Specialising your Characters.

[Davey Gaga]

I was rea;ly dissapointed with the final boss. I had Penelo set up to heal heal & heal some more and Bashe & Balthier just hacked away at him while I watched

This post reminded me of a discussion I'd been having with OverFjell concerning how you utilise your characters.

It's a known fact that each of the characters in XII are better at one thing than another, for example, Penelo is better at being a Mage, whereas Basch is the strongest, physically.

Topic: Do you prefer to specialise your characters, in that each of them had a designated task to carry out?

As for myself, I preferred to have three identical characters. My main party always consists of Balthier, Basch, Fran and Ashe, exchanging one of the women each time I play through the game. I make each of them activate identical licences and equip identical gambits. I find this to be efficient because, should my hypothetical 'mage' die, I don't have to make a warrior go out of the way to revive this person, while he's getting murdered at the same time. In this instance, I prioritise each gambit exactly the same for each character and I've never had a genuine Game Over, excluding a foolish encounter in the Henne Mines [though that's been mentioned in a different thread. xD]

 

[Bambi]

Aside from Penelo who does all my healing and status shizz all my others are set up the same

I do have cure as my second gambit but turned off, just incase Penelo conks out. I generally just have them all set to attack - protect and shell, oh and revive>penelo right at the top

 

[Mitsuki]

Hmm, from what I remember, all my characters can deal a great amount of damage physically, with Basch being the main tank. So they are all set up the same as well. I pretty much make it a "save your own hide" scenario, but when need be, I also make all the girls do the healing for the party - as long as I know that it's safe for one of my guys to do another attack and survive another turn until one of the girls can heal them.

 

[Davey Gaga]

Tank - that's one method I've never used. I much prefer to cast Protega, Hastega and Shellga, buffing everyone up equally. As for Gambits, why not post your preferred set-ups?

On each character:
Ally: Any - Phoenix Down
Ally: Any - Esuna
Ally: HP < 50% - Curaja
Ally: HP < 70% - Cura
Ally: Any - Handkerchief
Ally: Any - Chronos Tears
Foe: Flying - Telekenisis
Foe: Lowest HP - Attack

I just manually cast buffs on my characters whenever they need them.

 

[Bambi]

Lets hav a laugh...I just know Im gunna have an epic set up

Balthier

foe: HP=100% - Steal
Ally: Penelo - Arise
Ally: HP<30% - Curaja
Ally: Penelo - Esuna
Foe:Flying - Attack
Foe: Party Leaders Target - Attack
Foe:Any - Attack
Self:-Shell
Selfrotect
Self:-Libra
Self:-Haste

Basch
Foe: Party Leaders Target - Attack
Foe:Status Hp Critical - Attack
Foe:Nearst Visable - Attack
Foe:Nearest Visable - Attack
Self: Regen
Self: Haste
Ally:Any - Arise
Self: Protect
Self: Shell

Penelo

Ally:any - Arise
Ally:any - Esunaga (off)
Ally:aNY - Esuna
Ally:Hp< 40% - Curaja
Ally:HP<30% - Curaga (off)
Self: MP<10% - Charge
Foe: Flying - Firaga
Foe: Party leaders target
Self: Protect
Self Shell
Self: haste (off)
Ally:HP <40% - Regen

Thats way messier than I remembered it. Have you ever seen a shitter set of gambits? Its no wonder this game gave me so many issues

 

[Soul Saver]

I assigned roles to my characters based on their stats, yes. The 3 I use, Penelo, Balthier, and Ashe, have varying stats and I assign them their equipment and gambits accordingly. Balthier is the strongest by a few points and is thus best as the tank, with most HP and highest speed, though with slightly lower MP and magick power. Ashe is inbetween, with noticably more rounded stats, and Penelo is by far the strongest with magicks, and very good as the party medic. Mind you, she can deal heavy damage with magick powered weapons, such as katanas. In fact, she deals almost as much damage as Ashe if she uses Masamune.

 

[Davey Gaga]

Ye see that "Foe: Flying - Attack" set-up you have ... it wont work. Flyers are invulnerable to physical attacks and so you can only damage them with magic-based spells [including quickenings and espers] or Telekenisis, haha.

 

[loch]

Or Frisky just shoots them with bows/guns/bowguns/bombs like the rest of us...

 

[Davey Gaga]

Or Frisky just shoots them with bows/guns/bowguns/bombs like the rest of us...

Thet's not always practical, though. A number of players, myself including, dislike using ranged weapons and much prefer to attack with close-ranged weapons. Telekenisis is just as effective, if not more, when attacking flyers. Financially, it's the better option, too.

 

[Rockman X]

Telekenisis is just as effective, if not more, when attacking flyers. Financially, it's the better option, too.

You serious? Telekinesis was the weakest piece of shit in XII, both when Reddas used it and when my own characters used it. Maybe it was a fluke in my game...?

Anyway, that whole "Penelo is best at magic, Basch is best at physical attacks"....yeah, the difference is so minuscule that I didn't care. Everyone learned everything since I completed the license board for everyone. But I kept Balthier and Fran with ranged weapons, and sometimes I'd give a gun or bow to Ashe or Penelo.

 

[Davey Gaga]

You serious? Telekinesis was the weakest piece of shit in XII, both when Reddas used it and when my own characters used it. Maybe it was a fluke in my game...?

There's bound to be some kind of hidden status with it, because the damage that it seemed to do somehow increased each time I struck the opponent. Granted, it's not nearly as strong as your physical attacks but it's a great technick.

 

[Bambi]

I never even had telekenisis. On the last look of my save file Balthier had some hand bomb thingy or other. I don't know what I was doing tbh, I recently restarted (quit again after the tutorials but intend on getting back into it again lol) so hopeully this play thru will be a vast improvement on that mess

 

[Rockman X]

There's bound to be some kind of hidden status with it, because the damage that it seemed to do somehow increased each time I struck the opponent. Granted, it's not nearly as strong as your physical attacks but it's a great technick.

Really? Weird...I probably just never got the strength to increase then since I killed enemies off too quickly (by the time I got it I was in the 90's).

I never even had telekenisis. On the last look of my save file Balthier had some hand bomb thingy or other. I don't know what I was doing tbh, I recently restarted (quit again after the tutorials but intend on getting back into it again lol) so hopeully this play thru will be a vast improvement on that mess

Oh lord, don't use those handbombs, they're useless Just let Balthier (or someone) use guns, it's nice having a long-range weapon that can penetrate defense. If you're going to make another playthrough though, I recommend you pick up the Brady Games strategy guide, it's pretty useful. This site is pretty damn handy too http://www.ff12sector.com/

 

[Bambi]

I already have it I just never use them on my first play thru. I honestly don't know why I had hime with a handbomb thingy, I was convinced he had a sword. I can only assume the last thing I did was fight something that was flying.....at least I hope so because I never even thought Id ever USED one....I don't know where my brain is sometimes