Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Guide Walkthrough Part 4

Balfonheim Port 2

OBJECTIVE

Seek Reddas in Balfonheim Port

Beef up your party at the port stores, then visit Reddas at his residence.

Action Checklist

1. Shop to upgrade your party’s abilities and equipment.

2. Go to the Reddas Manse.

3. Take the Strahl to the Ridorana Cataract.

Shop and See Reddas

You should have a lot of LP to use and plenty of loot to sell after the trek across Giruvegan. Check all of the shops and balance out your party with new equipment and magick. Graviga, Shock, and Arise are big upgrades available in the magick shop. When you’re finished, head for the red ‘X’ on the area map in Saccio Lane at the far southwest end of town. When the party arrives, talk to the Manse Watch fellow to gain entrance to Reddas’s sanctuary.

Reddas issues orders to his team of Rikken, Raz and Elza, sending them out on urgent business. Afterward, Ashe and the rest of your party report to him on what they learned at Giruvegan.

Plans are laid for a journey to the Ridorana Cataract and the towering Pharos lighthouse. These seas are deep in jagd, but Reddas offers Balthier a rare skystone made to resist jagd. It may power an airship through areas that are normally impenetrable.

After the event, Reddas joins your party as a guest. Vaan speaks with Rikken, Raz, and Elza and learns that the Strahl is ready for flight at the aerodrome. Raz provides directions to the Pharos, southeast of Balfonheim.

Reddas the Redeemer

Yet another notorious sky pirate-turned-ally joins the battle party. Reddas is a terrific physical fighter who happens to have specific access to a couple important high-level white magick spells: Arise and Holy. Alter his gambits to your liking before shoving off aboard the Strahl.

Reddas is immensely helpful as a guest character with Arise access, so it's easy to recommend "Ally: any—Arise" as his top gambit. Just after that, you might put "Ally: any—Phoenix Down" so Reddas will still revive fallen allies when MP is too low for Arise. An item-healing gambit after these helps add a little critical stability to the party, like "Ally: HP < 20%—Hi-Potion/X-Potion."

His default "Attack" conditions can be trimmed quite a bit. You only need one or two Attack conditions, and they should be at the bottom of the gambit list. "Foe: lowest HP—Attack" or "Foe: party leader's target—Attack" almost always suffice for basic offense. Just before whichever Attack gambit(s) you prefer, place "Foe: Holy-weak—Holy" to exploit Reddas's access to the powerful dark-crushing magick.

Following this advice, Reddas will have several spare gambits in between revival/healing actions on top and attacks on bottom. Fill these slots out with situational status-restoring actions using disposable items. Reddas has the Remedy Lore 1 license, allowing him to remove Blind, Poison, Silence, and Slow with one Remedy gambit. Fill out other gambits with Chronos Tear for Stop, Golden Needle for Petrify, Nu Khai Sand for Confuse, and so on as desired.

Last Deep Breath Before The Plunge

Heading into the final act of FINAL FANTASY XII, now is a great time to reevaluate your team, building it up a bit if necessary.

The coming journey toward (and up) the Pharos Lighthouse is a grueling series of dungeon-crawling segments and boss battles, surpassing anything you've seen yet by more than triple. Pharos isn't the end—after events at the mysterious lighthouse, there will be more adventure still, but only one new, treasure-and-hunt-filled location.

Almost all locations, side quests, and hunts are available now, along with the Phon Coast hunt club. With Reddas tagging along (for now), you'll have a couple extra sword arms for tackling these challenges. And Reddas lends his scimitars just when jaunty world travel has never been easier, as Dyce sells Teleport Stones in Balfonheim, and Balthier's gallivanting Strahl is freshly refurbished and awaiting orders at every aerodrome and anchor point (now freshly inked on your maps).

While Pharos isn't the end, no guest characters are present for events after Pharos. That means if you want to take advantage of Reddas, now is the time. Especially if you want to tackle Trial Mode, we even recommend making a separate Save File, on which you don't intend to clear the Pharos. (You can almost completely explore the Ascents of the Pharos. Just don't advance all the way through.) Instead of clearing the lighthouse and continuing to the events at the end of the main adventure, this Save File's progress can be used to build up your team to extremely high levels. You can fully explore zones like the Necrohol of Nabudis and Zertinan Caverns, while completing as many hunts and rare game takedowns as possible, and grinding the party's EXP levels. The point of this is to get the party up to very high levels, so you can take them into Trial Mode with Reddas as a huge helping hand.

Of course, whenever you clear Trial Mode with this party, you can still return to the Pharos, clear it, then take on the story's finale, as well as the few side quests inaccessible until post-Pharos.

The game takes a big general jump in difficulty from here on out. If the battle party isn't around level 40 on average, the going gets tough. Luckily, the Ridorana Cataract is an excellent spot to level up rapidly, with a Save Crystal available on either end for instant HP/MP/Mist Charge refills.

Going forward in the main adventure, the party should be level 40-45 or greater. For side quests, the sky's the limit; there are challenges to be found even for max-level parties.

Ivalice is a sprawling land, and there are many zones you might not have visited by now, zones filled with ghastly monsters and sparkling treasure chests holding technicks, spells, and equipment you don't yet have. There are sections of the Barheim Passage, Lhusu Mines, and Henne Mines that you may have skipped over or were inaccessible before. The Esper Adrammalech prowls an open cave expanse not far into the Zertinan Caverns, just under the Sandseas, among many other, more hidden Espers to be found and recruited. And perhaps you still haven't discovered the foreboding and notorious regions of the Nabreus Deadlands or the Necrohol of Nabudis.

Fly to the Ridorana Cataract

Head for the aerodrome, which is located in the southeast part of town in the Chivany Breakwater district. Inside, talk to the “Private Airships” attendant, the woman in the green dress at the counter next to the Save Crystal. When she asks if you’d like to board, answer “Yes.” When the map appears, select “The Ridorana Cataract” in the Jagd Naldoa as your flight destination.

The “Private Airships” attendant at the aerodrome can get you squared away aboard the Strahl. Select your destination: the Ridorana Cataract.

After a stunning flight and arrival sequence, the party approaches the great tower of the Pharos.