I got FFXII on release and have been playing ever since. Over 200 hours game play, done all hunts got a lot of the sky pirate den trophies, a fair few side quests.

Now the question:

FFXII is awesome, but does anyone think that if square dont fix up some stuff before 13 comes out that the whole series will be stuffed?

Mainly the percentages, "there's a X% chance of whateva rare monster appearing if you killed all the monsters in the area with whoeva as your party leader while it was raining" or the chests like the zodiac spear "there's a 0.39% chance of it being in the chest if you've got certain equipment and haven't opened certain chests"

Although FFXII is an awesome game the percentage chances ruined it. if it stay's like that for FFXIII then only hardcore Final fantasy fans (such as myself) will be bothered doing it all, sales will drop and Square will be forced to drop the whole series.

Comments plz.

I think, they way they've gone about certain Monsters spawning under certain circumstances was done really well. For starters, you are always on the world map and there are no more random encounters. So this gives the developers a chance to do things like this. And I don't mind going through a bit of trouble to get a certain monster to spawn.

Yeah same here. only thing that kind of annoyed me was that some weapons and armor can only be dropped from certain rare monsters eg. Danjuro = Larva eater, Grand armor = Tower, Grand helm = Helvinek. This would'nt bother me at all but for the fact they are rare drops, i got the larva eater to show up 5 times after chaining around 150 necrophobes before each time, and it still has'nt dropped the danjuro.

Its not the percentages that get me. It's that there are no clues, and that you just have to have luck on your side for a lot of things. Like the zodiac spear, that could have gone down much better if there were discreet clues about the chests you weren't meant to open. Otherwise, how are you meant to find out about it. I like to solve these problems myself, not just being lucky or resorting to a guide.

Word. That was one of Prak's chief complaints --- that sheer weird randomness element.

Hey, DeathShining, whip on this (http://forums.ffshrine.org/showpost.php?p=779268&postcount=625) :p

The bombshell is hard to get the darkblade from, but i managed to do that on my last game, took (what seemed like) forever though. Im not sure where you read that bit about the riding the cart to get it to respawn though, i never once used the cart to get it to respawn. I could'nt say about the chaining zoning thing, i did'nt know about that, but i will DEFINATELY be trying this on my current game.

All i did was move from lasche span to site 9, then come back, but instead of running across from one end of lasche span to the other to see if it spawns, just keep running in and out about 6 or 7 times. If it spawns on the 3rd or 4th it will still be their because you moved only one screen away, but saving time running accross the bridge each time to check.

After seeing the zoning thing im going for the grand armor, in about half an hour, and the darkblade. I cant see how the tower thing can be done though, maybe touch the waystone as soon as it dies. OH and the Larva Eater, you know im getting a Danjuro tonight! Thanks for pointing that out Knegative. :D

Could'nt agree more about the Zodiac Spear chest thing.

I used the cart with Bombshell the times I tried it, but hey whatever works. Besides I haven't tried for any of that stuff since, so I can't speak to it. I will though, I will.

yea after reading a few replies from a few forums it's not so much the percentages, althoiugh very crap, it's more that there's no clues to it at all. square basically forces you to look at a guide to have any clue how to do certain stuff.
and the things with the rare drops too.
so many things they couldda done better

As long as they fix it for XIII im happy. There's many things about XII that I love, and if they keep those and fix the bad things then I'm happy.

I used the cart with Bombshell the times I tried it, but hey whatever works. Besides I haven't tried for any of that stuff since, so I can't speak to it. I will though, I will.

You should'nt have to much of a problem with the Grand Armor, Grand Helm and Darkblade, but good luck with the danjuro. I tried getting it a few times now, had a go with the chaining method thing but it does'nt work on the larva eater, or the bomb. Tried some other things i seen dotted around some other forums but no joy.

The tower is'nt to hard its just a ballache running up the third ascent all those times with that god dam harp strumming in the background. I can still hear that shit now :sad: o the pain, all for 2 crummy Grand Helms.

Im not looking forward to the danjuro, o no :notgood:

There's a lovely vid on youtube where you can easily chain the larva eater. I'll try and dig it out for you.

Here you go. Easy(ish) Danjuro's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9RlQnbIOYs)

Yeah i seen that before, i might try that method next, problem is the guy must be japanese or something coz his english sucks, so i cant understand what hes trying to say. I think i understand the basics of it, will have to try it out and see, Thanks Dog.

I'm more than a little confused. I understand chaining the 'barons' (not sure if it that is the english name) because they are of the same type. I have no idea what is meant by the clothspinning the controller, 9 minute respawning, and why Necrophobes are involved.

If you could explain it, I'd really appreciate it Doggoneus.

Haha "clothspinning"... He meant a "clothes pin", a peg in other words.

Unfortunately I dont speak japanese so I don't get some of it as well. The larva eater appears after you kill a certain number of monsters, right? Chaining barons kills a certain amount of monsters and puts the chain level up to make a danjuro drop easier.

I think the necrophobes are involved to keep pushing up the number of kills so that larva eater appears. When he talks about Necro's related and not related to division, it means that some of the necrophobes don't divide at HP critical, I think he said that once a Necro has divided 3 times it stops dividing. Once you have four necrophobes that WONT divide left on screen, all preparations are complete. I'm not too sure why there is a need for the Necro's in the first place but if it works, it works.


"Hold an R2 button and a L3 button with something. And let XIV and SET LEO commute automatically".
He doesnt mean the L3 button, just the left joystick. R2 does flee, the left joystick when held down will keep switching the screens, and the commute part means keep moving between the XIV and Gate Leo screens. See below for why this is neccessary.


"Pass SET LEO and change an area for two neighbouring places after having defeated Larva Eater"
Basically, move two zones away from where you fought the larva eater after killing it, the basic method of respawning enemies in a zone, then return. Because you spent the 10 minutes switching, it should appear again straight away, then once its been killed again, as far as I got from the video, it will appear every 10 or so minutes after that, so keep switching zones until it spawns. He said the best he could get was around 8 kills of larva eater in one hour, so it's not going to appear that often. And also, he said that the drop rate he got was around about 10% for a danjuro.

Sorry that I haven't really been able to explain why this method works, more really just to translate it to proper english for the rest of us.

Just like to point out that this guy has way too much time on his hands, 99 danjuro's. This is also the same guy who has a game time of 999hrs 99mins 99secs, and has 7 Zodiac Spears (obtained from the Henne chest, so it does respawn).

I'm keen to try this method for danjuro's out, but I'm gonna get a zodiac spear first before I try it. Hope this all helped.

I think the necrophobes are involved to keep pushing up the number of kills so that larva eater appears. When he talks about Necro's related and not related to division, it means that some of the necrophobes don't divide at HP critical, I think he said that once a Necro has divided 3 times it stops dividing. Once you have four necrophobes that WONT divide left on screen, all preparations are complete. I'm not too sure why there is a need for the Necro's in the first place but if it works, it works.


About that, you need 4 necros at hp critical, but unable to devide? So i would need to find a necro, make it hp critical then devide, kill the divided necro and any other necro's devided from that first necro until it cannot devide no more. Then do the same with another until their are four hp critical unable to devide none related by devision necro's left on screen and then preps are complete? Or can the necros's be related by devision, but still unable to devide and be hp critical?

From what I understood, you make a necro divide three times so it wont divide any more, and then leave it. Move onto one of the divided ones and do the same, etc etc, until you have 4 at hp critical that wont divide. Kill off the rest, including the ones that divide from them, leaving the four that wont divide. It's probably best to note the letters of the necro's that wont divide so that you don't kill them, and then just keep killing the rest until they stop dividing and you're just left with those 4 you noted the letters of. I haven't tried this method yet but I will after I get a yagyu darkblade (i got bored of trying to get a zodiac spear).


By the way, the zoning method only works with Helvinek as it's a teleporting monster. It won't work with Bombshell unfortunately, and I assume it won't work with Tower either.

I think He is onto something though. The whole percent thing did piss me off a bit. But all in all I think the general people won't care.

From what I understood, you make a necro divide three times so it wont divide any more, and then leave it. Move onto one of the divided ones and do the same, etc etc, until you have 4 at hp critical that wont divide. Kill off the rest, including the ones that divide from them, leaving the four that wont divide. It's probably best to note the letters of the necro's that wont divide so that you don't kill them, and then just keep killing the rest until they stop dividing and you're just left with those 4 you noted the letters of. I haven't tried this method yet but I will after I get a yagyu darkblade (i got bored of trying to get a zodiac spear).


By the way, the zoning method only works with Helvinek as it's a teleporting monster. It won't work with Bombshell unfortunately, and I assume it won't work with Tower either.

Ive done it now, what i did was the first necro that popped up (Necro A) i got it to hp critical, then it devided. Every necro devided from Necro A i killed, then when another Necro popped up (Say Necro G) i got that to HP critical but did'nt kill it of. I did the same until their was four Original Necro's, all had popped up (as they do) not devided. I kept a note of the origionals like you said above. After that i zoned from Waystone XIV to the LEO GATESWITCH using the rubber band method for 20 mins. Then their was a larva eater, after killing that i ran to the Leo Gate zone and back again. Some fresh Necro's spawned in the GATESWITCH area but i just ignored and ran. Went back to Waystone XIV and their was larva eater again. Killed him then went two areas again (as you do when respawning monsters) then did the rubber band thing again for another 20 mins. Two more consectutive larva eaters again, my chain is at 25 now WOOT!

I have the darkblade, getting that seems easy now after trying for this danjuro. I have grand armor also Grand helm. A way to get a chain going on tower is chain the Clay golems in mosphoran highwaste to chain level 4, ride chocobo to phon coast, fly strahl to ridorana then make your way to tower with a nice chain level, weather or not this increases the chance for the helm to drop i cant say for sure, i think it does but....

Also i have three ribbons, im at levels 79 81 83 84 86 87, all of the decent sheilds, armors and most of the weapons and still getting my ass kicked when the reapers are out with the larva eater so go prepared.

It does work though :)

I still don't understand why you need the necros. Isn't the idea just that you're rezoning so many times? Or do the necros have to do with the requirements to make the larva eater spawn in the first place?

Sorry, I'm dense, and I've never even stepped foot in the crystal yet. :(

Note, I only want 1 Danjuro :p

Apparently, you need to kill a certain number of enemies for the larva eater to appear. I'm sure the necro's have something to do with that, perhaps when they divide, the system counts it as a kill or something, I don't know. You need the necro's there to make it first appear, and then a larva eater appears every 10 minutes or so, so that if you rezoned for 20 mins, you would get 2 consecutive larva eaters, and then again after another 20 mins etc.

Hey thanks for verifying the method, DeathShining, now we actually know a method that works. We have solved the Danjuro problem!

Okay, I've got it now. This is from Sephirosuy:


The area near the Way Stone XIII, XIV, XVI platform, get certain amount of chain combo (over 20) from killing Necrophobe, it will show with Reaper at XIII or XIV platform. You have to kill over 256 enemies in the Crystal Grande.

Recommend try at Way Stone XIII, when you've chained Necrophobe,Reaper will show up and a chance to encounter this rare monster with the Reaper. Leave for other platforms if it's not here, but not using the Way Stone. It has a rare appearance at many, other Way Stone area as well

Killing Necros with Poison keeps your Baron chain. I get it.

I can't believe it. 3 and a half hours with bombshell, a 30-chain, a ton of bomb ashes and no signs of a yagyu darkblade then BAM! Two at once! I'm gonna get another one now that I've worked this hard. I've got a (fairly) quick method down now for chaining bombshell. Just thought I'd let you know. I'll go for the danjuro tomorro.

EDIT: Got my third yagyu darkblade on the 35-chain. I'm never doing that again. Thank god for iTunes. At least I got some high arcana out of it.

Haha, I think you guys have covered every piece of hard to get equipment...

save the Mythril Sword from Omega Mk. XII. I guess you should just raise your chain level to max, fight, rinse and repeat. Grrr, I wish I had never sold that in the first place.

Crap, I didnt know that you can't get back the mythril sword except from omega. Dam, I wish I hadn't sold it now.

EDIT: Dude, that necro thing is hard! Way too much work! But I'm at the zoning part now. I've got 5 necro's, not sure if it will affect it or not but they are all ones that popped up. I'm just letting it zone now.

EDIT AGAIN: Woot! It works. So it doesn't have to be four necro's, you might only need one or something. 2 kills so far, I should get the danjuro soon.

I still don't understand why you need the necros. Isn't the idea just that you're rezoning so many times? Or do the necros have to do with the requirements to make the larva eater spawn in the first place?

Sorry, I'm dense, and I've never even stepped foot in the crystal yet. :(

Note, I only want 1 Danjuro :p

I only want the 1 myself, at least one of everything will do me.


Apparently, you need to kill a certain number of enemies for the larva eater to appear. I'm sure the necro's have something to do with that, perhaps when they divide, the system counts it as a kill or something, I don't know. You need the necro's there to make it first appear, and then a larva eater appears every 10 minutes or so, so that if you rezoned for 20 mins, you would get 2 consecutive larva eaters, and then again after another 20 mins etc.

Hey thanks for verifying the method, DeathShining, now we actually know a method that works. We have solved the Danjuro problem!

Maybe, i was thinking that the necros being in a critical state may count towards a kill for the larva eater to appear, then the constant rezoning adds up and up and so on, 4 - 8 - 12 - 16 - 20 - 24 etc etc until it counts 256, or what ever it takes to make it appear. Ive got it to appear after a chain of 156 necros or something like that, on more than one occasion.

Actually, that sounds very reasonable. Perhaps after you zone, the system counts a necro as a certain number of mobs (depending on how many it would divide into), and obviously if you kill one of the necro's that was a division, it counts as a kill. Then every time you move into that zone, it counts it as another kill.

For example, Necro A is hp critical and divides ultimately into Necro's B, C and D as well. You kill B, C and D, leaving A, then every time you zone, the system sees A (it knows A is worth 4 mobs as that's the number it divides into) but B, C and D are killed, so it counts another 3 kills (so 3 kills every time you zone). That would definately explain the use of necro's, and only leaving necro's that popped up and not divided from another necro. In fact, the more I think about it the more it makes sense. Do you understand what I'm on about?

Finally got a danjuro after killing Larva Eater 20 times. Is it just me or does it hardly ever drop loot? I had chain level 4 before I went into the great crystal but of the 20 times I killed it, it dropped loot twice. I got it on the second drop. I was going to get 3 but it was taking so long I gave up.

Yep i understand, and it makes perfect sense to me, i'd say thats gotta be the way it works, nice one dog :D

I dont think the chain level works the same with different monsters that are the same type. When you get a level 4 chain on a certain type of monster it will start to drop 2 or 3 items of the same kind in one drop, thats when chaining the exact same monster. When chaining different monsters that count as the same chain, eg- Cerberus and Tartarus, it wont drop more of the same item until you start to chain the exact same monster 1 after the other. I noticed this when going for the Hellgates flame. After 200 chain it was still only dropping 1 of each item it dropped.

I also noticed this with the tower. I chained clay golems to chain level 4 before starting to chain tower, but it was only dropping 1 solid stone, or nothing at all in the first 8 kills or so. Then i got a high arcana, and it started dropping 2 solid stones. It didnt drop a grand helm until i had chained 30 or so towers, but the actual on screen chain was like 55 or something. Big difference was i was collecting the loot from the start of the tower, but it seemed like the chain levels were rising as if i was'nt collecting the loot, because i had already gained a lvl4 chain with the clay golems. I think the chain lvl gained with the previous monster (same classification - different genus), cancels out the not gaining a chain level if you collect the loot system, so you start a new chain with the tower as if from 2, but it actually shows where you left of with the golems, but when you collect the loot you will still gain a chain level very early (around 7) where as if you did'nt have the previous chain level with the same type of monster, it would be the later chain level of around 31 when collecting the items, all the way up to a possible 163 for lvl4. (according to the guide)

I think theirs two types of chain level, the obvious chain level on screen for defeating the same classification of monster, and a hidden loot chain level. When you chain the exact same genus/classification of monster thats when the hidden loot chain level will increase, thus increasing the rare loot dropped and the amount, but when chaining a same classification monster with a different genus, it cancels out the hidden loot chain every time you kill a different genus.
Eg.
Cerberus = Beast/Wolf-----Tartarus = Undead/Wolf.
-----------Genus/Class---------------Genus/Class--------
-------LootChain/OnScreenChain--LootChain/OnScreenChain---


Obviously chaining the exact same monster will be the same genus/classification, but a different monster with a different genus, but same classification will count as a chain, but not a loot chain.

I think thats the point of the chaining the barons before the larva eater anyway, so you can still pick up the early drops without affecting the chain level increase. Do you know what i mean?

Just about, yeah. I reckon you could be right. Someone should go to Ultimania with this stuff, see if there's any mention of any of this.

So you're saying that the loot chain will only go up if you kill the same genus and same class monsters in a row? So, for the hell gate's flame, obviously killing both Cerberus's and Tartarus's would raise the visible chain level, but not the loot chain. In other words, the quickest way for the amount of loot recieved and the chance of rare drops to increase, surely it would be best to just kill the cerberus's to keep raising the LootChain?

All I know is that there IS a hidden chain, where you keep killing monsters of a different class, but this hidden loot chain is within a class, and so wouldn't be linked with the HiddenChain. It sounds reasonable to me.

I'm not too sure about the whole 'picking up early drops' thing. I know that picking up loot will make it harder for a chain level to occur, which is why it's best to collect loot when the OnScreenChainLevel is flashing. But, unless I'm wrong, wouldn't the Larva Eater be a different genus to the Gargoyle Barons? They have the same class, hence the OnScreenChain transfers across, but if they are different genus', then the HiddenLootChain would revert back to 1, right? Hence why it's still hard to get the danjuro early into that process, even with the max chain level?

Perhaps I'm reading into this too much, it's just about starting to go over my head now :D.

Yeah, the loot chain would revert back to 1 when starting to chain the larva eater, but because your already at chain level 4 on screen from the barons, you can still pick up the drops from the beginning without a delay in the chain level rising for the loot. So if you chain 30 larva eaters after the baron lvl4 chain, and pick up the loot you will still be at chain level 4 and start to notice the drops increasing after killing 25 larva eaters. But if you started to chain the larva eater from scratch, without a chain lvl 4 of barons before hand, if you picked up every peice of loot it would delay the chain level rising, and delay the chance's of danjuro, or 2 danjuro's or 3 danjuro's being dropped. Also if you did'nt pick up the loot to increase the chain level faster, theirs still that chance you might miss it on 1 of the drops. So chaining the barons before increases the overall chance. I think theirs like a 3% chance of danjuro being dropped at chain lvl 1, then 12% at chain level 4

Thats what im thinkin anyway.

Also i got danjuro last night, took 3 1/2 hours and an overall chain of 56, i think i got lucky.

I got lucky, I got it on the second drop, but I had to kill it 20 times for it to drop 2 pieces of loot :P

I understand what you mean now, so you'd still have a higher chance of getting danjuro by building the visible chain to lv4 before fighting larva eater. I'm gonna try and get some more danjuro's another time, it's nice to know a method that works.

Okay, I've officially decided to not go for these lovely treasures. Wasted more time today trying to get a Darkblade than I care to admit.

Still want to finish my synthesis list, so which is better to chain for Hell-Gate's Flames, Tartarus or Cerberus?

I think, if I understood deathshining correctly, it's best to kill both of them as it will raise the chain level quickly, then once the chain level reaches lv4, just kill the cerberus', I think that's the quickest way to get hell gate's flame. I'm not even bothering to go for that/those weapons yet. Too much work, espescially the tournesol.

Alright, before I started chaining Tartarus/Cerberus I hadn't finished Cerberus' bestiary entry. He is the only one can that can drop them. It's his monograph drop, in fact. But I didn't get any until I had reached a lvl 4 chain and started killing them exclusively. So it looks like, for once, that chaining affects a monograph drop.

I chained only Tartarus to lvl 4, then I switched to Cerberus exclusively and after I had gotten enough to have a lvl 4 chain of them on their own (roughtly 50; so total chain of 100) I started getting flames like every other drop.

I only need 5 serpent eyes and I'll have my tournesol. I already synthed my Empryeal Souls and Gemsteels, since I had 6 High Arcana anyway :D

Ok, whatever works. Personally, I thought monograph drops were irrelevent to chain levels. Most mobs have common loot, uncommon loot and rare loot. The chances of getting rarer loot increase as the chain level goes up, or so I've come to believe. But monograph drops have a fixed percentage for turning up, so I thought that chain levels didn't affect them, as there was a set chance to get a monograph drop every time you pick up loot. Perhaps it was coincedence that you didn't get hell gate flames for ages, or perhaps I'm wrong. I'll try for some soon so I'll see if I notice anything.

That's exactly why I said 'for once.' It might very well have been a coincedence. Didn't really matter any, they are the most numerous enemies in the North part of the Feywood, if you're running in that tight circle, anyway.

I think, they way they've gone about certain Monsters spawning under certain circumstances was done really well. For starters, you are always on the world map and there are no more random encounters. So this gives the developers a chance to do things like this. And I don't mind going through a bit of trouble to get a certain monster to spawn.

Yeah I loved that to really creative. I don't think just the percentage will make ever one not play it and force them to drop the series though

Ok, whatever works. Personally, I thought monograph drops were irrelevent to chain levels. Most mobs have common loot, uncommon loot and rare loot. The chances of getting rarer loot increase as the chain level goes up, or so I've come to believe. But monograph drops have a fixed percentage for turning up, so I thought that chain levels didn't affect them, as there was a set chance to get a monograph drop every time you pick up loot. Perhaps it was coincedence that you didn't get hell gate flames for ages, or perhaps I'm wrong. I'll try for some soon so I'll see if I notice anything.

Its probably how you said, i chained around 223 cerberus and tartarus on one occasion, and in that chain only received 4 hell gates flames. But theirs been a few times ive been running through that section just to get somewhere, killed the odd cerberus and tartarus without even trying for a hell gates flame and they dropped them on the 2nd drop or whatever.

I always thought the bigger the chain the higher the chance of any drop, including monograph, but maybe not :sad:

I remember trying for Charged Gizzards in Henne mines and when I chained, I never got any. When I started breaking the chain whenever I zoned I got them like in 4 attempts.

Has anyone done a drop probability guide a la the Zanmato Compatability guide? I'm sure someone will eventually.

They might have done on gamefaqs. I haven't checked. It's a 5% chance of a hell gate's flame, but you can poach them as well. They're the rare poach.

Meh, I hate poaching. I poached Wary Wolf for a Hell-Gate's Flame once, though :p