Spell System is completely flawed!

that's not the game's fault...as the player you need to be prepared for whatever comes. that means stocking on items and such, buying new equipment/spells/etc. if you see an item that cures a status effect you've never encountered, stock it.

...but yeah, this has gone off-topic IMO.
 
I actually loved the spell system! It was so neat :)

There is one boss you need magic for especially, if you don't want to grind levels and then buy loads of hi-potions/potions.

I forget the name of it, but there is a spell that causes you to freeze, and then there is the disease one. Magic was important in this game and I thought the system was fine. I was a little worried I'd fail a lot though, with the battle system. It was the third game I've played like that, so it was new...
 
I believe Split Infinity's faq is the best one...although I don't have a good opinion of him personally...we disagree about the how "good" FFXII is...
rotfl...

So you might read it pumpkin king..hope it helps...

One of my biggest issues with this game is how weak the espers were...you couldn't build them up like you could in FFX..and you couldn't control the magic they used...like you could in FFX.
Even weak opponents like dive talons could kill your espers..although they were very tough when you were fighting them.

I tried to use invisibility in the Henne mines..where it should have been useful to avoid the flans but it was useless...

Some of the magic is incomplete.I have forgotten which ones..there should be 3 levels for each one but I believe some only have 2..probably because when Matsuno left his replacement didn't realize the magic was unfinshed...
 
I think every game in the series has "useless" spells, or at least spells that I have never used.

I don't think I have EVER used Stop, Berserk (well...except on one of the Marks in XII), Poison, Break, the list goes on...

Yeah, there are a bunch of spells that I find useless. But, as stated before, you play style will dictate the usefulness of some spells.

So, in the end, I don't think it's so much that the spell system is flawed, but it's more so that your play style makes it seem flawed.

The magic boosting augments (Magic Lore and Channeling) really help out though. They can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
 
Pumpkin King said:
Why would you possibly use Thundaga and all those spells?

As I said earlier, they do minimal damage, where a few attacks with a sword will kill something usually..

I agree that the white spells are the most useful..
Click to expand...

Haha, why wouldn't I? :hmph:

I didn't set out to obtain any of the overpowered weapons like Excalibur, Tournesol, Formalhaut, etc. on my first playthrough. Hell, I'm still on my first playthrough but I digress, there were certain groups of enemies that I faced, where I needed to use some magic on them early on. Aero for the Zus in Ozmone Plain was really helpful when I had to slaughter them to pieces, set some Ras Algheti rifles and whatnot on everybody and set them up for major magic casting, then when it was all said and done I'd switch my gambits to 'attack' and call it a day.

There were certain enemies that I needed to use some bloody variant of magic on, whether it be Thundaga or Silence or Dispelga on a certain variant of a Wyrm or something. Really it all boils down to my manner of play, I'm just more comfortable using black magic/white magic with a few melee attacks scattered in between. Sometimes I like to challenge myself and not sit there watching my party members auto-hack away at the enemy.

Maybe you like to play it a little differently but seriously dude, to each his own. I like playing FFXII with a little bit of a difficulty curve by using what, due to my party's levels, would be considered "low-tier" spells. Everyone plays the game differently, dude. Everyone.

As for Quickenings? I rarely use them nowadays because as I said before, I rely on melee attacks and status-effect/black magic spells. Sometimes my armor equips and weapon equips just don't cut it for defense buffs and magi-defense buffs and whatnot. Quickenings however deplete my MP unnecessarily and MP has become a precious commodity for my party members, particularly the so-called mages of my group: Penelo and Fran and even to a small extent Basch. Unconventional to have Basch in there, I know but I'm an unconventional player. So anywho, in the earlier levels, the programmers designed the game in such a way where you needed to strategize and take a step back and think, "Hmm, I have enough MP for Penelo so I should make her start with her Level 1 Quickening than do a follow up with Basch's Level 3 so that would do an average of about . . . 320 damage."

However when you're liable to buy out certain licenses to augment your MP and phys. stats and purchase some stronger weapons and shields and armor than the uses of the Quickenings soon become obsolete. They're little more than pretty and extensive in-game animations with a bit of damage tacked on the end.
 
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I use thundaga etc. They're useful if an enemy is weak against an element and they do usually deal hefty damage, so why WOULDN'T you use it?

I forgot about quickenings as well. I prefer not to use them, because building up chains of them is so time consuming, but during difficult battles (bosses and high-level marks) I use chains of them because they do deal a lot of damage. I just wish they wouldn't take so long to go through :gonk:
 
I just started playing the internacional release. Casting spells is faster here, and abolishing the damage limit did help spells as a means of direct damage. I'm yet to see this, though, as I can't reach all this damage yet.
 
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