Did you get the Zodiac spear (in Nabudis)

[Galuf]

Did you get it first playthrough?

did you use a walkthrough (Dont lie, i bet you picked that chest in Nalbina dungeons!)

[Wolf Kanno]

Nope, still never bothered to get it.

[Quindiana Jones]

I didn't the first or second time I played, but my last playthrough was with a guide, intending to be a perfect game. Then stuff happened and I have played FFXII for a decade. :(

[Formalhaut]

Yes, I used a guide. It's one of the most impossible secrets to uncover without one.

[Pumpkin]

Nope, never have

[Karifean]

Got it every time. IMO the single worst secret in the series and I'm glad the IZJS version did away with it. Although it did add the Seitengrat in its place...

[Formalhaut]

Got it every time. IMO the single worst secret in the series and I'm glad the IZJS version did away with it. Although it did add the Seitengrat in its place...

The Seiten-what?

[Karifean]

Got it every time. IMO the single worst secret in the series and I'm glad the IZJS version did away with it. Although it did add the Seitengrat in its place...

The Seiten-what?

The Seitengrat! What, never heard of it? It's only an obscure German word related to mountains (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Grat) that for no reason whatsoever made its way onto an even more obscure weapon. Kinda like the Trango Tower (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trango_Towers).


Q. There are invisible items called the Seitengrad and the Gendarme; those names are also unusual.

Ito: Those are both connected to mountain climbing. When we first started making the International version, I was really interested in mountains. I wanted to use interesting names, and at first I considered the two routes to Mt. Oku-Hodaka (the third-tallest mountain in Japan; in the Hida mountain range). Other mountain climbers might not want to hear this, but in the future, you'll probably get the weapon if you search for Seitengrad on the internet. But if someone plays the game, and then looks for Seitengrad and gets a picture of the mountain, that might inspire them to become a mountain climber. Maybe I can increase the number of mountain buffs [this way]. ^_^;

And it's so smurfing dumb to obtain.


Q. In the original, there were treasures that made the strongest spear disappear if you took them. IZJS doesn't have anything like that, does it?

Ito: It doesn't; we had other ideas we wanted to try. This time, there's a treasure on the float deck of the airship that appears 1% of the time, and is a Seitengrad 0.01% of the time. And since you can't see the treasure, you only know it's there if you actually walk over there and bump into it. If you actually get the Seitengrad, an arrow will appear in the sky in the Cerobi Steppe [on the Old Elanise Road; it's suspended a few feet in the air --ed.]. I want the really serious players to take on the challenge and find this arrow.

(Source: http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/english-translation-of-hiroyuki-ito-interview-from-the-ffxii-international-ultimania.190722331/)

[Formalhaut]

Q. In the original, there were treasures that made the strongest spear disappear if you took them. IZJS doesn't have anything like that, does it?

Ito: It doesn't; we had other ideas we wanted to try. This time, there's a treasure on the float deck of the airship that appears 1% of the time, and is a Seitengrad 0.01% of the time. And since you can't see the treasure, you only know it's there if you actually walk over there and bump into it. If you actually get the Seitengrad, an arrow will appear in the sky in the Cerobi Steppe [on the Old Elanise Road; it's suspended a few feet in the air --ed.]. I want the really serious players to take on the challenge and find this arrow.

(Source: http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/english-translation-of-hiroyuki-ito-interview-from-the-ffxii-international-ultimania.190722331/)

Oh. My God.

I already found the treasure system in this game to be an absolute grind-fest, now there's ultimate weapons with an infinitesimally small chance of obtaining it?

Uggggh. That's the worst news I've ever heard.

EDIT: Also, they're both related to mountain climbing. Geddit? Like "Wow, getting these weapons... that's a mountain to climb!"

Ugh. Smurf off Ito with your maths and your decimals.

[Depression Moon]

Hell nah!

[Elpizo]

Of course. I had heard so much about how horrible it was to get long before I even bought a Playstation to play the game, that I was well-prepared once I could actually play. Got the spear as soon as possible and it made my playthrough a hell of a lot easier. Don't really get why anyone would opt to skip it, either, it's so easy to get once you know which chests not to open.

Don't open chests => Arrive at Salika Wood => Beat Bomb => Run through the Necrohol to the chest => Get spear => Make it back to the save crystal in Salika alive (mind the traps) => Win.

There's no hard work require in the slightest, though the Bomb boss might be a tad tough at lower levels. Nothing a good chaining of Quickenings won't fix, however. By far the easiest ultimate weapon in the series to get, me thinks.

[Del Murder]

I didn't get it. I get the idea of it, it was like Excalibur II in that it is something you find out you missed later on which forces you to play again. Unlike Excalibur II, it doesn't require any particular skills to acquire and instead asks you to go against one of the most natural activities in RPGs, that is open every chest. It was really dumb.

[Skyblade]

I didn't get it. I get the idea of it, it was like Excalibur II in that it is something you find out you missed later on which forces you to play again. Unlike Excalibur II, it doesn't require any particular skills to acquire and instead asks you to go against one of the most natural activities in RPGs, that is open every chest. It was really dumb.

The Excalibur II asks you to go against several of the most natural activities in RPGs. Namely, exploring, talking to all the NPCs, and watching side events/participating in sidequests.