Final Fantasy Xii Has Landed

[Hiei]

Hmmm... looks I scored a 2.5K+ Ambush on this thread, whether I meant to or not.

[Iggy_lovechild]

While I don't have the same issues with the characters as you do (of course I hated Vaan), I too have ditched the game. *sighs* I guess I got tired of jumping through hoops to get my skills and never knowing if I'm doing things quite right. I'm not too keen on the battle system either. .Hack did have a similar battle system but .Hack did it way better.

And I was sick of following around the storyline. I mean seriously, where's the RPG? Whose perspective am I getting? It was one of those games that just couldn't hold me attention, even though I really wanted to like it. The glow lasts until you start getting deep in and then things start to get difficult...A little too difficult if you ask me....

[Hiei]

Difficulty wasn't an issue for Oishii and I, when I'm at work she'll run around and make sure we are higher level than we're supposed to be basically. Also the fighting game reflex of rapidly slamming a button at a precise second (born of Virtua Fighter and King of Fighters) let's me chain Quickenings into th 6-9 range even if only 1 person starts with a full bar.

We "level grind" like we do in World of Warcraft and things are fine on the difficulty area.

And the story isn't too much of a problem, the STORY is fine, involved and all. The characters make me want to take a drill to my temple to let the boredom out.

Oh, I've got a new "Most Hated Character" Al-Cid and his affro need to die.

[TerraBreaker]

While I don't have the same issues with the characters as you do (of course I hated Vaan), I too have ditched the game. *sighs* I guess I got tired of jumping through hoops to get my skills and never knowing if I'm doing things quite right. I'm not too keen on the battle system either. .Hack did have a similar battle system but .Hack did it way better.

lol, the reason I never judge a game till I've finished it.

But I'll just end with this, I'm going to play this through til I see the movie at the end. Then I'm going to go to the Trade 'n Game and get Guilty Gear like I should have.

...I'm gonna go watch Dead Like Me. And hope someone takes up my request to throw Fran and Ashe to the tentacle monsters in the FGLMM and feed Vaan to the moat monster.

@Hiei - well after that mini-essay I 'm almost inspired - almost. I've started the game a little bit this week (wanted to clear it before my 3 week holiday, aka attack on the backlog) and have fallen asleep playing it more than once

[Guest Evil_Labs]

2.5k+ ambush crit and remorseless.

You can make a game with plenty of cool flash and stuff, but if the characters don't appeal... it's worth nothing. And I agree the characters totally lack.

[foeofthelance]

Meh, I'm going to finish it, if for no other reason then to have claimed to have taken down an FF. Bad games don't bother me as much, and I don't mind the fact the players would be more interesting as wet cardboard. Then again, I just finished MS Saga: A New Dawn, so perhaps its just the lack of robots and faster action (MS Saga is a gundam game which pretty much stole the plot from After War Gundam X, the suits from G Gundam and the AC universe, and then gave it FF like combat system. And was animated based off the same chibi prinicple as SD Gundam. 'Nother rant entirely.) which has kept me interested.

I am curious as to what levels people were/are running around at. I've got a Lvl. 13 party trying to find the Wraithtomb or whatever. Biggest problem is RL situations causing me to run back to the beginning save spot then turning it off. Cheap levels though.

Honestly, would probably give it around a B in grade. It's not spectacular, but its not the crap fest some games are. Perhaps its the FF title which causes people to be so harsh?

[Guest Big Samurai]

(MS Saga: A New Dawn allows me to have the White Qubeley fight the Zeong, so ... it can't be all bad. I think it's a decent game, especially in the rather limited field of mecha RPGs that are not Super Robot Taisen.)

It is not the game play of FFXII that bothers me, though the game will essentially masturbate if you leave it be. Rather, I dislike the character design, the art style, the recycling of just about everything -- bosses, music, etc. -- from earlier FF games, and ... to me, the soul of the series is gone. Then again, I will admit to a formidable bias, since I belong to the pre-FF7 period.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am power-leveling my Jobs in FF5A.

[Hiei]

I've got a formidable bias and I belong to the POST FF7 group. It seems like in terms of story and gameplay every subsequent FF has gotten a little weaker than the previous one.

Granted Lulu was hotter than a fuel-air vapor ignition bomb, but one hot babe doth not a good game make. And when was the last time you liked the main character for an FF? I like Squall in 8 but that was about it. Auron was also cool, but he wasn't the main character now was he?

Square has made some truly awesome games. Most of the FF series set the standard for RPGs. Tobal 1 and 2 were soem of the most unique and original fighting games I've ever played. I've still never seen a game as complete as Tobal 2. Bushido Blade was the only weapons fighter that made sense (leg'em and run around behind em while they flop muhahahaha)

Hell Einhander was Square and it was a terrific shooter, even for someone like me who generally falls asleep playing them.

Legend of Gaia was one of Squaresoft's crowning achievements. THAT'S a game that they could remake into 3D polygon goodness and I'd play.

Now what do we get?

Rejects from the local Neo Nazi club agonizing over their choices and hair.

/sigh

[Iggy_lovechild]

Hmm...The last time I really loved a main character of an FF game was Cloud. I guess I liked the fact that he was flawed. Although I was still more into the goings-on of Shinra (especially after Rufus took over) and a Turks fangirl from the moment Reno stepped into that chapel.

I'll admit, since FFX the quality of FF games have been progressively worse...

[Guest Big Samurai]

Granted Lulu was hotter than a fuel-air vapor ignition bomb, but one hot babe doth not a good game make. And when was the last time you liked the main character for an FF? I like Squall in 8 but that was about it. Auron was also cool, but he wasn't the main character now was he?

It seems to be a requirement -- for Nomura -- to have at least one character design that does not ride the suck bus in each game. In FF8, it was Quistis; she is second only to Samus on my list of favorite video game females. Too bad Rikku -- in FFX, not X-2 -- is a loli version of Quistis. How ... cheap.

The last time I liked a main character for a Final Fantasy game ... was Cecil in FF4, since FF5 had a non-cast -- except for FF5A, in which Bartz is actually pretty funny -- and FF6 had the Big Samurai ideal of a large, decentralized ensemble.

[Hiei]

Which would explain why there are no decent characters in this one. Nomura wasn't involved in the slightest.

...if he died or something I'll feel like an idiot but until I receive word on that I'll just assume that Square got too cheap to get a decent designer.

Seems like they based it in Ivalice with the intent on suckering tactics fans like Oishii and me into buying.

And it worked damn them.

[Iggy_lovechild]

Actually, if I recall the early press correctly FF XII was indeed designed by the same guy who was behind FF: Tactics (and Tactics Advanced? I don't know, I only ever played Tactics, which was a damned good game, btw). I too had expected it to be great, but sadly...perhaps it was because it was not a tactical RPG?

[TerraBreaker]

I'd be amazed if anyone who worked on the original FFT was involved in the travesty that was FFTA. Translation aside, no tactical game has come close to rivalling either FFT or Tactics Ogre:LUCT. Truly a sad state of affairs. I'm really surprised that FFt hasn't been ported the the PSP, home of PS1 ports though - I would have thought square would have already have milked that what with Disgaea going portable soon.

[Guest Big Samurai]

Matsuno, the mastermind behind Tactics Ogre and the original FFT, had nothing to do with FFTA, but he was involved with FFXII. However, due to extreme illness, he had to hand over the reins after completing Chapter 1.

It is also true that Nomura -- my nemesis -- had nothing to do with FFXII, since he was up to his eyeballs in KH2 at the time. However, it is my understanding that the FFXII staff still had many of his flunkies on it, hence the yaoi character designs.

[Iggy_lovechild]

- I would have thought square would have already have milked that what with Disgaea going portable soon.

*perks* What? Really? Which portable? GBA or DS?

Eheh, right now I'm playing Disgaea 2 and am pathetically addicted.

Eh...actucally the only character in FFXII that seemed yaoi pretty-boyish to me was Vaan. wtf kinda name is Vaan anyway and why can't he wear a shirt like everyone else?

[TerraBreaker]

*perks* What? Really? Which portable? GBA or DS?

Eheh, right now I'm playing Disgaea 2 and am pathetically addicted.

Eh...actucally the only character in FFXII that seemed yaoi pretty-boyish to me was Vaan. rolleyes.gif wtf kinda name is Vaan anyway and why can't he wear a shirt like everyone else?

PSP of course

Aye, Disgaea 2 is a great game, the characters weren't as memorable as D1's but you were never going to beat that trio. I'll be finishing up my Adell & Rozy fanfic this weekend though

back to FFXII and back on topic - I wish Vaan would get some meat on his bones, I'm sick of seeing his damn ribs everytime I turn the camera, lol.

[Iggy_lovechild]

Well damn. Now I must have a PSP. Good thing X-mas is coming.

*laughs* I thought it was just me seein' all that funky definition on Vaan's chest and belly. I guess it's cos he's an orphan and on the streets or something....except for the fact that he seemed to be rocking that whole king-of-the-streetkids crap. I'm sure ate well when he wanted to. Shit, I overanalyze everything.

[Guest Evil_Labs]

From what I understand, one of the problems with FF XII is that Vaan really has no reason to pursue the storyline. It's really centered on the pirate fellow, even though he's not the official main character.

*mutters about 'demographics'*

[Iggy_lovechild]

Ah yes. *nods* Vaan had revelence to the storyline until Balthier showed up and then he was kinda pushed to the background. And Balthier had relevance until Bosch showed up and then he was pushed to the background (aside from the occassional snarky comment). And Bosch had relevance until Ashe joined the party and then he was pushed to the background as well. Hmmm...I see pattern here....

[Squallfan]

I still haven't gotten hold of this game yet.*sobs* Right now, I'm too busy shopping for Christmas.

[Leonhart29]

I have the game, I'm playing the game, and I have been tied to my chair to do so. Something along the lines of "You paid $70.00 for the damn game and phonebook of a walk through you can damn well get your moneys worth out of it." Don't get me wrong - I am a FF Freak, but come on! Does anyone know what Vaan's purpose really is? I'm about 10 hours into it and unless I've spent way too much time getting loot to transform into money to blow into licenses and other must haves that you can't get anywhere else - I can't find a reason for his overly blond "hey look at me I'm an orphan" attitude.

Could someone please tell me? I would really appreciate it. I have one request from a friend of mine to write a Vaan/Ashe pairing, and even though I have muddled my way through quite a few chapters I didn't want to write, but I don't think I could do that and live with myself.

[Leonhart29]

Oh yeah - and one more thing I forgot to mention - has anyone noticed that they are recycling parts of their score? I don't know how many of you have played that little known but very amusing pop-up book rip-off "Chocobo Racing" that came out right after VIII, but the music contained in that game is running rampant in XII.

I popped in my much awaited (and saved for) XII disk, sat down on my bed, grasped my controller eagerly ... and my mouth hung open and tears sprang to my eyes when the music started. I swear to all I hold holy (I love that spell - big boom) all I could see was a Chocobo on roller-skates, a Moogle on a scooter, and a Behemoth in an ATV... I had to replay the opening four times (the last one with the mute button mashed in) just to get the basic gist of it.

[foeofthelance]

I've gotten about twenty five or so hours in and have been sticking pretty much to the plot. Just kill every monster along the way, pick up plenty of License points. Also helps if you don't keep buying them right away, but to wait and see what items you come across in game. Otherwise, you end up with a lot of useless skills. The augments are much more worth it, and add for extra survivability. Except for the White Magics, and a few Arcane and Dark for Penelo and Ashe (Cleric and Mage respectively) skip the teckniks, and stick to the augments and item abilities as needed. The only exception should be when hunting the Quickenings, cause learning them doubles the MP amount for a character.

Spoilers (Dunno, possibley)

As for the characters... It seems to revolve more around Larsa, Ashe and Balthier. Ashe is the questing princess, Larsa the little rebel fighting fate, and Balthier knows much more then he's letting on. At one point Vaan actually admits he has no purpose being on the quest, so is going to stick out to find one. Then there seems to be a budding romance between him and Ashe, which makes Penelo some sort of third wheel. Bosch is pretty much a melee bodyguard, and is played as such. The viera chick comes off as a spellcaster, but is much better suited to ranged attacks/ranger duties.

[Iggy_lovechild]

As for the characters... It seems to revolve more around Larsa, Ashe and Balthier. Ashe is the questing princess, Larsa the little rebel fighting fate, and Balthier knows much more then he's letting on. At one point Vaan actually admits he has no purpose being on the quest, so is going to stick out to find one. Then there seems to be a budding romance between him and Ashe, which makes Penelo some sort of third wheel. Bosch is pretty much a melee bodyguard, and is played as such. The viera chick comes off as a spellcaster, but is much better suited to ranged attacks/ranger duties.

Yeah, that seems pretty on par, but I still hated the feeling that I was following the storyline around. "Go here-kill some monsters-kill a boss-get-"rewarded"-with-cutscenes that don't seem real interested in involving the player. "Look, pretty!"

Ugh, to anyone who bought the walkthrough: It totally lies about the Quickenings. By all means get at least one quickly but I don't know...I feel like I got mine too early. Is it good for nearly everyone to have almost all of their Quickenings by 30 hours into the game? Well, it made the bosses easy...actually, a bit too easy....

[foeofthelance]

The problem with the quickenings is that it seems to easy to chain some of them. I easily get Penelo, ashe, and Vaan to run through a nine hit chain each time. There does seem to be certain combinations that work better. Right now I have Penelo Ashe and Vaan working as squad one, and Basch, Viera, and Balthier working as squad two. Squad one iss melee/magic, squad two is ranged assault.