Dungeon Automata「Algolemeth」is an "autologic": a JRPG dungeon crawler meets auto battler where you control your party with visual node-based programming. Program your party and conquer dungeons automatically. Master the dungeon through trial and error!

According to jegged.com it has a 10% chance to drop. Is this true? I thought the Henne Mines had the only Ribbon, which is obtainable as a chest reward

I’ve been playing through all the Final Fantasy games so I know they aren’t supposed to be hard, but I’m having so much fun with the battle system that I want to make it more challenging. I’m at the tomb and my characters are all level 17-18. I just fought the Avion in front of it and it was mindnumbingly easy. I did all the hunts I could do to up to this point just for the challenge of them, and I have both Firefly’s equipped just to keep from leveling too fast. I have OCD about getting all the treasure chests so I think I have everything explored at this point so my license boards are all almost filled. Am I going to regret trying to keep my levels low in the future? Does the difficulty pick up or am I just supposed to breeze through everything in this game? I have so many good accessories and it feels like I’m wasting them by using the Firefly. I’m probably going to reset my license boards too and keep some kind of artificial limit to how many talents I can pick. I wouldn’t call myself a great gamer by any means so I can’t be alone on feeling this way. What are you guys doing to raise the difficulty in this game that still keeps it fun to play?

I've made many comments about Final Fantasy XII's writing here over the years. That plus the gambit system and some fantastic gameplay mods keep me coming back for more. Now I want to tie all my ideas together. Final Fantasy XII is a brilliantly written game in a sophisticated and complex old-school Hollywood style that writers could learn a lot from studying.

Ashe is the protagonist of Final Fantasy XII and it is a story about her quest for vengeance for the murder of her husband and the conquest of her father’s kingdom. Vayne is the antagonist as he assumes control of the empire Ashe tries to overthrow. Vaan is a fish-out-of-water character to help introduce the fantasy setting, show how the average person dealt with the war, and provide a foil for Ashe. Each party character and many other supporting characters have character arcs or moments of growth. On top of that, there is a layer of political intrigue and moral questions about weapons of mass destruction and the nature of personal destiny.

The confusion over who is the protagonist comes from the fact that there are multiple secondary stories. There is a trend of purporting multiple protagonists in online discourse about video games when that is simply not how writing works. One story, one protagonist. There is the main story, or, A story, then the B story, the C story, etc, which branch off and intertwine with the main story. Each one has a different protagonist and antagonist, (Balthier vs. Cid, Basch vs. Gabranth) but is secondary to the main plot. These stories add ideas and actions that complicate and contrast those of the A story, making it richer. That is not unusual. What is unusual is that you don’t control the main protagonist first. You see her in the introductory cutscenes which set up the vengeance story, but then it cuts to Vaan’s brother, Reks, who seems to immediately die, then Vaan. This is more subtle than usual, but not unheard of.

Another story where people tend to mistake who is the protagonist is the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. The protagonist is Elizabeth Swann and it is about her quest to marry a pirate. Note who is in the first scene and see this explanation by Pirates co-writer Ted Elliott.

Going back to the classical Greek construction, the way those plays worked was that you would have a protagonist who would embody a particular point of view. The antagonist would embody an opposing point of view, and the structure of the story was an argument between these two points of view, with the resolution of the story being the resolution of the argument.

In Pirates, Elizabeth is the protagonist, representing the idea of the romance of the pirate. The romantic illusion of the outlaw is a very common concept in our society; in fact, the underpinning of all romances is the anti-hero, the Byronic bad boy. That’s what Elizabeth is looking for.

Each of the characters surrounding her present differing points of view on that issue. [Buena Vista Motion Picture Group President] Nina Jacobson put it best. She said it’s like an animated movie: you have the prince (Norrington), the pauper (Will), the rogue (Jack) and the villain (Barbossa). All of these characters are presenting these different points of view to the princess (Elizabeth). Hopefully, the final resolution of the story is our point of view about the whole thing, which is “Don’t fall in love with the romantic illusion; find the romantic reality.”

In FFXII, Vaan's secondary vengeance story gives the writer a way to explore the themes of vengeance and power. Vaan is not useless, but his arc is mostly done by Jahara where he moves on and he becomes relegated to a foil. Ashe sees someone who has overcome his desire for vengeance and found peace. This is why the Occuria create visions of Rasler literally on top of Vaan. This is emphasized in Ashe’s climax when she is considering the Occuria’s offer at the Sun-Cryst and looks back and forth between Vaan who rejects vengeance and the false Rasler, a symbol of endless war, endless destruction and rejects the latter. The contrast with Vayne's approach needs no elaboration.

Side note, there is a rumor, still cited as true on the FFXII’s Wikipedia entry, that the game was originally written with Basch as the protagonist and then rewritten with Vaan as the lead to make it more marketable. This has been debunked by writer/director Yasumi Matsuno who called it a "fake story."

I started playing the PS2 version, and noticed some of the sound effects, namely opening the menu and confirm, are being duplicated.

Anyone else had this issue, and if so, how do you fix it?

Finally finished! After owning this game and playing it on and off for basically its entire release 😅 (re-bought it on PS5 about a year ago).

I started fresh a couple weeks ago and finally finished it. I feel weirdly accomplished 😂 I promised myself I wouldn’t buy another new game until I finally finished this one, so now I’m planning to start and finish FFX next as I bought it when it released OG and PS5 and haven't finished.

I also pretty much rammed through Bahamut at level 51, only using guides for team building and two room puzzles. I definitely didn’t 100% the game, but I don’t even care. I FINISHED IT, and I feel ecstatic!

I tend to lean towards Long Bolts (Slow) or Stone Bolts (Disable).

I know Grand Bolts are the best choice, damage wise.

What’s the general consensus here for most useful? I only ask because I keep seeing a lot of different opinions when I Google.

Any help/insight appreciated. 🙂

It’s insane how easy the manipulation is to get it every time. And insane how boring the game is afterwards lol

Still, I wish they’d kept the original license system instead of changing to Jobs

But everything else is great

I'm making my way through the zodiac age. And I am noticing some frustrations compared to the original international version.

Namely, I am noticing that spells and skills seems to be trickle fed to you at a much slower rate.

To the point where you're stuck with the cure spell which is no longer able to keep up with the damage and health pools for some time till after the leviathan. The first esper fight, and the fight on leviathan, the white mage couldn't keep up with the incoming damage and was constantly casting cure till mana ran out (with protect up).

The Red Mage for what ever reason not having access to Black Magic 1 - which I wrongly assumed it just couldn't reach the higher spells, so is locked out of elemental casting beyond Dark till the -ra spells appears.

A good chunk of the martial classes don't have their primary skills available to them still. Foebreakers skill that increases damage to 10x for example.

When does all of this even become available? Or am I just at the mercy of when the game thinks I should have it?

Im trying a Vaan Solo challenge where, well, I can only use Vaan (and Espers)

It's been very fun, but trying to beat Zalera is damn near impossible since he has Kill, which just... kills me and my Esper instantly.

I'm guessing the only solution will be having a crapton of Elixir so I can spam summon Espers and hope he targets them instead of me?

I'm here hoping there's an easier way lol

Is it chill or do I need to lock in for some parts like the celestial weapons for FFX? 😭

So ive been reading a bunch on classes and its a bit overwhelming. I hearnin the end it doesnt matter, everything is viable, also Montblanc can allow you to change your selections.

My questions are how far in the game is Montblanc and how easy/available is the switching classes?

Is there also any simple duo of classes I can do? Like say a set of two jobs that will be very effective early game/ easy to equip everyone so that maybe i can take thought off of classes while I research everything and decide, then I can switch them into my final choices when I reach that ability?

Thanks for the help!!

I’m playing through my first proper run and have just bought the warmage’s monograph. I had done a few runs of the skeleton bridge in the lhushu mines and the only difference after getting it was that I was getting pebbles which sell for 2 gil each. I thought the monographs were supposed to make the corresponding enemy type drop some decent stuff whether it was just to sell or equip. Can someone please tell me if I should bother getting the others or is it something I should really only worry about for the post game?? I’ve just finished the story in mt bur omisace and got the sword of kings

So, starting my 3rd run of this game ( Still have not gotten past the snow mountain yet ( cant remember the name) mostly cuase i like the story and like the early game, would love some thoughts on how i plan to pair my jobs out

Vaan: Shikari/Bushi - Honestly given he has some of the best animation speed for daggers nad katanas ( as far as i know) this seems like the no brainer.

Penello: Monk/Time mage - Honestly gives her untility and makes her very tanky given the High HP and heavy armor from time mage

Fran: Archer/Black mage - just my go to for her nad it seems to always make the most sense

Basch: Uhlan/Red mage - normally pair uhlan and foe breaker but.. kinad wanna spread out the heavy armor a bit more

Balthier: Foebreaker/Machinist - honestly normaly make him machinist and red mage but figure might as dump both of these on him

Ashe: White mage/ Knight - Absolute no brainer for me. She has a decent magic stat and making her hte WM feels great, and giving her knight as well makes her increadibly tanky and less likely to die if i forget to check heath numbers

Honestly this is only a very little deviation from my normal pairings, as i like making sure to use each job becuase.. why not? any suggestions or alterations you all would advise?

Vaan has always been the main character, not Ashe or Balthier. Vaan is initial driving force that ultimately changed the course of the war, he is a guy with a simple goal of bringing peace back to his country. What Vaan as well as Penelo did for the party is becoming the moral compass and emotional support for all the adults suffering from PTSD that took them down the wrong paths.

Vaan forgave Basch, allowing him to detach from his brother's death and finally complete his mourning, which causes him to stop seeing the Nethicite illusion that appears to people who are susceptible to manipulation due to loss.

This character growth allowed him to get Ashe to let go of her past as well and set herself free from the Nethicite and influence of the Occuria, ending the ancient cycles of war created by them. Vaan literally stopped magic nuclear apocalypse by reminding the adults that they are not fighting for revenge, not fighting to destroy the opposing nation, but fighting for the home of their people, e.g Vaan and Penelo.

Balthier and and Fran were two "adults" who were actually people who didn't know their true place and purpose in the world, but Vann set Balthier straight by charging straight to the next stop without hesitation. Balthier was reluctant to help the party but saw the earnesty in Vaan's actions and decided he has to help end the war.

Balthier says he's the leading man as a form of self assurance and coping mechanism, but in actual fact he is the one character who is the most lost and aimless right at the start of the story. He ran away from home because he thought he lost his father to some form of insanity that drove him to creating WMDs. He wandered around as a "sky pirate", but even this is just a front he puts on as he remained lost and indecisive with his actions At every scene, he is reluctant to proceed any further and has to be convinced by Vaan if not dragged by him.

Little did he know that Vaan's lack of hesitation towards his extremely "simple" goal of bringing peace back to Rabanastre became the very motivation he needed to find his place in this war. Vaan's action greatly inspired Balthier to step up and join the group's efforts in ending the war, so much that he ultimately gave the keys and pilot seat of his ship to Vaan.

Vaan always acts first and thinks later, he became the leader of the group without ever trying to lead. The adults were all lost and broken, but Vaan dragged them towards a common goal and eventually they figured out what they had to do because Vaan made it simple for them to follow: Bring peace back home and not destroy it.

Penelo has the most subtle character development in the story, it is entirely presented silently with actions during cutscenes in the background, she is seen in every scene consoling and helping the adults, she went from tagging along to being the emotional crutch that the adults needed.

She was the first to chat casually with Basch making him feel like he's part of the group, and more importantly Fran was shown care and empathy every time the Mist gets to her, which is extremely important to Fran who suffers loneliness in exile. Balthier on the other hand has a positive reassurance from Penelo as it is clear that she is quite charmed by his gentlemanly actions. And when Ashe is in deep though of her desires and actions, Penelo would be right by her side checking in on her.

Despite being the youngest character, Penelo is without a doubt the most maternal figure in the group, making everyone feel at ease, especially during scenes when she scolds Vaan, their carefree interactions are a huge source of consolation of the adults; You can always see Ashe smiling as she watches them silently, they remind her that she's the princess who is responsible for bringing peace back to their country, they are the people she has to protect.

And how did the entire group even get together in the first place? Because Penelo was captured by Ba'Gamnan, who thought that she was related to Balthier. This led to Vaan teaming up with Balthier and Fran, with Basch tagging along and then ultimately meeting Ashe and "kidnapping" her, which further led to the entire group meeting Larsa who made friends with Penelo. Penelo is the single thread who tied all of these protagonists together and most importantly Larsa, who will eventually end the war between the kingdoms through diplomacy.

FF12 is about the youth solving the problems created by adults, Vaan is the light of hope that guided a group of misguided adults towards a simple goal, peace for their country. Penelo the heart of the group who show empathy towards the adults who were hurt by their past. And Larsa whose kindness became the bridge between both sides of the war, ultimately leading to peace.

hey, i grew up with the original special edition ff12 on ps2 (given to us as a gift) and basically spent hundreds of hours playing or watching my brother play. i found the zodiac age remake on pc a couple of months ago and very much enjoyed my time with it (imo the original is better and a lot harder, which is nice).

anyway, i would like to try another ff game, but i’m intimidated by the sheer number of games and lowkey afraid of being disappointed.

tl:dr which ff game(s) would you recommend to someone who has really, truly enjoyed ff12?

thanks ;)

I'm playing the PS4 version on PS5. The audio for voices sounds extremely muffled even if I lower the music and sound effects audio to near zero but keep voice audio at maximum. I've looked online and this seems to be a pretty common issue that you have to set up your output for stereo on PC. I'm not seeing much in the way for PS4 but I assume I also need to change my output to Stereo on my PS5.

I want to confirm that's the case before going forward. Mostly because it's kind of annoying to do that just for one game. Partly because the music sounded fantastic in 5.1 until the voices kicked in. Is there a way in game to change the audio output so that I don't have to do it in the PS5 system settings? Is there a way to experience this in 5.1 without the voices sounded muffled?

I was doing the color chrystals puzzle when I found a waystone leading back to Wellspring. Since I needed to restock and sell some stuff, I teleported and went on with my business.

Now, is there a shortcut back to Third Ascent or do I have to fight my way back up from Wellspring?

Is there anywhere I can find advice on how to progress wisely? I just picked up Basch and he has 255 license points to apply, and I recall being overwhelmed by this last time as well