Some notes on "breaking" the game.

Note: Check the archives for the US Zodiac Brave System Guide.

There are currently two popular "Power Level" FAQs - Arthellinus's "Power Walkthrough" and Ashe10's "Perfect Game FAQ".

There are a few other FAQs that have information on the earliest available: bcs4981's "Ultimate Equipment FAQ" is a favorite of mine, plus Sephirosuy's "Bazaar Goods/Loots FAQ".

Both of these guides (the first two mentioned) exemplify my preferred style of play. I like to break the game. But I have problems with both of these guides. Ashe10, I'm convinced, is certifiably insane. He spent 12 hours (I presume not straight hours) farming a Grand Armor from the Necrohol of Nabudis. I have a great admiration for the man, but really, he needs to find a way to get paid for all of this.

Arthellinus' walkthrough is the older and more "traditional" of the two. In many ways it's more sensible--he will happily pass up a piece of equipment that would take too long to get if it wasn't worth it--but sometimes he also makes you work too hard, and other times I think he ignores some genuinely helpful stuff.

I wish there was a FAQ that was more systematic than both of these; one that divied-up the game into its various stages and simply laid out each piece of equipment that was available at each stage. Each piece would have a ranking of difficulty/time in acquiring, as well as a ranking for how useful it is to have that equipment at that moment in time.

Additionally, this guide would address farming for LP and Experience. My presumption is that it is not efficient to level Vaan with Dustia past 40, which can be done in a relatively short amount of time. In fact, probably the time to stop farming Dustia is not when Vaan is at a certain level, but when you have purchased all of the Grimoires. If Dustia gives Vaan a little more than 1000 Exp, or the equivalent of 7500 Exp divied among all the characters (since they all level with Vaan), then other methods of leveling are more efficient. However, Dead Bones are not much more so.

It seems that, where Exp is concerned, the reasonable thing to do is to use Dustia until acquiring all of the Grimoires, which should put you at between 30-40. From that point, one could play until reaching Neglamuur, or until Embroidered Tippets are available (to steal or buy), and then return to Neglamuur and auto-level until 60 or so.

After that, one would only need to get the 10 Espers necessary to get to the Abysteels. The earliest possible time for this is after Giruvegan. Belias, Adrammelech, Zalera, and Chuchulainn can be acquired before Jahara; Mateus, Exodus, Zeromus, and Chaos can be beaten after Archades (some earlier). Shemhazai and Ultima are both on the Great Crystal.