So I recently started playing this...

I originally got this game when it came out but that was in the midst of my WoW addiction so it pretty much got left collecting dust on my bookcase. Now, almost 7 years later, I've finally got around to playing it.

Just wondering does anyone have any advice on which licenses to go for with which characters and general gambit setups? I'm at the king's tomb place right now and I've got the following setup going:

Penelo - mage, staff, general black magic
Fran - mage, bow still, basically the cure bot she starts as
Basch - Sword and Board guy, gambit to cure if the party starts dropping under 40%
Balthier - ditched the gun as it seemed crap, gave him a pole thing, just got him as a general melee attacker right now
Vaan - As Basch though Cures earlier
Ashe - As above though does protect before cure

Trying to keep everyone a similar level right now but my common party tends to be Ashe, Balthier + someone

Ashe and Vaan are currently the only people who have Quickenings which I'm still not entirely sure what they do :p

It's good that you've ditched the gun for Balthier, because even though he looks awesome with it, he's actually tied with Penelo for being the SLOWEST with a gun. Better off with a pole or some other fast weapon. Besides, guns are only useful once you get the Fomalhaut. (They missed out the bloody r)

Having Penelo as a mage is good because her magic and MP are among the highest of the groups. Especially her MP. I'd consider trying to gain her a second quickening so her MP pool is vastly expanded upon.

Fran has among the lowest stats across the board and as a character is pretty much the worst. Really try and increase her stats, be it through weapons, armour, or quickenings because she needs them more than others. That's if you plan on using her of course.

Basch is pretty much your natural damage-dealer, though bare in mind that your best "tank" is actually Vaan. As for Ashe, she leans more towards magick though having her with a sword + shield combo is fine because she's not your *main* magick dealer.

A good set-up would basically be:

Tank - Will be your leader so he/she can be attacked first. Often main damage dealer too

Spellcaster - Mainly offensive though can be curative as well

Supportive - Uses long-range bow for physical, and can cast protect etc as required.

Having the piggyback guide sort of helps with strategy. ;)

Tank - Vaan or Ashe. Sword and Shield, and, if I remember rightly, I would usually set them up with buff magic. Protectga, Shellga, Hastega, Lady Gaga etc.

Damage Dealer - Basch or Balthier. I got the Kotetsu from grinding Werewolves very early in the game, and Basch just annihilated everything with it. He's a beast with big swords. I also gave him Arcane Magic, so he could cast some pretty brutal spells on enemies to complement the physical pounding. (Once again, not completely certain. I last played this game years ago, so I can't remember everything haha)

Support/Healer - Penelo or Fran. The White Mages of the group.

I would then balance out the other magic schools where I thought they were thematically appropriate.

You should focus on licenses that directly increase your power to begin with. Don't waste license points on unlocking gear you can't even find yet (or magic/techs for that matter). Don't use LP on additional gambit slots until you actually need them for more complex AI behavior.

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So I'll let you figure out who my favourite character thus far is... xD

Let me just say as a warning: having everyone with the same gear/magic setup actually makes the game really boring, so try to go for specialized characters once you get the hang of it

The differences between attack speeds with guns and bows is also so minuscule it wont make any difference really. Just have fun with your characters

Yeah I have a lot of similar types right now because not all of the weapon types are available from merchants right now - Ashe/Basch/Vaan have been going the melee route, Fran/Penelo have been going the magic route and Balthier is sort of hybrid between both right now. Although I've been sending Ashe and Vaan into Green/Arcane too to pickup Decoy and Protect etc.

I figure that way once more weapons open up (i.e. vendors actually start selling Katanas and whatnot) that all the attack damage/+strength when HP is full etc will still be useful when turning someone like Basch from Sword/Shield into a 2h'er melee guy.

I've been generally trying to keep everyone around a similar level because sometimes I do end up in situations where I haven't been able to buy a certain spell (Vox for example) and end up with an entirely silenced party so I have to switch people around.

Hopefully once more stuff unlocks I can specialise people a bit more. What I'm sort of planning on doing is:

Ashe - Sword/Shield - uses Decoy to keep stuff on her and casts Protect/Shell on herself
Balthier or Basch - As 2h melee damage, probably spec'ed to throw Cures/Cleanses around as needed
Penelo - Black Magic and turns to support if the party starts dropping really low

Then having Fran as a 2nd Penelo and Vaan as a second Ashe

(This is also the most thought I've ever put into an FF game - usually I just wing it and go with the characters I like the appearance of and throw tactics to the wind!)

Here's a tip, katanas don't scale off of strength. They scale their damage off of magic attack, so characters decked out in magic armor do far more damage with them. It's really cool because you can't have a high damage katana user wearing full heavy armor. It's a really clever act of balancing.

For staves, the only ones that really matter are the ones that give a 50% bonus to certain elements. My mages are usually the guys I control in the group due to the nature of how magic works in the game, and the nature of gambits.
Also, once you can, GET THE MAIN GUACHE. It has some AMAZING avoid, so with a shield and the shield augmentations you have yourself a tank that basically blocks everything. He wont do much damage, but he's perfect for decoy.

Thats all the tips I'm giving, as those are the most basic ones that won't spoil anything for you. But yeah, I put absurd amounts of thought into my character builds before I even start playing 12, it's really fun for me~
I also play with restricted class setups since I've beaten this game so many times. Weapon/Magic restrictions and whatnot. It's like a babies first International Zodiac Job System.

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

Yeah I have a lot of similar types right now because not all of the weapon types are available from merchants right now - Ashe/Basch/Vaan have been going the melee route, Fran/Penelo have been going the magic route and Balthier is sort of hybrid between both right now. Although I've been sending Ashe and Vaan into Green/Arcane too to pickup Decoy and Protect etc.

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Balthier actually isn't that great with magick, he has among the lowest MP of the group, however, it is a sound option to give him some support magick, but definitely I'd give him a katana or any other hard hitting weapon.

I also concur with the Main Gauche. While it's attack is hardly stellar, equipping it to your Tank along with your best shield will really help defend your team.

Oh, here's a question. How is your mark hunting going?