Original Version
- Get Golden Amulets as soon as possible to double your LP gain. Inactive party members still gain LP!
- Armor has several stats on it that you can't see until you buy it or equip it or something like that. Mystic Armor gives you +magic power, and so +MP by extension. Light Armor gives +HP, and Heavy Armor gives +attack power.
- Although you only need three characters, you can switch out live characters at any time. Completely ignoring characters would make them useless as back ups, but your other characters should be stronger to compensate. Definitely use the gambit system though.
- It'll be obvious who's coming and going, since they'll be labeled GUEST in the menu. You may lose other characters for a while, but they'll come back.
- The top half of the board is excellent for magic and buffs that are always on (HP +500, 10% less time to attack, etc) so I would concentrate on those as soon as you have all the Quickenings and the license for the best armor/weapon you have for each character. Quickenings double and then triple your MP, so even if you don't plan on relying on them, buy them first.
- Magic auto recovers. So spread the healing and buffing duties around so that no one character runs out.
- Get the license buffs. There are 3 10% faster buffs that, when combined with haste make for some kickass melee characters.
- Stick to each guy casting their owns buffs unless you want to do all the party buffing yourself.
- You can Chain Mirrorknights in the Feywood for tons of money.
- There is an item called the Nihopalaoa, an accessory that reverses what healing items do. Using a remedy with it equipped and will inflict every negative status effect that the target is not immune to. Very helpful against bosses and Hunts, as lots of them can at least have some negative status effects.
- There's also an accessory that doubles the healing effect of items. If a character dies, switch that character out to the inactive roster, give someone the accessory, and have them use a phoenix down on the dead character. (You can use items and cast healing spells on inactive characters.) The result will be a revive to 100% of HP, and you'll still have three active characters in the battle.
- If you want the best weapon in the game, consult some FAQs for the 4 chests that you must avoid. Only applies to base FFXII.
- The Chocobo Mark one in a snow map is invisible most of the time and elusive. You may remember him as a floating imp in FF4.
The Zodiac Age Version
General
- L3 brings up a map on your HUD.
- L1 lets you fast forward. You can toggle between 2x and 4x speeds in the options menu.
- You must now pick a job for each character, and later you will have access to a second job.
- Every board has 4 mist charge spaces but only 3 can be bought so on some boards you will have to pick what to give up. Do not block yourself off from buying ninja blades 4 as shikari because you bought the first three mist charges on the board.
- Monks & Knights are well rounded; Bushi, Shikari, Forbreaker & Uhlan are melee damage dealers; Archer, Machinist, & Black Mage are range damage dealers; White Mage, Red Mage & Time Mage are support.
- As long as a character is not taking an action or being the target of one, you can hot swap them out in combat.
- Selling loot unlocks items you can purchase under the 'Bazaar' tab. There is an invisible counter that will reset back to 0 once you sell the appropriate amount of items needed to unlock your reward.
- Damage dealt is now uncapped.
- Endgame spells and techniques are no longer purchased but must be found in chests at fixed locations. Many of these chests have a 20%+ spawn rate such as Hastega and Wither.
- Some gates cannot be unlocked until the player completes a side quest such as healing the sick prisoner at Dalmasca Estersands.
- There are 7 Monographs in the game purchased in the bazaar. Monographs allow for rare loot to drop from different enemy types. Examine the hunt board 40 times and talk to these shopkeepers until it unlocks: Weapon, Armor, Magick
- There are not as many missable items in the Zodiac Age version. Feel free to Google for the list, but none of them are as bad as "You can miss out on the ultimate weapon"
Gear
- Guns deal fixed damage and do not scale with stats. This is balanced by damage dealt being unblockable, has a piercing effect, bonus damage from elemental bullets/gear.
- Spears and Poles can hit flying enemies.
- Axes and Hammers have a large damage range.
- Katanas get bonus damage from your magic stat.
- Black Robes deal bonus damage with Dark spells/weapons.
- White Robes deal bonus damage with Holy spells/weapons.
- Burning Bow deals bonus damage with Fire spells/arrows.
- Ribbons have bonus passive Regen & Libra traits.
- The rare hunt club at Phon Coast now offers better rewards including a second Genji Glove.