Offensively Useless Treasures

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm quoting cause the man brings up a valid point.

In fairness, there are a number of set chests which do offer a nice piece of equipment or a nice weapon. As for the Zodiac spear, people act as if this is the first stunt FF have pulled like this. I remember a sword called excalibur mkII in FFIX that was equally impossible to acquire without a guide

Missing Score and Great Gospel in FFVII, un-clouding the Clouded Mirror in FFX, The Brave Blade in FFV with full stats, Adamant Armor and the Spoon Dagger in FFIV,acquiring Gungnir in FFIII, Getting Gogo in VI, Getting Quistis' ultimate Blue Magic spell in VIII, Acquiring Ultima and Zodiark in FFT, and the weakness of all the bosses in the final dungeon to the Blood Sword in FFII.

Seriously, almost every game in the series has some event or item that is easily missed or completely unknowable without a guide or having a friend with a guide. Also, this whole "SE want your money so they make this stuff so you have to buy the guide" though its true, is also kind of a silly argument considering how prevalent Fan sites and stuff like GameFaqs is in this modern age. Really, of anything, its a ruse to make you actually play the game a second time if you are hoping for a perfect file. Its a cheap way to make you want a second run-through with the exception of New Game +.

[Raistlin]

It's done much more blatantly in FFXII, though. Other games may have very difficult things to figure out, but it's not like opening an innocuous chest in the first few hours of the game completely ruins your chance of getting a weapon dozens of hours later.

[Wolf Kanno]

Its annoying but you can get the weapon still. Just not the 100% guaranteed version. Besides, people treat it as the "end all, be all" item when really the game is easily manageable without it and is only "technically" the best game as both the Masemune and Tournesol are equally as useful and blatantly broken. Its a trophy item much like the Wyrmhero Blade.

I personally feel Excalibur 2 is more of a slap in the face than the Zodiac Spear. At least its possible to obtain ZS if you screw up with the treasure chests. Missing Score/HP Shout and Excalibur 2 are all one shot deals with no means of reacquiring without replaying an early save or hacking the game. The sheer demands for Excalibur 2 also simply suck the fun out playing IX. Its a trophy item and hardly worth the effort unless you just hate IX's story of which I would wonder why you would even bother trying to get the item.

[qwertysaur]

Those knots of rust are part of Shemhaziis (I know I spelled that wrong) Soul Purge damage formula.

[jeffh]

I'm quoting cause the man brings up a valid point.

In fairness, there are a number of set chests which do offer a nice piece of equipment or a nice weapon. As for the Zodiac spear, people act as if this is the first stunt FF have pulled like this. I remember a sword called excalibur mkII in FFIX that was equally impossible to acquire without a guide

Missing Score and Great Gospel in FFVII, un-clouding the Clouded Mirror in FFX, The Brave Blade in FFV with full stats, Adamant Armor and the Spoon Dagger in FFIV,acquiring Gungnir in FFIII, Getting Gogo in VI, Getting Quistis' ultimate Blue Magic spell in VIII, Acquiring Ultima and Zodiark in FFT, and the weakness of all the bosses in the final dungeon to the Blood Sword in FFII.

I managed to do several of these without a guide. The Cloudy Mirror is quite easy and several of the others (esp Gogo, Great Gospel) require only exploring as much as you can explore rather than sticking to the plot - a familiar idea if you were raised on games like the Might & Magic series. And most importantly, there are in-game clues to the majority of them, however obscure. None of these (with which I'm familiar - I never got very far in FFT) are out-of-the-blue arbitrary to anywhere near the extent that the Zodiac Spear at Nabudis is.

[ANGRYWOLF]

is in the hidden area of the Henne mines if you miss getting it the first time in Nabudis.
I had to make a correction as I never got it due to opening some of the forbidden chests.
Nabudis is so hard for someone who hasn't built up just running in and getting it very early in the game while possible is remote imo.
The chances of getting it are very remote in the mines due to the low precentages involved..
Someone did post a thread on his views of how to get it....increasing the chances of getting it in the mines.
Some people claim to have gotten several such spears.
I haven't bothered trying it.

[razorrozar7]

I thought the whole random chest contents was really dumb, personally.

Me: Ha... I beat the extra Demon Wall! Now, the guide says Demonsbane should be in this chest... right... here... (which hasn't spawned due to bloody randomizing.)

Me: Ok, no big deal. (Goes two areas away and returns.) Ha, it's here this time! Now, let's crack open this chest and reap my Demonsb- WHADDYA MEAN 163 GIL?! I DIDN'T QUICKENING THE... all right, all right, calm down. I can make it respawn again. (Does so.)

Me: Now, at last to claim my well-deserved hoLY MOTE WHAT THE CRAP!!!!

I did eventually get the sword but it took six times longer than it should have. The randomized treasures were about the only thing I DIDN'T like about XII.

And according to the guide, the chest containing the Zodiac Spear in the Henne Mines appears 10% of the time. It's only not gil 10% of the time. And when it's not gil, the spear appears in it 10% of the time.

This adds up to a 1/10 of 1% chance of getting the Zodiac Spear in the Henne Mines.

Good luck.

[Shin Gouken]

The Zodiac Spear is an easter egg. It's not required, it's no better or worse than the Tournesol, and people need to stop whinging about it because they feel cheated out of getting it. Unless you've looked at a guide you wouldn't even know you had missed it and if you are looking at a guide then you know the requirements.

There are plenty of chests that offer guaranteed treasures and there are very few chests that offer a reward you can't find via other means. FFXII encourages exploration and having to pass through many areas several times, i find a respawning treasure approach keeps dungeons fresh whenever you reenter them.

Some of the chests have quite harsh odds but all i can say is, boo bloody hoo, you'll get over it

[razorrozar7]

WHAM!

(After peeling self off of back wall where Shin plastered me)

I did get over it. It's just annoying.

[Shin Gouken]

WHAM!

(After peeling self off of back wall where Shin plastered me)

I did get over it. It's just annoying.

lol err... i didn't aim that directly at you

FFXII gets knocked for quite a few reasons, but the Zodiac Spear and Gambits are two pet ones that really irritate me

[razorrozar7]

I personally loved gambits, especially when you have to backtrack through an area you've outgrown. Sure beats button-mashing.

[Kostas_Libra]

I know this is one old thread but since i have finished ffXII recently i was browsing this forum. Personally i have very few of the rare items mentioned and I know there are a lot of them just by looking at the licence board.
Anyway, speaking or rare items i have only managed to get ribbon (which is an extremely helpful accesory), the ensanguined shield and the ring of renewal (another good accesory that boosts defence). I got all of them in the hidden area in Henne Mines (the one which leads to zodiark) by reentering the area 3 or 4 times. This random respawing treasure system the game uses gave me each time from very useless to very usefull items.

Now I am exploring the upper part of Great Crustal but so far i managed to get only i maximilian armour. Does anyone know how can i get the diamond armlet (which according to your posts raises the likelihood of rare items to appear) ?

[Quindiana Jones]

You gotta give the guy credit for finding this thread. Nice.

[G13]

You can find it in the Dalmasca Estersand. If you have any more questions, you'll probably have a better chance of getting them answered by making a new thread. Most people don't tend to come back to threads they made two years ago.