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[SilvasRuin]

I don't even know what that is.  I've found it hard to listen to both your commentary AND the game dialogue for FFXII though, and it can be frustrating when I'm wanting to hear both.  I manage surprisingly well considering...  Anyways, you say it is a text based game, so I think I'd prefer vocal commentary.  That would be much easier for me to multitask my attention on than two sources of text.

Only two hunts are available with just Vaan and Penelo.  After the Cactoid, they cut you off for a while.  There are apparently storyline checkpoints for Hunt availability, and they aren't just limited by location.


Ooh, Cheetah, what have you been using the new Gambits for?  Foe: Concentrated Attack and Foe: Distributed Attack really sound like the inspiration for some of the AI in FFXIII.  Hrm.  Unless you've already figured out how those work, I'm going to need to do some experimenting.

[Cheetah]

Silvas that is something I should probably go over in one of my videos, the new Gambits. Thanks for the idea. Oh and give me an opinion on my last job should be. I'm choosing between Samurai, Uhlan, Breaker, and a few others I think.

As far as Policenauts is concerned there is only one word you need to know, "Kojima":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policenauts

[SilvasRuin]

I'm trying to look through your videos for the ones you've chosen.  I can't seem to find or remember if you've decided on Basch or Ashe yet.  My opinion would depend on which one.

Ashe's high magic power makes her a terrific Knight if you ever plan to make use of its backup healer capabilities.  Similarly, she could make a great Uhlan as her spells wouldn't be too far behind a mage in damage, and you could have her cast or stab with spears as needed, the weakness of course being the lack of high-end spells for Uhlan.  Her most powerful spell would wind up being Aeroga... assuming you give her Chaos.  She is the best Samurai.  Only she and Vaan can max both Strength and Magic as a Samurai, and she can do so without the Lordly Robes if you give her Zeromus, meaning that she is the only Samurai that can max its stats by equipping the full Genji set.  This is especially cool because the new Masamune I is a one-handed Katana that now allows a Samurai to equip the Genji Shield as well when it normally wouldn't have access to a shield.  Samurai can also access several interesting options and are the best candidate for slinging Motes.
I recommend either Knight or if you plan on making one of them a Samurai, make sure it's her.

Basch's situation is far less interesting.  He mostly shines as a Red Mage or White Mage designed to be a hybrid or as a "Hunter."  This is because he has the highest Strength and HP, and comes closest to maxing them out.  Maxing out Magic as a mage usually comes naturally through all the Magick Lores, Time Mage being the exception.  So basically he's great for a Red Mage running around with Ragnarok after being given Zodiark or a White Mage running around with Defender and Souleater after giving him at the very least Adrammelech and Chaos, and he's the brawniest "Hunter."
If you really don't want a White Mage, I suggest making him a "Hunter."  "Hunter" is a versatile Job that can wind up with different strategic uses depending on which Espers you give it, and which weapon type you choose to use (it can get Brawler too), and it's not all that bad a tank if you go with Daggers and Shields and give Basch Zalera so he comes close to if not breaking 9000 HP.  He's also not a bad Archer as he's one of two characters that can max its attack.  Kind of fitting, actually, because he does wield a bow in that opening cutscene.

Ashe and Basch happen to be the two characters with lowest Vitality, making them the two worst choices for a Breaker since Axes and Hammers use Strength and Vitality for their damage.  Archer and Monk can learn the Break abilities and pick up the slack.


tl;dr
Ashe should be Knight, Uhlan, or Samurai with Zeromus.  I favor Knight and Samurai.
Basch should be a White Mage, Archer, or "Hunter."  Honestly, I favor White Mage as Ribbon is the ideal accessory for the Job AND its Regen effect helps to spam Souleater.  Archer is a close second for getting Addle and Shear to help make up for the lack of a Breaker.  Archer is probably best used if you make Ashe an Uhlan as it would be better team synergy.



I've decided I'll wind up playing two files at some point, picked Knight for Ashe and White Mage for Basch on the first and will pick Samurai for Ashe and Archer for Basch the second time.

[Cheetah]

Thanks for the great advice Silvas, you have given me much to think on for my next job choice. I'm enjoying all your comments too, I really need to decide what to do next in my playthrough. I haven't touched the game in a few weeks now.

[SilvasRuin]

Marks have been kicking my teeth in whenever I tackle them at the first opportunity, which is making me very glad I opted to make a character a White Mage.  Their combo rates when in low HP is pretty nasty.  It's definitely making me want to get as many Swiftness licenses as possible as quickly as possible.
EDIT:  Fridge logic, why didn't I just use Balthier's quickening for an easy finish once it was low?
Ashe has a huge amount of HP for her level from all the Knight HP licenses.  I'm almost to where one of my mages can cast Decoy.  It will be very nice when I get that dynamic working...

I made Penelo my Uhlan and her growth in all areas has been... slow.  The spells are off in the distance behind a Quickening and her HP and physical buffs are spread out.  It's kind of hard to get her stats beefed up to a comfortable amount just yet.  Their final potential seems stacked in favor of the Knight too if for no other reason than Shields.  The Zodiac Spear has received a slight nerf and I suspect it cannot be obtained the "easy" way anymore, and its competitor the Dragon Whisker L only just competes with the Durandal A, surpassing the sword and shield combo only in the ability to Disable often... and maybe an ability to hit flying enemies.  I think I read that somewhere but I'm not yet certain.
EDIT:  Ah!  Uhlan does get two Swiftness licenses while Knight only gets one, and that one is very, very late on Knight's board.  That is at least some offensive advantage for the Uhlan.

Speaking of things being behind Quickenings do not grab any Quickenings that are not bridges to other licenses unless you are sure you'll still have enough.  In the case of "Hunter" you CANNOT have enough and you will have to give up one of the Ninja Sword licenses.  (I checked and all the others only have three at most serving as bridges, so no choice has to be made.)  I personally want the strongest ones and the elemental Iga and Koga blades (only the Yagyu Darkblade is actually Dark now), so I'm skipping on the first Ninja Sword license.

I'm happy with my "Hunter" so far because the Swiftness licenses are relatively easy to get to and it allows my Vaan to steal quickly before the enemies get killed.  I suspect he might fall out of favor later on, however, as he will never max Strength, his HP will be in an awkward spot high enough that Bubble seems overkill but probably not breaking 9000, and he can't equip the higher tier shields and get a third shield boost license.  The turning point might be when I can get the Shikari no Nagasa F or Hunter's Blade F or whatever they translated it as since it has an amazingly high chance of causing instant death... basically making Vaan the best farming character for Bazaar ingredients.  Not exactly a thrilling role.

Speaking of Swiftness, I highly recommend you plan to give your Vaan Ultima.  Two of Monk's Swiftness licenses need Ultima as a bridge, and as far as I can tell, that is the single most valuable thing Ultima can unlock for any Job.  The competitors are Knight with a Battle Lore and Telekinesis, Breaker with one swiftness, "Hunter" with two Phoenix Lores, and Uhlan with Expose.  The others aren't really worth paying attention to.  Breakers and Monks really don't go well together in a party as another one of Breaker's Swiftness licenses is behind Hashmal, and Hashmal is a much tougher choice to make.

[The Damned]

Nice to see someone else is playing FFXII, though you appear to have the International version. I think do that pseudo-class challenge whenever/if I ever finish regular FFXII.

Currently, I'm like 61 hours in but I have just only started on the past to Silkiawood. Yeah...I'm slow.

Nihopalaoa seems kind of broken, though it hasn't gotten me from getting stomped by the things I'm REALLY not supposed to face right now, mostly Zeromus and Adrammelech--ugh, I can't spell his name. I'm pretty sure I can beat him now that I can buy Remedies and Chronos Tear, but I don't know if I'll go back there just yet since I'm don't really use the two Espers I have now; Penelo has Belias and Basch has Mateus.

Just recently slayed the Vorpal Bunny and Feral Retriever. They were both pushovers, though the former was annoying since I basically had to throw Phoenix Downs at all the Hellhounds, Basch's slow ass chasing after the thing and then those damned Dark Skeletons kept popping after I killed it. Sigh. I really hate Undead in this game.

Other than that, I've been playing the hell out of SSF4 since it dropped.

[SilvasRuin]

Ugh, suffered my first game over.  It was in the Garamsythe Waterway, to two Malboros and a giant frog while on my way to the White Mouse mark.  I think I'll take that as a warning sign to leave marks alone for a while.  The Wyvern Lord or whatever it was called wasn't tough (due to accidentally screwed up gambits and party setup, only my Uhlan was attacking... at least it confirmed spears can hit fliers), but I've probably hit the next difficulty tier now.

The references I've been using are unclear as to whether there is still a chest worth nabbing from the optional Demon Wall fight...  I'm not sure if I want to bother struggling with that or not.  My game over kind of disillusioned me about my characters' power.  I suppose I should use Vaan as a healer since he has 3 Potion Lores, use my White Mage to spam Reflect, and my Red Mage to spam Slow and Aero to try and bounce some extra hits onto it.  Too bad my Red Mage doesn't know Fire and I haven't found/bought Fira yet or I could make good use of Oil.

Alternatively this might be a good break point to start my second file and work at catching it up so I can see how that team works.  If I do wind up getting a game over on the mandatory Demon Wall fight, then I'll do that before I go back to grinding levels and LP.


Edit 11:27 PM 5/15/2010  :  Argh!  Second game over, this time to the Gil Snapper.  I was doing alright against it until it got into critical HP, then it starting spamming ultra powerful Blizzara spells.  I might have been able to beat it if I had saved my Quickenings for later when I was actually struggling, but... I was having to revive so fast that it might not have helped any.  The quickenings didn't do a whole lot of damage to it compared to what I expected, and if it wasn't an outright kill at that point, it wouldn't have done me any good.  Anyways, both Demon Walls were dealt with fairly easily.  Casting Reflect on my characters and bouncing Aero back onto the wall was extremely effective, though I did have to use my Quickenings at the end of the optional fight or I wouldn't have killed it in time.  The reward in the International Version is now apparently a one-time-only guaranteed Scathe mote.  I'm going to be saving that for later against something that poses much more of a threat.


Edit again:  Holy shit, guests kick ass the further you go.  Larsa's second time joining you has him come with a variety of curative white magic, probably two or three Potion Lores, Water, Shades of Black, and BUBBLE.  I already thought that little kid was awesome, but this is just crazy.
As luck would have it, I wound up facing Enkelados and the Bull Croc at the same time, followed soon after by the Aeros rare hunt.  I am quickly falling in love with Shades of Black as Larsa cast Shock, Flare, and Scathe over the coarse of those three battles, hastening them for sure.  Of course my Red Mage casting Oil then a couple Firas did more damage than Scathe to Aeros, but still... he's pulling his weight.

[SilvasRuin]

I figure my walls of text might have been scaring people away from the thread, so I've removed what I had here previously.  Not too many people were interested, I'm sure.

So, after getting Portal for free, I decided I wanted to finally get a shot at the TFV map pack.  I sadly found out I needed Half-Life 2 to play it and I didn't have the money to buy a bunch of games.  A friend who became aware of this then offered to give me their spare copy from purchasing The Orange Box a while back after already having that game.  I had such a blast that I immediately spent the last few monies I had to get the Episode Pack.  I've been playing them for the past few days.

[Zozma]

Playing FFTA2 for the first time and i must say, thats an annoying bug when illua gets "opportunity" in battle... sigh i suppose i don't have the patience to play the game normally, i just wanted the story lol... i only decided to try the game because of the Lady Frimelda sprite project made me interested in finding out more about her character

[Melancthon]

I've been playing around with the idea of making a Master File for GTA:San Andreas, where you complete as much of the game as possible before starting the first mission.  There's a very good chance I'll get bored and start doing the story, but right now I've completed the Burglary and Taxi missions and bought a couple of safe houses.  Might start hunting down tags when I get home from work.

[BloodyBlade]

Playing PSOBB (Phantasy Star BlueBurst online) People act crazy over Photon Drops. PD this PD that...

[philsov]

Dragon Quest VIII

I got... 3/4ish (stuck at Dhoulmagus phase 1) of the way through about two years ago, seeing if I can actually beat it this time.  Just unlocked the ship, and my monster team is at... C rank.  Going with a traditional setup of Hero-Swords, Yangus-Axes, Jessica-Staves, Angelo-Bows, usually with sub-points in courage/humanity/sex/charm.  

It's refreshingly... old.  It really does have the feel of dragon warrior 3 or 6 or something, with updated graphics/sound/etc.

[BloodyBlade]

Miracle Slash FTW.

IIRC, there is a sidequest or something where you fight some DragonLord or something... Not to sure. I watched my friend play it. Spamming Miracle Slashes.

[SilvasRuin]

sigh i suppose i don't have the patience to play the game normally, i just wanted the story lol...

The central story sucks.  It's the side stories that are actually decent.

Philsov, if you want Angelo dealing damage, swords are the way to go.  Bows are good for that one attack that gives him some MP, but that's about it.  He's definitely best as a secondary swordsman or a caster (primarily focused on healing).  Or both.
I always liked focusing Yangus on scythes since they tend to be solid weapons for much of the game, including the end-game, and they allow him to steal items.  There's really not much reason to upgrade anything but Scythe and Axe except for a couple low-tier utility abilities he can get from Humanity.
For Jessica, I would always go half staves and half whips.  I liked my characters being able to fall back to physical attacks at any time, liked crowd control, and I found both of those more useful than her Sex Appeal abilities.  She could serve as an interesting tertiary sword character and gets different abilities than the other two, but I was never inclined to go that route.
For the hero, boomerangs are awesome when you get the upgraded Power Throw ability, but there's not much point in upgrading it past that.  Sword and Courage are the obvious choices for brawn and spellcasting respectively, but Spears can be good for assassinations and Metal Slime killing.  I have never been inclined to sacrifice the strongest boomerang to make the strongest spear though, especially since both can injure metal slimes and the boomerang can hit way more than just one at a time.  I think I always went with Sword, Courage, and put a bit in Boomerang early on.

I hear a playthrough with all of them focusing on unarmed combat can be pretty fun but I've never tried it for myself.



I'm not playing much of anything right now, but I'll be playing FFIX again as soon as it hits the PSN, which should be less than a week now I think.  I never really got around to truly enjoying the gameplay and sidequests, but the story always felt like the most deserving of the name Final Fantasy.  It left an amazing impression on me despite being nowhere near one of my favorite games.  I'm eager to see if I can enjoy it more now.  Though... the method to get Excalibur II was a dick move on Square's part.  It makes me wish I had a modded PSP just to alter the game clock when I get to that point.

[Smash]

Im thinking buying Valkyrie Profile for the PSP, to have some game to play in the summer. (Never played before) I hear it's good + Square

Good idea?

[Kaijyuu]

Quite good idea. Few words of warning though:

- Play on Hard difficulty. It's actually easier, since you get better items.
- First 30 mins are extremely boring.
- Look up a guide on gamefaqs or something to get the A ending. Getting it requires jumping through various hoops throughout the game, which you're not likely to do without a guide. The B ending is what you'll get otherwise and it's disappointing in a "I want to punch a wall" sort of way.
- If you're ever flying around the world with seemingly nothing to do, press Select (not sure if it's the same button on the PSP version). You have to "search" for dungeons and playable characters to advance in the game, and if you don't, you'll get beaten up by your superior.

[philsov]

Philsov, if you want Angelo dealing damage, swords are the way to go. Bows are good for that one attack that gives him some MP, but that's about it. He's definitely best as a secondary swordsman or a caster (primarily focused on healing). Or both.
I always liked focusing Yangus on scythes since they tend to be solid weapons for much of the game, including the end-game, and they allow him to steal items. There's really not much reason to upgrade anything but Scythe and Axe except for a couple low-tier utility abilities he can get from Humanity.
For Jessica, I would always go half staves and half whips. I liked my characters being able to fall back to physical attacks at any time, liked crowd control, and I found both of those more useful than her Sex Appeal abilities. She could serve as an interesting tertiary sword character and gets different abilities than the other two, but I was never inclined to go that route.
For the hero, boomerangs are awesome when you get the upgraded Power Throw ability, but there's not much point in upgrading it past that. Sword and Courage are the obvious choices for brawn and spellcasting respectively, but Spears can be good for assassinations and Metal Slime killing. I have never been inclined to sacrifice the strongest boomerang to make the strongest spear though, especially since both can injure metal slimes and the boomerang can hit way more than just one at a time. I think I always went with Sword, Courage, and put a bit in Boomerang early on.

Well I went fisticuffs early on Hero (thin air is awesome!) and axes on Yangus for the critical/slime killing aspect.  I'm getting good mileage out of Angelo's Bows with shining shot and quick shot for decent multi/single target damage, and the MP siphoning is awesome for the long dungeon crawls.  I'm rather regretting the sex appeal on Jess thing though -- the most useful ability to date is the 1/16 enemy turn loss, but sexy beam is pretty good for status infliction.  I'm still playing through it -- just got through Orktusk.  The granny sacrifice scene was pretty touching.  I think pirate's cove is next?

Also been playing a lot of Protector 4 over at http://www.kongregate.com/games/undefined/protector-iv -- it's a flash tower-defense game with pretty cool RPG elements like unit level ups, heros who recruit between.... 64?  Different "tower" classes, and an elemental damage system to boot.  Lots to be addicted to, so there goes my next week or so >_>

[Smash]

I went to see some FFXII Shemhazai battle vids today to use as ref for a character and..

See, I recently finished my first playthrough of this epic game, avoiding all spoilers (and any info) as best as I could. Did this with a trio of Vaan, Ashe and Balthier; only had the latest gear from shops, only one quickening enabled per char (thought they could only get one each), fully controled my chars like in older FF's(To those other than my main, they had gambit 'attack party leaders target') never using Belias or any other summon, and absolutely no quickenings used, as it'd dran my sage ring'd mage's whole MP..

Hated target lines and used real time menu selection in most battles. (Cept for difficult bosses)


After watching some of the vids then, I might have played a hard mode version of 12 without knowing.. It's probably why I loved it so much.

[R999]

Shemhazai, love those Centaur legs.

spoiler

[Dokurider]

I can't decide if I want continue with either Grandia, or Legend of Mana, resume playing Digimon World, Lunar: Silver Star, FFVI, or Earthbound, or start playing FFTA, just to finally play that infamous game.