What was your final esper you obtained? I am still missing three, but I made it to Zodiark, and failed, lol. Because of Darkja and under leveled characters.

Like most people, I suspect, I got Zodiark last. Because he was a bitch to get to and Darkja instantly kills/blinds two party members. Out of the other Espers, the only tough one (in my opinion) is Ultima, because of the changing conditions, and even she's not hard if you're at a high enough level.

Mine was Zodiark. He beat me the first time but on the second one I owned him.

On my first playthrough, Zodiark. On my second playthrough got all of them as soon as they became available, so that would meant Famfrit.

Ever thought of entering the battle with one party member? Ya know, so Darkja wouldn't be much of a burden?

I can't recall who the last one was that I got, but let's put it this way: I only need Ultima and Zodiark to complete collection.

Umm, I guess the one you get at the top of the Pharos. I gave up on the game, guys~

:o :o :o

zodiak was my final esper ^,^
it killed me 5 times, but i beat him on my 6th try ;)

Umm, I guess the one you get at the top of the Pharos. I gave up on the game, guys~

:o :o :o

You Basterereererererreed!

Zodiak.

Yeah I found Chaos quite difficult, Scathe hurt an awful lot.

Zodiark was my final Esper, but I wouldn't say he was the most difficult experience I had - C�chulainn takes the throne for that.

Was it Chaos the esper that you get at Necrohol of Nabudis? If yes, that was my last one.

I don't see how Zodiark is normally the last. The Esper at the top of the Pharos seems harder to get to. I can get through the Henne mines now, but NOT the Pharos!

Yeah I found Chaos quite difficult, Scathe hurt an awful lot.

Zodiark was my final Esper, but I wouldn't say he was the most difficult experience I had - C�chulainn takes the throne for that.

I found Cuchulainn rather easy at about level 45. I just cast haste and regen on all my party. He went down in no time.

I have obtained all but Zodiark and Ultima...the last one I obtained was Chaos...and the hardest one that I have fought against so far was Cushulainn...I might get around to getting the last 2 if I feel like it after I finish killing Yiazmat.

I still don't have at least half the espers, or nearly all the ultimate equipment. Don't get me wrong, I like that XII put in loads of optional stuff, but much of it feels like it's only there for its own sake, and I don't care to spend hours and hours on those things.

I still can't see how you're supposed to get all the ultimate weapons without a guide - most of them are bazaar goods that rely on you selling exactly the right amount of random loot. And I'd never have found Ultima without a map...

I hate hate hate that this is 4th hand news, but it was good enough to bolster opinions I had already developed:


One day, in another FF forum, I read that somebody briefly quoted a FF12
developer interview. I learned that the developers made all of these torturing
rare monster spawns, drops, and chests so people will be puzzled after a few
hours of failure, and come out to ask for help and exchange information --
thus they talk about this game more.

They call this "encouraging players' interaction".

In my view, though, it has no good meaning at all. This is nothing but a
technique to boost the game's popularity, by flushing players time down the
drain! From another interview translation, a developer revealed that they made
us miss the zodiac spear so easily, so we would have the motivation to play
the game again.

The short answer is that you can't figure out this stuff on your own. Despite what fanboys will tell you. Plain and simple.

Yeah, I used to like XII~ Fortunately, opinions can, and do, change :D

Neg, don't let the fact that this game has a few tacky publicity-whoring add-ons (like the ZS) put you off it completely.

Most of XII's optional stuff can be found out by the player, it's only a few Rare Game and chests that are an exception.

Way too late for that. I've felt this way for a long while. Just saw the opportunity to reiterate it.

I didn't see the point of obtaining the rare / ultimate weapons and so I didn't bother. To me, there was one main thing that symbolized having thoroughly beating the game, and that was obtaining the top Clan rank by filling up the Sky Pirate's Den. I just couldn't be arsed to go through all the hoop-de-hoop to obtain those ultimate weapons when you don't even actually need them to beat all the tough optional bosses, etc.


Oh-- and topic-- I think on my most recent playthrough, I went for Cuchulainn last, though it may have been Zodiark.

I didn't see the point of obtaining the rare / ultimate weapons and so I didn't bother. To me, there was one main thing that symbolized having thoroughly beating the game, and that was obtaining the top Clan rank by filling up the Sky Pirate's Den. I just couldn't be arsed to go through all the hoop-de-hoop to obtain those ultimate weapons when you don't even actually need them to beat all the tough optional bosses, etc.

My thoughts exactly. Though there's still the frustration of random rare game for the bestiary.