i started playing ffxii the other day and so far its really good. the best battle/equip system thus far in my opinion. anyway, right now i have all my characters with some sort of damaging/hitting weapon so they just mash away at enemies as they please. what i was wondering is whether i not i need some sort of mage/magical character who heals and casts everything.

as you get every character they all seem to have a pre-defined weapon;

vann - sword
fran - bow
balthier - gun
penelo - dagger
ashe - sword
basche - sword / axe

i found it strange that nobody started off with a staff. i presumed ashe to be the caster as we got her in the later but when i got her and she had a sword equipped i was stumped. now getting down to the point, is there anybody in particular who i should make the caster? penelo has an usually high amount of mp for a person using a dagger so i thought maybe she should be the one. but right now shes tanking for the party using the main gauche, giving her unbelievable flee for my current level of chars (avg 25 atm). who does it come down to? do i need a staff welder or am i better off just smashing the enemy away with attackers? any advice will be great.

Weapons are not predefine although they would somewhat help when you determine their clas type if you going to play that way.

I put in 112 so far in 3 months, most due to leveling and marks and hunts.

Fran-70
Penelo-70
Ashe -70

Baltheir-66
vann--66
basch--66

got pretty much most of the side quests done and in fact I could finish the game if I wanted to but other then that I am taking my time amoung a busy scedule.

From reading the gamefaq message boards depending on who you like anyone could be a magic user and stuff. But for me everyone has everything for a just in case. Plus makes my life easier .

yeh i've been hammering some long sessions into this game over the psat few weeks. i'm at about 80hrs in, havnt progressed much in story though. with the classes, i've just smacked my mp items on ashe and penelo for now since they have more mp anyway. basch, vaan my tanks and fran balthier my dds. very typical builds, i pretty much left them were they started lol. i was thinking of putting ranged weapons on my casters, it would make fights so much easier. for now, i'm taking a break from it. it really takes alot from u to get anywhere in the game and i just gotten to the point where i need to do something else lol. i reckon once i pop it on again i'll start playing hardcore again ;x

I like this game and anyone can do anything, Im about level 30 all charachters going to the henne mines but i've been taking my time doing hunts and ive almost completed the licese board

Edit: Also, a tip, Go to the Ozmone plain the Iron Carpace is worth 493 gil each and the Courpel pelt in the Golmore jungle sells well too easy money there.

This post has been edited by Vain: Jan 24 2007, 09:19 PM

mix around weapons/get good early
Final Fantasy Xii

Alrite m8,firstly everything you said bout vaan havining sword, barsch having axe/sword and so on is not true anyone can have anything. On my game I am lvl 47ish with 3 main guys and 3 backups who are lvl 30. Wat I did was hav vaan with spears, balthier with swords, fran bow, ashe and penalo with daggers and that worked really well for me. You dont need a magical person because it becomes pointless later on in the game. The best thing 2 do is train a little while at every place and continue through the game until you complete the events after the tomb of raithwall then look up strategies to get zodiac spear and that will make the game a whole lot easier.

-chris.P

Continous play
Final Fantasy Xii

Can you restart the game with your previous status?

-reply by joshua

anyone can do, but Penelo\\
Final Fantasy Xii

You don't really have to have one spellcaster in particular, cause all characters can cast. I've noticed though, that Penelo's magic is stronger than most characters, even when they are at the same level. So, for myself, I mainly use penelo as my healer, though it's always good to have another character with healing gambits as back-up.