#i think i fucked up the spelling of labryinth

[pennielane]

THE BEATLES in GET BACK Part II

[rapid-apathy]

So, you wanna start FFXII...

For my dearest @montmartre-parapluie! Not a guide, there’s plenty of those, just a short cheat sheet on starting the game strong ❤️

I own the original game and none of this fancy repackaged PS4 cynical resale versions. But I think in general this should be the same, sans the forbidden treasure chests.

Chests not to touch: Chest across from Old Dalan’s house Chest in Royal Palace Chest in Repository Room of Nalbina Dungeon Chests on Phon Coast

Tomato Hunt Kill a few cactoids and wolves (one at a time! avoid groups of enemies for now) first, and you'll level up to level 2 just on that and get a few more precious HP. Off to the right are some cactoids and a chest and off to the left be careful, but there are wolves there for you. Make sure you kill the two or three wolves that are around the cliff the mark is on before initiating the fight, because once you get his HP down all the way, he'll jump off the cliff, and you gotta run down there and finish him off. Have at least 5 potions with you. If you need to go back and save or get more potions before fighting the mark, go for it! The higher your level, the better.

Don't worry about the dinosaur, he's a non-aggro'd enemy, he'll only attack if you attack him or there is magic cast near him. On that note however, best to keep a nice distance just in case, because he's like level 30 and will destroy you instantly. Return to town and buy Cure with the loot and reward money. Don't, however, waste what little precious cash you have in Rabanastre on armor or weapons. The good stuff is stolen and bought in Nalbina which you can access when you do the Giza Plains soon.

Giza - Sunstone quest Penelo will join you after you reach the village, which is very close to the entrance, so this will be a little easier. This is your first real chance to 1. level up a little, 2. get some cash, 3. steal some good shit. So do the stupid sunstone BS and then go through the Giza Plains, the only thing you gotta look out for is the big guys with swords, there's 2 of them in the SW area. YOU ARE NOT READY. Everything else you can handle quite easily. Penelo has Cure too in case you don't yet. You can buy a Broadsword from the Village, I recommend doing that as soon as you're able. There is a chance of getting a Rod in a chest in the Estersand, but if not, you gotta buy something like a pleb. Kill/steal repeat. Then go to the SE and exit into the Estersand, and start chaining those doggos.

Try to chain the wolves and you will get better drops, tons of potions, wind stones, and the mystic armor Pointy Hat and Silken Shirt. When you get Fran and Balthier, they will only have basic shit armor, so getting this stuff will be a huge help and you can sell whatever you don't need. Go all the way until you reach the South Bank Village. There is an orange save crystal, which you can use to go back to Rabanastre instead of walking if you wish, and a very important later on merchant (golden axe). Sell your loot and buy 3 immune poison rings, one for Vaan, Fran and Balthier. You will thank me for this later. Go out again, chain chain chain those doggos and then in the NE corner of the Yardang Labryinth area, there is an exit to Nalbina Fortress where you can essentially skip ahead a little bit as far as gear goes, and buy some higher level things than are available in Rabanastre. So by the time we are ready to go to the Palace, we look something like this:

Just one note, don't buy bronze armor, I say this because for one, the Kilimaweave Shirt you can buy in Nalbina is a point higher in defense and two, when you escape from the Palace through the waterway, you will be able to steal them from the flying demons. Then you should be able to armor up Fran and Balthier for free. Steal your way to success in this game! Always be stealin’. Before you return to Rabanastre though, be SURE to remove all of Penelo's gear. She will leave and not come back until you're like level 15+, so all that stuff will go to waste.

Go back to Old Pedo and initiate the next part of the game, buy Fire, you really will want this because there are Flan enemies in the waterway and the Barheim Passage and you will not be able to get it again until you exit those. Fran has Fire, but you really want at least 2 people with it. Protect is the other I recommend, the others? Don't waste your money yet.

Do not open the treasure chests in the palace. Personally I avoid all of them, just to be safe.

Escape So you have Fran and Balthier and then Ashe. Ashe takes care of herself right now, so she's nothing you have to worry about. She'll heal herself. Only if she gets killed, Blind or Poisoined do you need to attend to her. And you have gambits!!! finally god how annoying. Set Vaan to steal, let everyone else handle the fighting. This is another good area to do some leveling and loot collecting AND to knock out the Bestiary for this area because many of these enemies can be a serious bitch to spawn later, so its way easier now while they're so easily respawnable just by zoning in and out. There's two save crystal between the areas you need to run back and forth a few times through, the treasure chests also have a high respawn rate, so its a nice sweet grinding area. You should be able to steal Bronze Armor, Leather Helm, (rarely for me) Leather Shield. The chests under the little water fall will respawn as well, and they often contain shields or gil.

Escape part deux Getting out of prison. Remember do not touch any of the treasure chests in the repository room, just save and gtfo. All of the treasure chests in the dungeon will be knots of rust, which after you fight the three Seeq's are pretty useless, but you can throw them at imperials for funsies (I learned there is some formula in the game with dark matter damage later on that uses the knots of rust you've used to determine its strength, but its like.... fuck the knots of rust)

Escape.... still All I'll say about the Barheim passage is that if you want to complete the Bestiary and get some mad cash, let the power get below 50%, but I recommend doing this when you're near the end otherwise you're going to be constantly swarmed by enemies and it gets annoying. So kill all the mimics except the last one, then you can get the zombies and skull defenders. You'll have to back track a little, but there's a save crystal at the end before the boss fight you can use and there is one by the section where the zombies pop up. I don't think you can spawn them later on, so something to keep in mind. It'll also be a slight early advantage of getting loot from undead enemies. You will not be able to return to the Barheim for some time and without completing like 45 side quests for the stupid key, so up to you. When I did it this last time, I came out of the passage with 50,000 gil between loot and cash. Even I was surprised, lol. You're gonna need it! You're gonna not only need gear for 4 characters when you get to Bhujerba, you will need to buy a lot of gambits, there's Poach and Charge technicks to buy which you want asap, and more spells, not to mention any items, and grimores/monographs (look these up, you want them as soon as you can afford).

When you exit the passage, you can just go up to the Village and you can teleport back to Rabanastre, assuming you have a teleport stone which you should have at least a few by now, you can steal them from the bats a lot. But I tell you, do NOT do your shopping there!!! Wait!!! The very next thing you're going to do in game is fly to Bhujerba, and you can shop there with higher level stuff than is in Rabanastre.

You should have everything you need for Silent Shot which I use throughout the entire game, it's quite critical I'd say. You need 3 dark stones (undead enemies in the waterway and barheim), 3 fish scales (fishies in the waterway and the Nebra Banks in the Estersand), and 3 green liquid (flans in the barheim), and it will be from the Bazaar as Markman's Delight along with an upgraded gun.

Open the LP board up and get those Mist abilities ASAP. I've never used the Mist abilities, but they give you additional bars of MP. Balthier's are the easiest to get to all the fastest, some others are behind some pretty pricey squares.

And with that, you should have a pretty solid foundation to slay on. ❤️

And one more thing I'll mention, ok two, is the measure weapons and auto-leveling.

These have a purpose, if you have a character just stealing or casting, they have a super high evasion/low damage and on hit they will leave a positive buff. Which means if the character gets confused and hits themselves or another party member they won't wipe them out plus it gives them a status effect. It's also a good way to have access to Bravery long before you're able to buy the spell, just target who you want to buff and have them attack. So when Fran hits her hubby, it's with love.

Also guns, they always come up looking like shit on the stats, but they are a very powerful weapon. You can also put them on weaker characters since guns don’t use the users stats when calculating damage. Once all the augments and haste is in play, the gun fires MUCH quicker as well.

And related, is the auto-leveling section of this game, the Jellies in the Henne Mines. The guides are crazy overly complicated on this, and I don't know why, lol. Here's all you need:

You need to be level 20-ish? You could possibly do it lower, although you gotta have the ability and LP to purchase Charm, Break and Syphon. As long as the jellies are hitting you for no more than 10-20, you're good to go. You don't need any special gear really, but equipping everyone with a shield and either no weapon or a measure is the way to go. Having everyone equipped with a Golden Amulet (double LP, get 6, works equipped on inactive party members, so always leave inactives equipped) or Embroidered Tippet (double Exp, does not work on inactives, you only need 3) is recommended. You can get the Golden Amulet very early in the game by managing to get through with your life to the Mosphoran Highwaste from the Westersand after you leave the Barheim Passage. It's not too crazy, just be prepared to fleeeeee, it's worth it when you realize how much LP some of this shit needs.

You don't get Syphon until mid-game (buy from shop on transport ship), so you can use Charge, set it last so they aren't endlessly casting it though. Your gambits should look something like this:

Smelling Salts and Antidotes are needed as the jellies cast confuse and poison, Esuna for back up is good. Have all three players set to this, make sure your inactives have their golden amulets equipped, and set it and forget it for a few hours at least. I usually do this right before/after Archades in the game, or level 40-50-ish. The Cerobi Steppe is where you can steal the Embroidered Tippets from the kitties. Otherwise you gotta wait and buy them in Archades.

In closing, rob the shit out of these bitches, chain for mad drops, cap an ass or two with your blunderbuss. I hope your play this round is much more fun!!!!