<\/div>However, the game opens up a great deal at this point, and canny players can test their mettle against areas they really aren’t supposed to be in to grab tons of equipment they’re not supposed to have. So it was that by the time I had crossed the two small areas between Rabanastre and Jahara, I had packed on over a dozen levels and adorned myself with some very high-tier equipment. But the greatest allure of these areas is the severed limbs of greasy monsters.<\/p>\n
See, as in most RPG’s, the player can always go spelunking in some haunted ruin and rummage through random hope chests and clay pots inexplicably containing plate armor and magic staves of calamitous power, but FFXII has something else up its sleeve, too: the bazaar.<\/p>\n
Allow me a tangent here. Er, again. Just.. just go with it.<\/p>\n
\nWith a handful of exceptions, monsters in FFXII have four to six items they can drop, some common and some rare. Sometimes these items are things the player can equip or use right away, but at least half of them fall into the Loot category. Rather than just horking up scads of gil once they expire, the player makes money by selling loot to merchants. Stronger monsters have rarer, more expensive loot. Simple, right?<\/p>\n
Well, ideally it would be, but selling certain combinations and quantities of loot will unlock special one-time offers for all manner of equipment. Some weapons, like new ammunition for ranged weapons (especially guns) are all but unavailable anywhere else. In particular, the Tournesol, one of the game’s ultimate weapons, can only be obtained through the bazaar after trading in top-level materials which themselves require the bazaar as well. Those who know what loot to sell, and where to get that loot, can keep themselves well ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n
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