I don’t normally talk about politics, but I think this is some truly hard-hitting election coverage that everyone needs to read.
Or maybe not. All I know is that my polling location is in some garage about a block from my apartment, which is both weird and guilt-inducing. If I don’t hit the polls today it’s because I’m a lazy creep who hates democracy. Not unlike our current government! My only real ambition today is to vote against everyone who approved the Military Commissions Act. I figure the minimum requirement for anyone leading the country should be to understand the basic principle upon which the country was founded.
Well, enough of that. In far more important news, I’ve discovered a new and exciting method to increase my work output: for every article I write, I reward myself with two hours of FFXII play time. I put this into effect over the weekend and managed to crank out five reviews, columns and things about ZEEEEELLLLDAAAAAA. That’s ten hours, right there!
I can’t wait until I have time to cash in my reward.
My fragmented FFXII gameplay sessions have had a strange result: less time for exploration and wandering, meaning being underleveled compared to my import playthrough. It was bad news when one of Ghis’ guardsmen — not Ghis himself! — took down my tank in a single two-hit combo. Fortunately, I managed to survive the battle and voyage onward to the desert, where I am committed to transforming Vaan into a monk before I go any further, by golly. It’s probably just too much Tactics speaking, but I feel that anyone wearing a vest over no shirt in a Matsuno game was destined to become a fist-fighting warrior. That means unlocking the licenses for Barehanded and the Amber Amulet, and maybe some HP+ since at the moment Basch has twice as many hit points as he does. This is my mission. It is important.
Spoiler: FFXII NERD ALERT AHEAD! I’m still trying to perfect the auto-stealing thing. Has anyone gotten stealing to work so your thief doesn’t try to swipe goodies from the same enemy over and over again, even after a successful pilfer? I’m thinking maybe setting your leader’s first two Gambits to [ENEMY: PARTY LEADER’S TARGET, ATTACK] followed by [ENEMY: HP=100%, STEAL] might work. Since he/she would only attack an enemy targeted by him/herself, a first encounter with an enemy would skip Gambit 1 and jump to Steal, at which point the enemy would be targeted, which would cause the Attack Gambit to kick in. Or is that crazy talk? Anyone?
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Spoilers
That was cool, but I want to know where Wolverine stands. Or maybe some Professor X is _____ and Magneto is _____ action. Not enough X-Men representation!
when i beat tactics, Ramza was a monk with two weapon attack, doing damage into the thousands per fist. the next time i played fft, the game got revenge by random encountering me into a battle against 22 (!!) 70th level monks. yeah.
and green lantern is definately not a neocon. A reagan-era hard-right republican, but definately pre-norquist. And he’s still my favorite member of the DCU.
OMG THERE IS A GUY NAMED GHIS AND A DESERT SCENARIO FOLLOWS SOMETIME AFTER IN A GAME THAT TAKES PLACE IN A DESERT
ZOMG DONT TELL ANYONE THAT SNAPE KILLS TRINITY WITH ROSEBUD (WHICH IS MADE OUT OF PEOPLE). AND SNAPE IS KEYSER SOZE’S FATHER!
Parish: that sequence sounds weird on paper since he’ll only attack when he has a target and he’ll attempt stealing from a full HP mob, wouldn’t that mean the attacking gambit’s priority would overwrite steal attempt as soon as the character locks onto a mob?
the official strategy guide says that making steal a gambit is a bad idea, cause it doesn’t really work well.
I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure that in most cases lower-tier actions will be carried out fully even if a higher-tier action becomes relevant before the lower-tier action is executed. If you have a character set to Cure Allies below 50% HP first and attack second, they’ll complete an attack command in progress before healing someone who has just entered the below-50% HP range… right?
Also, Professor X and Magneto are both fascist bastards. Xavier is a fascist on the side of tolerance, which I guess is more acceptable.
Official strategy guides are by no means a end-all to a game, however, and I have yet to read one that didn’t have at least one obvious mistake. Parish, you’re well ahead of me in the game, but I’ll keep messing with steal gambits.
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Also – Nei dies in Phantasy Star II!!!
Also also – Yes, lower teir actions in progress will finish before beginning an upper teir that is suddenly revelant. I’m having programming flowchart flashbacks.
This is just a thought, but you could set Steal to the “Target: Character HP = %100” gambit or whatever it’s called. You know, the one in which he/she targets an enemy so long as his own HP is at %100. The enemy instantly retaliates, Vaan (or whoever) loses HP, the gambit loses effect.
Final Fantasy XII and its gambit system sound like a thing for geeks. I mean, who would want to play that?
For one, I was being a little tongue in cheek to point out it’s assumed all Toastyfrog’s readers are well into FFXII and not, you know, waiting until after Zelda (cause we ALL know Parish is anti-Zelolda).
As for: “Also – Nei dies in Phantasy Star II!!!”
Find me a Genesis copy of FFXII and I’ll retract my statement.
2 1/2 hours in
That list is bunk. For one thing, how could Wonder Woman vote? She’s not a citizen of the United States, she’s an abassador from Paradise Island. Second, Superman is not pro-capital punishment! He uses the phantom zone for that very reason and… OH GOD WHAT AM I DOING?
Ha, I like that article you liked to :) I did the same thing once and figured all the FF characters’ political orientations … it was fun.
The Hulk bit was best.
I gave up on the steal gambit. I just make sure my party leader has steal and open up with it every battle. Aggravating, but effective.
Well, I thought about going with Poach instead, but as far as I can tell a poached monster gives you LP but no experience, and it doesn’t give random drops (which sucks when you’re chaining). Lame!
The problem with setting up a gambit for steal is that if you have Enemy HP = 100% Steal, your stealer will run around in circles targeting each monster who has full HP. This is fine if there are a few people, but when there are four or five it’s extremely ineffective. While they’re running around stealing, they’ll also be getting beat up. Your healing gambits will kick in, and then you’re wasting MP on stealing Pebbles from Tusken Raiders or Potions from Stormtroopers. Also, if you set other people’s gambits to attack the leader’s target, they’ll end up switching targets just as many times as your stealer does. Basically, you end up with a big group of idiots running around in circles while a bunch of half-dead Tusken Raiders beat on you with cudgels and mock you with their resembelance to a horrible union between a Tusken Raider and an Ewok. A horrible, horrible union. And on top of all of that, sometimes steal fails. So from what I can see there’s no real effective way to set up a steal gambit this early in the game. It’s always going to have some sort of fault.
Yea Parish I have been having the same problem and I have tried about a million different combinations of commands so I’m in the same boat. The only thing is that why is stealing so unnecessary according to some of these guys? I usually let Ashe run around like a headless chicken bandit and still get some mad loot. I feel that it has to be worth it.
Is Halo 3 going to take precedence over the Zelda info you release on 1up?
Yeah, I’ve encountered those very problems. That’s why I think putting a Enemy: Party Leader’s Target first would solve the problem. If your leader approaches an enemy which hasn’t been targeted, he’ll skip the first Gambit and go to the second, initiating a Steal. But once that’s done, the enemy has become targeted, which means that for his next action your party leader’s logic will jump back up to the first gambit and attack that enemy rather than stealing from the next. After all, attacking comes before stealing. It makes sense in a weird FFXII kind of way.
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I’m positive this will work. I’ll test it as soon as I get home.
I’ve been using the HP = %100 to steal. It becomes problematic when confronted by a mob as that character will go about stealing from everyone and until one of my other characters hurts someone Vaan keeps stealing. Now I’ve obtained FFV Advance, which your 1up review is positively in love with, and will be spending my non-FFXII time with it. It’s like Final Fantasy nirvana. I just need FFVI Advance to come out and I’ll be set.
Let us know what the results are of Gambit experiment 1. I’ll do my own reconnaissance.
I have Vaan on Foe=100%hp=steal then i have one of the casters cast dark which hits all of the mob which in turns only lets Vaan steal twice then attack, works well if i have Basch as the tank and lead in with him so i and about to attack while Vaan steals then targets another monster (if one is present) then Penelo/Fran/Ashe fires off a dark and then Vaan is left with no enemy with 100%hp attacks, only failed on me once when Vaan ran away and was stealing from some monster i didn’t even know existed.
I’ve been using the steal gambit you (and everyone else, mostly) has mentioned and it.. usually works. Except against hell hounds in Golmore, and I have NO idea why that is. I hate those things.
Hey, but how do you guys usually go about tackling a boss? I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve been leveling up so much with everyone, but I’ve been able to beat each new boss simply by having two characters attack non-stop (with ally=any, Phoenix Down on both) while the third casts bubble, Curaga, and haste in the background. I was able to take down the boss of Draclor Labs (who will remain nameless for spoilers sake) in this way, same with the next four bosses.
I forgot to add this in the first comment, but what I meant to end with is, “Do any of you use any kind of clever strategy, or is that mostly what you do? Because I’m thinking I might just be lazy or something.”
I just chain mist attacks for bosses and hard hunts. :)
I’ve sort of given up on misting because it takes so long. Plus how it eats through your MP and all. But I’m sort of used to that kind of system, since Golden Sun did the same basic thing with the Djinn and special attacks, I guess. The summon spells looked really cool in that game, mostly so you’d feel less bummed about the fact that you would be dead two minutes later.
i got all the of the chars to have a mist attack then i have 3 out and chain them for at least an inferno, then bring out the other three one at a time, each time hoping to get a 3+ chain and usually that takes the boss down to less than 25% good luck jfrog
*some reason the above post acted out of turn and didn’t post as a whole feel free to delete
Playing FFXII took me back to the times when I played (or tried to play) FF Tactics: I’m addicted to the story, but sometimes is so hard I fear I won’t be able to finish it at all. Maybe the game isn’t friendly enough or maybe I’m a complete idiot.
Anyway, the Gambit system is ok, but I mostly use it for the very basic things, such as attack or heal. I myself input any other specific action. I don’t really understand how this “progamming” prioritizes actions.
Bisdes, nobody else has the game here (I live in Mexico and I bought probably the last copy in the city), so there’s no one who can help me understand this stuff. It’s all hit and miss.
I made Vaan into a Samurai/White Mage (ie Katana + White Magic), and it seems to be working out fairly well for me. As far as the steal thing goes, I’d been using Enemy: HP = 100% and Penelo just ran up and tried to steal from every mob in range. Once she stole from one that the rest of the party wasn’t fighting, though, she was stuck there repeatedly stealing until the rest of us moved on. I’ll have to try your gambit for attacking party leader’s target first, that would alleviate the issues that I’m having in theory.
I personally keep it simple. [Enemy HP > 70% = steal] over [Any Foes = Attack].
Since I lead with Vaan (my main thief) when he’s on the field, it gives him time to grab something before the rest of the party take down the enemy. After a bit of damage, Vaan will start fighting.
Just out of curiousity, what direction are you guys taking your party weaponwise? For me:
Vaan – sword & shield
Balthier – ranged guns (duh), hesitating to go to handbombs
Fran – crossbow (duh)
Ashe – Sword and Shield
Basche – Heavy weapons like axes and hammers, briefly used spears
Penelo – I had her heavy with magic using several staffs but now I gave her a higher level ninja sword and lost minimal magic points. Seems to be working out well.
I originally stuck with their default choices, vbut i’ve moved things around and at the moment:
-Vaan: 2H Katana
-Balthier: wavering between Staff and crossbow
-Fran: Bow
-Basch: Axe + shield
-Ashe: Sword + Shield
-Penelo: Kinda flopping between crossbow and dagger+shield
Certain weapon types still elude me with their apparent uselessness (measure weapons, I’m looking right at you). I’ve kind of been applying licenses haphazardly, concentrating on giving everyone their Mist Knacks and vaguely making Ashe my main tech user and Fran my main mage, though everyone has access to White Magic and a good chunk of Green and Time Magic.
Quickenings are actually a bit overpowered, I think. I killed one boss in the Stilshrine of Miriam with a single Quickening chain and a few weapon hits, and took out Judge SPOILER in one chain. I mean, it’s cool and all to do 13,000 HP of damage in one go, but it feels a little like cheating when the boss never even gets to act. It doesn’t work all the time, but often enough. Summons seem useful against large groups of tough monsters in a new area, but aren’t much good against bosses so far. Anyone gotten good results?
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Also, has anyone found much use for area-damage skills like Traveler or Horology? They never seem to do damage worth a damn and they miss half the time. I want to like them, but I can’t find a use for them.
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Also, a good Gambit I’ve started using is Foe: Self HP
Something that’s disappointed me, and I see it here, is how so few people have equipped Fran with katanas. It’s not that such a great leap in logic (they’re right next to Bows), she’s good with them and, plus, running around as a sexy, katana-wielding bunny girl is fun.
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I’m almost at Bur-Omisace myself, (I just beat the Elder Wyrm and left the jungle), and I feel, even at nearly 40 hours, as if I still don’t have as many gambits as I’d like. I’ve little interest in things like setting it so that if a character gets KO’d he’d be instantly revived, or my characters automatically knowing to cast fire on fire-vulnerable foes. What I’m really interested in, honestly, is creating a vast, weaving ballet of actions; a smorgasbord of pain, if you will, which will not leave my enemies dead but wanting it, all of which would be initiated by any simple, mundane condition. And really, isn’t that what the gambit system is there for?
“I’m pretty sure that in most cases lower-tier actions will be carried out fully even if a higher-tier action becomes relevant before the lower-tier action is executed. If you have a character set to Cure Allies below 50% HP first and attack second, they’ll complete an attack command in progress before healing someone who has just entered the below-50% HP range… right?”
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Nope, if a character goes under the HP limit, they’ll abort the attack and start charging cure/potion (or curaga/hi-potion). I’m not sure if this applies with stealing and attacking the party leader’s target, I’ve never tried it, but regular attacks definitely get stopped short in favor of healing.
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Also, I just switched Fran over from spears to katanas, exactly for the reason DNi mentioned. That is, sexy, katana-wielding bunny-girl, not the gameplay-related one.
Yep, I’ve tried that. It targets the victim to steal, goes “Oh hey I have have a target!” and starts the Attack gambit.
It WILL finish the Steal if somebody attacks it and it ceases to have 100% HP if the Steal gambit is above the Attack gambit, though.
This may come to bite me in the proverbial ass but…..I never really screwed with stealing. I guess I’m missing some good stuff eh?
mkt3: Stealing just about doubles your loot supply, and thus your income. Except when you steal a durn pebble or something.
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I gave Fran a katana as soon as I found one, and haven’t taken it away since. She just looks cool swishing those things around, just like Balthier really fits when using a gun.
I tried a couple different things with steal. It seemed like 1) Enemy Targeting Self – Attack and 2) Enemy 100% HP – Steal was working for a minute, but only when I managed to sneak up behind an enemy before the enemy notices Vaan. Who is the thief. Usually what does work is that classic 1) Enemy 100% – Steal and then having Penelo beat on Vaan’s target, so they move together as a team.
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I like knives – like the character in Seiken Densetsu III, Zidane from FF9, etc. Seems they don’t go higher than Level 3, but I haven’t really explored the weapon licences at all. Armor is neat, though, especially the way different types affect different stats.
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I find the bosses hard, but I’m not into level grinding all that much, so I might be a little underlevel. If anything, it really lets me strategize, so I think I prefer it.
Wow, without having any knowledge of FFXII’s Gambit system I am shocked, amazed, and somewhat delighted that you are now able to program your characters. Can you script gambits like [ENEMY: TYPE = MOOGLE, CHEER] or [AIRSHIP: PILOT = CHOCOBO, VOMIT]?
I sort of missed the boat on the first round of reflections of FFXII, so here we go! When I began to read the strategy guide, I immediately developed a Matsuno headache, that is, a migraine caused by the futile attempt to grok all the systems Matsuno-san has shoved into his game (nothing astrological this time around though, save one powerful polearm you won’t get unless you have a strategy or an extreme aversion to treasure chests).
Overall, the game is, in my low opinion, top-notch in almost every aspect. But as we’ve seen, it’s a pretty divisive game (screw you faqtards!). My only (admittedly nitpicky) complaint is that the license board is kind of random (unless Matsuno ingeniously designed it to convey bureaucracy). I’m glad I have to waste my oh-so-precious license points to buy mace licenses to get access to katanas!
Usually I set it up foe: hp 100% steal, and sometimes I set up foe: target ally: attack on someone else, so that when the stealing happens and the foe attacks han so- i mean, baltheir, obi wa, i mean basch whacks him and then baltheir or chewb- i mean, fran, moves on to a new character.
Stealing and things like Cura are hard to set gambits to, really.
As near as I can tell, Traveler bases the amount of damage it does on the amount of steps you’ve taken in the room you’re currently in. So if you just came into a new area, it’ll suck. I *think*. I could be wrong, but that seems to be the case, in my experience.
I think I’m at a point in the game where my espers are worthless. Even against regular enemies, they go down in ten seconds. It’s really depressing.
Oh, and my one complaint about this game is how a lot of the hallways and such look the same and are generally empty. Again, it’s causing a very unpleasant association with Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.
Parish, I tried your idea last night, and it didn’t work, I was very aggravated, because it makes no sense to me. The character targets the enemy, but then switches back to the first gambit, and attacks instead of stealing,
Yeah, I wanted to punch Vaan around a bit once I realized he would always cancel out his own Steal action. What a tard.
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Worse: monks apparently suck in this game. WHAT THE HELL GUYS
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Good thing I didn’t review this game! 4.5 redux!
“Yeah, I wanted to punch Vaan around a bit once I realized he would always cancel out his own Steal action. What a tard.”
I still think that while it is ineffective, the Enemy HP=100% set up is the best option. My setup is Vaan (my leader…not because I like him, but because I feel obligated since he’s the main character sort of) uses the enemy HP = 100% Steal gambit. Basch and Balthier have Attack Leader’s Target. The result is that Vaan will steal once (sometimes twice, for better or worse) and Balthier and Basch will attack that monster once or twice. My characters are, for some reason I don’t quite understand, ridiculously overpowered at the point in the game I’m at so that’s usually enough to outright kill a mob right there. Even if it’s not, Vaan will switch targets and the process repeats itself. Like I said before, the end result (if this happens) is a group of half-dead mobs beating on you. This is terrible news early on but if you have some decent healing gambits set up/good weapons and ammo this shouldn’t be an issue. I also recommend having Vaan use the 1h sword/shield combo and give him all of the shield block rate up licenses. The Gauntlets help too, if you have them. The end result is that while Vaan runs around stealing, he blocks maybe a third or more of the attacks that come his way. That is a completely arbitrary figure that I just made up, but my point is that he blocks a lot. A lot. And since he’s usually the main focus of enemy attacks (what with him running around and targetting a new mob every “turn”) the fact that he never really gets hurt that much helps.
Also, am I the only one who found it odd that a giant alligator apparently had a gun on him? I mean, I took it from him so it’s okay; there’s no danger. But alligators are scary enough as it is. I’d to see what would happen if they all started carrying guns.
All alligators carry guns, but since they have those stubby little limbs none can actually use them. That’s why alligators are so cranky all the time.
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The 100%-steal tactic is fine when your crew can wipe a mob enemy in a single “round,” yeah, but it’s not something I’d want to try in Zertinan Caverns at this point.
Brandon: Thanks for the Traveler info. The skill blurb says it bases damage off the total number of steps taken, so I assumed that meant total ever, which is like tens of thousands for me. So it seemed weird that it was doing like 100 damage.
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I have to say, aside from some thematic and archetypal similarities, I’m just not feeling the “FFXII is Star Wars” thing. Maybe “FFXII is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,” but that’s more gameplay than anything else. I’m like 34 hours in — am I just missing something here? NO SPOILERS PLZKTHX.
You know, after the first tutorial on gambits, I instantly thought: MATERIA SYSTEM! Which made me wonder, can you chain rules together by giving 2 in a row the same command? For example, have these 2 in a row:
leader’s target = steal
enemy > 100% hp = steal
And then it might do both. I dunno, I think I’ve used steal in the game once, so I don’t really care too much. But, I am constantly broke with just enough for just 1 new weapon & 1 new piece of armor.
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Also, I don’t know about license points precious, some of my backup characters have somewhere around 600points, main characters usually have 100 minimum. And hell, I’m not grinding at all, I’m just marching through the game straight. I do struggle with bosses, though, as I usually suck at chaining quickenings, typically getting about 4-5 in a row.
Oh, one more thing, about that FFXII = Star Wars thing: anyone who complains about it must have forgotten ye ole schoole Final Fantasys! Star Wars was the entire plot of FF 2, 4, and 6, which are some of my favorites. And then there’s ‘Vicks’ and Wedge… Although I don’t know if I’d quite compare FFXII to Star Wars beyond a few scenes, but I’m just past Mt. Bur-Omisace.
go to the jungle and steal/kill/chain panthers the coeurl pelts sells for like 450 or so get about 20-30 of them and just loop the jungle for like 20 minutes you’ll get a good amount of lp/exp/loot and you have a save point right around the corner to replenish health and a moogle to sell things too.
I like how this has become a FAQ :)
Brief aside for the people who appease their inner child by watching cartoon network. The english voice actor who provides the voice Basch (Keith Ferguson II) also the voice of Blooregard Q. Kazoo (better known as ‘Bloo’. Also worth mentioning is John DiMaggio, the voice of Futurama’s Bender, who provides both the gravelly rasp of Migelo and the voice a certain multi-armed cameo…
Bender = G_______? That seals it.
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Best Final Fantasy EVER.
Bender = G? If by G you mean Grim-Grey-Laser-Death, then yes, Bender=G! DiMaggio voices none other than the main character in Gears of War. Wrap your world view around that Parish.
You’re forgetting that Bender was voice for Wakka. Yes, THAT Wakka. Clear proof that Bender does not a Final Fantasy make.
Wow, how in the hell did I ever get by without stealing for 40 hours so far? It’s like the coolest thing ever, besides Libra. Oh yeah, meticulous level grinding, that’s what.
Of course Bender was Wakka, and yeah, he’s in Gears. But in FFXII he is THE MAN. Ultimate 20-hit combo! YOU LOSE
G… Well, that guy… is in this game?! Awesome! I’m at what I’m almost sure is the last boss now and I missed him. But man, I’m pleased with this game. And the boss is so great. I won’t spoil anything, but I can’t wait to hear what you guys think about it all.
Yeah, he’s a Hunt mark. And the Sakimoto version of his theme is awesome.
Bender plays THE MAN? That is just too damn awesome! Maybe this will help spread the word of THE MAN, a task that has been sadly neglected since the demise of the GIA.
That reminds me, I’d been wondering if the special mention of The Man in the otherwise soporific retrospective video on the bonus disc was, in some small or perhaps large part, due to the GIA. That would make me smile.
Totally unrelated thought: I was watching “That Thing You Do!” a movie about a fictitious band, with fictitious music from a real time period decade (early 60’s)and I was reading how many people thanked Tom Hanks for bringing back all the beautiful memories with the movie. This makes me think that nostalgia is not nostalgia at all, it is not real, it is just an excuse to like a style that people are not supposed to like anymore. It is a way to love a way of doing things that is otherwise considered not acceptable, not advanced enough to be liked anymore outside “nostalgia”. I mean, people actually told Tom Hanks they cried because of the great memories after watching That Thing You Do. That is definetly something awesome given the fact that all those great memories are created by a movie that is recreating a style, not telling a real story (not even the music is really from the 60’s, it just sounds like it). Wow.
i liked that movie, not because i have any manufactured nostalgia for a time 30 years before me, but cause i liked that it was a perfectly plausible concept, with a nice catchy track.
The problem with THE MAN in FFXII is that he’s the last Hunt Mark. Meaning that if you’re like me and you’re playing FFXII because you like the characters and you want to know what happens next and not really because you want to go out and do some sidequests, then you’ll possibly miss out on all of His glory. Or maybe not, I don’t know. I’m not at that point in the game yet. I’m just glad He’s back at any rate. FFXII has roughly a billion references to other FFs but He is clearly the best one.
Yeah, I’m at the end and I haven’t gotten much more than half the hunts done. Usually I just did them as a quick way to get gil so I could buy whatever new armor I had my heart set on. But now I can’t seem to take out the tougher ones like Trickster (damn his stupid Paling!). I did get lucky last night and take out Deathgaze through sheer bloody-mindedness, so that’s nice. If you can steal anything good from him, please don’t tell me, because I forgot to steal.
Actually the last hunt mark isn’t Gilgamesh.. there’s another tier consisting of one mark that’s got like 50,000,000 hp and I hear takes around 4 hours to beat.
Hi this is me who debunked the gambit setup earlier in the post.
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I feel vindicated :D
Just bumped into a couple of good places to chain/get LP if you want to do it quickly and easily. The first is the Zertinan Caverns where you fight Adrammalech, obviously, and the second is in Golmore Jungle, next to the entrance to the Feywood (just don’t let anyone have the Foe HP=100%, Steal gambit set there unless you want a LOT of frustration).
I’ve been using Foe: HP = %100 – Steal for a while now, and haven’t really had any problems with it. Of course, I tend to be a bit overleveled, and make sure to give my thieves evasive equipment. In my game, Vaan is decked out with dagger and shield and the whole nine yards, and I switch Balthier to poles (which are pretty good anyway for being vs. Magick Resist weapons) for close combat situations, since they have decent evade rate.
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As for the mob effect, I thought I did something fancy for the everyone else’s gambits, but I guess I only did it for a couple. Starting your attack gambits with Foe: Targeting Ally should keep them focused on the first enemy, since if your thief is the party leader and in front, the enemy tends to target them. However, I just checked and it seems I only did that with my tank (Basch, as I was fashioning him as a protecting Knight/Paladin, now Berserker). But that might be enough. I’ve also thrown in some Foe: Targeting Self for a couple of others, and that covers other situations well.
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And if you’re still suffering because of the mob-hopping effect, turn down the percentage on the high priority healing (I’ve kept it at around %50-%60), and put in a higher percentage healing gambit after the battle gambits. (I usually give this job to my physical attackers, leaving more MP free for my warmages)
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I do wish more gambits became available sooner; I’m certainly not lacking for ideas for gambits, I just can’t implement them. I tend to cherish every new gambit I pick up from a chest, no matter how useless it may be for me.
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Man, so many details in this game. I really oughta set up the perfect-for-FFXII-stuff domain I have to start collecting these strategies.
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P.S. I won’t be hearin’ no Wakka voice bashing! It’s perfect! John DiMaggio was great! You people are whacky. Also, Basch and Bloo having the same voice actor broke my brain. D: