Items and Loots - what are they?
Items are a constant occurance in FFs, and in RPGs in general. A typical function of items is to cure your characters by restoring their health and MP, or by reviving them. But with time, a pletora of other items have appeared in the course of years in RPGs
In FF XII, items are divided into two categories: items proper and loots; the selling of loots will lead to the appearance of bazaar packages. There are also a few items which are listed seperately from the others that classify as key items.You cannot possess more than 99 of one given item at any given time. Here I'll explain to you how to obtain and what purposes serve elements in those categories; this section also includes comprehensive items list, key items list, loots list and bazaar package list (in progress)
Items
Where can they be found?: in shops, treasure chests, stolen from or dropped by foes, as rewards for successful hunts, in the course of sidequests, automatically in the course of the story (rare)
Main characteristics: Items are consumable goods which can roughly be divided into two categories: there are items for healing purposes (restore HP, MP revive or cure from status aliments) and battle items (deal elemental or non-elemental damages when used against a target). Their purpose is to be used by your characters and that can be done just about anywhere for healing items, and anytime in battle situation for battle items. Once an item is consumed, it is immediately substracted from the total number of that precise item in your inventory
Additional observations: items can be sold in any shop; however, not all can be easily bought there, and some actually cannot be bought at all. Overall, I wouldn't recommend selling items unless you've already accumulated 90something and that you're in an area where you know you'll get more from your fights. Most items have the same purpose than a magick, but their use is less time-consuming than that of the latter - keep that in mind when you need to make a choice in battle. There are a few items, like Elixirs or Dark motes, which have no equivalent in magicks
Another difference from magicks is that the potency of a given item is "constant", i.e. it is independant from the stats of the character that uses it. However, characters can increase the efficiency of some of the items they use through the acquisition of specific augmentations licenses (see license board's specifics - coming soon!)
Check the complete items list
Key Items
Where can they be found?: automatically in the course of the story, as rewards for successful hunts, in the course of sidequests, in treasure chests (rare), in shops (rare)
Main characteristics: the main characteristic of key items is that the player has no controle over them. When you come across one, it automatically goes into your key items list where they stay, unless you give them away or have to leave them behind after using them in the course of the game, in which case they'll be automatically removed from your inventory. Items appearing in the key items list in your inventory cannot be sold
Loots
Where can they be found?: stolen from or dropped by foes, reward for a successful hunt (rare)
Main characteristics: they can't be consumed by the characters. Their only purpose is to be sold. All loots earn you a certain amount of gils that's the same wherever you sell it; some loots, when sold, may unlock bazaar packages
Additional observations: there's one item that's listed on the loots list but which doesn't truely belong to that category: the teleport stone. Teleport stones are the stones needed to use the crystals to port from one place to another. They are consumable goods and shouldn't be sold
Bazaar packages
Where can they be found?: in shops
Main characteristics: bazaar packages appear after certain combinations of loots have been sold in shops by the player. The loots necessary to unlock a given package can all be sold seperately, i.e. there's no need to sell them all together, or in the same shop for those packages to appear. Most packages can only be unlocked once (exceptions are notified on the bazaar packages list - coming soon!)
Those packages actually contain items or pieces of equipment. Some of the latter can only be obtained that way. While the content of a given package isn't revealed before you buy it, you can make a guess based on the package's name (or you can check the bazaar packages list *g*)
