Final Fantasy XII Gambit System [beg]
Version 1.8 , © 2007, 2008, 2009 by Bill Pringle, all rights
reserved.
If you like this FAQ, check out my enemy / item / location
cross-reference at http://billpringle.com/games/ffxii_enemies.html
Table of Contents [toc]
* Introduction
* Overview
o Overview of the Battle System
o Overview of the Gambit System
o Overview of License System
* Gambit Targets
o Ally Targets
o Foe Targets
o Self Targets
* Gambit Actions
* When Gambits are Available
* Sample Configurations
o Partitioning Gambits
o Using Decoy
o Making Money
o Using Reverse
o Weakening the Enemy
o Dividing Up Your Party
* Tips, Guidelines, Words of Wisdom, etc.
o Forming Parties
o Mixing Weapons
o Changing Things on the Fly
o Keeping Everyone Alive
o Keeping Things in Order
o Control Other Characters
o Specific Examples of Gambits for Bosses
+ Adrammelech, The Wroth
+ Zalera, the Death Seraph
+ Zodiark, Keeper of Precepts
o Catch-All
Introduction [intro]
The Gambit System for Final Fantasy XII allows a player to configure
their characters to behave in a sophisticated manner. Behavior can be
customized to match a player's personal style (mostly fighting, mostly
magic, stealing, etc.) When configured properly, the player can spend
time watching the fight rather than mashing buttons, while the
characters do pretty much the same thing as when the player is
controlling that character. Each character will perform according to
their gambit settings, which can be changed during fights, if necessary.
It is important to realize that the gambit system is optional. You can
play the entire game by controlling each character manually, if you
want. (Of course, if that were the case, you probably wouldn't be
reading this document. ;^) Also, even while using the gambit system, you
can manually control any (or all) character and have them do things
different than what they would have done through the gambit system.
This document describes the Gambit System for Final Fantasy XII. In
addition to how it works, some tips and suggestions are given to help
the reader configure the AI of their parties to match the player's
fighting style.
This page can be found in two forms: an HTML (web) page at
http://BillPringle.com/games/ffxii_gambits.html, and as a text file on
GameFAQS . The
HTML page will probably be updated more often, and tend to be the latest
version. The HTML web page will include hyperlinks, so you can click on
a link to find the appropriate section. The text file was created by the
FireFox browser, which inserts hyper-links inside angle brackets
(). To find that location with a text editor, use the search
feature to find the target name in square brackets ([like-this]). The
link inside angle brackets will always start with a pound sign (#),
indicating that the target is on the current page. The square brackets
won't have that pound sign. For example, to find the target of link
, search for [intro].
If you find any problems and/or have any questions, you can e-mail me at
wrp103@gmail.com
. Make sure
you have "Final Fantasy Gambits" in the subject. I get a lot of spam,
and will delete things without looking at them if I don't recognize the
sender and the subject line doesn't stand out as legit (for example, a
message with a subject of "a question" will probably get deleted without
me looking at it.)
You might also find my FAQ on what items can be obtained from enemies at
what locations useful. This can be found in HTML format at
http://billpringle.com/games/ffxii_enemies.html as well as a text file
on GameFAQs .
Top
Overview [over]
* Overview of the Battle System
* Overview of the Gambit System
* Overview of License System
Overview of the Battle System [over-battle]
You can have up to three characters in your active party, and possibly a
guest who you can't control. One of the characters must be the party
leader. If you press the /Triangle/ button to bring up the menu, then
select "Party", you can move characters into (left) or out of (right)
the party. If you move the party leader out of the party, then the top
character that is still in the party will be the new leader. You can
also switch party leaders when walking around by pressing up or down on
the D-pad, then moving up or down to select a new leader.
If you press the /X/ button, the battle/field menu for the party leader
appears. By pressing left or right on the D-pad you can select a
different character to control. Your options are:
Attack
Initiates a physical attack with the current weapon.
Magicks & Techniques
Initiate a magic spell or a Technique. The magic spells are grouped
by category (white, black, etc.). Techniques are similar to magic
except that they don't cost any MP.
Mist
This is similar to limit breaks and summons in other Final Fantasy
games.
You must first obtain a license for up to three mist charges.
Even if you don't plan to use Mist attacks, you should still
purchase the licenses, since each mist license increments your total
MP. For example, if a character has 100 MP, then with one mist they
will have 200, 300 with a second mist, and 400 for the final mist.
Gambits
This option merely turns gambits on or off. This can be useful if
you want to prevent the other characters from fighting while walking
past enemies.
You use the "Gambits" option of the main menu to set up the gambits
for each character.
Items
This option allows the character to use an item
If the character is in the process of performing an operation and you
select a different option for that character, they will either finish
the current operation and queue the action you selected, or will
interrupt the current operation and begin the action you selected
instead. (It depends on how far along in the cycle they are, but if you
select the same operation they are performing, the new action will
always be queued.)
Top
Overview of the Gambit System [over-gambit]
Each character has a number of gambit slots that can be programmed as
desired. Each slot has a target (and possibly a condition), and an
action. The target could be an ally or a foe. The condition for a target
can refer to various aspects of the target, and the action can be a
magic spell, a technique, or an item. For example, one possible target
is: "Foe: flying", that will only be performed if one of the foes is a
flying enemy. Another target is "Ally: status=slow", which is true only
if one of the characters in the active party have been afflicted with
"slow."
If the target of a gambit exists (including any conditional), and the
action "makes sense", then the gambit can be performed. For example, if
the action heals a condition, then the gambit only makes sense if the
target has the condition.
Each character loops through the gambit steps until it finds one that
can be performed. After the gambit action is performed, the character
begins at the top of the gambit steps again. If no gambit condition is
met, then the character does nothing, and it starts back at the top of
the list again. Each character continues to loop through their gambits
until you enter a town.
Here is a sample gambit setup:
1    Ally: Any    Raise
2    Ally: Any    Phoenix Down
3    Ally: HP < 40%    Curaga
4    Foe: Party leader's target    Attack
And here is an explanation of the setup:
1. Ally: Any / Raise
If any of your allies are killed, this character will cast a raise
spell to revive them.
If more than one character is dead, the first character will be raised.
2. Ally: Any / Phoenix Down
This gambit will only be executed if an ally is dead, but the
character didn't have enough MP to cast Raise. (If they had enough
MP, then gambit 1 would have been executed, and gambit 2 wouldn't be
looked at.) If this happens, then the character will use a Phoenix
Down to revive the dead ally.
This is a good strategy for important curing conditions: first try
magic, and then try an item. It takes two gambit slots, but at least
you are sure that your characters will be revived quickly when killed.
3. Ally: HP < 40% / Curaga
If anyone is the current party drops below 40% of their max HP, this
character will cast Curaga to heal them. (Early in the game, you
will probably want to use "Cure" instead.)
If one of your characters is below 40% HP, then there is a good
chance that the other characters are low as well. You might also
consider using "Cura" or "Curaja" which heals all nearby allies.
This will cost more MP, but will tend to keep your party healthier.
4. Foe: Party Leader's Target / Attack
If none of the previous conditions are met, and if the party leader
is attacking an enemy, then this character will attack it.
If the party leader isn't targetting a foe, then the character does
nothing and starts at the top of the gambit slots again. This
continues until some gambit condition is true.
No more than one gambit is performed for each cycle, so the order of the
gambits is very important. For example, if the attack gambit was at the
top of the list, then even if the rest of the party was dead, this
character would keep attacking the same enemy. Only after the current
target is dead would the other gambits even get looked at. (If everyone
else is dead, then this character would be the party leader, which means
it would keep attacking the current target. Once that foe was dead, the
party leader wouldn't be targeting any foe, so the other gambits would
be considered.)
Top
Overview of License System [over-lic]
The License System is another innovation in FF XII. The Sphere Grid in
FF X allowed characters to learn new skills or enhance their stats, but
it was fairly linear. Except for Khimari, most characters had a specific
set of skills that they would learn in a specific order. It would be
silly to skip activating any node, since it would be hard to come back
later and activate it. Later in the game, you could break some locks and
allow a character to wander into another area, but for the most part,
you simply enabled all the nodes you encountered.
The License Board allows the player to pretty much customize each
character in whatever way they want. Each time you defeat an enemy, you
gain license points. Each square on the license board has a cost; if you
have enough license points, you can purchase that cell, which gives you
to skill, spell, stat enhancement, etc. associated with that square. You
can only purchase squares adjacent to squares you have already
purchased, so there is some amount of control, but since similar skills,
spells, etc. are grouped together, you can progress in a fairly normal
way (e.g., Shields 1, Shields 2, etc.)
Early in the game, you need to be careful and make sure you buy the
licenses that you need the most. All characters have the same license
board, although there are a few cells that, when one character enables
the cell, it is removed from the boards of all the other characters. One
such type of cell are the mist cells, and the other are the espers.
While only the active party gains experience points, all characters earn
license points. The more time you spend wandering around and fighting
enemies, the more experience and license points you gain. The experience
points vary among different types of foes, but the number of license
points for most enemies is about the same, regardless of the enemy.
Early in the game, almost all foes will be one license point, but later
on you will encounter some with two license points. Bosses and espers
are more. So, if you want to gain license points, you can wander around
some easy areas, take out monsters with one or two swings, and rack up
license points fairly quickly. When you get a Golden Amulet, then the
character who has it equipped with get double the number of license
points. I would have Golden Amulets on my inactive characters, and
Embroidered Tippets (which doubles experience) on the active characters.
There are a number of different kinds of license cells. Which ones you
want depend on what kind of strategy you tend to use, and how you plan
on using each character. If you plan to use magic for a character, then
you want to purchase mist charges, even if you never plan on using any
quickenings. Each mist charge allows you to increase your MP by your max
MP. If you have one mist charge, you double your MP; if you have two
charges, you triple your MP. You can have up to three charges, which
means you would quadruple your max MP.
If you like to level up like I do, and if you keep your parties evenly
balanced (contrary to the official guide), you will want to eventually
purchase all the licenses. It doesn't make sense to purchase a license
for items that you don't have yet. If you want a license but don't have
enough points, you can go back to the early sections of the game and
wander around taking out enemies with one or two hits. Once you have
racked up enough license points, you can buy the license and go back to
where you left off.
Decide which licenses you want to purchase early in the game, and then
buy the other ones later. By the end of the game, you will have
purchased all the licenses available on the board for all characters.
Top
Gambit Targets [target]
Each gambit consists of a target, possibly with a conditional, and an
action. This section identifies the various gambit targets.
* Ally Targets
* Foe Targets
* Self Targets
Ally Targets [targ-ally]
Ally gambit targets apply to the current party.
Ally: Any
This target applies to any character in the active party
If the action "makes sense", then this gambit will be executed.
You would use this gambit for certain conditions (e.g., "Ally: Any /
Raise")
Remember that for critical actions (like raise), you might consider
using two gambit slots: the first uses magic, while the second uses
items. That way, if your character doesn't have enough MP to raise
or cure an ally, they will use items: "Ally: Any / Raise", followed
by "Ally: Any / Phoenix Down".
Ally: HP/MP < X%
This set of targets apply to any ally whose HP (or MP) is less than
*X* percent.
If you use more than one of these targets, put the lower values
first. (If you put < 90% before < 10%, the second will never be
executed, since if the character is 5%, the  < 90% will be executed
instead of the 10%.)
Ally: Status=/status/
This gambit tests to see if anyone in your party has a specific
status effect (good or bad).
You can use this gambit to set or reset the status of someone in
your party (including this character). For example, "Ally:
Status=slow / Haste" will cancel the slow status by casting haste on
any character in your party that is afflicted with "slow".
Remember that you don't always need to specify the status of a
character. For example, "Ally: Any / Raise" will raise any character
that has been killed off, so you don't really need to use: "Ally:
Status=KO / Raise".
Ally: /name/
You can specify an individual in your party.
For example, if you want Basch to be beserk when fighting, you can
use the gambit: "Ally: Basch / Beserk". Whenever his beserk spell
wears off, this character will cast it again. (You probably don't
want to have Basch cast beserk on himself since the spell misses
sometimes. By having another character cast beserk, Basch can
continue to attack enemies, even if he isn't beserk.)
Ally: lowest HP / Strongest Weapon / Lowest Defense / Lowest Magick Resist
These are some odd-ball gambits that you can use for special
occasions. These are most useful if you don't keep the same group
most of the time. (I had two groups that I switched between, so I
didn't really see any use for these gambits.)
Presumably you could cast bubble (or reverse) on the lowest HP,
protect on the lowest defense, shell on the lowest magick resist,
and beserk on strongest weapon.
Ally: Item > = 10
This gambit can prevent you from running out of an item
automatically. For example, suppose you are in a tough fight, with
people dropping left and right. If you are low on magic, you could
easily run out of phoenix downs if you aren't careful.
By using this gambit, once you have less than ten items, this gambit
will no longer be used. You can still use the items manually, but at
least you don't have to worry about some character wiping out your
inventory when you aren't looking.
Top
Self Targets [targ-self]
These gambits allow a character to perform actions upon him/her self
under certain conditions.
Self
This gambit will perform the action if it makes sense. For example,
"Self: Libra" will turn Libra on whenever it wears off.
Self: HP/MP < X%
These gambits allow your HP or MP level to trigger a gambit.
One gambit you should probably have on each character is: "Self: MP
< 10% / Charge". This will allow your characters to gain back some
MP when they are low. This gambit isn't available until you get to
Balfonheim Port, so until then you want to pay attention and
manually have the characters charge when appropriate.
Another way to gain back MP is to run around between fights. If
somebody is low on MP, you can have the party run around in a circle
until their MP is back. Put the character with the lowest MP as the
party leader, since they will be running more. (If you run around in
too tight a circle, the other characters will just stand there and
wait for you to move further away.)
Self: Status=/status/
These gambits allow a character to perform an action when the
character has the given status value. Usually you will want to undo
any negative status effects. It is less obvious what to do for any
positive effects.
You probably don't want to use one of these gambits if other
characters have a similar condition for any ally to prevent two or
more characters trying to cure the same status ailment for a
character. You can set up your gambits so that one character cures
poison while another one cures slow, etc.
Top
Foe Targets [targ-foe]
These gambits can target various foes under certain conditions.
Foe: Party leader's target
This gambit targets whoever the party leader is attacking. If the
character is the party leader, this gambit will cause them to keep
attacking the same enemy until it is killed.
If you use this gambit with each character, then the entire party
will concentrate on one enemy at a time. Once that enemy is
defeated, the party leader should have a gambit to choose the next
enemy.
Foe: Nearest visible
This gambit causes the character to attack the closest enemy.
This is a good gambit to include after the above gambit for the
party leader. After the current enemy is defeated, this gambit will
cause the party leader to attack the next closest enemy.
If this gambit is used instead of the above gambit, then the
character will always attack the closest enemy, which might be a
different enemy each time. This will tend to fragment your attack,
rather than concentrating on a particular enemy.
Foe: Any
This gambit would target any enemy that corresponds to the action.
For example, "Foe: Any / Poison" will cast poison on any enemy that
is not already poisoned.
Foe: Targeting leader / self / ally
This gambit will target any foe that is attacking the specified
character (or, in the case of "ally", any character).
Foe: nearest / farthest
These gambits target the enemy that is closest or furthest from the
character. Notice that "nearest" is slightly different than "nearest
visible".
Foe: Highest / Lowest HP, MP, Max HP, Max MP
These gambits allow you to target an enemy based on either their
current or their max HP/MP.
You could use one of these gambits to let the party leader pick the
next target. If you are fighting a boss that has a lot of small
minions around, this can allow a character to concentrate on either
the boss or the minions, depending on which gambit you choose.
Foe: Highest / Lowest level, strength, magick power, speed
These gambits allow you to target an enemy based on one of their
characteristics.
There are a number of ways you can use these gambits. If you have
fighters and magicians, you can start with the lowest / weakest and
work your way up, or start at the strongest and work yourself down.
You can cast slow on the fastest enemy, cast wither on the
strongest, etc.
Foe: HP>X, HPX%, HP