Topic: FFXII?

[TheOtherBelmont]

Well I got it tonight, I'm going to give it a good chunk of playtime before I post impressions though.

[Quemaqua]

Sy, I said they think the *soundtrack* is too big and epic, not the game itself.  Although a lot of people are whining about there not being card games and minigames and stuff.  That's actually a somewhat valid complaint, though there's still tons of side quest type stuph to do.  It's just that a good chunk of it is combat oriented.  Fortunately it works well because the combat system is so damned good.  Fights are actually really fun now!  Imagine that.  The whole "quickening" thing is a bit odd, and I'm not sure if I entirely like it (it's fun in concept, but it feels a bit disconnected), but on the whole I find the combat 100% more interesting than I did in any of the other games.

And yes, Sy, you suck.  Hurry up and stop sucking.

Would be interested to hear what you think, Tet, since I feel rather lonely playing this game all by my lonesome.  Julia really wants to dive in but she's got other stuff she's playing now.

[PyroMenace]

Theres usual a primary minigame in FF games, but they are usually hit or miss, or you love it or hate it. I'm kinda glad they decided to skip out on it cause it can muck things up in the end like it did with FFVIII. The blitz ball game in X wasnt bad but luckily you can almost totally avoid it without it holding you back. Either way, I never cared for those anyway.

[sirean_syan]

Oh. Heh.... who would complain about an epic soundtrack?

But yeah, there was also that one card game in, I think, FFVIII. That damned thing never made a lick of a sense.

[Quemaqua]

I actually liked that one.  It was a bit tough, but it was cool.

Anyway, I listened to the soundtrack through again today at work with a mind to see what people didn't like, to really pick at it... and I came up empty.  I friggin' love the thing.  No idea what the hell people want, and the idiots at IGN that gave it a 7.5 and said the US release (which was trimmed from 4 CDs with like 30 tracks each to 1 30-track CD) was the better option.  Ridiculous.  I think people have just finally up and lost it.  To hell with 'em.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I got about 3 hours in tonight (I just got the Sunstone from that kid) and I'm liking it so far, not really enough to make a more detailed review but a good start, I'm digging the battling.  The music is awesome so far, I kind of did a little "Hell yeah!" in my mind when they started playing "Prologue" on the startup screen with the main logo.  I will definitely have to get that soundtrack sometime and give it a listen to.

Also I liked the card game in FFVIII, it was called Triple Triad for those of you who can't remember, the rules were a bit complex at first but once you got them it was a lot of fun.  I actually own the entire physical card set(well almost all of it sans 10 or so cards) and I used to play with friends every now and then.  The worst minigame was the mucked up card game they had in FFIX.  Blitzball in FFX was kinda cool but got old kinda fast.

[Quemaqua]

I'm now about 23 hours in, spent the last 2 1/2 or 3 nights just doing side quests and trying to make money.  The chain system is weird, but I actually rather like it.  Hard to keep going when you're exploring areas for the first time, but once you know the lay of the land its easy to go back and spend an hour chaining enemies until you've got a bunch of loot to sell, especially after you get the forgotten grimoires.  So I've just been doing elite hunts and chaining for loot last few nights -- but again, the combat is so much fun that it doesn't feel anywhere near as dragging as if often did for me in previous titles.

[Quemaqua]

I'm somewhere around 30 hours now, and I just can't get enough of this game.  Stopping playing in order to come online and actually connect with the world at large is excruciatingly difficult.  Don't know what it is, but this thing just hits all the right buttons for me.  I just fucking love it.  Just got to Raithwall's Tomb (not really a spoiler), and just... ugh.  So hard to not play it now.  I had to promise myself I'd play tomorrow even though I have tons of crap to do.

Anyway... yay.  I think you really have to appreciate a lot of the little details in order to see exactly how much went into it.  Reading all the monster journal entries and getting their associated little tip/backstory/extra fun things (which you can unlock by killing certain numbers of enemies) really shows how good the writing is on a fundamental level.  The localization is just superb.  These guys really, really knew what they were doing and put their heart into it.  Everything feels so authentic and intelligent... good stuff.  It really keeps me glued with little rewards like that in the design, and they push me through the few moments of monotony when I have to run around a little more than I'd like or what have you.

The leveling system and such have continued to impress me as well.  There are so many options for customizing your characters, and I keep seeing a million other ways I could have built most of these guys.  And it works so well in concert with the battle system and gambit system, because you can really focus on different things actively.  Like set all your guys to do damage and then take on the role of healer and spend your time healing while they fight automatically.  Or set up your healers and spend your time focusing on how to attack a more complicated foe with really specific weaknesses.  Or fight a big group of guys and have all your characters fighting/healing/supporting on their own, issuing specific commands when their gambits just can't quite get specific enough for the situation.  It all just works so well and adds so much variety to the gameplay.

I haven't felt like this much of a fanboy over a game since Okami, which admittedly wasn't that long ago... but I haven't felt like this much of a fanboy over a console RPG since the SNES days.  And that's saying one hell of a lot.

The art continues to impress as well.  It doesn't peter out or get monotonous.  So many new things to see, and all of them end up having a ton of their own unique personality while keeping in line with the themes the game wants to develop.  The art design is just incredible.  The game is damned pretty, even where the technical stuff can't keep up with current-gen technology.

And yes, I still think the music is perfect and have no idea what the Uematsu fanboys are on about.  Ignorant fuckers.  I ordered the limited edition soundtrack which has *all* the music, not the crappy US release with the single CD.  I consider it $42 well spent.

Anyway... still loving it, still hope some more of you give it a shot.

[wizall]

Glad you're liking it, Que.  This will be the first game I get in a couple months.  (I just got back from a month-long trip to Thailand--more on that later. )  I enjoyed the demo with DQ8 quite a bit, despite its style differences from the previous FFs (which I also happen to enjoy, generally).  I look forward to getting lost in this. 

[TheOtherBelmont]

I guess I should post my progress.  I am about 16 hours in and I'm at the Sandsea part (just got through that oil tanker area with all the desert guys).  I am liking this game a lot, the battling and leveling are a lot more fun.  The fighting keeps you on your toes more.  I've only died at a boss once but it was because I was still getting used to using the Gambit system which I seem to have gotten the hang of now.  Once I figured out how to get Quickenings and use them, I made short work of the next boss.  I am probably going to do a bit more leveling before I go into Raithwall's Tomb, which isn't bad because the fighting is fun.

The art design is so awesome in this game so far, its enough for eye candy but it doesn't go overboard and has a more realistic feel to it than some of the other games, the airships especially.  My only complaint about the art and its just a personal one, is Vaan's outfit, its retarded looking, mainly the vest thing he wears, but that is the only character design I have a problem with.  The music is really cool so far and I need to get the soundtrack.  I was really skeptic about this game from just seeing a few screenshots as it was being made and was thinking Square was going to fuck up another FF game, but they are doing a damn fine job so far.  I hope FFXIII is just as good.

[Quemaqua]

This game is another great example of fake places that really grow to mean a lot to me.

[Quemaqua]

So the systems keep getting deeper, the gambits keep getting more numerous and complicated, and the marks are starting to get a lot harder.  The Ring Wyrm totally handed my ass to me, though I'm just about take down the Gil Snapper.  Almost had the bastard the last time and I didn't even have a way to dispel its protect and shell... so I decided to go get a few obvious spells I'd neglected to buy due to lack of funds, and I'll kick its ass this time.  But the game's marks can get really challenging.  I read a few crazy stories about various things, and the last elite mark that Montblanc will give you (not really a spoiler, but a spoiler if you want to be surprised at the last mark's gimmick) ...

(click to show/hide)

... has 50 million fucking hit points.  Fifty.  Million.  Even with the best attacks in the game, that has to be a fight that's going to last like an hour and a half or something.  I mean, I think the game's best attack does 60,000, and that isn't something you're going to be able to pull off that much.

[TheOtherBelmont]

So the systems keep getting deeper, the gambits keep getting more numerous and complicated, and the marks are starting to get a lot harder.  The Ring Wyrm totally handed my ass to me, though I'm just about take down the Gil Snapper.  Almost had the bastard the last time and I didn't even have a way to dispel its protect and shell... so I decided to go get a few obvious spells I'd neglected to buy due to lack of funds, and I'll kick its ass this time.  But the game's marks can get really challenging.  I read a few crazy stories about various things, and the last elite mark that Montblanc will give you (not really a spoiler, but a spoiler if you want to be surprised at the last mark's gimmick) ...

(click to show/hide)

... has 50 million fucking hit points.  Fifty.  Million.  Even with the best attacks in the game, that has to be a fight that's going to last like an hour and a half or something.  I mean, I think the game's best attack does 60,000, and that isn't something you're going to be able to pull off that much.

The Ring Wyrm just recently kicked my ass too, I went for the Gil Snapper and got him down to about 1/4 health but got killed, so I'm just going to go back later.  I could probably do the Gil Snapper now that I've leveled up some more and everyone has all of their Quickenings now though.  Something I've noticed, money is a lot harder to come by in this game than any of the other FF games, you have to actually work for it.  Took me a good chunk of time to save up for those Forgotten Grimoire books but damn are they worth it.  I also found a couple of nice equips by chance from doing some exploring, I got Vaan using a sword that has like 90 atk power that I stole from a monster.  In the Tomb of Raithwall I found a sword that respawns in a chest(not 100% of the time, like 15-25% of the time) that has like 50 atk power and they sell for like 3500 gil each, so I grabbed about 4 of those and sold them.  I just got to the village in Gilmore Jungle and I'm about 31 hours in.

[Quemaqua]

You're catching up to me fast.  I'm only a tiny a bit beyond where you are, but not by much.  I realized from looking at a guide that Dispel isn't available yet, so I may wait until I can purchase that before attempting the Gil Snapper again.  But I'm an impatient bastard, and I *almost* killed him last time, so I may just level a few times and try again.  I know I need to get an accessory to protect myself from the Disablega that he casts since I can't seem to keep him Silenced.  The bastard.  Then again, the chick I have doing Silence might just not have enough magical oomph at this point.  I've been building her as a hybrid support mage/warrior, so I don't think I've purchased enough magic potency increases on the license board yet.  I just got my attack magic chick and my healer fitted with some green magic too, though, so hopefully one of them will be able to keep the thing Silenced while somebody keeps my tanks Protected.

What level are you generally, Tet?  I'm about 23... about 37 hours in.  I've gotten either 3 or 4 grimoires now, too, though I didn't think to keep checking that one chest for the sword.  I'm still using it with one character, but it would have been awesome to sell a few extras.  You're right, money is something of an issue.  I'm pretty much always out and never seem to have enough in one go to buy all the gear I really need.  Plus, like an idiot, I sold the Windbreakers I was using, not realizing the damned things protect against Wind magic.  So I've gotta' go get licenses for everybody and purchase those again in case I run against some horrible Wind monster down the line.  I have a bad habit of selling off *everything*, whereas Julia always hordes everything... so she's always got what she needs even if she doesn't have as much cash, whereas I've always got the "best" gear but never the stuff I tend to need for a specific situation.  I'm really bad about using beneficial spells on my party, too, so it's awesome that I can set gambits for them now... forces me to be smart by programming them to be smart for me!

[TheOtherBelmont]

Vaan is level 31 and the rest of my guys are level 25.

[Quemaqua]

Jeez.  How the hell are you way above me already and like 7 hours under me?  That's bullshit!  I probably spent a lot more time wandering around town and stuff... plus I've done some side missions that don't involve fighting, looked for some secrets, ferried items between some different people... I guess maybe I did more of that than I thought.

Anyway, got my limited edition import soundtrack today, and it's a gorgeous set. Nice box with pretty art, more of the art in the nice thick paper booklet inside (which I can't read -- too bad, too, looks like there's some fun stuff in it), and more nice art on the big cardboard insert that pulls out and contains the CDs (which feature the various characters).  It's really quite nice and well worth having if you dig the music.  I've literally been listening to the disk of MP3s I downloaded for about a week and a half or something at work now, and I'm only just now getting to the point where I think I'll stop.  Oh, and because I didn't mention it before, the song all the fucking Uematsu fanboys were hailing as the best song on the soundtrack is probably the worst.  Angela Aki sings, and it's perfectly fine for typical pop shit, but it's completely typical.  There's nothing unique or interesting about it whatsoever.  I fucking hate fanboys, especially those idiots at IGN, and anybody that claims this soundtrack is anything less than fantastic should be shot in the face.  There are a few tracks I like less (and the final disk of the 4-disk set has a bit too much in the way of battle music and epic stuff), but overall it's just fantastic considering the amount of music they expected this guy to compose.  Sakamoto has good reason to be proud of himself for this and people shouldn't be telling him otherwise.

[Quemaqua]

Haha... this is too funny.  At first I thought it would be lame, but then I cracked up.

Along those same lines, I wanted to mention that I don't actually hate Vaan.  He's actually a pretty likable character and doesn't seem nearly as bad in the game as he did beforehand.  I have no issues with him other than Tet's aforementioned issues with his outfit.  Plus it looks like his abs are made of leather, I don't understand that one either.  Some of the muscletone was just really strangely portrayed in this game.  It isn't noticeable most of the time on anyone other than Vaan, but you can sometimes tell that it looks funny in other places as well.  It's an odd thing.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I have no clue how I'm so close to you story and time wise but higher level, maybe I found a sweet spot for leveling?  I leveled a lot at the Sandsea and chained all of those desert guys like crazy, I also did a good chunk of leveling at Raithwall's Tomb and the beginning part of the jungle, both the jungle and the Sandsea I had a guest character, so maybe that contributed to faster leveling(killing the enemies faster) even with the tiny exp drop from having the guest.  Also ever since I got that wicked sword from that enemy I've been taking down guys pretty quick, sometimes in one hit.  I've done a few sidequests as well and my hunter rank is Headhunter.  I downloaded the soundtrack and I like it a lot and will probably buy that limited edition soundtrack sometime down the line.  Anyways, its time to play some more!

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, that sword sounds kick ass.  Highest attack rating I think I have is like 67 right now, and that's with a hammer (sometimes does around 1400 damage in one swing).  And the place I did the most leveling was the Lhusu Mines, and I didn't have a guest character then, no, so I suppose that could be part of the difference.  I was using guest characters to help with hunts before, and that doesn't net one XP (just LP, maybe).  But I've been spending some good time at the Jungle now because of those panther things.  Man, you can get skins off them like crazy and the things sell for nearly 500 bucks a pop.  Get 20 of those babies and head back to a shop and you're golden.

So I *almost* beat the fucking turtle again another 2 times and still can't do it.  I'm missing Larsa now and so even though I can get really, really close, I just can't quite make it.  It's just impossible without a perfect run or the ability to dispel its protect+haste combo.  I got my main mage to silence it okay, but that doesn't avoid the physical damage, and toward the end I just can't keep up.  I think his armor rating must increase toward the end, because my hits stop doing much, and even a high-end quickening chain just doesn't do enough damage at all.  Belias is utterly useless.  His final attack got me like 500 points of damage or something idiotic like that.  So yeah... without dispel, things have to go just perfectly in order to win.  Actually, I *did* win.  I fucking killed the thing.  I threw a knot of rust at it as a last-ditch effort to take it down, and it killed it... but only after it had already killed my last character standing.  Had I thrown the knot like 2 seconds earlier I'd have won.  Weak.

Anyway... the story is just great.  The last few sequences have been much more interesting than the earlier stuff, and as much as I liked the characters before, I'm starting to like them all a lot more now.  And the script is really well written for the most part... so even the cheesy stuff doesn't sound too cheesy, and there aren't as many stilted lines as there were in X.

Oh, and does anybody agree with me that Fran's voice actress is like the best thing ever?  I absolutely love her voice.  I could sit and listen to her talk all day long.  It completely makes the character, it's amazing.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Oh, and does anybody agree with me that Fran's voice actress is like the best thing ever?  I absolutely love her voice.  I could sit and listen to her talk all day long.  It completely makes the character, it's amazing.

Yes!  I was talking about to 2 other guys at work the other night who are playing it now and they thought it unusual that I liked her voice so much, but I basically said the same thing to them about how it really makes her more of a character, whoever did her voice did a hell of a job.

[Quemaqua]

This is the best fucking game ever.  I can't stop.

Managed to kill off two more marks last night... Ishtax or something, and the feral retriever... then got the Gil Snapper today after getting the second story Esper.  I tried to get the first optional Esper I've come across, but I noticed that I was going to die instantly when he summoned a MOB that was level 45.  And then summoned another 10 of them.  Whoops.

Now I'm back to hunting marks in hopes of finding a few of the other optional Espers.  I think the lowest level one is 39, so that's still a good 10 levels above me.  Might have to wait on that a while yet.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Time for another update I suppose.  I'm about 48 hours in and been doing a ton of hunts and sidequests, I've got 21 of my available 26 hunts done and I got my first sidequest Esper.  Storywise I just beat the boss at Mt. Bur-Omisasce and I'm loving every bit of this game so far.  Vaan is level 42 and the rest of my party is level 33, I'm probably going to hunt a few more marks(well the ones that I can fight at my level) and afterwards continue the story.

[Quemaqua]

I'm about 58 hours in, all my characters are about level 33, and I made it up to the Phon Coast.  Haven't finished all the hunts yet (I think I've done 19?) and haven't gotten a sidequest Esper yet, though I did *almost* kill Exodus last night that even though he was supposedly one you aren't supposed to do until a bit more down the road.  Now that I've got everyone to 33 I'm going to try again (I was like 29-31 before).  Which Esper was it you got?

[TheOtherBelmont]

I'm about 58 hours in, all my characters are about level 33, and I made it up to the Phon Coast.  Haven't finished all the hunts yet (I think I've done 19?) and haven't gotten a sidequest Esper yet, though I did *almost* kill Exodus last night that even though he was supposedly one you aren't supposed to do until a bit more down the road.  Now that I've got everyone to 33 I'm going to try again (I was like 29-31 before).  Which Esper was it you got?

Zalhera, the Death Esper.  He's in Barheim Passage, GETTING to him was harder than actually beating him since there were several mobs of enemies before him that were in the 40's, luckily there was a savepoint in the room before him.  The funny thing is I went down there for a hunt which I finished and after some exploring I stumbled across him.

[Quemaqua]

That's cool.  I haven't run across him yet because I haven't gotten back inside Barheim.  I know a hunt gets you in there, but I haven't accepted any of the rank V hunts yet.  I have a ton of hunts available... like 5 normal and maybe another 4 or 5 elites.  Just wanted to clear them out in order of rank, so I just finished the IVs.  I did manage to find Zeromus as well, and I even got past his guards, but he was way, way beyond me.  Summoned a gang of mobs more than 15 levels higher than me at the time.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Oh yeah, forgot to ask you Que, do you have Golden Amulets on everyone?  If not you should, they double license points from kills and its a very good way to rack up licenses fast.  Also you should get the Nihopalaoa from the Muthru Bazaar in Rabanastre, it makes some of the later hunts so much easier, what it does is whoever it is equipped to it will reverse effects of restorative items like potions, eye drops, etc.  The good thing about it is that it gives an enemy a status effect pretty much 100% of the time, unless the enemy is immune to that effect.  I used an eye drop and echo herb on Gil Snapper and some of the other marks and they would be left blinded and silenced and easy to kill.

[Quemaqua]

I don't have too much trouble getting things statused the way I want being that I have two main casters and a support caster, but yeah, I just got that item and I think the real usefulness is that you can turn remedies into giant atomic status bombs.  Drop one of those on somebody and just watch them get raped.  Well, if you've got the 1, 2, and 3 licenses for remedies so you get all the effects.  That's pretty awesome.  I'm more into the bubble belts, though, so that way I don't have to waste time recasting it on my tank.  Anything you can take the time to avoid recasting when you're trying to fight a boss technically way above your level is a big help since you pretty much just have to chain cast cure and the occasional decoy to keep the tank aggroed and healed.  And yeah, I have some golden amulets, but honestly I haven't really had much trouble with LP so I only have 3 of them.  All my guys have all the relevant stuff on the upper part of the board for their builds, and I think 4 almost have the entire upper board filled.  All my characters have all three quickenings as well except for one guy.  Still only the two Espers, though, and 3 of my characters are sticking pretty much to one weapon type.  The other 3 have several weapon and armor types for adapting to situations.

[Quemaqua]

So I'm about 65 hours in I think, and I managed to defeat Adrammelech at level 34 (I'm leveling everyone equally), Zalera at 34, and Exodus at 35.  So I'm at 5 Espers, and I think 22 hunts?  Hunts are starting to get a bit tougher.  I tried to do the Antlion and it was taking me longer to kill the normal enemies in the area than I'd have liked, so I decided to just wait on that one.  The enemies before Zalera weren't pushovers, either.  Those big groups of UD on the way were pretty rough.  I think I might also be getting close to another Esper below one of the cities (mostly just because I'm convinced they're hiding one there... though I could be wrong), but the mobs are still way too hard for me at this point.  Like level 45+ and there are multiples I can't even scan with Libra.  Haven't worked on the story at all in two days now and have just been farming and stuff.  Finally got some of the better armor I'd been too lazy to buy (so I actually beat Adrammelech and Zalera with two armors under what was available, heh... after them I finally did a money run and got the good stuff for Exodus, which is probably the reason I beat him this time after getting close but no cigar the time before.  Adrammelech was actually the worst for me even though most people say he's the easiest.  He wasn't so bad, but he's surrounded by mobs that spawn in the area and do spells that cause multiple status effects.  That was infuriating for a while.

[MysterD]

65 hours.....nice....

Any clue how long this game can take, if you do decide to do all the side quests and the main quest???

[Quemaqua]

Well, I'm probably only halfway through the story, if that, and I haven't even fought half the Espers yet or done even close to all the hunts.  I'm maybe... well, somewhere around halfway through the standard ones, but then there are some more later you can do for another side quest I think, and I think someone said there's also stuff to do for hunting down rare (normal, just rare) monsters.  Not to mention trying to unlock all the "lore" items from the bestiary (kill a certain number of creature then you get a little side panel which talks about the world and stuff like that), trying to get all the bazaar items to unlock (which you do by getting and selling certain combinations of loot from creatures), finding all the best weapons of your favorite types, leveling all your characters up to the max and obtaining all the licenses for each of them... I mean, it depends on how much of a completionist you are.  There's probably several hundred hours of content if you really choose to try and do everything, or you could probably power through it in 40 hours or something if you didn't spend a lot of time leveling and finding extra stuff (though that's a total pulled-out-of-my-ass guess, I have no idea how long it might take someone to do that).

[TheOtherBelmont]

Well, I did something I haven't done on any RPG in a long time, pass the 70 hour mark and I'm now 74 hours into the game.  I probably haven't done that since Xenogears, even on the earlier FF games I hovered around the 60-70 hour mark with all of the sidequests.  I got about 85 hours of time logged into Disgaea, but a lot of that side stuff is just leveling up weapons in the item world and not really story/sidequest related and its a different breed of RPG than the FF games so I'm not going to count that.  I can't believe how much good side content they put in this game, none of it is really boring or feels tacked on.  The hunts are cool and what's taking up a good amount of time, I'm gonna do 2 more hunts I think before I get back to the story. I need to get the other two espers that you mentioned Que (Exodus and Adrammelech) sometime too, if you got them at the levels you listed I'll probably fly through them(Vaan is level 62 and everyone else is 48).

[Quemaqua]

Oh God, you'll slaughter them.  You could probably get nearly all of them at this point, I think.  I haven't played in several days due to a complete and utter lack of both drive and time, but I'm not tired of it yet either, and I've passed the 80 hour mark myself.  Such a great game.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Have you got the esper Cuchulainn yet?  I just got him along with Adrammelech tonight and completed two more hunts.  I need to hunt around for Exodus still, I have an idea of where he is, just need to go and explore that area.  After I get Exodus I'm probably going to finish another chunk of story since the only hunt I have left is "The Mystery Man"(don't want to say who it is if you haven't done that part yet) and he kicked my ass when I had him at like 15% health (the second time you fight him that is, the first part was a cakewalk).  I'll probably go back to him and any other hunts I unlock after I finish the next chunk of story.

[Quemaqua]

Where are you at story-wise?  I don't care about spoiler tags, but others might.

(click to show/hide)

I'm just about to leave Archadia for the labs.

And no I don't have Cuch yet.  I don't actually know where he is, although I assume he's hiding

(click to show/hide)

in the sewers

just from looking at his picture and such.  And I'm fully convinced that one is hiding down there, but last time I went many levels ago it was a little rough for me.  Now I should be overequipped to go find whoever is down there.  By then I *might* be a little closer to gearing up for Zeromus, but probably not quite.  I think I'm going to need the full outfit of group-buff spells before I try that one again.

As for hunts, I'm feeling behind.  There are some I feel like I should be finishing, but I'm not quite high enough level.  Plus I need money, so I may go out and just hunt bones for a while.  I have nearly all of the grimoires now, so I can usually make a good buck wherever I am.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Where are you at story-wise?  I don't care about spoiler tags, but others might.

I'm past you story-wise.  Also your assumption about Cuch is correct.  Also, I found another sweet spot for money, chaining Mirror Knights in the Feywood made me between 100-120k in one run, the windslicer pinions and the other things they drop sell for a lot.  Once I would kill them all in the map where they are (I would usually kill between 10-15 of them in one map run) I would run out of the map and into another one to the east, then south, then west back to the map where they would all respawn again, if I ran into any other enemies I would just flee from them till they left me alone and just kill the mirror knights.  Took me about 30-45 mins for one complete run filling up my inventory to 99.  Now I have 290k gil after purchasing all the latest magicks, equips, and grimoires.

[Quemaqua]

Holy shit!  The first time I ever went chaining dudes for cash was in the Lhusu mines, and I haven't really done it too much since except for pelts in the jungle and bones from the UD guys outside where Zalera was hanging out.  But that's crazy money!  Good thing, too, since the big-time weapons and such cost so much money.  I don't think you could even afford an ultimate weapon yet, actually.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Holy shit!  The first time I ever went chaining dudes for cash was in the Lhusu mines, and I haven't really done it too much since except for pelts in the jungle and bones from the UD guys outside where Zalera was hanging out.  But that's crazy money!  Good thing, too, since the big-time weapons and such cost so much money.  I don't think you could even afford an ultimate weapon yet, actually.

Speaking of ultimate weapons, I was talking to one of my friends at work about where I was at in the game and he mentioned some uber awesome weapon called the Zodiac Spear, which I remember seeing on the license board.  Well, I fucking missed out on it because you can only get the fucking thing if you DONT open certain treasures as you progress through the story.  I went to the area where it is supposed to be at and I didn't get it, so I probably opened one of the treasures I shouldn't have which kinda sucks.  Three of my characters have higher than average weapons though so its not a huge deal.  When I play through it again sometime I'll use a strategy guide or FAQ to make sure I don't open the doomed treasures.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I ran into the same thing.  Didn't know about it until way later, just like you.  Though I'm not 100% sure that's the only place you can get it.  I read somewhere you can also get it in another location, but it may have been a mistake the person didn't intend to put in there.  It's really hard to say.  As of yet, nobody's said anything about it, so I assume it's wrong.

[TheOtherBelmont]

So yeah, I'm 88 hours in now.  Holy crap, so much side stuff to do.  A part of me just wants to finish up the game since I'm eager to see the rest of the story.  I told a co-worker where I was at in the game and he said I'm on my way to the last bosses so it's my last chance to do any sidequests before I beat the game.  I've tried some of the last few hunts and they have all kicked my ass on multiple tries so I caved and looked at a mark hunting guide to see maybe some kind of level recommendation for the three I have left and wow, some of them have a recommended level of 70 or higher, they are somewhat doable at my level, just a major pain in the ass.  Vaan is level 68 and everyone else is level 54.  I have 10 Espers, I found another one in the Necrohol of Nabudis but I wasn't expecting him there and he kicked my ass, might go back to him later.

I keep having to fight the urge to finish the game because if I do without finishing most of the sidequest stuff, I don't know if I'll come back to the game immediately to do it.  I have very little left to do though, at least I think so, 3 more hunts according to that mark hunting guide I looked at, the rare hunt trophies (I've gotten 15, I have no clue how many there are though).  Also I found out that in order to get the highest ranking in the hunter's clan you have to fill up you Sky Pirate's Den, so after looking through a strategy guide at work on how to fill that up, most of them are doable, hard but doable, the only one that gets me is getting a 50 Chain Quickening, that's crazy, the highest I've gotten is 29 and I thought that was just luck.

If I can't fight the urge to beat the game, I might just beat it and then keep my pre-final boss fight save on another file, that way I can do the remaining hunts, trophies and any other sidequests since I'm fine with using a strategy guide AFTER I beat the game.

[Quemaqua]

I haven't played in quite a while now.  I've just had so much to do, no time for games.  It's starting to piss me off a little bit.  I need a vacation really bad...