | | | | | | _ | | | | | | | | | | _ | |__ | |
| _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | __| | |
| | | | | |_| | | |_| |_| | | | | |_| | | |_| | | |___ | |
|_| |_| \___/ \___A___/ |_| \___/ \___/ |_____| |_|
_ _______ _ _ _______ _ _____ _____
| | | _____| | | | | | _____| | | / ___ \ / ___ \
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | |___ \ \ / / | |___ | | | |___| | | |___| |
| | | ___| | | | | | ___| | | \____ | \____ |
| | | | | | | | | | | | _ | | _ | |
| |_____ | |_____ \ V / | |_____ | |_____ | |___| | | |___| |
|_______| |_______| \_/ |_______| |_______| \_____/ \_____/
_____ ___ ____ _______ ___ ___ _ ____
| ___| / _ \ / ___| |__ __| / _ \ | \ | | | _ \
| |__ | |_| | \ \ | | | |_| | | |\ \ | | | | | |
| __| | _ | \ \ | | | _ | | | \ \ | | | | | |
| | | | | | __\ \ | | | | | | | | \ \| | | |_| |
|_| |_| |_| |____/ |_| |_| |_| |_| \___| |____/
_ _ _____ ____ _ _ _____ ___ ____ _ _ _
| | | | | ___| | _ \ | | | | | ___| / _ \ | _ \ | | | | | |
| | | | | |__ | |_| | | | | | | |__ | |_| | | |_| | | | | | | |
| | | | | __| | _ < \ V / | __| | _ | | _ < | | \ V /
\ V / | |___ | | | | | | | |___ | | | | | | | | | |___ | |
\_/ |_____| |_| |_| |_| |_____| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_____| |_|
Would you like to go through essentially the entire game of Final Fantasy 12 at
level 99 from start to finish without using cheats? This guide focuses on
extreme powerleveling, both fast and early. Depending on the method you choose,
each having their own pros and cons, this is doable in 40 or 70 hours, even
though you won't have access to the embroidered tippet. Not only that, I've
also detailed how, only 35% of the way through the game (after receiving the
dawn shard), you can get the best or nearly the best possible equipment the
game has to offer.
This process involves up to 8 main steps, of which I refer to as "stages".
Think of each "stage" as a milestone, another step on a ladder. While the
initial stages generally go by quite quickly (stage 6 is reached by only 3 to 4
hours on the game clock), the last stage of each method is the longest of all.
___ ___ ___ _ _______ _____ ___ _ _______ ____
/ _ \ / _ \ | \ | | |__ __| | ___| | \ | | |__ __| / ___|
| | |_| | | | | | |\ \ | | | | | |__ | |\ \ | | | | \ \
| | _ | | | | | | \ \ | | | | | __| | | \ \ | | | | \ \
| |_| | | |_| | | | \ \| | | | | |___ | | \ \| | | | __\ \
\___/ \___/ |_| \___| |_| |_____| |_| \___| |_| |____/
#########################
#### ####
# 0 Table of Contents **000000** #
#### ####
#########################
Tip: use control+F to use your browser's find feature to jump to the specific
sections (the string you search for is in the "search" column).
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| Section | Title | Search |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 0 | Table of Contents | **000000** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 1 | Introduction | **010000** |
| 1.1 | My powerleveling history | **010100** |
| 1.2 | About this guide | **010200** |
| 1.3 | Reading tables | **010300** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 2 | Deciding which method to use | **020000** |
| 2.1 | The 70-hour method | **020100** |
| 2.2 | The 40-hour method | **020200** |
| 2.3 | Making the decision | **020300** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 3 | Stage 1: Starting out | **030000** |
| 3.1 | Process-hastening tips and tricks | **030100** |
| 3.2 | The tutorial and the rogue tomato | **030200** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 4 | Stage 2: The rod in the Estersand | **040000** |
| 4.1 | Getting to the rod | **040100** |
| 4.2 | Obtaining the rod | **040200** |
| 4.3 | Notes on the license board | **040300** |
| 4.4 | The battle harness | **040400** |
| 4.5 | Shopping in Nalbina for arrows and armor | **040500** |
| 4.6 | Ichthon and reload | **040600** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 5 | Stage 3: The difficult Westersand | **050000** |
| 5.1 | Optional preparations | **050100** |
| 5.2 | Getting into the Westersand | **050200** |
| 5.3 | Exploring the Westersand | **050300** |
| 5.4 | What about using the dustia method? | **050400** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 6 | Stage 4: The burn of the burning bow | **060000** |
| 6.1 | Obtaining and using quickenings | **060100** |
| 6.2 | The very dangerous dive talon | **060200** |
| 6.3 | The very unfriendly odds | **060300** |
| 6.4 | The license and benefits of the burning bow | **060400** |
| 6.5 | A word of caution: watch the weather | **060500** |
| 6.6 | Start focusing on augment licenses | **060600** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 7 | Stage 5: The traveler's garb in the bazaar | **070000** |
| 7.1 | Finding greeden | **070100** |
| 7.2 | Getting tanned hides and water stones | **070200** |
| 7.3 | The best possible armor at game start | **070300** |
| 7.4 | A Westersand roundabout to level up | **070400** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 8 | Stage 6: Chaining werewolves | **080000** |
| 8.1 | Making story progress | **080100** |
| 8.1.1 | The 70-hour method routine | **080110** |
| 8.1.2 | The 40-hour method routine | **080120** |
| 8.1.3 | Avoid those 3 treasures | **080130** |
| 8.2 | About the werewolves | **080200** |
| 8.3 | Attacking the werewolves | **080300** |
| 8.3.1 | The 70-hour method routine | **080310** |
| 8.3.2 | The 40-hour method routine | **080320** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 9 | Stage 7: Dive talon and urstrix mayhem | **090000** |
| 9.1 | Above dive talon | **090100** |
| 9.2 | Getting the winged helm | **090200** |
| 9.3 | Attacking dive talon | **090300** |
| 9.3.1 | The 70-hour method routine | **090310** |
| 9.3.2 | The 40-hour method routine | **090320** |
| 9.3.3 | Other tips, tricks, and notes | **090330** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 10 | Stage 8: The Garamsythe Waterway | **100000** |
| 10.1 | About the Garamsythe Waterway | **100100** |
| 10.2 | Dealing with the enemies | **100200** |
| 10.3 | Other useful notes | **100300** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 11 | Once you get the dawn shard... | **110000** |
| 11.1 | Hunts for other essential stuff | **110100** |
| 11.2 | Reaching the Nabreus Deadlands | **110200** |
| 11.3 | A tough journey through the deadlands | **110300** |
| 11.4 | The evasive defender | **110400** |
| 11.5 | The HP bonus of the crown of laurels | **110500** |
| 11.6 | The power of the minerva bustier | **110600** |
| 11.7 | The magical golden skullcap | **110700** |
| 11.8 | Getting through the Necrohol of Nabudis | **110800** |
| 11.9 | The brute force of the zodiac spear | **110900** |
| 11.10 | The defense of the maximillian | **111000** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 12 | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) | **120000** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
| 13 | Legal stuff | **130000** |
| 13.1 | Contacting me | **130100** |
| 13.2 | Copyright | **130200** |
| 13.3 | Credits | **130300** |
| 13.4 | Version history | **130400** |
+----------+-----------------------------------------------------+------------+
_____ ___ _ _______ ____ ___
|_ _| | \ | | |__ __| | _ \ / _ \
| | | |\ \ | | | | | |_| | | | | |
| | | | \ \ | | | | | _ < | | | |
_| |_ | | \ \| | | | | | | | | |_| |
|_____| |_| \___| |_| |_| |_| \___/
####################
#### ####
# 1 Introduction **010000** #
#### ####
####################
------------------------------------------
| 1.1 My powerleveling history **010100** |
------------------------------------------
Before 2002, I was used to platformers where there were only 20 or so levels.
RPGs were otherwise completely unknown to me until I played Final Fantasy 7
(FF7). When I first played FF7, after a bit, I began wondering just how many
levels there were as I kept leveling up. From my quest of figuring out how many
levels there were, I got into powerleveling, extreme powerleveling. I take it
to the extreme in almost any RPG. Although the challenge of battles and boss
fights essentially vanish, I enjoy the thrill of how quickly I can wipe out
something much more than the challenge. Afterall, defeating the first (and
optional) demon wall in Raithwall's Tomb in just 2 hits is just crazy. Since
hitting level 99 on disk 1 on FF7, I've been a serious powerleveler ever since.
I've reached level 50 in the Terra Caverns in FF1, maxed stats with Mindu still
in the party in FF2, reached level 99 in the first world of FF6 for Terra and
Celes, reached level 100 before Dollet in FF8, and could reach (haven't done it
yet) level 99 in reasonable time with relative ease on disk 2 on FF9. I can't
play FF3 and I haven't found interest in FF10 due to the sphere grid system
being so limiting.
----------------------------------
| 1.2 About this guide **010200** |
----------------------------------
This guide focuses on FF12. FF12 is among my greatest favorites solely because
you can reach level 99 with virtually no story progress. This guide will
explain how to do this. Being so early, you won't have access to the
embroidered tippet. Even without it, it's surprisingly fast to get level 99
even without using the dustia method. There are 2 different methods available,
each with their own pros and cons. One method, the fastest, can be done in only
40 hours if done well. The other method is doable in only 70 but comes with
numerous other advantages... if you can stand the much greater repetition
involved. This is based on the game clock, not actual time spent playing or
actual time overall.
In addition to explaining how to get level 99 fast and early, I also have an
extra section explaining how to get some of the game's best and near best
equipment with still relatively little story progress. Near best? The crown of
laurels, golden skullcap, zodiac spear, the defender, maximillian, and many
other pieces of equipment become available as soon as you receive the dawn
shard... if you know how to get them. Many of these will not be improved upon
until otherwise the very end of the game, such as the Pharos. This will
essentially allow you to go through the last 2/3 of the game with nearly the
best possible equipment!
--------------------------------
| 1.3 Reading tables **010300** |
--------------------------------
About the kilmweave shirt:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 8 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Light armor 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Light armor 2 | 15 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Shields 1 | 15 |
| Strength 0 | ^ Mystic armor 2 | 20 |
| Magick power 3 | Total | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
When references to equipment or spells are found, I often provide a table. This
table indicates how effective this piece of equipment is compared to what you'd
have had beforehand. "Equipment bonuses" indicate the increase in a character's
stats. "Extra important properties" refers to properties that are important to
this process. "License path" is the most efficient route to the needed license
and also takes future equipment needed for the process into account. The first
item listed is one you should already have obtained. Those following are extras
that lead to the important license. The arrow to the left of the license name
is the direction to find it relative to the previous. That is, for this
example, from the "light armor 1" license, you'd go up to obtain "light armor
2", right to obtain "shields 1", then up to obtain "mystic armor 2". The LP
cost is also stated along with the grand total.
___ ___ _____ _______ _ _ ___ ____ ____
/ _ V _ \ | ___| |__ __| | | | | / _ \ | _ \ / ___|
| | | | | | | |__ | | | |_| | | | | | | | | | \ \
| | |_| | | | __| | | | _ | | | | | | | | | \ \
| | | | | |___ | | | | | | | |_| | | |_| | __\ \
|_| |_| |_____| |_| |_| |_| \___/ |____/ |____/
####################################
#### ####
# 2 Deciding which method to use **020000** #
#### ####
####################################
Each method has their own pros and cons. The longer 70-hour method has better
advantages than the shorter 40-hour method, but the 70-hour method is extremely
repetitive - few could manage it in one go. I've listed the pros and cons in
order from having the strongest effect to the weakest. The score is from 1 to 9
where 9 has the greatest impact.
------------------------------------
| 2.1 The 70-hour method **020100** |
------------------------------------
The 70-hour method is the best choice as its pros outweigh its cons. It only
comes with one very troublesome downside. It'll be a test of coping with
patience and extreme repetition. After all, going up and down the course,
zoning twice, and repeating this nonstop for 40 hours is enough to steer almost
anyone away due to boredom. However, the rewards will more than make up for
this and there are a few tricks available to help combat the boredom.
Pros (18 points):
8: All characters & guests start at level 99 (all but 2 with 99,999,999 exp).
5: About 24,000 to 28,000 LP - enough to clear the license board twice over.
3: More available gil, even more if using the dustia method.
2: Go through essentially the entire game start to finish at level 99.
Cons (13 points):
9: Extremely repetitive - countless hours of defeating birds.
2: A bit more challenging and risky upon starting the next stage.
1: Can only get Vaan with higher-than-usual HP and MP.
1: Only manual input is possible.
------------------------------------
| 2.2 The 40-hour method **020200** |
------------------------------------
For those that can't handle the heavy repetition as well, the 40-hour method is
an alternative route. Although this method requires a fair amount of story
progress, it's still very early in the game, only about 10%. Being twice as
fast, this is the most efficient way to get a whole party of level 99
characters. Only Balthier and Fran are left out, of which have among the lowest
baseline stats.
Pros (16 points):
8: The best balance between being fast and early.
5: Very easy to do.
2: 3 characters can have higher than usual HP and MP.
1: Availability of gambits but they can be troublesome.
Cons (16 points):
6: Fairly repetitive, especially for stage 8.
4: About 6000 to 7000 LP - only enough to clear half the license board.
3: Less available gil upon finishing.
2: Only 2 characters (Balthier and Fran) are not level 99.
1: Slight story progress is required - Nalbina Dungeons must be cleared.
-------------------------------------
| 2.3 Making the decision **020300** |
-------------------------------------
The decision must be finalized by the end of stage 4. This is because, after
finishing stage 4, the two methods start to differ from each other. Although it
is possible to change from the 70-hour method to the 40-hour method at any time
with minimal effort, reverting, however, is not as easy. It is still possible
though by either loading an older save from before the change (losing any
progress made via the 40-hour method along with it) or, in the worst case where
no such save exists, starting a new game.
Use the 70-hour method to:
* Go through essentially the entire game at level 99.
* Have everyone at level 99 so they never have to be leveled up.
* Have every license obtained - simply buy and equip or buy and freely use.
* Have lots of available gil (even more with dustia) for future purchases.
Use the 40-hour method to:
* Get a taste as to what nearly all of FF12 is like at level 99.
* Keep the heavy repetition to a minimum while also minimizing story progress.
|___| _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ __ |___|
|___| / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| / | |___|
|___| | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | / | | |___|
|___| | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ /_/| | |___|
|___| \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| | | |___|
|___| _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___|
|___| | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ __| |__ |___|
| * |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| |_______| 1| * |
##############################
#### ####
# 3 Stage 1: Starting out **030000** #
#### ####
##############################
Stage 1 is quite straight forward and involves the tiny bit of story progress
needed.
---------------------------------------------------
| 3.1 Process-hastening tips and tricks **030100** |
---------------------------------------------------
Since this guide is about being fast as well as early, here are a few tips and
hints to consider to save time. If you have any suggestions for further
improvements, feel free to E-mail me (see the "legal stuff" section below for
contacting me).
1. Crank the battle speed all the way to the maximum. This does not increase
the degree of challenge to any noticeable degree, but it makes this process
much faster as less waiting is involved. While status effect duration and
animation duration remain the same, the charging speed is improved. This
doesn't have much of an effect, but it helps greatly, saving about 1 to 3
hours.
2. Use active mode instead of wait mode. While active mode is more challenging,
it can easily save 1 1/2 to 5 hours over the course of the process (more when
going with the 70-hour method). Active mode will take time to get used to, but
if it's too much to handle, then, by all means, use wait mode.
3. Consider "pseudo running". Pseudo running is the apparent fleeing from an
enemy (which delays its strike) while not actually fleeing (holding R2). For
maximum effect, pseudo run to where the next enemy is, pausing once "attack" is
charged up. Early on, however, with limited armor and HP, it is important to
avoid dragging several enemies into a battle at once. If enemies are along the
route, stop moving until the ones being dealt with are defeated. Once defeated,
move forward to the next enemies, unless healing is needed. Pseudo running is a
must for making stage 7 of the 70-hour method as fast as it can get.
4. Constantly attacking while moving speeds the process up considerably. When
an enemy is defeated, keep going to the next one. As soon as the red or green
bar is visible, start another attack. There is a 400-millisecond pause from
putting the weapon away and another 400 milliseconds for taking it back out.
Movement while in exploration mode (the weapon being carried on the character's
back) is 20% faster than that of battle mode (the weapon is held is the
character's hands). Thus, by running for at least a second in exploration mode,
the offset from handling the weapon is canceled. Run as long as possible in
exploration mode.
5. Cross zone boundaries as perpendicular or as close to the nearest edge as
possible. It doesn't matter where the zone boundary is crossed in order to get
the system to load the next zone. So, since changing zones is a very frequent
occurrence, it is important to keep the distance to a minimum. The greater the
offset from being perpendicular, the greater the distance needed to travel to
cross the zone boundary. "1/cos(Offset)" determines how much longer it'll take
based on the angular offset. In the event it isn't possible to cross the zone
boundary directly perpendicular, use the nearest outside edge.
6. Racing techniques like cutting corners and reducing distance will help.
Unlike a race car which skids out of control when taking a turn too fast,
character movement in FF12 doesn't have that issue. Cutting corners as sharply
as possible and going with the shortest possible distance between the current
location and the destination will speed up this process.
7. Do not speak with anyone, except shop clerks, and only when mentioned.
8. Unless indicated, do not spend any gil or LP, or it'll cost extra time.
9. Do not steal from enemies. There are better ways to get gil.
10. Except for obtaining licenses or changing equipment, avoid using the party
menu - there are no benefits for this process.
---------------------------------------------------
| 3.2 The tutorial and the rogue tomato **030200** |
---------------------------------------------------
First, simply get through the tutorial stuff as fast as you can. My guide is
not a walkthrough for getting through the game's story - consult a walkthrough
for this. Avoid speaking to anyone once controlling Vaan is possible. Some
story events can be skipped too - just pause the game (press the start button)
then press X to choose "skip". This will save a lot of time especially at the
very beginning of the game. Once past the east gate, save your game and go east
into the Estersand.
Defeat the 3 cactites (often sleeping) then defeat all the wolves around where
the rogue tomato is, grabbing any loot bags that appear. Since the rogue tomato
jumps off the edge when its HP drops to half, forcing you to go around, the
cleared path will make it easier and faster to finish off the rogue tomato.
As a tip, before attacking a red-bar enemy (the aggressive type), start the
attack upon seeing the red bar, wait for "attack" to charge up, then go after
it (best if from the sides or behind) when about 1/2 to 2/3 charged. This will
otherwise guarantee a first strike, even with the slowest-charging weapons.
Take on enemies one at a time. As the one being attacked is about to be
defeated, start moving to where the next one is (seeing the red bar or within a
second of seeing it is good enough). This is what I call "pseudo running".
Constantly attacking is key to speeding the process up. If the next enemy is
too far away, potential time is wasted. Of course, keeping a bigger gap is
useful when healing is in order. Healing is best when at least 80 HP is
missing. Since potions restore 100 and you only get 127 or 129 at this point,
80 is a good balance between risk and time spent healing. These enemies are
quite weak as well.
Once the rogue tomato is defeated, simply return to Rabanastre and watch the
ceremony. This is all the story progress needed for the 70-hour method. There
won't be story progress for a while with the 40-hour method.
About the cure spell:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Accessories 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | < White magick 1 | 15 |
| Magick evade 0 | Total | 15 |
| Strength 0 | | |
| Magick power 0 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
Once done, go to Yugri's Magicks and sell the loot. Buy just the cure spell and
nothing else, including any bazaar items. You'll likely have enough LP to
obtain the license - get it as it's a must! This way, restoring HP is as simple
as walking around to accumulate MP then casting cure. Potions, however, are
still good for emergency healing. Claim the bounty from the rogue tomato hunt
then leave via the east gate, saving your game before leaving. Do not buy any
new weapons, technicks, or anything.
|___| _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ _____ |___|
|___| / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| / ___ \ |___|
|___| | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | |_| | | |___|
|___| | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ ____| | |___|
|___| \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| / ____/ |___|
|___| _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___|
|_*_|2 | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ | |_____ 2|_*_|
| |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| |_______| 1| |
##########################################
#### ####
# 4 Stage 2: The rod in the Estersand **040000** #
#### ####
##########################################
------------------------------------
| 4.1 Getting to the rod **040100** |
------------------------------------
About the rod:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 30 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 5 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Small swords | Start |
| Evade 0 | < Staves 1 | 15 |
| Magick evade 0 | < Rods 1 | 15 |
| Strength 0 | Total | 30 |
| Magick power 1 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
Why get the rod? It's more than twice as powerful as the current weapon, twice
as powerful as the best available in Rabanastre, and it enhances magick power,
making healing more effective so less time is spent needing to heal.
The path to getting the rod is quite a long one, but well worth the effort.
Along the route, defeat any present along the way, unless noted. Don't go after
each and every enemy in the zone, get those that are relatively nearby along
the route. Grab the loot bag as well - at least 1600 is gil is needed,
preferrably 2100. In my experiences, I get around 2000 to 2300 gil by the time
I get to Nalbina. First, head far to the north until the northern edge of the
area then go west until you see the zone exit. Do not attack the big dinosaur-
like enemy known as a wild saurian. The 300 to 500 damage it can do is instant
game over. You can surely go up to it and even touch it without concern, just
don't attack it, use a potion on it, or whatever. So then, what happens if a
wolf is your intended target, but the wild saurian gets selected for being
attacked? In this case, hold R2 to flee or select another target. As long as
the attack doesn't make contact (too much distance prevents this), you're safe.
At the northwest end, you should see a small campground, the Outpost. Enter it
and go simply through it without speaking to anyone. Although gil is to be
found here, just ignore it as the roughly 17 isn't worth the time. It's likely
that the most direct path will lead to a location where 5 gil is to be found.
In that case, get it. You'll be entering Yardang Labyrinth. A labyrinth is
basically a maze, but the solution is very easy - just follow the northwest
edge. You may find that the enemies' names are in red and yellow quite often.
This just indicates that the enemies are above your character's level,
typically 1 to 3 for yellow and greater than 3 for red. Don't worry - these
wolves and cockatrices are pretty much just as powerful as those in the first
area. Cockatrices are more dangerous as they can do 13 damage. Defeat the
cockatrices one at a time as much as possible, focusing on defeating them over
any wolves. If they start to get close while they're rolling, and there's
wolves nearby, simply back away and they likely won't chase though they may
follow. If they attempt to follow, noticed by a higher-than-usual speed, just
keep getting back as needed. This will delay their attack. This is a common
trick that works on many enemies, though not all.
-----------------------------------
| 4.2 Obtaining the rod **040200** |
-----------------------------------
This is the zone where the rod is to be found. First, follow the obvious path
then head to the northeast. Be warned of an enemy that looks like a cockatrice
that's often in this area. You'll know of it when you see status effect icons
(either a cyan-colored hexagonal stone (protect) or a staff with an arrow
pointing up (faith)) next to the red life bar. The status effects won't always
be present though. Just to be sure, simply choose the attack command without
choosing a target. If "nehkbet" is in the list of enemies, get away
immediately! Nehkbet is very powerful, capable of doing about 80 damage and
also inflicting slow status. Keeping your distance while not attacking any
cockatrices if they're near it is much more imporant. If you do get sighted and
targeted by a cockatrice with nehkbet near, nehkbet may suddenly dart toward
you at high speed. If this happens or you get targeted by nehkbet, run to the
nearest zone exit immediately then return, using potions along the way if
nehkbet makes successful attacks. If it's still there, exit and return until
it's gone. Nehkbet is rare game, abnormally powerful enemies worth surprisingly
little exp for how difficult they are, though they do offer a fair amount of
LP.
Head to the northeast area where you might find a treasure. The eastern one
contains the rod. Statistically, you have a 22.5% chance of getting it. This
factors in the probability of the chest being there in the first place as well
(75% chance of appearing, 60% chance of being an item rather than gil, and a
50% chance of the item being the rod (accoding to my Brady Games strategy
guide)).
If the chest isn't there or doesn't contain the rod, head further west and go
north into the next zone. There's nothing in this area to worry about, except
the ichthons - avoid them for now. I highly recommend defeating the cactoids in
this area - the 30ish exp (triple that of a wolf) isn't something you'd want to
pass up and they're quite fast and easy to defeat. This will also prevent
greeden from appearing, an enemy that can do about 200ish damage and has a red
bar.
There's a village in the north central area that also contains a save crystal,
an orange one (a gate crystal). Save your game, quit, and reload that game. How
do you quit? Consider learning the useful button combination of start, square,
up, then X. Why quit? It's faster than getting 3 zones away, the other
alternative, since it causes the treasure to be regenerated (and any enemies
you've previously defeated beforehand). After reloading, simply return to where
the chest is. If you do get the rod on either the first try or after a quit and
reload, you'll need to obtain the license for it. You won't see the license for
it right away, but you'll need at least 30 LP to get it. Follow the path
indicated in the table above to reach it. Once obtained, equip the rod.
Now you'll see just why the rod is so important. Not only does it provide an
attack rating of 30 (as opposed to the 13), it also provides a boost of 1 on
magick power and grants 5 extra MP. Not bad for this early in the game! This,
however, isn't even the best weapon we'll be getting during the leveling up
process. The wolves can almost be defeated in one hit now! Head into the South
Bank Village while defeating whatever enemies along the way, except nehkbet and
greeden. The location where the rod is and near the village is the best and
easiest place to accumulate LP so we'll be using it quite a bit.
--------------------------------------------
| 4.3 Notes on the license board **040300** |
--------------------------------------------
As you're going about whacking wolves, cactoids, cactites, and cockatrices,
you'll be getting license points, LP. Do not spend any license points until
noted. You'll be getting a lot of equipment that you'll definitely need
licenses for, and you'll be getting it quite fast at this point and you'll
often have to obtain several licenses before you can obtain the one you'll
need. This is the reason for avoiding the spending of LP. This area in the
Estersand is perhaps the best place to accumulate LP as enemies are often
packed closely together. Because of this, I've written this guide so several
passes are made through this area as you'll need a lot of LP in a short period
of time. Of course, if you've racked up more than 345 total LP since first
visiting the Estersand during this process, then you should focus on the
augments section. If you've got more than 150 at any one time, I would
recommend, then, going after the "HP+50" license - obtain "white magick 2" (20
LP) to see this license below (30 LP). See section 6.6 in stage 4 for further
details on other augments though I advise against that until stage 4.
------------------------------------
| 4.4 The battle harness **040400** |
------------------------------------
About the battle harness:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ Allows for counterattacks |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Accessories 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Accessories 2 | 15 |
| Magick evade 0 | ^ Accessories 4 | 35 |
| Strength 2 | Total | 50 |
| Magick power 0 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
The shop keeper (unlucky merchant) has a very valuable item that I strongly
recommend getting. It's an accessory called "battle harness" which costs 1000
gil. Although it allows for counterattacks to happen, which seem very rare for
me (like 2%, surprisingly low (the lowest I've ever seen in an RPG)), the main
point of getting it is the +2 boost in strength. Remember, do not buy anything
from the bazaar.
Where's this hidden license? First of all, I would suggest waiting first before
you obtain it as there's something more important than this. I would advise
against getting anything else he has as these others aren't of any use for this
process and you'll also need at least 600 gil by then, preferrably 1100.
----------------------------------------------------------
| 4.5 Shopping in Nalbina for arrows and armor **040500** |
----------------------------------------------------------
With the rod and battle harness now available, it's now time to go shopping for
new armor. Trouble is, Rabanastre doesn't contain any worthy armor at all.
Fortunately, there's another town nearby that has armor... with a defense
rating of 8. This won't be the best armor you will be getting for this process,
but it'll be the best until stage 5. Save your game at the very near orange
save crystal, quit and reload (optional), then head south. By quitting and
reloading, you'll get more enemies, for more LP and gil.
About the onion arrows:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ Must be equipped with a bow |
| Attack power 1 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | License not required | --- |
| Evade 0 | | |
| Magick evade 0 | | |
| Strength 0 | | |
| Magick power 0 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
So then, how do you get to Nalbina? Back track to the Yardang Labyrinth,
avoiding nehkbet as usual while defeating whatever enemies you see along the
way, you'll find the entrance to the town in the northeast part. For now, we'll
only really need 2 things here: armor and arrows. The shop just outside the
town contains the arrows, of which cost 100 gil. We'll definitely be needing
them, but don't go buying a bow just yet. I'm suggesting that you buy them now
as it'll make stage 4 more efficient (otherwise, you'll have to backtrack here
again, costing a lot of time). The rod from the treasure is better than
anything you can get in Nalbina right now (or any shop for that matter). The
weaker bows they have do have an advantage though - you can strike an enemy
twice instead of once before it can strike you which lessens the need for
healing. Still, you're better off with the rod at the moment.
About the kilmweave shirt:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 8 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Light armor 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Light armor 2 | 15 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Shields 1 | 15 |
| Strength 0 | ^ Mystic armor 2 | 20 |
| Magick power 3 | Total | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
About the bronze chestplate:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 40 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 8 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Light armor 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Light armor 2 | 15 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Shields 1 | 15 |
| Strength 0 | > Light armor 3 | 20 |
| Magick power 0 | Total | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
About the topkapi hat:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 8 | Light armor 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Light armor 2 | 15 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Shields 1 | 15 |
| Strength 0 | ^ Mystic armor 2 | 20 |
| Magick power 3 | Total | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
What fancy suit of armor should you get? The bronze chestplate and kilmweave
shirt are the two best choices. I recommend the kilmweave shirt the most due to
its +3 bonus on magick power which reduces the amount of time needed to heal
(from fewer casts being needed). It'll also make it easier and faster to access
what's available in stages 4 and 5. The bronze chestplate only provides a
measely 40 extra HP and extra HP has no effect on hastening the process. Both
of these cost 500 gil, but only one is needed so choose wisely.
If you have gil to spare, I'd recommend buying a mystic armor helmet, the
topkapi hat, since it also provides a boost of +3 on magic attack. Mystic armor
helmets provide the greatest defense toward magic attacks over any other kind
of armor. The helm isn't particularly important so you can leave that out if
you're short on gil but it'll make cure magic more effective, reducing the
amount of time needed to heal. We'll be getting a better much helmet anyway
during stage 5 and a slightly better one in stage 7.
About the protect spell:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ Adds "protect" status |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | White magick 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | < White magick 2 | 20 |
| Magick evade 0 | ^ Green magick 1 | 25 |
| Strength 0 | Total | 45 |
| Magick power 0 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
If you still have gil to spare, consider buying the "protect" spell.
------------------------------------
| 4.6 Ichthon and reload **040600** |
------------------------------------
With the new armor licensed and equipped, it's time to gain a few levels, until
about level 8 to 15 (10 to 12 is the best balance). The wolves and even
cactoids are starting to not be worthy enough for leveling up on. This is where
the ichthons near the river come in. Unlike just running around getting
whatever, ichthon must be done in a different way. With the rod able to quickly
defeat it and the new armor to limit damage to about about 12, ichthons are now
easy to handle. Whatever you do, do not use magic and always stay close to it.
By staying close, this minimizes the use of their very dangerous "water
cannon" special attack. Why is it dangerous? It does about 90 or so damage - at
level 6, this is very dangerous. Although weak against thunder, regular
physical attacks with the rod is much more effective and prevents ichthon from
using its "water cannon" special attack. For best results, defeat the 2
ichthons along the river, return to the save crystal in the village, quit and
reload, then go after the 2 ichthons again. At about 180 exp a piece, they're
far better than the cactoids and wolves in the area.
Even with the new armor, do not attack nehkbet or the wild saurian.
|___| _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ _____ |___|
|___| / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| / ___ \ |___|
|___| | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | |_| | | |___|
|___| | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ __| | |___|
|___| \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| |__ < |___|
|_*_|3 _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _ | | 3|_*_|
|___|2 | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ | |___| | 2|___|
| |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| \_____/ 1| |
##########################################
#### ####
# 5 Stage 3: The difficult Westersand **050000** #
#### ####
##########################################
---------------------------------------
| 5.1 Optional preparations **050100** |
---------------------------------------
This part of the process can be skipped (saving 20 or so minutes), but it'll be
a little extra challenging though. Skilled players should consider skipping
this as you'll likely not encounter such emergency needs and there are plenty
of hi-potions throughout the Westersand in treasures anyway. So, what is needed
to prepare for the Westersand? Hi-potions. These restore 400 HP (more with
"potion lore" licenses, but these are not needed) and they're more effective
for healing for this early part of the process. They're only for emergencies
though. How to get hi-potions? There are 2 ways - treasures and the clan shop.
At the moment, the clan shop only offers potions, of which are no longer worthy
enough as you'll be going through them quite a bit otherwise. The solution?
Raise the clan rank. This is where Thextera comes in. You'll need to visit the
clan hall for this though, found far to the western part of the northern zone.
The clan shop is almost straight south from there.
What's so important about the Thextera hunt? It takes a puny 700 clan points
and 2 marks to raise the clan rank a notch. Raising the clan rank opens up
access to buying hi-potions. Chance are, you'll have a several thousand clan
points at this time, roughly matching the amount of exp Vaan has. The rogue
tomato is already out, so all that's left is a second mark. Thextera is one
such mark available at this point - check the hunt board for thextera in the
sandsea, find the petitioner only a few feet away leaning against the same wall
the hunt board is on, then go into the westersand hugging the southeastern
areas.
Once thextera is defeated, return to the sandsea to claim the bounty then go to
the clan shop (in the muthru bazaar straight south). There, you'll see both
potions and hi-potions. Use the gil from the thextera hunt's bounty and buy at
least 2 hi-potions, 10 at the most with 3 being the most recommended. Aside
from getting the game's best armor, we won't need to spend any more gil unless
you want the extra spells and stuff in Nalbina (like blind, slow, poisona,
etc.). Collecting the bounty is optional in this case as you could use the gil
for the hi-potions. If you speak to the petitioner again in the Muthru Bazaar,
you'll obtain the first grimore. At 18,000 gil, it's not a worthy item to get
at this time since causes the enemies you'll be facing to only drop pebbles
(which sell for a puny 2 gil each). Just like any other bazaar items, simply
leave it alone.
---------------------------------------------
| 5.2 Getting into the Westersand **050200** |
---------------------------------------------
There are two ways to get into the difficult-at-this-moment Westersand at this
point: Rabanastre and Giza Plains. It would seem that Rabanastre is faster,
it's not because of one thing: the likely sandstorm. Having a clear blue sky
above is critical for the next part of the process, especially once stage 4 is
being done. By entering from the Giza Plains, the chances of a blue sky are
much, much higher.
There are two ways to enter to the Giza Plains. The first is by going into the
southeast exit in Yardang Labyrinth (just follow the southeastern wall to the
south-southwest. The second is through Rabanastre. I suggest the Yardang
Labyrinth route as, if you haven't picked up the topkapi hat or the protect
spell yet, I highly recommend doing so now, since Nalbina is only a short
distance away from the entrance to Giza Plains. It's also the shortest route to
the Westersand entrance from Giza Plains. Unless you've got more than 3280 gil
to spare, do not get anything else here.
The enemies in Giza Plains are easy to deal with and they're not worthy for
exp. They are, however, just as worthy for LP and with 105 now needed (extra
for the protect spell), I highly recommend defeating them. Either pass through
the Nomad Village using the save crystal there and continue west, or head south
then go west. You'll want to accumulate water stones (from giza rabbit) and
tanned hides (from slaven) - do not sell these or it'll cost time when it comes
to stage 5. Thus, I suggest going south then west, avoiding the town. Another
save crystal is present along the way, one you can't miss - use it to save and
I mean it. One mistake in the dangerous Westersand and a lot of progress is
lost. Regardless of the route, keep going to the west and the entrance to the
Westersand is otherwise straight ahead (see the big hills along the path?).
Whatever you do, stay clear of the warewolves - they do 200 damage (500 with
"smite of rage", of which is only used when HP critical (that is, less than 20%
(500) of their roughly 2500 HP remains)). With their red bars, keeping plenty
of distance is very important. If spotted run like crazy using R2 to flee! For
the most part, you won't even see them on the way to the Westersand if you
passed through the Nomad Village. We will be using the werewolves to level up
on (that's stage 6), but that's still a ways away yet.
------------------------------------------
| 5.3 Exploring the Westersand **050300** |
------------------------------------------
Once in the Westersand (creepy music anyone?), check the sky. If it's a
brilliant blue, continue on. If it's not, return to Giza Plains then reenter
the Westersand repeatedly until it is. Why have the blue sky? You'll need it
for stage 4. Entering from Giza Plains at this point will yield either a cloudy
or blue sky.
Shortly after entering, you'll encounter an urstrix, my favorite enemy in the
entire game (a certain optional boss with 9 million HP is my second favorite).
Urstrix is also a favorite because, through a 5-minute battle with gnoma
entite, I've actually had an urstrix "watch" the battle, which is one of the
reasons why they're my favorites. Unlike the urstrixes seen in Giza Plains
right after leaving the Nomad Village, these ones are much more powerful. They
regularly do about 35 to 40 damage with the new armor you got in Nalbina (about
50 without it) though their "gust" attack is the most troublesome, doing about
50 damage. "Slap" is also fairly common, doing around 45 damage. The bad thing
about the urstrix is that they're attracted to fights. If any urstrix is fully
opaque (and not made transparent due to distance), it'll likely start heading
toward where the action is and eventually engage combat. These urstrixes have
about 650ish HP so each one in itself is a fairly long fight, much longer than
the ichthon. Before dealing with the next, fully heal. If done right, you
shouldn't need to heal. If all else, this is where the extra part in section
5.1 is useful - use a hi-potion when at least 400 HP is missing (or when you
drop below 150 HP regardless). Of course, if things go wrong, run for it. Just
focus on one enemy at a time, healing with cure after each battle. Urstrix
gives an impressive 264 exp on average which is very good for this early point
in the game.
There's also sleipnir, a horse-like enemy with metallic spikes along the head
(from what appears to be armor). This enemy is much less troublesome than
urstrix as it's not attracted to fights and isn't quite as powerful. It does
have around 730 HP though and is worth slightly more exp, about 279. Defeat any
urstrixes around before engaging battle with the sleipnir for best results.
There are plenty of wolves around too - defeat them for easy license points. Do
be aware of their "fangs" attack, which does around 70 damage, though it's
fairly rarely used. If wolves are involved in a fight with urstrix, defeat the
urstrix first - the 5's and the such the wolves usually do are nothing to the
40s the urstrixes can (and "fangs" isn't a common attack). This is where the
battle harness and new armor are really put to use, considering a counter might
actually end up defeating the wolves or proving a speed boost. 2% odds for a
counterattack means you shouldn't be relying on counterattacks at all, but they
can still help nonetheless.
You'll be gaining levels quite quickly at this point (I've hit level 14 with
only 3 1/4 hours on the game clock, gaining a level about every 10 or so
minutes). MP running low will also be a limiting factor - just remember that
walking around will restore it. For speed, consider using an ether, provided
you found any in chests. Regardless of what you do, save 105 LP (provided you
got the battle harness licensed) so stage 4 becomes much more effective.
Whatever you do, never enter the cave, the Zertinan Caverns, that you'll find
where 3 dive talons lurk. The level 20 enemies in here will cause a lot of
problems - the 80ish damage they do makes them not worthy at this point.
In the zone to the northeast of the Giza Plains entrance area, an eerie-looking
skeleton called "fidalient" may be encountered. It's also rare game much like
nehkbet and greeden. However, unlike nehkbet and greeden, fidalient is
incredibly fast and easy to defeat and is thus well worth defeating (since it's
like 4 urstrixes in one). Simply hand it a phoenix down and it's instantly
defeated. Attacking it is strongly not advised and it tends to cast a lot of
spells, typically negative status effects (like blind) and dark. It's
frightfully powerful, capable of doing about 200 damage, but even at level 1,
it's even easier than the cactites were, much easier.
-----------------------------------------------------
| 5.4 What about using the dustia method? **050400** |
-----------------------------------------------------
What about using the dustia method? I find it too risky as, with only the 350
HP or so you have, you need to get down to just a puny 35 or less (yes, that's
right, just 10% of the remaining HP) - one hit by an urstrix or sleipnir and
it's game over and you'll lose all unsaved progress. Dustia, for me, only
starts becoming more worthy clear until I have about 1200 HP and by then, I'm
getting a monster of a chain with the werewolves. Sure dustia is quick to spawn
and gives 1100 exp a piece, you have to keep buying phoenix downs which slows
the process. If using the 70-hour method, the dustia method is about as fast as
stage 7 is from levels 55 to 79. From levels 80 to 99, the dustia method
becomes slightly slower. If using the 40-hour method instead, dustia becomes
very slow once you reach stage 8 of the process, of which is more than twice as
fast once you can start defeating those enemies in 4 or even 3 hits.
What is the dustia method? It involves spawning a rare game enemy called
"dustia" that appears in the zone just before where the earth tyant is (from
the Giza Plains entrance, it's to the northeast then straight north in terms of
the zone exits), but only appears when have 10% of your current HP remaining,
or less. By handing a phoenix down over to it, you'll instantly defeat it,
earning about 1100 exp. If you quickly grab the loot and zone out before you
see the "exp" details appear then return, dustia will be back alive and well -
just hand over another phoenix down and repeat. I estimate 16 seconds per cycle
meaning it's 4100 exp per minute, slightly exceeding stage 7 of the 70-hour
method at level 80 and above. However, having to keep returning to shops to buy
more phoenix downs, then get yourself back down to 10% HP again costs a lot of
time, to the point that it slows down to being slower than that of stage 7 (and
stage 4 must be completed in order for stage 7 to even work). Stage 8 in the
40-hour method is more than twice as fast as this. It becomes about as fast as
stage 7 for levels 55 through 79 though so in that case, it's more of your
preference.
If you insist on using the dustia method, then, by all means, go for it! My
guide won't cover dustia outside this brief section, however, it does have a
major time advantage if you're willing to risk it. It can shave off about 5
hours (I'm only guessing) for the 40-hour method (making it seem more like 35
hours instead) and potentially 15 hours for the 70-hour method (making it seem
more like 55 hours instead (yep, that means all 6 characters and every guest at
level 99 (all but two of which with 99,999,999 exp) in only 55 hours).
|___| _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ _ _ |___|
|___| / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| | | | | |___|
|___| | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | | | | | |___|
|___| | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ | |___| | |___|
|_*_|4 \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| |_____ | 4|_*_|
|___|3 _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3|___|
|___|2 | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ | | 2|___|
| |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| |_| 1| |
#############################################
#### ####
# 6 Stage 4: The burn of the burning bow **060000** #
#### ####
#############################################
-------------------------------------------------
| 6.1 Obtaining and using quickenings **060100** |
-------------------------------------------------
About red spiral:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Effects | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ Rank 1 quickening |
| Attack power 90 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Accessories 4 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Red spiral | 50 |
| Magick evade 0 | Total | 50 |
| Strength 0 | | |
| Magick power 0 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
Quickenings are FF12's equivalent of limits breaks in FF7. The burning bow is
the most powerful weapon available in the game until you get the dawn shard
(see section 11 below for details). No shops will carry anything more powerful
than the burning bow until about the Mt. Bur Omisace events, about 3/5 of the
way through the game. To get the burning bow, you must obtain at least one
quickening license (that's 50 LP). If you've obtained the license for the
battle harness (accessories 4), you should see a glowing red ball that, if you
put the cursor over it, you'll see "red spiral". This is Vaan's level 1
quickening.
You'll also need to know how to use quickenings or this stage will be very slow
and tedious. What's so special about quickenings and why are they needed? The
enemy that drops the burning bow cannot be attacked in any way except by magic
(which is far, far too weak), ranged weapons (of which are still far too weak),
and quickenings (of which are considerably powerful, and powerful enough, even
at a level as low as 10). If you're unfamiliar with how to use quickenings,
you'll need to practice, but not at this moment.
-----------------------------------------------
| 6.2 The very dangerous dive talon **060200** |
-----------------------------------------------
Dive talon is the enemy that drops the burning bow. Trouble is, you otherwise
don't stand a chance against one. Think about it. It can do a good 250 damage
in just one hit and it tends to combo frequently. Its "lunge" attack does a
good 350 damage. Its annoying "kamikaze" attack ignores defense and does a
massive 550 or so damage. With only about 450 to 500 HP, how on earth can the
dive talon (which, by the way, has 4000 HP) even be defeated!? There is a way
and it's much easier than you think.
First, head into the far western part of the Westersand. From the area you
start in, head into the northeastern exit then, here, go to the western exit
and keep going west fighting whatever enemies you can handle such as sleipnir.
Avoid dive talon and using quickenings... for now. Dive talons are easy to
avoid with the green bars they have. One enemy you'll encounter along the way
is "alraune". This enemy is slightly more dangerous than an urstrix as they're
fairly difficult to hit and they tend to combo quite frequently. Their "war
song" skill causes them to do 50 more damage instead of the roughly 35 or 40
they'd otherwise do. Be very careful around alraunes. Unfortunately, they're
also fairly attracted to fights like the urstrix, but at least they're not as
common. The first part, after the 2 wolves, is especially troublesome - try
slipping by them instead of fighting them. Across this difficult part, you'll
find an orange save crystal in the zone to the west. Before saving, switch to
wait mode if you've been using active mode. If you want to use the shop, go
ahead and do so before saving. Once done, save your game.
If you're not familiar with using quickenings, this is the time to practice.
Head back into Giza Plains ignoring enemies as much as you can and take the
route to the south then east. Here, you'll find a save crystal - do not save,
but use it to replenish the MP (since, after using a quickening, MP will be 0).
Fire a quickening off on the giza rabbit in the east and the sleipnir in the
west. Don't bother collecting any loot - this progress won't be saved anyway.
Touch the save crystal and go into the zone on the opposite side and fire
another quickening off. Repeat this until you've become familiar with the
workings of quickenings. Do not save at this point. When done practicing, quit
and reload to be returned to the Westersand, now for the ultimate test.
How do you strike dive talon? The placement of the save crystal couldn't be any
more convenient. Once the dive talon is struck, it'll immediately start
attacking and you'll need to run through to this zone. For the best results,
hit it with the quickening when approaching it from the side and especially the
rear (if you're skilled at doing this, such as after a few rounds, you can also
go from the front, though be extra careful from the front). This is because
dive talon makes a very wide turn giving plenty of extra space which makes it
easier to run from.
If the quickenings are unable to defeat dive talon first thing, you're not out
of luck yet but get ready to run, likely to happen when below level 19 and
don't get a concurrence. With wait mode, it's easy - after movement is possible
again (this is when the damage popup appears), immediately activate the battle
menu and turn the camera to face toward where you'll be going - directly toward
the orange save crystal. Once lined up, close the battle menu and run for it
without using R2. Vaan and the dive talon move at the same speed and the dive
talon makes a very wide turn providing plenty of extra distance anyway.
Quickenings are long-ranged attacks much like bows so this is even more safety
considering that the dive talon has no long range attacks. Touch the save
crystal but don't save.
Return and immediately fire off a quickening on the dive talon. It'll likely
run away so you may need to give chase, but, take note if it runs or decides to
attack first thing before doing so. To help, consider holding the left analog
stick down (to run toward the camera) and, upon the zone reloading, quickly
press X to bring up the battle menu to fire off a quickening at it. The dive
talon is often hard to see as it's highly transparent. When you see "red
spiral" appear where Vaan's HP is, press X, wait a quarter second, then press O
and red spiral will fire away immediately instead of being delayed a quarter
second. It'll almost always run though so you'll need to chase it. Fire off the
quickening and repeat the process until it's defeated. Once it's defeated, grab
the item bag, if any. If the dive talon drops an item bag and it contains a
burning bow, you're done - save immediately so you don't have to go through
this again. Otherwise, quit and reload without saving. Why not save before
quitting? It's much faster to just quit and reload. The 2000 exp and 2 LP the
dive talon gives is a nice treat though!
------------------------------------------
| 6.3 The very unfriendly odds **060300** |
------------------------------------------
So you've probably been trying to get the burning bow for about 2 hours and it
seems to only be dropping wind magicites, handerchiefs, and the occasional
giant feather but no burning bow. This is normal... and the troublespot. The
burning bow has a tiny 1% chance of dropping. That's roughly the equivalent of
flipping 4 coins and rolling 1 die and expecting the die to be a 3 and all 4
coins to be heads simultaneously when all are rolled and flipped together at
once (that's 1 in 96, which is very slightly better). This means it can
certainly take a while, considering that quickenings take a while. While I have
gotten the burning bow on my very first attempt, I've also had cases where I
had to go on for 9 hours. These two charts give you a good idea as to what to
expect in terms of overall odds and number of attempts as well as about how
long it'll take. This is only a rough guide though, meant to give you the idea.
+-------+----------+-----------------------+
| Tries | Odds (%) | Total time (H:MM:SS)* |
+-------+----------+-----------------------+
| 1 | 1 | 0:02:30 |
| 5 | 4.9 | 0:12:30 |
| 10 | 9.56 | 0:25:00 |
| 20 | 18.21 | 0:50:00 |
| 30 | 26.03 | 1:15:00 |
| 40 | 33.1 | 1:40:00 |
| 50 | 39.5 | 2:05:00 |
| 60 | 45.28 | 2:30:00 |
| 75 | 52.94 | 3:07:30 |
| 100 | 63.4 | 4:10:00 |
| 125 | 71.53 | 5:12:30 |
| 150 | 77.85 | 6:15:00 |
| 200 | 86.6 | 8:20:00 |
| 250 | 91.89 | 10:25:00 |
| 300 | 95.1 | 12:30:00 |
| 400 | 98.2 | 16:40:00 |
| 500 | 99.34 | 20:50:00 |
+-------+----------+-----------------------+
To find the odds for any number of tries, use this formula:
TargetOdds = 1 - 0.99^Tries
Tries: the number of tries (attempts) needed
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------------+
| Target odds (%) | Number of tries | Total time (H:MM:SS)* |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------------+
| 1 | 1 | 0:02:30 |
| 10 | 10.48 | 0:26:12 |
| 20 | 22.2 | 0:55:30 |
| 30 | 35.49 | 1:28:44 |
| 40 | 50.83 | 2:07:05 |
| 50 | 68.97 | 2:52:26 |
| 60 | 91.17 | 3:47:56 |
| 70 | 119.79 | 4:59:29 |
| 75 | 137.94 | 5:44:51 |
| 80 | 160.14 | 6:40:21 |
| 85 | 188.76 | 7:51:54 |
| 90 | 229.11 | 9:32:47 |
| 95 | 298.07 | 12:25:11 |
| 99 | 458.21 | 19:05:32 |
| 100 | impossible** | impossible** |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------------+
To find the number of tries needed for any target odds, use this formula:
Tries = log(1-TargetOdds) / log(0.99)
log: the logarithm function (any base will work)
TargetOdds: the targeted probability you're seeking
Table footnotes:
* Approximate total time is based on 2 1/2 minutes per try, a good average.
** 100% is impossible because there is no solution for the logarithm of 0.
Just looking at this chart tells of a long ordeal about to come. It's not all
that unusual to be going after it for 4 hours straight. Through a trial
spanning 4 hours at the level 14-15 boundary (a levelup occurred upon defeating
the dive talon), indications tell me that each attempt takes an average of 2
1/2 minutes, spanning from 2.3 to 3.8 minutes. From the moment I see Vaan after
a reload to the moment I see him after the next reload is considered a full
try's worth. Some attempts (3 times having to touch the crystal (this happens
when "mist charge" doesn't appear or I accidentally press R2 to shuffle when it
does appear)) went on for almost 4 minutes, but these were quite rare. Many
attempts took only 2.4 minutes. In 4 hours, I had 97.8 attempts - 27.1 at the
most in one set hour-long span, 18.9 at the least. The charts reflect this
real-world data, based on 2 1/2 minutes per attempt. On average, expect to be
going at this for about 2.9 hours, for 50% odds. The burning bow is a must,
especially for stages 6 through 8, though it doesn't have to be done all in one
go. My 9-hour run (over 200 attempts' worth) spanned across 4 sessions, the
longest going on for 4 1/2 hours (this is when I did the test) and another for
3 1/2.
-------------------------------------------------------------
| 6.4 The license and benefits of the burning bow **060400** |
-------------------------------------------------------------
About the burning bow:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ Requires arrows |
| Attack power 63 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Small swords | Start |
| Evade 0 | v Bows 1 | 20 |
| Magick evade 0 | v Bows 2 | 30 |
| Strength 0 | v Axes & Hammers 1 | 15 |
| Magick power 0 | > Bows 4 | 40 |
| Vitality 0 | Total | 105 |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
What is so special about the burning bow? The leap from Vaan's starting weapon
to the rod is to the same degree as the rod to the burning bow. The burning bow
is far more powerful with an attack rating of not 30, but 63. With the onion
arrows you bought at Nalbina (see section 4.5 for details on this), that
increases to 64. While you sacrifice the slight gain on magic attack and MP,
the sheer attack power of the bow can easily defeat any enemy in the westersand
in just 2 hits this early. With a only few more levels, that drops to 1.
Although 2 hits may seem like you're going to end up taking a hit by the enemy,
that's not the case with ranged weapons. Simply fire off a shot keeping as much
distance as possible and otherwise out of sight then "pseudo run" from the
enemy. By "pseudo run", I mean to "run away" without using R2. This allows your
next attack to charge up and, if the enemy is still in range, the shot will be
fired, of which is more than though to defeat it, preventing any HP damage
which limits the need to heal which in turns speeds up the process. You'll be
able to defeat pretty much every enemy here without taking a hit. Only dive
talon, which is too dangerous, and gnoma entite (only seen in sand storms)
cannot be defeated in 2 hits - it's more like 9 to 13 at this point, depending
on what level you're on (several hundred for gnoma entite). Of course, if the
enemy dodges the attack, a third or, very rarely, a fourth strike may be needed
to finally defeat it. Urstrixes seem to have 1% evasion, sleipnirs have 0%,
alraunes around 4%, and dive talons have about 6%. If an enemy dodges the first
attack, you're very likely to take a hit until you can defeat the enemy in one
hit.
-------------------------------------------------------
| 6.5 A word of caution: watch the weather **060500** |
-------------------------------------------------------
Remember how, in stage 3, I mentioned to make sure you get a blue sky. If the
sky is cloudy instead of clear, or a sandstorm is present, the attacks from the
bow will miss much more often, even on a sleipnir which can't dodge attacks. If
the sky is clear and blue, attacks will never miss, unless the enemy dodges it
(or the character is blind, of which won't happen during this process). If you
don't have a clear sky, you'll need to get it by simply going back to Giza
Plains then immediately returning to the Westersand again until you see the
blue sky. It appears that there's a 50% chance of the blue sky, so it shouldn't
take much more than about a minute, unlike the burning bow.
----------------------------------------------------
| 6.6 Start focusing on augment licenses **060600** |
----------------------------------------------------
Now that we've got the bulk of the licenses essential to the process, this is,
perhaps, the best time to focus on the augments section of the license board.
There's just one problem: a lot of other licenses you can't make use of must be
obtained just to even get there. Notice all the odd blank spots where the
"steal" technick is? These are supposed to be gambit slots, but, at this early
point in the game, there is no access to the gambit system (and the 70-hour
won't provide access to them at all). There's only one way around this problem:
obtain adjacent licenses to gain "access" to the augments. There are two
different routes - down through the leftmost side of the technicks and left
through the bottommost part of the magicks. As per the "license path" for the
protect spell (see section 4.5), going through the white magicks section is the
best, considering it provides early access to "HP+50".
Once "white magick 4" is obtained, access to the augments can finally start.
From here, a useless-for-this-process "ether lore 1" license is present. Obtain
it to open up "magick lore" and "spellbreaker". Only "magick lore" is of any
real use, but obtain "spellbreaker" first to can gain access to the very useful
"headsman" license (for 30 LP). This way, MP is much less of a concern. Focus
on the swiftness license to the left of here then the "HP+150". The
"channeling" license would be the next focal point followed by "potion lore 3",
to get the second "swiftness" license. "Focus" is a must for stages 6 and
onward and can help in stage 5. The "+200 HP" license is an obvious must after
that. Just to the right of the bottom left corner is the "+500 HP" license, of
which is highly recommended. The "inquisitor" license will otherwise make MP no
longer a problem, and will help significantly in the 40-hour method, due to the
frequent use of "immobilize", but it does have use in the 70-hour method as
well. If you using the 40-hour method, the "serenity" license tucked away in
the upper left corner of the augments is an absolute must-have but it's of low
priority right now. Beyond this, the rest is pretty much up to you. Still
though, save 45 LP for stage 5. There is no need for "shield block", "phoenix
lore", or even "remedy lore" though you're almost certainly going to have to
get them to get to the other areas that are of greater use, such as the "+100
HP" tucked away in the bottom right corner. MP won't be a concern any more so
extra quickenings won't be needed (a second quickening will double the max MP).
|___| _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ _______ |___|
|___| / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| | _____| |___|
|___| | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | | | |___|
|_*_|5 | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ | |____ 5|_*_|
|___|4 \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| \____ \ 4|___|
|___|3 _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _ | | 3|___|
|___|2 | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ | |___| | 2|___|
| |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| \_____/ 1| |
###################################################
#### ####
# 7 Stage 5: The traveler's garb in the bazaar **070000** #
#### ####
###################################################
---------------------------------
| 7.1 Finding greeden **070100** |
---------------------------------
What is greeden? It's rare game (like nehkbet of which you should be able to
handle by now, though I still advise against it because it's worth so little
exp and LP for the amount of time it takes to defeat) that only appears if you
ignore the cactoids in the area near South Bank Village. Yep, it's back to the
Estersand which means plenty of easy LP. Going back through Giza Plains in the
reverse path as that of the Westersand is more effective as the enemies here
are great for LP. Along the way, do not spend any further LP as 45 LP is
required. Also, don't sell any water stones or tanned hides already carried.
Also, pick up the the libra technick in Nalbina along the way. You can get
whatever else you want, but spare at least 3280 gil. First, save in the town.
It takes time so go around whacking wolves and things for easy LP and over time
greeden will eventually appear. For more precise details on how to get greeden
to appear, check "rare monster" FAQs.
Once greeden does appear, defeat it. There are 2 ways to defeat it. First,
regardless, check to see if greeden has protect status, noted by a hexagonal
blue "stone" next to the red life bar. If it does, wait for it to expire. Once
it does expire, fire a quickening at it which should almost or entirely defeat
it. If the quickening does not defeat it, it's still safe to fire off a few
shots at it before it'll actually start to attack (yes, it's pretty dumb).
Though untested, perhaps it's possible to fire a shot or two at it then run
away some, waiting for it to chase. When it does chase and get close again,
fire another shot off at it. It'll take a while, even with the burning bow.
Don't bother putting any status effects on it. If the quickening and a few
shots aren't enough, run into the town and use the save crystal to restore MP,
but don't save. Leave the village... to find greeden no longer present. Simply
wait about 3 more minutes and it'll reappear with the same conditions it was
left at. Credits for the save crystal method goes to Valen, who sent me an E-
mail regarding this. Once greeden falls, check to see if it drops braid wool.
If it does, save, then quit and reload afterwards. If it doesn't just quit and
reload. Repeat this process once more until you get a second braid wool. Do not
sell the braid wool! You can sell any other loot you have though, except water
stones and tanned hides. Fortunately, braid wool is a common drop so, instead
of tedious hours of attempts, it shouldn't go on for much more than about 15
minutes.
-------------------------------------------------------
| 7.2 Getting tanned hides and water stones **070200** |
-------------------------------------------------------
If what you're reading is giving any hints, it should. Yes, the best possible
armor this early in the game is from the bazaar. The other 2 "ingredients" are
much, much easier to get. Tanned hides drop from and are stolen from slaven
(don't worry, it's a common drop and steal). You'll need to get 2 tanned hides.
If you already have at least 2, skip this part. Water stones drop from giza
rabbit, of which are otherwise effortless to defeat at this point. The water
stones aren't a common drop, but at least it's nothing like the burning bow.
Plus, giza rabbits are easily chained anyway. You can easily chain giza rabbits
as well - the southwestern part of Giza Plains has 2 giza rabbits close
together and the southeastern part has one near the southeastern zone's start -
just alternate between the 2 zones to get an endless easy supply of giza
rabbits until you've obtained at least 5 water stones. You'll need 5 water
stones.
-------------------------------------------------------
| 7.3 The best possible armor at game start **070300** |
-------------------------------------------------------
About the feathered cap:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 18 | Mystic armor 2 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Mystic armor 3 | 20 |
| Magick evade 0 | ^ Mystic armor 4 | 25 |
| Strength 0 | Total | 45 |
| Magick power 5 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
About the traveler's vestment:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 16 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Mystic armor 2 | Start |
| Evade 0 | ^ Mystic armor 3 | 20 |
| Magick evade 0 | ^ Mystic armor 4 | 25 |
| Strength 0 | Total | 45 |
| Magick power 5 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
Now, sell the 2 braid wools, 2 tanned hides, and 5 water stones together in the
same selling session (don't leave the "sell" mode) at any shop (you can have
more of each, but you need at least this minimum). Arjie in the northern end of
the Nomad Village in Giza Plains is the closest shop. After selling these
items, you'll see another bazaar item being available titled "Traveler's Garb".
Buy just this one (it costs 3280 gil) and optionally obtaining the rest (since
there's no more need for saving up on gil). Buying it will provide the best
possible armor at this early point in the game. What's so special about it? If
you thought Nalbina's armor was good, this is far, far more effective. Instead
of the 35 damage urstrix was doing, it drops to a puny 10 (I've had a 4 a few
times). Wolves will no longer be able to do any damage except from the "fangs"
attack (which still does 70 damage). What's more is that this equipment
provides a very nice +5 bonus on magick power a piece, totalling +10. Now watch
the Westersand enemies have a hard time doing any considerable damage, to the
point they're manageable at level 1!
-----------------------------------------------------
| 7.4 A Westersand roundabout to level up **070400** |
-----------------------------------------------------
With the enemies in the Westersand now wimps, except the dive talon and gnoma
entite, it's time to level up... and very quickly. Before starting, be sure to
have at least 20 phoenix downs - buy them at the shop in Giza Plains (Arjie).
The most efficient method for an endless supply of enemies is through a
roundabout - 3 zones that are different from each other that are accessible
along a circular route. This will always force the next zone to be considered 2
zones away, which causes all enemies in that next zone to respawn and it's this
that allows for the endless supply of enemies. More zones can be used, but the
Westersand only has 3-zone roundabout (a 4-zone roundabout may (untested - it
might be 5 instead) allow an endless accumulation of treasure chests).
From the Giza Plains entrance (make sure the sky is blue upon entering the
Westersand - go back to Giza Plains then return if the sky is cloudy), head to
the northeast entrance clearing out the urstrixes and sleipnirs along the way.
In this zone, defeat the 3 urstrixes, the alpha wolf, and the 2 sleipnirs for
about 1600 exp. Clear the western enemies out first then the northern ones
after heading back east. The 2 extra wolves near the alpha are only worthy for
LP - get the alpha first as it's more powerful. If you see fidalient here,
throw a phoenix down over to it for an easy 900 exp and 3 LP (this why the
phoenix downs were needed).
Head into the zone to the north and clear out the urstrix slightly to the west
and the 3 cockatrices while heading east for about 900 exp. Head into the
southeast exit.
This zone contains nothing but weak, mostly worthless wolves and is near where
Rabanastre is. Just head to the west-southwest clearing out only the wolves
directly along the route and you're back into a familiar zone, covered 2
paragraphs above.
Each loop offers about 2500 exp (3400 if fidalient is present) and takes about
2 or so minutes, nearly half as fast as stage 7 at its fastest for the 70-hour
method. Continue leveling up like this until about level 25 if using the 40-
hour method, or level 30 if using the 70-hour method.
It may seem strange, but ignore the loot that drops. Having to spend 3 extra
seconds to get it and back track may not sound like much, but repeat this over
1000 times, and the 3000 lost seconds (nearly an hour, which is 3600) will
really add up. Gil is no longer an issue. Also, remember how urstrixes are
attracted to fights? Use this to your advantage to lure urstrixes over. This is
also one of the best times to make use of pseudo running. Constantly attacking
and defeating enemies is more important than moving. This is also why avoiding
collecting the items is very important. Using active mode will also really
speed things up too.
While doing this, focus on obtaining the "focus" license. This will greatly
speed up the future stages and even this (as, eventually, the urstrixes,
sleipnirs, and cockatrices will go down in one hit). If planning on using the
40-hour method, go after the "serenity" license first, then go for "focus".
|___| _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ _____ |___|
|___| / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| / ___ \ |___|
|_*_|6 | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | | | |_| 6|_*_|
|___|5 | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ | |____ 5|___|
|___|4 \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| | ___ \ 4|___|
|___|3 _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3|___|
|___|2 | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ | |___| | 2|___|
| |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| \_____/ 1| |
#####################################
#### ####
# 8 Stage 6: Chaining werewolves **080000** #
#### ####
#####################################
At this point, the 40-hour method and the 70-hour method branch apart, going in
different directions, though not much different. The 40-hour method requires
story progress, to gain access to the immobilize spell, and the 70-hour method
doesn't. This is really the only difference between the two methods, except the
method in stage 8 becomes available with the 40-hour method.
As such, before going any further, the decision on which method you'll be using
must be made. Although it is possible to change from the 70-hour method to the
40-hour method at any time it is not possible to revert unless reloading a save
file from before the change, losing any progress made after the change along
with it. Keep that in mind.
If getting a full level 99 party as fast as possible is your goal, then go
ahead and use the 40-hour method. The sooner you start the 40-hour method, the
less time the game clock will show. If being free to do whatever without having
to worry about licenses or gil is your goal, then the more beneficial but much
more repetitive 70-hour method should be the choice. I recommend the 70-hour
method more because its pros heavily outweigh the cons, aside from the extreme
repetition. Of course, if the extreme repetition is too much to handle, it's
always possible to change to the 40-hour method (though the later the change,
the greater the game clock will be).
If going with the 40-hour method, I strongly urge you to save to a different
file and be extra careful not to overwrite it. This way, you won't have to redo
the initial 5 stages from starting a new game if you want to get the full taste
of the benefits of the 70-hour method. To resume working on the 70-hour method,
simply reload this older file. Refer to stage 7 for tips on reducing the
boredom of the 70-hour method.
From this point onward in the process, except stage 8 (since it's exclusive to
the 40-hour method), I've subdivided each section into subsections to make
distinguishing the methods apart much easier.
---------------------------------------
| 8.1 Making story progress **080100** |
---------------------------------------
............................................
8.1.1 The 70-hour method routine **080110**
............................................
If you're using the 70-hour method, then skip this part - do not make story
progress.
............................................
8.1.2 The 40-hour method routine **080120**
............................................
If using the 40-hour method, story progress is a must so the very important
"immobilize" spell can be accessed. For the most part, just rush the story. At
level 25, this is extremely easy to do, gives a good indication of what an even
higher level might be like. Get through the palace, Nalbina Dungeons, Barheim
Passage, then return to Rabanastre. If you need help figuring out what to do
and solving the puzzles present, consult a standard story walkthrough. My guide
is not a story walkthrough, but one for extreme powerleveling. With the burning
bow, walkthroughs will be off some as the character with the burning bow will
be dishing out 600+ damage to pretty much everything making bosses easy. Even
if level 99 at this point, from using the 70-hour method, the puzzles are still
just as difficult. When Balthier and Fran leave the party, leaving Vaan alone
for the last time, this will be the last of the story progress needed for the
40-hour method, still only 12% of the way through the game.
While making story progress, if the "serenity" license hasn't been obtained
yet, focus all LP earned for Vaan during this toward the "serenity" license.
The serenity license is in the top left corner of the augments - just head
straight to the left from the "ether lore 1" license to eventually reach it.
It'll cost a lot of LP to not only reach it, but also obtain it, but
"serenity" is an absolute must-have. Balthier and Fran can have whatever -
they're pretty much wimps at the moment without extra burning bows. Otherwise,
stage 6 will be frustratingly slow and difficult. Why is the serenity license
so important? It provides a very massive boost on the success rate of hitting
an enemy with "immobilize", but only if the caster has full HP. If immobilize
doesn't hit, it'll only result in a delay. In addition, it's your life line for
stages 7 and 8. If it misses and you can't escape (escape is hardest in 8 due
to the confined, twisting space), game over, and all progress since the last
save being lost, is right around the corner.
Why is it important to have Vaan alone instead of a party of 3? It's because of
the way exp is distributed. You might be familiar with a dive talon being worth
650 EXP, but, in stage 4, when after the dive talon, you may have noticed the
1952 EXP, 2 LP or 2044 EXP, 2 LP content popping out instead. This is because
the 2000ish exp is split equally among the 3 active party members (reserves
don't get anything). I've defeated Leamonde Entite solo (as a way to chain
them) and I get 14,000ish exp from them. With Vaan alone, he'll reach level 99
much faster because all the exp is focused on him. So, then, if all the exp is
going on Vaan only, then what about the others? The others are based on Vaan's
level. Did you notice that Balthier and Fran started out not as level 5 as one
might normally experience, but one greater than that of what Vaan was at the
time they were first met (probably about 26, if obtained at 25))? If you get
Vaan at level 99 at this point, Basch, who'll be next to get, will start on
level 99 instead of the more familiar 12 or so (and, surprisingly, with
99,999,999 exp, the most possible). This, in a way, is like sextupling the exp
that's already focused on one character, octodecupling (18x) it when a party of
3 is involved. A dive talon may be worth 660ish with a party of 3, but when all
alone, it's almost like it was 12,000 being split among all 6 (2000 each). This
is why being solo is critically important. It's also more dangerous when it
comes to enemies... that can deal 600+ damage.
.........................................
8.1.3 Avoid those 3 treasures **080130**
.........................................
While making story progress for the 40-hour method, or after finishing the 70-
hour method and making story progress, there are 3 chests to avoid along the
way if you want the ultra powerful zodiac spear (it's obtainable once the dawn
shard is obtained). The one across the pathway from Old Dalan's house is the
first to avoid. There's another in the palace in the room where a single guard
blocks passage upstairs to where the signet is to be found. The third is the
room in Nalbina Dungeons where you get the equipment back in Nalbina Dungeons
(including the burning bow, traveler's vestment, and feathered cap).
"But all the guides state of 4 chests to avoid, why only 3?" The guides are
right in that there are 4 to avoid. However, it's 3 in this guide's case
because, unless you're halfway through the game's story, able to access the
Phon Coast, the fourth chest is completely inaccessible. We'll be getting the
zodiac spear, maximillian, defender, golden skullcap, crown of laurels, and
many other near-best equipment only 1/4 of the way through the game, half as
far.
--------------------------------------
| 8.2 About the werewolves **080200** |
--------------------------------------
Regardless of the method, I originally told you to avoid the werewolves. The
200 damage they cause (500 with "smite of rage") will be extremely troublesome.
With the new armor, this reduces to only around 110. With the protect spell in
effect, that reduces even further to around 80ish. This makes the werewolves
much more manageable. Protect isn't an absolute must, but for the 70-hour
method, it will help a lot.
Why fight the werewolves now? They're worth 1206 exp and 2 LP, very massive.
That's like 5 Westersand urstrixes in one in terms of exp! They also frequently
drop an item called "quality hide" of which sells for a very impressive 384 gil
(28 wolf pelts is about the same as 3 quality hides). If that's not enough,
werewolves are very easy to chain. After defeating them, simply go into the
zone where the save crystal is (to the east - don't save or even touch it),
cross into the zone to the east, then return.
While chaining the werewolves, beware of the sleipnir nearby. Yes it can be
defeated in one hit, for easy LP, avoid it as defeating it will break the
chain. By hugging the south side of the "hole" straight ahead upon entering the
zone, the sleipnir is far enough away that you shouldn't grab its attention.
I've slipped by it so many times that it's safe to take the southern area,
which is the shortest and most direct route to the werewolves. There's still
that 1 in 5000 chance or so that the sleipnir will initiate combat, but in this
case, you want such low odds. I've gotten a 132 chain this way and by then,
having 99 quality hides and a few kotetsus is a near certainty.
As a tip, do not collect the loot (except if the number is flashing white)
until at least chain level 3 (the one before the big gold coin, 2 chain level
ups). Chain level 3 is reachable by the time the chain count reaches 15 (this
seems to be the average for me). Why avoid the loot? This drastically increases
the rate at which the chain level increases as a "penalty" is applied upon
collecting the loot. If the number is flashing white, there is no penalty.
Unless both werewolves are defeated if using the 40-hour method, do not go
after the loot.
Why only level 3 instead of the maximum 4? It's a good balance between quality
and quantity of loot and losses. At chain level 3, there's a 3% chance of the
werewolves dropping a kotetsu, which sells for 1900 gil. At chain level 4, the
highest (indicated by large gold coins), it's 5%. Quality hides also drop in
great quantity and more often as well which makes the werewolves an excellent
way to get gil at this point. Potentially, one werewolf could be worth as much
as 2000 gil, kotetsus aside (which sell for 1900 gil a piece).
------------------------------------------
| 8.3 Attacking the werewolves **080300** |
------------------------------------------
............................................
8.3.1 The 70-hour method routine **080310**
............................................
If using the 70-hour method, it'll be rather difficult to chain the werewolves
at first because of the frequent need to heal and MP being quite limited. Even
if the first werewolve is attacked from the maximum distance with the second
further away, the second werewolf will come running over at high speed. By
keeping distance from the second, it's entirely possible to defeat the first
one without the second one coming in. However, without immobilize, this second
one will follow the one being attacked. can constantly strike the first one
without the second even know what was going on and not bothering to attack.
Yeah, I know, they're surprisingly dumb. Once the first falls, go after the
second, unless you need to heal.
Do be warned of their "smite of rage" attack. This special attack does roughly
500 damage though it's only used when the werewolf is HP critical. To help,
consider starting to "pseudo run" when you know the next shot will likely make
it HP critical. This can give you extra distance forcing the enemy to have to
close the gap before using it, allowing you, with a long range attack, to
discharge another shot. Of course, using hi-potions during an emergency case
would be useful.
Continue defeating and chaining the werewolves until around level 55. By then,
you should have several LP to spare so focus on the augments during this time
especially the swiftness, channeling, and +HP ones. A must-have is the "focus"
license though do spare 50 LP for another piece of equipment you're about to
get.
............................................
8.3.2 The 40-hour method routine **080320**
............................................
If using the 40-hour method, the werewolves are even easier, to the point where
you otherwise won't take a hit. Sure they may take several hits to defeat,
likely 4, but with immobilize now available, they're effortless, much easier
than a lone urstrix upon first encountering them. There's no need to worry
about their "smite of rage" skill either. Just cast immobilize on the nearest
one. If it hits, start attacking it unless the second one gets close, in which
it almost always does. If it does, cast immobilize on it as well. Because the
second werewolf is almost always going right next to the one already hit with
immobilize, casting immobilize on the one already hit with it will very likely
hit the second one with immobilize as well. If immobilize misses in either
case, run for it. Of course, if the werewolf already has immobilize, you'll
always get a "miss" so make sure you see the "miss" popping out of the one
that's already immobilized. With both immobilized and unable to strike from the
range a bow provides, the werewolves are essentially helpless. Just don't get
near them. In fact, due to the automatic movements gambits have, which is
rather annoying and can cause problems with this as it sometimes causes the
character to suddenly get in real close which will cause you take unnecessary
hits, you may want to consider disabling gambits for the rest of this process.
If immobilize keeps missing, then you either don't have the serenity license or
your HP isn't full (e.g. 1245/1246). Even with just 1 HP missing, the benefits
of the serenity license are lost. Simply cast "cure" to restore this 1 HP. The
most common case where you'll get missing HP is from right after leveling up.
Continue defeating werewolves until around level 30 to 35, of which won't very
long.
|___| _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ _______ |___|
|_*_|7 / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| |_____ | 7|_*_|
|___|6 | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | / / 6|___|
|___|5 | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ / / 5|___|
|___|4 \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| / / 4|___|
|___|3 _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | / / 3|___|
|___|2 | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ / / 2|___|
| |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| |_/ 1| |
###############################################
#### ####
# 9 Stage 7: Dive talon and urstrix mayhem **090000** #
#### ####
###############################################
This is the final stage for the 70-hour method though it's not the final stage
for the 40-hour method.
----------------------------------
| 9.1 Above dive talon **090100** |
----------------------------------
Regardless of the method, you're probably well aware of the 300 damage dive
talon can do right? This time, dive talon is the source for leveling up on and
not for burning bows. If you extras, great - extra party members can make great
use of them. Dive talon is worth 2000 exp a piece and 2 LP. The dive talon has
3 main attacks, 1 of which is troublesome. There's the standard physical
attack, of which combos quite often. There's also "lunge" which does quite a
bit of damage, about 50% more. The other is the most troublesome of all -
"kamikaze". If dive talon successfully uses kamikaze before being defeated, you
get absolutely nothing from it outside HP damage, roughly 500 (it ignores
defense). It is critical that dive talon is defeated before it successfully
uses "kamikaze", though this cannot always be prevented. It's not used very
often though, fortunately.
What's the best place to fight dive talon? It's in the area where start from
upon entering from Giza Plains, near the cave. You'll find 3 dive talons in
this area - a whopping 6000 EXP and 6 LP. Once these are defeated, including
the urstrixes and sleipnir along the way, simply go into the northeast zone
exit then go into the eastern exit nearby and return, ignoring the enemies in
this middle zone, except if they're along the way or fidalient is present and
also close by.
-----------------------------------------
| 9.2 Getting the winged helm **090200** |
-----------------------------------------
About the winged helm:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 13 | Shields 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | > Light armor 3 | 20 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Heavy armor 3 | 30 |
| Strength 5 | Total | 50 |
| Magick power 0 | | |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 3 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
When to do this depends on the method being used. With the 70-hour method, do
this now. With the 40-hour method, wait until just before going on to stage 8.
This, however, is entirely optional. It'll help most, for the 70-hour method,
though not much.
So, where is the winged helm and what's so special about it? The winged helm
provides a +5 boost to strength and a +3 boost to speed. Because the damage of
bows is influenced by both strength and speed, the winged helm will be a very
nice accessory for the bow and is among the best.
There's only one problem (uh oh): it's a 1% drop from an enemy called "slime"
that drops from the ceiling in the Zertinan Caverns. 1% - you're probably
thinking another 3-hour ordeal is in order. That's not the case with the winged
helm. I've gotten 3 of them in barely an hour because of one thing not possible
with dive talon: slime is very easy to chain. Simply ignore the 3 speartongues
(a frog that likes to use "angel song" and "magick ballad" of which aren't of
any concern) and just the defeat the 5 slimes in the cave (sometimes 4 or even
6 if slime uses "divide" which is actually pretty handy). Once defeated, simply
exit the cave, head into the zone to the northwest and return to the cave. Like
with the werewolves, you might even consider ignoring the items until chain
level 3 or even just 2 (do only get them if not near any other enemy and the
chain count number is flashing). With the "traveler's vestment" armor, slime is
relatively easy to manage... except for the "sleep" spell it has. Fortunately,
slime often uses physical attacks quite often (unlike the elementals) so sleep
isn't all that troublesome. Its "blind" spell can be a nuisance though - either
use "blindna" (from Nalbina) or eye drops to fix that. As a warning, Zertinan
caverns has traps within it so make sure you use libra before or upon entering
the cave. You might consider replacing the battle harness with a bangle for
this temporarily (if you've bought one - the license should already be
obtained, from getting the battle harness and quickening). This way, libra
doesn't expire without notice. The traps, however, are very easy to avoid. You
may also find a "barbut" in one of the treasures there, but it's less effective
than the winged helm, though a good alternative if obtained right away (pretty
much the first try).
--------------------------------------
| 9.3 Attacking dive talon **090300** |
--------------------------------------
............................................
9.3.1 The 70-hour method routine **090310**
............................................
If using the 70-hour method, you'll need the "focus" license and full HP before
starting to attack dive talon. This way, at level 55, they'll take 3 hits, more
if they dodge one of the attacks. Unless knockback happens during the second or
third shot and you always "pseudo run", you shouldn't take a hit. If dive talon
dodges the first attack, be prepared to take a lot of hits. If it dodges the
second or third attack, you'll actually get a second chance... unless you're
too close. Without the "focus" license and full HP, dive talon will take 4 hits
to defeat. The more hits it takes to defeat dive talon, the greater the damage
you'll sustain and the more time you'll need to spend to heal afterwards. It
also means a greater chance of the use of "kamikaze" which pretty much means
you've wasted your efforts if it his. This why I recommended level 55 as the
starting point and getting the winged helm - 3 hits are otherwise a certainty,
unless you forget to heal after defeating a dive talon and you took damage (or
a level up occurs).
Strangely, unlike picking fights with other green-bar enemies where, if another
of their kind is being attacked, their green bar turns red, dive talon doesn't
do that for some strange reason. You can attack a dive talon where knockback
shoves it into another dive talon and that other dive talon's bar still remains
green and will until it's attacked. This is actually an advantage as it makes
dive talon less risky and also speeds up this process.
As in stages 3 and the end of 5, beware of the rare game enemy called
"fidalient". Just hand it a phoenix down and 900 exp and 3 LP are yours with
otherwise no effort.
Because stage 7 is the final stage for the 70-hour method, keep going at this
until you reach level 99. You've done good if you get it within 80 hours (based
on the game clock), very good within 74 hours, excellent within 70 hours, and
superior within 67 hours though 65 hours is probably the absolute limit. If
you've used the dustia method as well, take about 10 to 15 hours off this (I
don't have much experience with dustia, so I don't have any worthy "guide" to
go on). If you've slipped in the dustia method for stage 3 going to level 55 or
whatever, let me know how long it took you (see the "legal stuff" section for
details on how to contact me).
............................................
9.3.2 The 40-hour method routine **090320**
............................................
If using the 40-hour method, immobilize becomes essential. Immobilize is not
needed for urstrixes and wolves though - these can easily be defeated in one
hit anyway. Cast immobilize on dive talon then start attacking once it hits. If
it misses, except if it already has immobilize, run for it. When far enough to
the east, the dive talon will return to it's territory allowing you to get
another chance, though you're better striking it from the side or rear this
time. Because, unlike other green bar enemies, others around not hit by
immobilize will not be affected so you can safely attack the dive talon while
its immobilized. Just keep your distance. Like with stage 6, consider turning
gambits off to avoid the annoying automated movement which can sometimes cause
the character to suddenly dart toward the dive talon allowing it to strike or
unexpectedly close the distance with the nearby wolves adding them into the mix
otherwise wasting time. Immobilize has another advantage. If you haven't
noticed yet, an enemy hit with immobilize cannot dodge attacks at all. Attacks
will still miss if you don't have a blue sky though. This is a very nice added
bonus and does help, to some extent, speed up the process.
You'll want to get to at least level 35 at the earliest recommended though
level 40 to 45 is what I'd recommend the most, only going longer if you don't
get a second or even a third burning bow. Upon getting this far, consider going
after the winged helm. If you insist on using gambits, you must turn off all
magic-related gambits, unless you want gnoma entite, upon exiting the cave to
find a sandstorm with gnoma entite nearby, to come along to cast silencega, or,
worse yet, sleepga. There's also the less common case of firaga, blizzaga, or
thundaga for 1500ish damage....
...............................................
9.3.3 Other tips, tricks, and notes **090330**
...............................................
Regardless of the method, I strongly recommend getting sighted by the wolves
(grab their attention by getting close to them so they notice Vaan - a target
line appearing is not required). This draws the attention of any fairly nearby
urstrixes. It also works with the sleipnir and fidalient. Remember how
urstrixes are attracted to fights and how this was troublesome (as from stage
3)? Notice that I used the word "was", past tense. At this point, the fact
urstrixes are attracted fights will actually speed up the process since it
makes it easier to be constantly attacking while heading toward the destination
(where the dive talons are) while attacking the urstrixes along the way. In the
70-hour method, you basically have 4 seconds per urstrix to keep at the 3700
exp a minute (119 seconds per cycle on average (tested over nearly a thousand
total cycles) for about 7350 exp) it offers toward the end. In the 40-hour
method, it's more like 6 seconds because dive talon takes many more hits and
there's the time for the immobilize cast.
It may seem strange, but avoid collecting the items. Why? You'd be surprised as
to how much faster this process is by simply ignoring the items. Consider this.
Along the way, there are likely 2 wolves, 4 urstrixes, 1 sleipnir, and 3 dive
talons you'll be defeating, 10 total enemies. If it takes an average of 2
seconds to grab each and every item (the time to get it and back track to the
main path to continue, plus lost time from the character automatically putting
the weapon away after 3 seconds of not attacking), that's 20 seconds per cycle
you're otherwise wasting. That doesn't sound like much, but, with the roughly
1800 cycles (! - no wonder why it's 9 points for the con) needed for the 70-
hour method, that's a whole 10 hours down the drain! Of course, you can get the
items if they're otherwise along the more direct route on the way back since
you're otherwise not losing any time. You'll often see the bags flashing more
and more frequently then suddenly become bright then fade away. This takes
roughly a minute.
I would also strongly recommend that you get at least 2 burning bows during
this (one extra). With the 70-hour method, it's almost a certainty - I've had
around 20 burning bows and 40 kotetsus at this point. The burning bow is the
most powerful weapon you can get for quite a while and it's a must for the
content covered in section 11. There's still the kotetsus that the werewolves
drop as well, but they're quite weak compared to the burning bow, though it's
still much better than what's found in shops for quite a while into the story.
In the 40-hour method, you're much less likely to get extra burning bows, but
at least dive talon is now chainable. It may not seem like it as there are a
lot of enemies along the route. By clearing the middle zone and avoiding
everything else in the zone with the dive talon (the one to the northeast of
where the trio of dive talons are), back tracking to the area where the save
crystal is, reclearing the path as needed, then returning to the dive talon's
location, eventually, the middle zone will be clear of enemies making it much
easier and faster to chain dive talon. This, however, is quite slow for
leveling up with and otherwise is not recommended, except for getting burning
bows. Of course, if all else, consider using a kotetsu instead of the burning
bow if you don't get any. At least kotetsus are much easier to get (see stage
6).
|_*_|8 _____ _________ _____ _____ _______ _____ 8|_*_|
|___|7 / ___ \ |___ ___| / ___ \ / ___ \ | _____| / ___ \ 7|___|
|___|6 | | |_| | | | | | | | | |_| | | | | | | 6|___|
|___|5 | |____ | | | |___| | | | ___ | |___ | |___| | 5|___|
|___|4 \____ \ | | | ___ | | | |_ | | ___| > ___ < 4|___|
|___|3 _ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3|___|
|___|2 | |___| | | | | | | | | |___| | | |_____ | |___| | 2|___|
| |1 \_____/ |_| |_| |_| \_____/ |_______| \_____/ 1| |
##########################################
#### ####
# 10 Stage 8: The Garamsythe Waterway **100000** #
#### ####
##########################################
Stage 8 is only used for the 40-hour method. Accessing this area in the 70-hour
method will only lead to a dead end (you can't open the gate) plus, without
access to immobilize, it's far, far too dangerous.
------------------------------------------------
| 10.1 About the Garamsythe Waterway **100100** |
------------------------------------------------
While progressing through the story for the 40-hour method, the Garamsythe
Waterway was encountered and you had to find your way though it to get to the
palace then eventually get back. While there a bunch of dire rats, bats
(steeling), and a few ghosts were encountered. But, level 4 enemies are not the
kinds of enemies to be leveling up on at level 40. So, then, why am I
referencing this area? There are enemies here worth a stunning 3000 exp a piece
and they're level 39. Upon entering the Garamsythe Waterway (you should be
familiar on how to reach it - the north central part of Low Town), you'll need
to open the gate, which is on the left. Inside, after opening the doors, a blue
save crystal is present - save your game and I mean it! One mistake here and
game over isn't far behind, which means any unsaved progress is lost. There are
also four pedestals that cannot be opened (you don't have that key yet and
can't get it until after getting the dawn shard, but the key is not needed). In
this area, look down where the 2 lit areas are on the diagram on the floor
(which is actually a map of the area, if you look at it closely enough). Enter
the right side (the west) and you'll be in a vast area. There are traps here,
but you won't need libra for this process as the traps are only in the low-
lying areas, of which you don't need to be going to.
So, what's the benefit of this extremely dangerous place? Each of these enemies
are roughly 3000 exp a piece, about 14,400 exp for all 5. That's twice as much
as the Westersand method but what's more is that it's even faster for each
cycle. Toward the end, you can very well be getting not 3700 exp a minute (or
the roughly 4100 a minute dustia offers) but 9000! That's nearly 2 1/2 times
faster! Sure it starts slow because these enemies take a lot of hits to defeat,
but over time, it'll get faster, much faster. The peek speed is reached when
they can be consistently defeated in 3 hits, occurring around the level 80
area.
-------------------------------------------
| 10.2 Dealing with the enemies **100200** |
-------------------------------------------
In this extremely dangerous area, you'll see 2 new enemies, "lizard" (there are
2, one of which at the lowest-lying area) and "malboro overking" (there are 3,
2 of which often close to each other). For those that are familiar with the
Final Fantasy series, the "malboro" seems to be a worrysome enemy to be facing
while all alone as it inflicts a lot of negative status effects. That's still
true in FF12. The malboros do have "cloying breath" and "bad breath" and these
both inflict an assortment of negative status effects. If that's not bad
enough, these enemies are frightfully powerful - they can easily do 600 to 800
damage per hit and they'll, at first, take a lot of hits to defeat. This makes
not even X-potions, of which are not available this early in the game, not
sufficient enough.
So, okay, how do you deal with that then? It's much easier than it seems -
what's "immobilize" used for? Just hit the malboro with immobilize and simply
keep your distance. Because of the automatic movement gambits have, I strongly
urge you to disable gambits and keep them disabled. You definitely don't want
the gambits to suddenly cause your character to close the distance to a malboro
with "bad breath" at the ready or a lizard with "gnaw" at the ready for 800
damage. This is the time where you must depend on the serenity license and
immobilize - you can't go without them. The traveler's garb bazaar purchase
will really pay off during this point as the +10 boost in magick power will
greatly affect the chances of immobilize succeeding. Do not equip the winged
helm at first for quite a long time as you need all the bonuses toward magick
power you can get to ensure immobilize hits.
If immobilize misses (unless, obviously, the enemy already has immobilize), run
for it, getting not 1, but 2 zones away. While attacking, keep a very close eye
on the other enemies around. Be ready to cast immobilize on them immediately if
they start getting too close, especially the malboros which can suddenly start
running toward where the action is. Unlike the urstrix, these enemies are not
attracted to fights, unless they get much closer, to the point where the red
bar is visible. Also unlike the urstrix, the malboros are very dumb. They spend
too much time fiddling with their crown. If a malboro tosses its crown up,
immediately get away, wait for it to toss the crown back up again, start
charging an "immobilize" spell after getting away (unless already attacking
where charging it immediately while also getting back is better) then hit it
with immobilize. Just be alert and you'll be fine, never taking any damage at
all. Of course, if a level up happens while you're attacking, restore the HP
immediately unless there's just one enemy left and is within a few hits (like 2
or 3) of being defeated.
Upon defeating the 5 enemies in this area, return to the zone where the save
crystal is and enter the neighboring zone hardly a second away (it'll take a
few rounds to find and master this spot - just remember 4 left at a bend) and
return to find 5 more enemies. Never enter the zone further in from where the
save crystal is - there is an extremely dangerous elemental here that, if it
casts sleep on you, pretty much means game over and its green bar will turn red
should any spells be cast near it (and immobilize is an absolute must). Just
simply avoid this area at all times. There's only 4 malboros here and they're
not really worth going after.
Just repeat this process until you've reached level 99. You've done good if you
get it within 50 hours, very good within 44 hours, excellent within 40, and
superior within 37 though 35 hours is probably the absolute limit. If you've
used the dustia method as well, you can take off about 5 or so hours from these
figures, but that's only a rough estimate as I lack experience with using the
dustia method. If you've used the 40-hour method and have a time, please E-mail
me so I can increase the accuracy of this statement (see the "legal stuff"
section for details on how to contact me).
-------------------------------------
| 10.3 Other useful notes **100300** |
-------------------------------------
Until about level 60, avoid using disable. Disable has a somewhat lower chance
of succeeding and lasts only half as long. Immobilize, assuming you have all 3
"swiftness" licenses, lasts long enough for 17 strikes while disable only lasts
for 9 strikes. Regardless, never use disable when the lizard is nearby - the
lizard is immune to it and you definitely don't want to be taking 600 damage
from not being able to escape as easily. Keep a 50% safety margin for the use
of disable. When in doubt, use immobilize instead of disable. Why even use
disable at all? It allows you to safely run past the malboros (even touching
them) while constantly attacking them, which can significantly speeds up the
process, especially later on where you'll be defeating them in 3 hits, the
fewest possible (except from criticals). By slipping past especially the first
malboro, you'll be getting closer to the other enemies, decreasing travel time,
of which greatly increases the speed of the process. Constantly attacking is
important for speeding up the process - if you have to wait for an enemy to be
defeated before you can get by it and there aren't other enemies in the
vicinity, you're otherwise losing time. The benefit of using disable is
especially the greatest when the malboros and other enemies are far apart, such
as the first malboro you see. Avoid using disable if going after the last
malboro - use immobilize instead.
If the lizard in the low-lying area is almost out of reach, consider getting
sighted by it so it comes running after you to attack. As it does, cast
immobilize on it. Otherwise, knock back may cause it to move out of range
forcing you to have to wait until it expires or leave it alone. Don't worry
though - that lizard has to take an awefully long detour just to reach Vaan, so
long that it's a good fraction of a minute giving plenty of extra time and
chances to immobilize it (if it fails on the second attempt, then run)! If you
can consistently defeat these enemies in 3 hits, then you can even skip the
need to immobilize it. On some occasions, this lizard is completely out of
reach without going into the low-lying area. In that case, simply ignore it,
pretend it's not there. Also, if you're using gambits, you may see a message
stating that the target is too far. It's not - it's a glitch. This is another
reason why you can't depend on gambits here. It seems like FF12 hasn't been
tested for long-range attacks in places like the Garamsythe Waterway. Just walk
up to the edge and the attack works just fine. At least it'll stop the
troublesome automatic movement. If done with a party of 3 (such as after
reaching level 99), you'll get a notice stating that their target is too far
from the leader - uh, just walk up to the edge and it's easily in range.
As another tip, it's possible to use the immobilized enemies as a kind of
makeshift shield or barrier. This is especially important if an unexpected
lizard comes in, which is more likely than the malboros. The lizard or malboro
has to "push" the immobilized enemies out of the way, drastically slowing it
down, giving an extra bit of chance of safely hitting it with immobilize. Don't
rely on this all the time though as, even in the best case, it's only about an
extra 1 1/2 seconds of time.
So then, what about the winged helm? Start making use of it around level 50. At
lower levels like 35, you'll definitely need all the boost in magick power you
can get so immobilize has the best chance to succeed. By around level 70, you
could consider equipping armor that raises strength (like the sallet). After
this, there's no real need to change equipment again until you've made your way
through the story.
Like with stage 7, avoiding the items, unless along the way, will greatly speed
up the process. Being a rather tight area, you're more likely to get the items.
Selling them may cause the "fransisca", an ax, to appear in the bazaar with an
extremely high attack rating that dwarfs the burning bow. Do not use it! You
cannot have close-in combat with these enemies (plus, axes are unreliable
anyway). The loot these enemies drop (monographs not needed) sell for a lot,
almost 60% more than the quality hide the werewolves drop.
___ _____ _______ _____ ____ _ _ ___ ____ ____
/ _ \ | ___| |__ __| | ___| | _ \ | | | | / _ \ | _ \ | _ \
| |_| | | |__ | | | |__ | |_| | | | _ | | | |_| | | |_| | | | | |
| _ | | __| | | | __| | _ < | | | | | | | _ | | _ < | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |___ | | | | | |_| |_| | | | | | | | | | | |_| |
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_____| |_| |_| \___A___/ |_| |_| |_| |_| |____/
#######################################
#### ####
# 11 Once you get the dawn shard... **110000** #
#### ####
#######################################
Regardless of the method used, some of the game's best equipment is accessible
once the dawn shard is obtained. It's quite challenging due to the limited
spells and equipment at first, but it's entirely doable. Imagine having the
zodiac spear (the best weapon for raw damage), the defender (a greatsword with
a +91 attack and +35 evasion), the maximillian (otherwise the best body armor),
the crown of laurels (+680 HP, making it the best light armor helmet clear
until the Pharos where the dueling mask becomes available (that's +800 HP)),
the minerva bustier (+610 HP, making it close to the best light body armor),
and the golden skullcap (the second best mystic armor helmet) all with only a
mere 25% of the way through the game. I'll explain how to do it in this
section.
--------------------------------------------------
| 11.1 Hunts for other essential stuff **110100** |
--------------------------------------------------
About the bubble spell:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ Adds "bubble" status |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Time magick 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | < Arcane magick 1 | 25 |
| Magick evade 0 | < Arcane magick 2 | 30 |
| Strength 0 | < Green magick 5 | 45 |
| Magick power 0 | ^ Arcane magick 4 | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | < Arcane magick 5 | 60 |
| Speed 0 | Total | 210 |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
About the faith spell:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ Adds "faith" status |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Time magick 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | < Arcane magick 1 | 25 |
| Magick evade 0 | < Arcane magick 2 | 30 |
| Strength 0 | < Green magick 5 | 45 |
| Magick power 0 | < Green magick 6 | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | Total | 150 |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
About the syphon spell:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Time magick 1 | Start |
| Evade 0 | < Arcane magick 1 | 25 |
| Magick evade 0 | < Arcane magick 2 | 30 |
| Strength 0 | < Green magick 5 | 45 |
| Magick power 0 | ^ Arcane magick 4 | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | Total | 150 |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
If you haven't been doing hunts to this point, you should. While it's not
critically important, you'll gain access to the very useful and important
"bubble" and "faith" spells. "Bubble" doubles your maximum HP (it's possible to
have more than 9999 HP, even though the display doesn't show it - just choose
"cure" and the character with over 9999 HP and you might see "12608/6304" in
the target info) and "faith" makes magic more effective (especially the all-
important healing magic), which will help considerably in the next part. These
are not an absolute must, but it'll really make what's coming up much, much
easier.
One other highly recommended spell is "syphon". This spell is obtained upon
buying a ticket for the airships in any aerodrome. Pick any location
(Rabanastre to Nalbina for example) and choose "by leisure craft". On board,
visit the shops straight in front, and one of them (I think it's on the right)
has "syphon". Buy it and license it immediately.
Of the greatest use is having at least 2 characters with burning bows, 3 being
optional. If only 1 character has it, likely from using the 40-hour method,
getting another will be very important. Unlike before, this won't be a 3-hour
ordeal because of one thing - it's now possible to chain dive talon with
minimal effort. To do that, simply go to the orange save crystal where you
saved the game just prior to getting the burning bow. It's much faster to
simply use a teleport stone to get there (choose "Westersand" from the list).
To chain dive talon, simply head to the east and defeat the dive talon just
outside, not getting anything else. Once dive talon is defeated, grab the loot,
if any, head 2 zones to the west, entering the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, then return
to where the dive talon was for another. By repeatedly doing this, dive talon
will easily be chained. Unlike the 3 hours it took just to get one, 10 can be
obtained in less than half that time, but only 1 is needed (2 optional). As a
tip, if 2 burning bows are requested consider ignoring the loot until chain
level 3 is reached (the second highest), only collecting the loot when the
chain number is flashing. At chain level 3, the 1% odds go to 3% making it 3
times faster. If only one is needed, chain level 2 is good enough - the burning
bow becomes a 2% drop. Instead of 2 1/2 minutes per dive talon, it's more like
only 1 minute, only getting that long if no blue sky is present (this will
change due to entering the the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea and returning). For best
results, consider immobilizing dive talon. Gnoma entite isn't present in this
area so there's no need to worry. Besides, gnoma entite, at level 99 with just
1 burning bow, is possible to defeat without too much trouble, though do expect
a rather long battle (be sure to have alarm clocks, keep separated, and have
rose coursages equipped - don't have the character with the burning bow do any
healing, only revival and using alarm clocks as needed - he or she will be
constantly attacking). Who knows, you might even get an urstrix or two watching
the battle!
With 3 burning bows, the hunts will be otherwise effortless. Finding them is
generally more difficult than defeating them - if you need help finding them,
consult a FAQ involving the hunts. As a side note, one mark, Ring wyrm, can
even be soloed with the immobilize-ranged weapon method used with the 40-hour
method, much like the malboros and lizards. I've done it without even taking a
hit! Do be aware of "purify", of which gets rid of immoblize status - cast it
again immediately. Also, be sure to count about 17 or so hits, casting
immobilize right after as it'll expire around this time, if it doesn't use
"purify" beforehand.
Although the hunt board may not seem to have much listed at first, and
Montblanc doesn't mention of any others. This is because these marks require
the rank to be high enough before they can be accessed. After taking out a few
marks, return to the hunt board and Montblanc to obtain more hunts and complete
those. Claiming the bounty is not a necessity, but it'll help in some cases.
Keep rechecking the hunt board and Montblanc until every hunt, except Enkelados
(since this requires visiting Jahara, not a necessity) is cleared. Once it is,
go to the clan shop to find both "bubble" and "faith" - buy these (and license
them), and perhaps a few teleport stones if running low (I prefer to have at
least 10 in stock, buying them if I drop to 5 or below).
It may seem that a lot of LP is needed for these 3 spells, but only 260 are
actually needed. This is because the paths to them involve a lot of identical
panels.
-------------------------------------------------
| 11.2 Reaching the Nabreus Deadlands **110200** |
-------------------------------------------------
Once the dawn shard is obtained, several new places open up. The most important
of these are the Nabreus Deadlands and the Necrohol of Naubudis. They are
accessible starting with the Mosphoran Highwaste area. There are 3 known ways
to get into here.
The first may seem the easiest, taking the route toward Nalbina, but there's a
strange problem I haven't been able to figure out. The path was previously
blocked (a red boundary on the minimap), but now it's available, or so it
seems. The minimap is now marked with green bars indicating that passage is
possible, but the 2 guards still won't let you through - I've tried. I haven't
figured out why, however. Perhaps it's a one-way route (because I have been
able to go from Mosphoran to Nalbina this way) until much later in the game
(twice as far into the story).
The second method, the easiest and fastest, is to complete the cactuar family
sidequest so access to the use of the river boat is provided. This is my
preferred method and really the only one I've ever used to initially get into
Mosphoran. This, however, does require the hunting of the flowering cactoid.
The third involves the completion of the earth tyrant extermination side quest.
This is a rather long case and the earth tyrant is trickier than usual due to
the frequent missing. I haven't tested whether or not immobilize works on it
though where, in that case, it'd be fairly easy to solo it then, of which is
not a necessity.
Whether going by the river boat or earth tyrant routes, you'll be in the
northern part of the Estersand - straight north is where Mosphoran is. Beware
of traps from here onward so make sure someone has a libra gambit active or a
bangle equipped. Things will also get a bit tricky from this point onward as
well, so make sure a healing and revival gambit (revival being first) are
active. Although gambits were ill-advised during the leveling up due to the
automatic movement causing problems (for the 40-hour method as you don't have
access to them in the 70-hour method), they are now recommended for use on
everyone, including the party leader.
The Mosphoran Highwaste is relatively easy to get through. Beyond is the
Salikawood, of which is also relatively easy. Do beware of pumpkin head as it
can cause some pretty troublesome status effects such as confuse. After a bit,
in the northern part of the Salikawood, an orange save crystal is found - use
it to save. You must defeat the optional king bomb boss in order to get to the
area you need to get to. Of course, with level 99, bubble status for 12,000 HP,
and faith to allow cura to restore potentially 7000 HP, this optional boss
should be very easy. With faith status, a healer who targets him/her self to
fully heal him/herself will often fully heal everyone in range. My usual
strategy is through using a berserked character (the berserker as I'll call
him/her) leaving the others for support and some attacking.
Once King Bomb is defeated, you'll gain access to where the Nabreus Deadlands
and the Necrohol of Naubudis are. The latter we'll be visiting shortly, but
without a better weapon at the moment, the Necrohol of Naubudis is a bit too
dangerous, even at level 99. It's still doable though, but since there's better
equipment obtainable in Nabreus anyway, then it's definitely worth going after.
To get in the Nabreus Deadlands, go into the western area.
--------------------------------------------------------
| 11.3 A tough journey through the deadlands **110300** |
--------------------------------------------------------
Be prepared as this area is a bit difficult thanks to an enemy called
"baknamy", of which has a death spell. You don't have the flare spell available
so you won't be able to delay this as the berserker cleans them out, so you'll
have to use the next best thing - silence. Some baknamies start with in the
vanish status meaning that they won't appear unless they sight you first which
adds to the degree of difficulty. Just take it easy and be careful and you
should be fine. Due to the lack of effective armor, these enemies here really
pack a punch, doing 1000 or so damage. This is why bubble is very handy. 1000
damage is a lot on 6000 HP, but not much on 12,000.
Shortly after entering the deadlands, you'll get an extra story scene informing
you about Nabudis. There's also a remark about turning back. Basch is right in
that this place is indeed dangerous, but at level 99 with the bubble and faith
spells, it's quite manageable if you follow my tips and tricks.
I'd recommend having the berserker with the yoichi bow (a hunt reward (lost in
the pudding) and bazaar item) and parallel arrows (bazaar item - sell 1 bat
fang, 2 rat pelts, and 2 dark stones) equipped with the other 2 characters as
support, both with burning bows. Have one of these support characters as an
emergency healer (like "ally: HP < 40%, cura") and the other as the primary
healer (like "ally: HP < 80%, cura"). Revival must always be first followed by
healing then keeping faith active. Keeping berserk active on your berserker
should follow. The rest is up to you though you might prefer status effect
removal before keeping faith and/or berserk active. Some suggestions would be
keeping protect and shell active, at least on the berserker, of which enemies
will often go after. Attacking then keeping libra active will also be worthy.
You'll find a lot of undead enemies here so you may even consider using a
gambit like "foe: undead, cura" to mass erase the numerous undead enemies.
Obviously, have this above any standard attacking. As the very last item,
though optional, consider a gambit like "ally: HP < 100%, cura" to ensure
everyone is fully healed before the next enemy is dealt with. You'll go through
MP more often that way, but in this dangerous place, you need all the benefits
you can get. This is most effective if used on the one keeping berserk active
on the berserker since the serenity license kicks in ensuring berserk doesn't
miss. If all else, cast syphon on the berserker (who should have the inquisitor
and headsman licenses) to restore MP - the berserker will recover that MP
blazing fast.
Once you get to where the orange save crystal is, be warned. Why? It's not what
it appears to be. Touch it and you'll have to fight it. It's not that difficult
to defeat though. If it's been a while since berserk was last cast, consider
waiting first for berserk to expire and be recast afterwards. Once recast,
touch the crystal to let the berserker rip the crystal bug apart. Once
defeated, the real crystal will appear - use it to save.
---------------------------------------
| 11.4 The evasive defender **110400** |
---------------------------------------
About the defender:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 91 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Bows 4 | Start |
| Evade 35 | v Axes & Hammers 3 | 25 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Axes & Hammers 4 | 30 |
| Strength 0 | > Axes & Hammers 5 | 35 |
| Magick power 0 | > Greatswords 1 | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | > Katana 3 | 45 |
| Speed 0 | v Greatswords 2 | 70 |
+-------------------+ Total | 255 |
+-------------------------+-------+
The defender is unlike any of the bows - it's a sword (meaning short range
attacks) with an attack rating of +91 and, most impressively, an evasion rating
of 35 which more than exceeds pretty much any shield you can buy from a shop
clear until nearly the end of the game. This weapon will help significantly
with the Necrohol of Naubudis, especially on the berserker. I recommend getting
at least 1, preferrably 2, though if you want, go for 3 so everyone in the
active party has one. I suggest getting 2 the most as you'll soon be getting
something that's much more powerful, provided you've avoided those 3 chests
(see section 8.1.3 for details). It'll also help with dealing with the enemies
in the Necrohol of Naubudis later on.
So then, how do you get them? Leynir, an undead horse-like enemy found just to
the north of the orange save crystal. There are 3 of them. It's a 1% drop, but,
fortunately, leynir is very easy to chain, like slime. I also recommend
ignoring the item drops (unless the chain count number is flashing white) until
chain level 2 is reached (chain level 3 if for 3 of them). Upon entering the
zone directly to the north, never head to the west, always go to the east.
Going west leads you to where baknamy is which will break the chain. Once you
defeat the 3 leynirs, back track to where the save crystal is always staying on
the eastern side then go into the zone to the south. Simply return to get 3
more leynirs. "But I only see 2" you may often say, this is due to the 6-enemy
limit, likely from the baknamies to the west. Defeat the 2 leynirs that are
visible and you should see the third on your way back, provided that "island"
is otherwise off the map). I've gotten a 200 chain on Leynir in the past, as a
side note. It's also a great way to get gil, though it's not the best at this
point - that's the secret path to where you'll find 25 dead bones enemies -
I've maxed the chain count at 999 here in only 2 hours....
-------------------------------------------------------
| 11.5 The HP bonus of the crown of laurels **110500** |
-------------------------------------------------------
About the crown of laurels:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 680 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 42 | Mystic armor 4 | Start |
| Evade 0 | > Mystic armor 6 | 30 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Mystic armor 8 | 35 |
| Strength 0 | > Mystic armor 10 | 50 |
| Magick power 0 | > Mystic armor 11 | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | > Light armor 10 | 50 |
| Speed 0 | Total | 215 |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
The crown of laurels is among the best light armor helms you can get. It isn't
not until the Pharos that you won't find anything better (the dueling mask)...
and that's essentially at the very end of the game. What's so important about
the crown of laurels? It provides a massive +680 boost on max HP while also
providing a very decent magick resist of 42. With bubble, that's 1360 extra HP
added to the max which will make this area much easier to handle.
Like with the defender, it's a 1% drop and the enemy that has it, crusader, is
also easy to chain... but there's a catch. Uh oh! What's the catch? Unlike the
use of a save crystal room where you won't find enemies, there is no other
alternative for chaining crusader other than going through a zone that contains
enemies all over that can break the chain. It's still entirely possible. In
stage 7, regardless of the method you used, you might have noticed that the
urstrix in the zone in the middle stops appearing after some time never to
appear again until 2 zones away from there (or a simple quit and reload). The
same applies with chaining crusader - you have to otherwise clear a fairly wide
path through this middle zone before the chaining can actually start. While
you're waiting, go ahead and pick up the loot that crusader drops. After about
3 or so rounds, the zone in the middle should have a path that's clear of
enemies. Once you don't encounter anything new along the route (cover a wide
path around the wall just be sure, a "safety" net), then consider ignoring the
loot until you reach chain level 3. Using this cleared path trick, you can
chain almost any enemy in FF12, even the big ball elementals (I've had a 14
chain on leamonde entite, a 50-chain on foobar, a 30-chain on wildsnake, a 150-
chain on malboro overking, etc.). I would strongly recommend getting at least 3
of these, possibly even a full 6 so the reserves can make use of this, though 3
is the best. It can take a while, but it's still considerably faster than that
of the burning bow. I typically get 6 of them by the time I have 100 to 150
chain which only takes about 90 minutes. Getting just 3 will take even less
time.
---------------------------------------------------
| 11.6 The power of the minerva bustier **110600** |
---------------------------------------------------
About the minerva bustier:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 610 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 40 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Mystic armor 4 | Start |
| Evade 0 | > Mystic armor 6 | 30 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Mystic armor 8 | 35 |
| Strength 0 | > Mystic armor 10 | 50 |
| Magick power 0 | > Mystic armor 11 | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | > Light armor 10 | 50 |
| Speed 0 | Total | 215 |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
What's the minerva bustier? It's another piece of light armor like the crown of
laurels, except it's for the body and it more than exceeds what you'd get for
light armor until near the end of the game (only the rubber suit and mirage
vest are better). The minerva bustier provides a nice +610 boost on HP (that's
1220 with bubble) and a decent defense rating of 40 (that's 2 1/2 times that of
the "traveler's vestment", a one-time item until you can buy it from a shop (of
which you can't quite yet)).
Unlike anything else so far, this item is obtained in a completely different
way. Look around for an enemy called "foobar" that appears out of nowhere.
Search near the edge in the zone south of the orange save crystal. Once you see
it, steal from it before your berserker defeats it (or simply temporarily turn
off the berserk gambits on everyone). It's a 3% chance per foobar so it can
take a few tries. Do be warned of foobar's "mythril bubbles" attack which
causes confuse status (yikes!) and delays the steal for a few seconds. Be ready
to deal with confuse right away. No bowline sash is available without story
progress so immunity is not possible. I recommend getting at least 1 or 2, 1
recommended the most due to the low odds and the fact there's something better
coming up. Of course, unlike the burning bow, you can completely pass this item
up until access to the thief's cuffs becomes available, of which requires a
fair amount of story progress beyond this. One trick that could help is to have
a "foe: nearest, steal" gambit on everyone, above all attack gambits. Of
course, once the steal completes, you'll either need to disable this gambit, or
manually input attack on the main damage dealer. Foobar is undead so blasting
it with cura spells would defeat it.
----------------------------------------------
| 11.7 The magical golden skullcap **110700** |
----------------------------------------------
About the golden skullcap:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 58 | Mystic armor 4 | Start |
| Evade 0 | > Mystic armor 6 | 30 |
| Magick evade 0 | > Mystic armor 8 | 35 |
| Strength 0 | > Mystic armor 10 | 50 |
| Magick power 10 | > Mystic armor 11 | 50 |
| Vitality 0 | Total | 165 |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
The golden skullcap is among the best of the mystic armor helmets. It provides
a very massive +10 boost on magick power and an amazing magick resist of 58. It
even provides a nice +3 boost on speed making it one of the most useful. You
won't see any better mystic armor helmet clear until the Pharos.
How do you get it? It's, like the minerva bustier, stolen from an enemy. This
time, it's dead bones and there's plenty of those around. However, it's not
just any dead bones enemy, it's those in the secret passage (search the
northern area in the zone south of the orange save crystal - you'll know you've
found it when a foobar drops down in area off the map, provided the 6-enemy
limit isn't taking effect already)). If you do steal one (and there's tons of
deadbones around for plenty of extra chances, though so many that having a
berserker is a must. Have the emergency healer constantly steal from any foe
(like a "foe: any, steal" gambit above all attacking gambits), and have the
main healer steal only when no healing is needed. This will help and make it
much more effective for getting several golden skullcaps. Equip the golden
skullcaps on only the 2 support characters, not anyone else (the HP from the
crown of laurels will be handy for the berserker). If you only got one, equip
it to the primary healer.
----------------------------------------------------------
| 11.8 Getting through the Necrohol of Nabudis **110800** |
----------------------------------------------------------
The last 2 pieces of equipment cannot be obtained in the Nabreus Deadlands.
With the defenders, the crown of laurels, the golden skullcap, and the minerva
bustier, the Necrohol of Nabudis should now be much easier, though it's still
quite a challenge. To reach the Necrohol of Naubudis, there are 2 options. The
first and easiest is to simply go through the Nabreus Deadlands to the north
and around to the west. You'll encounter a lot of baknemies here so be careful.
Casting silence on them helps. Head to the east to find the Necrohol of
Nabudis. Enter it to find even more baknamies, of which these are even more
powerful and troublesome and their vanish status really makes things difficult.
They can also steal from you though I don't know exactly what is being taken
(gil, an item, etc.). There's so many that you're otherwise bound to get a
chain level up. Chaining these is not necessary.
After a bit, you'll encounter a much easier and less troublesome enemy called
"elvoret". You can hit these with immobilize though they tend to cast spells so
the ranged attack method like with stage 8 for the 40-hour method doesn't work.
What does is simply keeping away from them. You'll either need to disable
gambits on the party leader or fight the automatic movement (tilting the stick
lightly toward the sides or away is sufficient enough) so you keep out of range
so the berserker cleans them out. If out of the enemy's range, their action
won't execute leaving it to either change targets or be vulnerable to the
berserker who'll clean them out quite quickly.
Another enemy you'll find that's more troublesome than elvoret but less
troublesome than baknamy is babil. This enemy is easy to avoid though as it
always stays put, often casting haste. The trouble with it, however, isn't
haste, it's its "gravity" spell. Like with elvoret, you can keep the party
leader away out of range causing babil to often change targets, of which it'll
often do. If haste causes problems, they are vulnerable to slow, which makes
them 1/3 as fast as they were. For best results, have slow fire off very
shortly after (like a quarter second) the effects of haste play on babil.
You'll see "haste" pop out with "slow" following not far behind. If slow hits
too early, "haste" will override it, making the cast completely wasted. Still,
they are easy enough to avoid in the first place anyway.
With a certain unknown number of enemies defeated (15?), you'll encounter a
teleporting fat-looking ghost known as "oversoul" that likes to use annul (of
which reduces a single character's speed to 0) and doom (of which causes
instant death after about a minute - use a remedy (with the "remedy lore 3"
license obtained) to remove it). This enemy is only more annoying than
troublesome. Defeat it then use charge to restore the MP (or syphon the
berserker). A bit longer, you'll encounter a glittering deep-violet-colored
horse-like enemy that also teleports with 99,999 HP. This is the rare game
"helvenik". Helvenik is quite troublesome, about as troublesome as baknamy, not
only because of its high HP, but because of the teleportation it frequently
uses (which is annoying because it causes 0 damage while teleportation's
effects take place), and the fact it likes to cast "toxify", of which adds
poison status to all allies in range. Don't worry about poison until helvenik
is defeated, then use poisona (or antidotes) to remove it. If you're very
lucky, it'll drop "grand armor", of which has the highest defense and strength
bonus of any body armor. Not only is helvenik rarely seen, grand armor has a
tiny 1% drop rate which pretty much means going after the grand armor is very
strongly not advised (if 3 hours of the burning bow was bad enough, try 40).
Besides, there's something that's almost as good (if not just as good) that's
much, much easier to get, the maximillian. I've explained this in section 11.10
below.
------------------------------------------------------
| 11.9 The brute force of the zodiac spear **110900** |
------------------------------------------------------
About the zodiac spear:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 150 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 0 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 0 | Katana 3 | Start |
| Evade 8 | > Katana 4 | 50 |
| Magick evade 0 | ^ Saggitarius | 120 |
| Strength 0 | > Zodiac spear | 235 |
| Magick power 0 | Total | 405 |
| Vitality 0 | | |
| Speed 0 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
Remember how, as stated in section 8.1.3, there were 3 chests to avoid? If
you've avoided these, then access to the game's most powerful weapon, the
zodiac spear, is possible. You'll find it in the third zone (the first would be
the one you first enter the area from). Look in one of the room near the center
and you should see a group of 16 chests in a 4x4 grid. One of these contains
the zodiac spear, the rest contain a somewhat useless "knot of rust" (the
berserker with the defender consistently deals more damage than a knot of rust
does), of which requires a license that costs 235 LP, the most expensive of all
licenses. Once licensed, equip the zodiac spear on the berserker and he'll
always be doing 9999 damage (6999 on enemies that block damage) allowing the
berserker to restore MP at a blazingly fast rate. With the constant 9999
damage, the last item will be much easier and faster to get.
--------------------------------------------------
| 11.10 The defense of the maximillian **111000** |
--------------------------------------------------
About the maximillian:
+-------------------+---------------------------------+
| Equipment bonuses | Extra important properties |
+-------------------+ None |
| Attack power 0 +---------------------------------+
| Hit points 0 | License path |
| Mist points 0 +-------------------------+-------+
| Defense 58 | License | LP |
| Magick resist 1 | Light armor 10 | Start |
| Evade 0 | v Light armor 8 | 35 |
| Magick evade 0 | v Light armor 9 | 35 |
| Strength 10 | > Heavy armor 7 | 50 |
| Magick power 0 | > Heavy armor 9 | 60 |
| Vitality 0 | Total | 180 |
| Speed 6 | | |
+-------------------+-------------------------+-------+
If the grand armor, dropped by helvenik, has a higher defense and strength
rating, how is the maximillian better? First, the maximillian is far, far
easier to get, even though it's a 1% drop. Helvenik is very rare - you'll have
to defeat a lot of enemies before it'll even appear and on top of that, if you
don't get it (yep, 1% drop), you'd have to go through all that all over again.
If you thought getting the burning bow (stage 4) was rough, that's more of a
short blip compared to the grand armor. Instead of 2 1/2 minutes per attempt,
it's around 40 minutes meaning it's a massive 16 times longer. So, don't even
think about going after the grand armor. If you do get it, consider yourself
very lucky. Still, the maximimillian is better. Sure you lose out on 3 defense
and 2 in strength, but you get a very nice +6 bonus on speed and even a +1
bonus on magick resist which quite well makes up for it.
How do you get the maximillian then? It's a 1% drop from elvoret. Basically,
follow the same general idea as that of the crown of laurels. The best place,
considering there's a lot of zombie warlocks around that appear out of nowhere
and will break the much-needed chain, is the easternmost zone. The central
zone, where you find the esper Chaos, is the zone you'll need to clear out and
it's a long trek as well so do expect to spend quite a bit of time before the
actual chaining itself will begin. However, once that zone is cleared, only get
the nearest 6 of the elvorets in the easternmost zone. There are 4 of them
first thing followed by 2 more a bit later on. Once defeated, cross through the
cleared out zone into the zone further away (remember, being 2 zones away
forces enemies to respawn) then simply return. As usual, ignore the items
(unless the chain count number flashes white) until you reach chain level 2 or
even 3. I'd recommend getting at least 3 though getting 6 (one for everyone)
would be better. I usually get 6 of them by around 100 to 150 for the chain
count which takes about 80 to 100 minutes.
Upon entering the easternmost zone, there's a very troublesome trap that's
right in the middle of the way along the narrow pathway. Without access to the
float spell this early in the game, you'd think you'd have to trigger it or
hope the others don't (of which is very hard to do). There are 2 options. The
safest of all is to just remove the 2 extras from the party (the berserker
especially) then get past it with only the party leader of which is then very
easy to avoid, aside from the automatic movements the gambits have). Once you
get past it, bring the others back in then take down those elvorets. This can
get a bit annoying though to have to keep doing this (considering each cycle
means having to do it twice) so I often prefer to just deliberately trigger it,
having a cura spell being charged on the one casting it (that is, if Ashe is
casting cura, have the cura spell initially target Ashe) just before triggering
it. Just make sure bubble is active on everyone. The trap will either be the
fuscillade (massive HP damage) or a wizardsbane (massive MP damage - just use
the charge technick as needed). It's randomized, but these are the only 2 I've
seen for this particular one.
With everyone having the maximillian, enemies will now have a very hard time
doing any considerable damage making the rest of the game far easier.
_____ ___ ___
| ___| / _ \ / _ \
| |__ | |_| | | | | |
| __| | _ | | | | |
| | _ | | | | _ | |_| |_ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| \______| |_|
#########################################
#### ####
# 12 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) **120000** #
#### ####
#########################################
Here are some questions that may be (or have been) asked involving this. If you
have any questions you'd like to ask, see the question at the bottom.
Q. I really want to use the 70-hour method, but it gets so boring after time.
Any ideas?
A. Do a little bit at a time - an hour a day wouldn't hurt. It's also possible
to change to the 40-hour method at any time, but once the needed story progress
the 40-hour method calls for is made, you can't go back without losing any
progress made during this time. Before changing to the 40-hour method, I
strongly advise saving to a separate file before moving on to make story
progress. This way, if you want to return to the 70-hour method, simply load
that save and continue on. Failing to make that save still means the 70-hour
method is doable, but you must start a new game. Thus, be very careful not to
override that save file. Put in a gap between save files if needed.
Q. If Balthier, Fran, Basch, and Ashe start on level 99 while Vaan is 98, do I
have to go to 99?
A. In this case, that's your decision. Only Penelo will be left out at level
98. You can do it if you want, however. Balthier and Fran won't have the
99,999,999 exp, but that's not critically important.
Q. If I get level 99 so early, how I can perfect each character's HP and MP?
A. If you use the 70-hour method, you can only essentially perfect Vaan. If you
use the 40-hour method, Vaan, Balthier, and Fran can be (Balthier and Fran are
more limited due to getting them rather late). Basch is fairly quick to do
(about 2 minutes per attempt) Ashe (about a minute per attempt, the quickest)
and Penelo (about 15 minutes per attempt) still won't be with the 40-hour
method. Regardless, the best you can do is save your game before getting that
character added to the party, get that character, save to a different file,
write down the HP and MP of that character, quit, reload your older save, then
try again. If this try (or any other after it) results in better HP and MP than
your previous best, save to that second file again then reload the first. If
you don't get an improvement, simply quit and reload without saving. You won't
get anywhere near the perfect, but at least you can get potentially 100 more HP
and 20 more MP for the most part. To skip the story scenes, simply pause while
they play, then press X to skip it. This video demonstrates how to do this and
also shows the expected kind of variety for Ashe, the quickest one to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ZboJthSoo
Q. What's the point of getting level 99 so early? There's no challenge!
A. Ever since I got into extreme powerleveling (that is, doing it as fast and
early as possible), I've always enjoyed the thrill of zipping through bosses
like they were wimps. After all, I've defeated the more powerful first demon
wall in only 2 hits (both of which were criticals). Another advantage is that
you can focus much more on the story. Enemies and things are otherwise
unchallenging so you can breeze through the story more efficiently. Then, what
about hunts? Of course the first ones will be easy and I still enjoy the thrill
of seeing how fast I can defeat them. I've soloed the "ring wyrm" mark (the one
in the western part of the Westersand) through the use of immobilize and the
burning bow and I never took a hit. Sure it does take a lot of hits and
immobilize does lapse, simply recasting it is all you'd really need.
Q. You've had an urstrix "watch" a battle with gnoma entite? Seriously!?
A. I've actually had 2 urstrixes watching. They just sit in the distance
casting protect on themselves standing there facing where all the action is.
It's really hilarious and I even have a rather-old video on YouTube showing it,
at least for 1 urstrix. I'm unable to produce this at will and this was
recorded on my first play, where I took 200 hours to finally get everyone at
level 99. At the time, I only had cura and very limited abilities. Due to the
limited abilities (and only the burning bow which only does 500 damage on the
48,000 it has), it took quite a while to defeat it. If I recall, I was doing
this after I got the dawn shard, though it's possible before that (you'll buy
cura in Bhujerba when you're just about to leave, at the earliest). You can
watch this video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5PikoQyfXY
_ _____ ____ ___ _
| | | ___| / ___| / _ \ | |
| | | |__ | | _ | |_| | | |
| | | __| | | | | | _ | | |
| |___ | |___ | |_| | | | | | | |___
|_____| |_____| \___/ |_| |_| |_____|
####################
#### ####
# 13 Legal stuff **130000** #
#### ####
####################
Legal stuff - it can be boring, but it's very important.
--------------------------------
| 13.1 Contacting me **130100** |
--------------------------------
If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or found an error, E-mail me at
"ulillillia (symbol with a small a inside) hotmail spec com". The E-mail is
"encrypted" to help prevent spam bots from picking it up and delivering dozens
of spam messages. I check my E-mail once every 25 2/3 hours, occasionally twice
a day 12 hours later, so you can expect a response within 36 hours (it's
usually within 27 hours), provided there's something to comment on. The
exception is if I'm unable to get online for some reason, though this is rare.
----------------------------
| 13.2 Copyright **130200** |
----------------------------
This document is copyright (C) 2010 by ulillillia. It may not be placed on any
Web site outside GameFAQs and my own at www.ulillillia.us. This guide may be
printed, but only for home, non-commerial-use. Commercial use is commercially
printed strategy guides, magazines, printing it and selling it for profits, and
the related.
--------------------------
| 13.3 Credits **130300** |
--------------------------
Credits go to several sources:
* This document and the method (both routines) were made by ulillillia.
* Enemy details such as HP and exp amounts, the ingredients list for the
"traveler's garb" bazaar item, details on the equipment, and determining the
license paths were referenced using the Brady Games strategy guide.
* Someone in a comment on of my YouTube videos told of the possibility of
getting the "traveler's garb" bazaar package before Nalbina Dungeons.
* This unique and interesting game was created by Square Enix.
----------------------------------
| 13.4 Version history **130400** |
----------------------------------
Version 1 - Initial release
Version 1 is the initial release, detailing the most essential parts of the
process for both methods while also detailing how to get otherwise the best
equipment.
Version 1.1 - Numerous corrections, routine enhancements, a new more artistic
layout
Version 1.1 is based off of version 1. Several new elements and enhancements
were made. Of these, the most notable, are the more artistic headers
(especially the ladder-climbing concept for the various stages, and the more
frequent use of charts, of which detail the most efficient path to obtain the
license for a particular item or spell. Several factual errors and improved
grammatical correctness (excessive use of the word "you") were also made.
Contact information was readded (I used a template, clearing the FAQ out, not
realizing I removed that - I moved it to the "legal stuff" section, of which
generally doesn't change).
