Although you are given pointers where to go when playing through the story the best bet is to roam as far and wide as possible. If you have a specific destination to go to (usually indicated by a red cross at an exit and a message with an exclamation point on the map screen) then head in the opposite direction, new lands, and foes await!

Not only will you gain XP and LP (experience and license points) you will find treasure chests dotted all over the place. These are very easy to find as you will get an exclamation point over your party leader's head when you are near.

There is no hurry to go straight from point A to B as the game is definitely a marathon, not a sprint. Keeping an eye on Notice boards in the various taverns and chatting to Montblanc in the Clan Hall will keep you up to date on the latest hunt which will net you experience, money, and various equipment rewards.

Also, accomplishments for killing various boss creatures (where you get a `congratulations` animation) will be rewarded by Montblanc on behalf of different institutions or groups.


This leads nicely to the number one question (well number two after WTF is going on with the plot?)...

As I said before exploring is king in this game as it lets you find all sorts of useful items and frankly sometimes total vendor trash... anyhoo I digress.

At certain points, you are told you need to get to X, which is North of Y and just past wassercallit and past so and so and village.

To help you out here is a general connections map that I made earlier using just sticky back plastic and some old paper.

Disclaimer: More than likely horribly incorrect in terms of geographical locations and it does not show every possible connection to various places. Some connections will only be available as the story progresses / sub-quests are triggered :)

One of the most interesting mechanics in FFXII is the Gambit system. (Pro-Tip: Turn off targeting lines in the settings. Your eyes will thank me.)

Basically it is a list of instructions that the game will check and if one is invalid, then it will move to the next one on the list. The early game tutorial explains the bare bones but as the number of slots opens up via the license boards it can get a teensy bit overwhelming, especially with the number of variables the game can throw at you mid-fight.

After ALOT of experimentation (ie non-scientific faffing about) here is my personal general-purpose (more on that below) gambit list.


Ally any: Phoenix Down (for you know, dead party members XD)

Self HP <50% - Potion or Cure.Later on, can be swapped for Cura/Curaja for magic users

THIS SECTION ONLY FOR MAGES

Self status = Silence - Echo Herb

Ally status = Silence - Vox

Ally status = blind - Blindna


These are the two main negative effects that I seem to suffer and so having it automated saves me a lot of mucking about in the item menu.

However, you can also add general-purpose gambits to deal with debuffs such as:

Ally: Any - Esuna (which will clear everything except Slow, Stop, Doom, Disease, Oil, HP Critical, X-Zone, Stone and KO.)

Foe: Any - Dispel (this removes ALL magical modifiers from the target as far as I am aware. Be aware though that if you have cast for instance slow on an enemy this will be removed too). It deals with anything not covered by Esuna, so can help your party members with tricky debuffs, but at a cost, if they have beneficial buffs too.

Now you can keep on adding gambits for things like debuffing enemies with haste, buffing your party with protect/shell, etc BUT this will just lead to more circumstances where the gambits will get `stuck in a loop`

For instance if you have a pack of enemies that can inflict several debuffs your mages can get caught in a loop of curing those, just to have them re-applied by another mob and then get to the point where they are constantly casting cure magic and not you know HITTING anything

BACK TO NON-MAGES (ie: pointy stick users)

To keep it simple:

Foe: Nearest - Attack

Foe: Targeted by ally - Attack

Foe: Targeting ally - Attack

Foe: Party leaders target - Attack (keeps them in line if you need to switch party leaders mid-fight)

This will deal with 99% of encounters as you are pretty much guaranteed that your party will deal with all the possible threats.

The worst mistake you CAN make is not in how you `program` the gambits, but in using it exclusively. You will have lots of Magic and single-use items (both positive and negative) that can turn the tide of battle to use manually and if things start going wonky you can turn the gambits OFF and issue single orders to your crew to finish off tough enemies when inevitably you all just stand there using a mix of potions and magic to cure yourselves when the big bad is stood there with 20 HP left.


Here are a few examples of Gambits that I am currently using.

For reference purposes, my `tanks` are Vaan (Shikari/Foebreaker), Balthier (Red Mage/Knight), Basch (Bushi/Blackmage), and Fran (Monk/Uhlan). Penelo (Time Mage/Machinist) and Ashe (White Mage/Archer) are on healing duties



This is a super simplistic `Farming setup`. The no.1 rule of combat, steal from everything/ More loot = more Gil = more shiny stuff.



For those with the Steal ability it just needs altering like so : (After numerous attempts at the `perfect` steal gambit this one works most to my liking). Some people have it set so that they are stealing from HP Critical monsters, which is all very well in theory but annoying as hell when `critical` means 2000 HP and you just need to kill the damn thing.


For those who wallop things with pointy sticks.


As you can see these are all very basic and used to speed farm low-level monsters. However, they are a perfect example of how to start simple and then add more as circumstances dictate. There are two examples of more intricate gambit setups below for support and attack roles.

Ashe (Support). Although you mostly want blue gambits above brown gambits, in this case, Ashe will only use `Charge` when all is clear. Otherwise, she just stands there like a statue casting it while enemies need killing.



Balthier (Attack/secondary support)



The last piece of advice I have is to make use of the three slots that you have for gambits. In my case Slot I is for exploring, Slot II is a reduced version of number one, used for semi-difficult enemy encounters where I don't need complex gambits, but aren't confident enough to switch to Slot III which is the bare bones `close your eyes/read a book` that I use for grinding XP/LP.

The Bazaar is basically a way to swap the torrent of loot you collect for special gear, which is quite a neat idea rather than just selling it straight for Gil.

The amount of things you can obtain is.. quite a lot.

Here is a list of what you CAN sell without repercussions down the line.

• Common Fish
  
• Delicious Fish
  
• Empty Bottle
  
• Nebra Succulent
  
• Holy Magicite
  
• Holy Stone
  
• Pebble
  
• Storm Stone
  
• TurtleShell

As for everything else you can sell various combinations of items in order for all sorts of goodies to be unlocked via the `Bazaar` system. This is a massive list so below I have included a link to an excellent guide by Tirpitz721 which is truly mind boggling in its detail.

Behold my works ye mighty and weep.. um click me :)

Until you start getting some of the rarer loot needed for these recipes my rule of thumb is always to keep 10 of everything so that when I do start collecting the needed components I should hopefully be good to go. This has not been a problem in terms of Gil or buying upgraded gear as you should pretty much be falling over loot especially if you constantly steal or poach from enemies or manage to get nice long attack chains.

The only items that don't require the direct sale of loot are the `monographs` that are mentioned a fair way into the game. These are known as `Forgotten Grimoires` and unlock rarer loot drops from different classes of enemies.

Hunter's Monograph : 18,000 Gil

Beast and avians

Appears in the shop after you have defeated Thextera


Knight's Monograph : 19,000 Gil

Giants and bugs

Talk with weapon shop owner over 30 times



Warmage's Monograph : 20,000 Gil

Flans and undead

Read the Notice board 20 times


Mage's Monograph : 21,000 gil

Demons

Talk with magick shop owner over 25 times


Dragoon's Monograph : 22,000 Gil

Dragons and plants

Read the Notice board 400 times


Scholar's Monograph : 22,000 Gil

Constructs

Talk with armor shop owner over 15 times


Sage's Monograph : 25,000 Gil

Elements

Talk with any shop owner over 100 times

Now I know some of these seem a bit daunting but as far as I can tell the count towards these is cumulative, so like myself if you have already talked to the merchants in Rabanastre a bunch of times to sell early game loot it only takes a few more conversations to unlock the monographs. As for `talking` you literally just need to hit the A button twice, then back out of the conversation with B and repeat.

The last item you can acquire for better drops from mobs is called the Canopic Jar. (aka Morbid urn)

To obtain this you need to sell :

• Phobos Glaze: Prize for Gil Snapper
  
• Horakhty's Flame: Prize for Orthros
  
• Deimos Clay: Prize for Trickster

Just keep up the Golden rule of loot it, kill it, pilfer every chest you see and let the good times roll :)

As I said, this is not the `One guide to rule them all` by any means. Personally I think that exploration and experimentation is the main draw of these sort of games.

However that said here are a few things I think will help with your journey:


When hitting a new town check out the shops for upgrades to your gear. Don't get over obsessed with updating every single piece of gear in one go, you will get there.

Don't forget to use the `optimise` function every now and then to make sure you haven't forgotten about any new toys you picked up on your adventures.

If you get a weapon/ammunition with an elemental / magical effect KEEP IT FOR LATER. You never know when you might trip over a pack of tough enemies for which said weapon is their own personal Kryptonite. Anything with Silence or Sap can be lethal in the right circumstances.

However - Do not attack something with it that can ABSORB that element and thus keep on healing it. Nope, wouldn't do that if I were you. Totally and utterly not talking from experience, nuh uh, nope .. not me.

When you have a guest in your party. Exploit the HELL out of them. Go to places you trembled at the thought of and slaughter your foes with glee and relentless murder in your heart that may have been hard to pass with three party members and they can be very useful. Larsa in particular may be what 14/15(?) and made of tissue paper, but he has some wicked useful spells.

Use Libra.If in doubt use Libra and don't forget to USE LIBRA. ,nuff said. If you don't. Well..you were warned.

The earliest spot to stock up on Phoenix Downs is Portentous Provisions in Nalbina Fortress.

If in doubt when facing new enemies and it all starts to go south. RUN AWAY. Turn off all your party members gambits, hit that `tactical retreat` button. (Yes I know it says `Fleeing` but imho it should say `I am CHOOSING to run based on logic alone`). It is no shame to be underpowered or unprepared for an area. Nobody enjoys seeing their crew throwing potions, magic and phoenix downs around like crazy while they die on an infinite loop. Unless you want to recreate that scene from Doctor Strange with Dormammu that is....

If you want to do a little early game grinding for levels (yes, I know that is a dirty word to some) then may i suggest the Skeleton Bridge in the Lhusu Mines, a bare bones (ahhahah) farming gambit and the `x4` speed option.

Try and rotate your party composition now and then and keep them all of roughly an equal level.

Anyhoo that's it folks.

Hope this helps :)


Monkeydude