Which Esper goes with which character?

[Belugn]

Just wondering how you guys split up your espers between the characters. I didn't put way too much thought into it myself, except for the visual part most of the time, what felt like it suited the character. I had problems which ones I would give to Penelo and Vaan though. I mean, I just couldn't imagine Penelo summoning something like let's say..Zalera. And Vaan. Well I just really couldn't imagine him commanding anything at all, haha.
I've read more into the espers now and lots of Espers should probably more realistically have gone to different characters than I picked, but heck.

Ok but my Espers went as following;
Belias - Ashe. Ashe being a descendant of the Dynast King himself and all, I felt it would be her..well birthright and all, since he was the treasure of Raithwalls Tomb. I think I have him to Balthier on my first playthrough though, since Ashe did promise him the tomb's treasure after all But now, he's with Ashe.
Mateus - I gave him to Penelo. I don't know why. I just find him graceful, with his hostage damsell and all. And...Penelo...well...she...dances a little in her quickenings and I guess...dance is..graceful. Ok didn't give that much thought at all.
Adrammelech - This one went to Vaan! He went to Vaan in my first play through too, and to be honest it was just because he didn't look all that epic, which isn't really true, being an immensly strong and led an army of fiends against the gods from the underworld...and all that.
Zalera - Balthier got Zalera. Zalera had a..damsell. Now when I'm making this I realize I didn't put more thought into it than sheer shallowness oh well.
Zeromus - Also went to Ashe. Perhaps he would have suited Balthier more though, being an "ex-judge" of a sort.
Shemhazai - Fran. Sagittarius, need I say more? Fran has always been a wielder of bows in my playthroughs, and Shemhazai just seemed to suit her visually. The whisperer made me think of Fran too for some reason.
Hashmal - Assigned to Balthier, for no real particulare reason at all. I guess it doesn't really suit him though "bringing order to all things" doesn't sound too much like Balthier. Maybe more as something lady Ashe or Basch would command. But then again pretty much every esper seems to suit those two.
Famfrit - Went to Balthier, Famfrit was summoned by Balthier's father after all, so I guess it would have symbolism to it.
Exodus - Went to Fran, since he's resmebling a tree and found after traveling through some Ivalice nature phenomenon. If I recall it correctly, Exodus was also the Totema of the Viera race in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
Chuchulainn - ..Basch needed an Esper, and here he got one. ..they don't resemble eachother too much. Living in a cage for some years I guess he maybe could be relate more to hygiene issues and decay than he others ever could. Ok I fail I really just gave it to him.
Chaos - Basch's second Esper! Didn't seem more than right, Chaos being what's dwelling in the remains of his old hometown. And Basch is just enough man to control something as epic as a being going by the name of "Chaos."
Ultima - I had to do a great deal of thinking before I decided whom would get Ultima. First I thought my obvious choice would be Ashe, but that just..seemed a tad boring. And I couldn't give her to Penelo just because it was some
pretty girl again. Balthier? Nah. Basch. Oh no. Vaan? I barely felt like giving him Adrammelech in the first place! So she went to Fran, Fran being much more into the whole mist thing than anyone else.
Zodiark - I haven't obtained him yet. He'll probably go with Ashe though, because imo she's the main character of this game, despite Balthier's constant claims of being the leading man. He's close though.

I sort of wish the Espers came with some sort of power up to the character they were assigned to though, since they weren't that useful elsewise. (Locke4God already have a Esper/Quickening thread on the board, so let's keep those conversations in there. )

[ANGRYWOLF]

Makes no real difference.

The summons in FFXII were a general disappointment, underpowered and of dubious value.
I try to keep my criticisms of FFXII muted as expressing them has caused me issues on other forums.


You need Belias to open the Gigas gate, otherwise I don't bother to use them in battle.

[Belugn]

Meeh expressing your opinions and making discussion is just interesting. Different point of views.

Yeah if Espers could have had more "key item" purposes they've felt more connected to the storyline than they did, and less random. But then again, Ivalice is a huuuuge world with a lot of background story, and the story plot of FFXII is just a little "happening" in it's already quite long history.

You didn't enjoy FFXII? And I was just really wondering if people cared enough about the espers to consider where to put them anyway, but as you say, it really doesn't make any difference at ALL. They really should've come with some interesting stat ups or something. Perhaps with additional gambits unique for the character it was assigned to. Etc etc.

[Materiathief00]

I like expressing my opinion and lucky me I just happen to have reasons for each esper.

Belias- In my first file I gave Belias to Vaan, the second I gave Balias to Balthier. Remember how Balthier went along with the payment of the treasure that lies in Raithwall's Tomb. The treasure ended up being Belias so I thought of a couple of possibilities for the situation. First would be that it would be a repeat of what happened at a previous situation you might recognise. Here's how it would go:
Balthier: Is that so? Call me old-fashioned, but I was hoping for a treasure
whose worth we COULD measure.
Vaan: So I can have it then?
Fran: Are you mad?
The other way I was thinking would be that Vaan would have to give Balthier any treasure he found for life in exchange for Belias. And I assumed Vaan would be suckered in.
Mateus- Bah, I don't think I can top that one. I gave Mateus to Ashe because I felt bad that she had to give away Belias as a treasure. Besides, Mateus has to do with Raithwall too.
Adrammelech- I believe I gave to Vaan because Vaan's quickenings were kind of thunder related.
Zalera- lol, you're not shallow, I've heard worse. I gave Zalera to Basch because he had a twin and Zalera is Gemini.
Zeromus- You're right, it would be a better esper for Balthier. I gave Zeromus to Basch because of the Judge thing.
Shemhazai- same as you I gave him to Fran for the same reasons
Hashmal- Ashe for the order reason but I wanted to give him to Basch for the same reason but I wanted the summons a balanced two to a character, except for Zodiark.
Famfrit- same as you again, to Balthier for the same reasons
Exodus- same again, to Fran because she's my favorite character of XII and Exodus is my zodiac. And the tree thing too.
Chuchulainn- To Penelo because I made up this thing where Chuchulainn liked Penelo (weird, I know XD), hey it's a reason you know.
Chaos- To Vaan because Chaos seemed to belong to the (althought debated you do get to follow the story through his eyes) main character. I'm still confused about the main character thing myself, but no matter.
Ultima-Penelo for reasons of balancing the field to two espers (cept Zodiark)
Zodiark- Who to give it to? I balanced it so whoever I gave this one two would not only have the most powerful summon but also have more summons than the rest. Turns out I didn't count Belias in the two per character thing because you HAD to have him to open that gate. So I gave Zodiark to Balthier so it could be balanced.
You know what would have made these decisions easier? If the characters had birthdays. That way, we could figure their zodiac.
Belugn, thank you for making this thread, I had fun sharing. =)

[Belugn]

Aaah you put so much more thought into it than I did. xD I had completly forgotten that conversation between Balthier and Vaan...

Haha I have to give Chuchulainn to Penelo some other time too, it would be hilarious. XD He's probably my most used summon, his way of prancing never cease to amuse me.

And yeah it's so difficult to pick out the "real" main character of FFXII. Personally, I think I've decided that it's Ashe, no matter how much Balthier claims to be the leading man. However, Balthier and Basch are probably the secondary main characters, since they're both involved pretty deep in that political/divine mess. Ok I'll stop stating the obvious now.

[Firefly]

Well I didn't really think about it that much,but:
Belias- Ashe,again Dynast King descendant so I thought it would be better to be given to Ashe.
Mateus- Ashe,Idk she was my fav character back then.
Adrammelech-Penelo,because she was the character who pretty much defeated him,when I fought so I was like,'why not?'
Zalera- Hmm..I gave him to Balthier.Cuz since he was the leading man,I thought he would be the skeleton dude and the damsel be a idk..a damsel that Balthier had to rescue,guess u could call it wishful thinkin.
Zeromus- I think I gave this one to Vaan.Dont ask me y.
Shemhazai- I gave this one to Fran.One because she didn't have one yet,and two..uhh..I think she killed him,too.
Hashmal- I think I gave this one to Fran as well.Idk..I guess I was bored and didn't care.
Famfrit-Balthier,for reasons I don't know.
Exodus-I either gave this one to Fran or Penelo.I can't remember.
Chuchulainn- This one I think I gave to Basch.Again,IDK y..
Chaos- This one I gave to Vaan,for reasons again IDk
Ultima and Zodiark I haven't obtained yet,but I am working on it.
*U know,like some of u have said,the Espers in this game..they were actually a shame.Because they didn't help as much as the Aeons and Gf's in FFX and FFVIII.

[Materiathief00]

Originally Posted by Belugn

Aaah you put so much more thought into it than I did. xD I had completly forgotten that conversation between Balthier and Vaan...

Haha I have to give Chuchulainn to Penelo some other time too, it would be hilarious. XD He's probably my most used summon, his way of prancing never cease to amuse me.

And yeah it's so difficult to pick out the "real" main character of FFXII. Personally, I think I've decided that it's Ashe, no matter how much Balthier claims to be the leading man. However, Balthier and Basch are probably the secondary main characters, since they're both involved pretty deep in that political/divine mess. Ok I'll stop stating the obvious now.

Yeah, I guess I did think too much about it! I'm glad you enjoyed that conversation I made up.

Chuchulainn is so unloved, I wonder what he was like when he wasn't impure. I liked using him too, he was pretty useful and amusing.

It's not the oblivious, it's your opinion. I know how you feel, you said before that hearing opinions was interesting. So state away! I think Vaan is the narrator, telling the story from the point of view of someone who greatly impacted by the events of the story (which makes the way the story is told more interesting), and he's even given the chance for revenge. Of course, Asch is also given the chance for revenge but her role in the story is more important, making her the main protagonist. I don't know what to pin Balthier as, but he'd probably end up as one of those characters in the story for just being a cool character.

[Belugn]

@Firefly: Yeah the espers of FFXII were a shame when it comes to usefulness. I guess all the awesome went into designing them? They are by far the most awesome looking summons of the FF series so far, in my opinion. Simplicity sometimes is the better choice, but they all sure looked divine! So at least they earn points in visuality haha.

@Materiathief00: I'd like to see him before he became the impure. xD Heck I'd like to see all of them before they "fell". I'd like to see the scions only mentioned too, I'm really curious about those ones.

[Materiathief00]

Funny you mention the scions of light. I had the idea to make them a while ago, so a friend of mine and I split them amongst ourselves and we're in the process of making them. I've already drawn and given stories to two. If you want, you can see what we came up with. Since it's such a coincidence, do you want to join us in making them? It would be fun to have more people along. Just tell me if it sounds good to you!

[Belugn]

@Materiathief00: oooh really? Now I'm really curious, I'd love to see what you guys have come up with! I don't think I've done any major thinking into them myself, but perhaps seeing what you've achieved so far could spur some inspiration. : ) As for drawing them, I sketch a lot, but taking on the esper style of FFXII, now that's really a challenge.

[Materiathief00]

Here are the ones I've done already:
Halmarut (Exodus' scion of light)- http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1256414210
Description- Scion of Light in opposition to Exodus, the Judge-Sal. Made to judge on whether or not something should live or die when on the brink of death. Being fair and wise, it has an uncanny ability to convince anything to do whatever it pleases simply by putting up its argument. It could talk things into dying of their own will when the deed had to have been done. Only being made up of scales and armor, Halmarut became increasingly jealous of the other scions for being alive. So it possessed two creatures it was forced to judge instead of killing them. A fallen knight and an unlucky deer. It justifies this by arguing that its decisions would be more balanced if it had two opposing views. The tactful knight for logical thought and the wary deer for emotional thought.
Element- Wind
Color- Blue
Pashtarot (Zeromus' scion of light)- http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1256414284
Description- Scion of Light in opposition to Zeromus, the Condemner. He was made to protect the good of soul and the defenseless. Unable to be everywhere at once, he became increasingly upset about those who died of injustice and angry at those who brought it upon them. Not allowing others to be aware of his emotions, he began to wear a mask to hide them. This mask has become known to strike fear in wrongdoers and a sense of protection in those who do no wrong. After Zeromus was exiled, Pashtarot took up the duty of condemning lawbreakers which was much to his satisfaction. Although you can only presume he was satisfied due to his mask, it was still easy to tell.
Element- Water
Color- Gray

I'm also done with Mitron(opposite of Chaos) but my scanner's a pain. My friend did the opposites of Belias and Cuchulainn so far but he doesn't have the pictures yet. Sorry for the long read, you asked for it! I'm so happy you're interested in joining us! Are there any scions in particular you want to make? What's your zodiac, you could do that one if neither of us did it already?