There is a whole lot to say about Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age, and most of it can’t be crammed into some generic tips article. Luckily, there are plenty of things that can be.
Now, just to note: If you’re looking for information on the game’s twelve job classes, you’re probably better off wandering to my job class guide. Most people are looking for job information right now to build a postgame-ready party, so that article may be more down your alley.
If you’re new to Final Fantasy 12 or haven’t played it in ages, I’ve got some pretty decent advice for you. In some ways the game is very linear, but anything that’s not story content is pretty obtuse and open-ended. Hopefully these tips will help you on your way as you push through all Ivalice has to offer.
Gambit Advice
Save time by setting up an effective stealing gambit chain
How do you save time by having a character use Steal on nearly every enemy you come across? The answer to that is simple enough: The more Gil you make on your travels, the less time you have to spend grinding for it.
Final Fantasy 12 has always been a grind-heavy game, and despite all of the changes seen in The Zodiac Age, it still is. You grind for EXP, LP, and loot to sell for Gil — but if you set up a reliable gambit chain geared towards stealing, you won’t have to grind for that last one on the list anywhere near as much.
My personal favorite way to set up my gambits for a character to steal is as follows:
- Foe: HP = 100% – Steal on a character with the Steal Technick
- Foe: HP = 100% – Attack on any other character in the party
You want both your parties to have a character that steals and another that prioritizes attacking enemies that character will steal from, in order to prevent your stealing character from doing so repeatedly on the same target.
This method works well in most situations, but beware fights where there are several enemies.
The Infuse Technick doesn’t suck, here’s a method to use it
There’s a pretty high chance you’re going to have one character almost completely lacking in Magick spells but has the Technick Infuse, which consumes the user’s MP to heal the target’s HP for 10x the amount. Eating all the user’s MP is a big catch, but the bigger one is that the user will die if they try to use Infuse without any MP.
You may be interested in using the Technick and you may not, but here’s an example of how to use it effectively:
- Foe: Character MP < 50% – Attack
- Ally: < 20% HP – Infuse
Here’s how I have it set up on Vaan in my current playthrough.
This way the character will not use Infuse unless they are above 50% HP — but they won’t use anything below it, either.
Have a hybrid support who has to use MP between healing and damaging?
In these instances you can use the same type of Gambit chain as seen above, where you have a Foe: Character MP < 50% – Attack (or any MP amount) Gambit above offensive Gambits on your setup, but below the support/healing Gambits. This way your hybrid will almost always have MP leftover after nuking to support the party in the middle of combat.
I go over a lot more than this in my Learn to Use Gambits Through My Party guide, which uses my current playthrough’s party as an example and explains its Gambit setups for new players.
You can heal/buff inactive characters without having to swap them
To do this, you press X and wander your way to White Magick, choose the spell you want to cast, and then press left for a full list of characters. You can heal and buff anyone this way without having to swap them in/out of your party.
Completing hunts opens up more hunts as well as Green Magicks
Several of the game’s hunts require you complete previous ones to open up, that much is simple enough to figure out on your own. But how do they affect Green Magicks?
When you reach certain ranks in Clan Centurio, new Green Magicks (and exclusive accessories) open up at the clan shop. Green Magicks are useful, as you’ll find out quickly with Decoy and Bubble — two must-have spells for more difficult encounters.
Teleport Stones and Gyshal Greens, where are you?
If you’ve just been pushing through doing story content or not checking random vendors, you probably missed out on the fact both Teleport Stones and Gyshal Greens can be purchased on airships as soon as you choose to travel by leisure.
Each Teleport Stone costs 200 and is a worthwhile investment if you don’t want to have to manually travel all over the place. Make sure to keep a bunch on-hand, and be careful not to sell them at vendors when getting rid of your loot!
As for Gyshal Greens, which cost 108 Gil, there are certain instances where it’s useful to have them on-hand to get to secret areas.
As an added note, there is a vendor riding a chocobo in the Port of Balfonheim where you can buy Teleport Stones and Gyshal Greens later on in the game (and not on an airship) if you’ve already been pushing through.
Always steal from rare game, marks on hunts, and bosses
There are a number of items you can only get from specific enemies, and there are plenty of Bazaar items locked to these rare items from them. Before you kill anything you know or think is rare or one of a kind, make sure you steal from it beforehand even if it disrupts you from killing it.
There are some instances where it can take several times to steal from an enemy. Suck it up, because it may be worth it.
Make selling loot easier by pressing left then up
There is no need to slowly add all the loot you’ve collected of a certain type when selling at a vendor.
The easiest and fastest way to sell, if selling something with 3 or more to a stack, is to press left and then hold (or press) up instead. This way it counts by 10s instead of 1s.
Turn off double (or quadra) speed in hard fights
If you know you’re in a situation where you’re going to have trouble, turn off that speed increase and do it the old (slow) way.
In boss or Esper fights where every action matters or when overwhelmed with enemies, you could easily save your party members’ lives by going at the default speed to more easily stay on top of what is happening and act accordingly.
Press L3 to open the overlay map
In case you forgot. This is such a huge improvement over the original it’s staggering.
Press down on the D-pad to change the player-controlled character in combat
Something I myself forgot upon coming back, this makes changing who is leader a snap.
Giza’s weather is a pain
You either want it rainy or dry, and it’s never the weather you want it to be. Does that sound familiar?
The weather in the Giza Plains seems unpredictable, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Normally they change every two in-game (not realtime) hours after you visit the Henne Mines. So each two hours you play the game, the weather in Giza changes. Unless you’re actually in the Giza Plains, then the weather will stay the same until you leave.
There is a Seeq in Rebanastre’s Southgate that can help you keep track.
Halfway through the game his name will change to “Weather Eye”. From that point forward you can talk to him to find out when the next weather change will come about.
Have a character have Libra up at all times
Both of your parties should have one character that has Libra on them at all times.
Libra allows you to see enemy stats, buffs, and weaknesses; as well as traps. Keeping it on will make your life easier.
What about all these spells I don’t have?
Not every spell can be purchased in The Zodiac Age. A large number of Magicks and Technicks have to be found out and about. A guide on their locations is coming soon.
No, you don’t have to avoid chests to get the Zodiac Spear
This was a big issue in the original Final Fantasy 12, but in The Zodiac Age the requirement to get the weapon has changed to something more reasonable. What is that requirement? You’ll just have to wait and see.
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That’s all I’ve got for this guide! Be sure to check out the rest of my FF12: The Zodiac Age guides for more sage wisdom to help you through this remastered game.
Published: Jul 11, 2017 02:17 pm