My progress in Final Fantasy XII came to a halt several days ago when I came face to face with the toughest boss so far. This was one of those obstacles in RPGs that seem insurmountable, apparently designed as an exercise in frustration and humility, but beat the cold corrupt bastard I finally did. How many sessions it took, I don’t know since I lost count after the first half a dozen attempts. Yet every failed attempt was a revelation as I slowly but surely improved my tactics and crucially, discovered the true value of one of the game’s unique features.

The FF12 boss in question is found near the end of the Stilshrine of Miriam, a rather long dungeon with a few hairy encounters for my party of level 20-plus characters. My first encounter was comically brief as I could only watch in astonishment as my party was annihilated before I could even formulate a plan of action. Subsequent attempts were scarcely better. The situation was strikingly familiar and having learnt my lesson from the last time, I put a little more thought into my tactics instead of blindly entrusting things to chance.

It took me a few tries to figure out the best opening moves to make. Do I hit the boss with everything I have at the outset or do I concentrate on wiping out his deadly summoned minions first?

It turns out I could do both.
Continued…