OFFICIAL Final Fantasy XII thread

[quote name='Kayden']The more you post, the more I'm sure your opinions are wrong.[/QUOTE]

I dunno he could he right. I mean he is a die hard fan since he did put a very nerdy and ugly FFX tat on his forearm.

Personally I like the Game.
 
[quote name='Kayden']The more you post, the more I'm sure your opinions are wrong.[/QUOTE]

How about countering it with facts. People always quesitons others views, but never bother to back up their own. I can back up my opinions. What motive did the charcters have to stay together most of the game? What motive did Balthier have for his chance encounter with Vaan in the first place? What conversations were ever had that should keep any of these charcters together? What do we know about ANY of the charcters pasts?

I read plot summaries so I know alot of the story and questions come together in the end, but thats just bad pacing. If your going to have a game with a story that doesnt come together till the end then the charcters need to atleast have temporary motives...and you should offer up atleast a few charcters who get some freaking kind of charcter development to keep the player intreasted.

This game like it or not is flawed. Its easy to rip into it and I could go further...plus do this with gameplay. The battle system was the only area of the game that was AAA and I cant find a ton of flaws with(cant find any flaws with the gameplay outside it would have been nice if the controlable charcter was action based).
 
I sort of agree with MSI, although not because of the "flaws." Its because it is just not that fun. To be honest, I am basically relieved that I am nearly 3 or 4 hours from completing the game. That way I can finally move on. I don't hate the game, but its more of an "indifferent" attitude toward it. After the initial "OMG FFXII is finally here" euphoria wore out, I finally realize how I feel about this game. Definately a great pickup at GH price, definately not worth the $60 I spent (along with the $30 LE Guide - WTF was I thinking?)
 
Amazing. Its like you didn't even play the game or you did so with your eyes and ears shut and your brain off.

[quote name='MSI Magus']How about countering it with facts. People always quesitons others views, but never bother to back up their own. I can back up my opinions. What motive did the charcters have to stay together most of the game? What motive did Balthier have for his chance encounter with Vaan in the first place? What conversations were ever had that should keep any of these charcters together?[/quote]

I could understand you not being real good at infering details from implied events, but this shit was stated flat out atleast once.

Basch- He feels responsible for the situation because he couldn't protect the King. He sticks around because he wants to do all he can to prevent others from suffering another war. Protecting and aiding Ashe is the best way he can think to do that.

Balthier- He was at the palace to steal the Nethicite that Vaan got. He doesn't just kill Vann and take it because he's not a bad person. Hes just a sky pirate that hates the empire. He then saves Ashe under the pretext of promisses of wealth. In all actuallity, hes just curious how things are going to turn out.

Fran- She sticks around with Balthier for some reason... I don't really know, maybe I'll find out later. I'd assume he saved her and hes the only Hume she really trusts.

Vaan- He hates the empire for the death of his brother and wants to free Dalmasca from them. Helping Ashe reclaim the throne is about the only way to do that.

Penelo- She loves Vann like a big brother... or maybe more. She doesn't want to leave him alone because she's afraid she won't see him again.

Ashe- dur...

[quote name='MSI Magus']What do we know about ANY of the charcters pasts?[/quote]

Balthier- Sky pirate... don't know much about him, but he seems to do that intentionally as part of his personality. Mysterious could be another name for too lazy for a decent back story, but he's a pirate. You don't become an overly successful pirate by being loose lipped.

Fran- Left her village because she doesn't think that the Viera can remain separate from the rest of the world. She has two sisters and a seems to have some debt to Balthier. Again, fairly mysterious, but she comes from a village where the outside world is shunned. They don't like non Viera. Just because she left her village doesn't mean shes going to blab everything to everyone.

Vaan- Older brother killed by the empire, for which he hates them. His parents where both killed in the war. Hes become a sort of big brother for Penelo and other orphans of the war. Does odd jobs for Migelo.

Penelo- orphan of the war, much like Vaan, works for Migelo.

Baltheir- A Dalmascan knight framed for the kings murder. ...

Well... I could type of the whole game for you, but if you didn't catch it then, I doubt you'd understand it now.



[quote name='MSI Magus']

I read plot summaries so I know alot of the story and questions come together in the end, but thats just bad pacing. If your going to have a game with a story that doesnt come together till the end then the charcters need to atleast have temporary motives...and you should offer up atleast a few charcters who get some freaking kind of charcter development to keep the player intreasted.

This game like it or not is flawed. Its easy to rip into it and I could go further...plus do this with gameplay. The battle system was the only area of the game that was AAA and I cant find a ton of flaws with(cant find any flaws with the gameplay outside it would have been nice if the controlable charcter was action based).[/quote]

The controlable character is action based if you so desire. :roll: Shut of gambits and it'll only do what you tell it.
 
You take things to litterally and are obviously pleased with too little.

Yes the charcters have pasts, but we are given their basic info almost the moment we meet them and then they are not developed any further. Bash could have been replaced with any knight with any attitude and it wouldnt have made a difference, Vaan again any orphen etc etc. In some cases like Baltheirs most of the game he could have even been replaced with a compltly different style of charcter like a Theif and it wouldnt have made a difference. The charcters were given their most basic stereotype and basic reason to be in the story and then most of the game forgotten about. Maybe your happy with that but after playing so many other RPGs that have done it better im not.

FFVI and VII spoilers. To use these games as examples. Ok Basch is a knight out to protect the heir to the throne and redeem himself. Cyan from FFVI was a similar charcter but they took his charcter OUTSIDE that role by giving us frequent scenes which related to both his past and his current mental state. We saw his son and wife boarding the train leading them to the after life and his dealing with it, we got many scenes with Sabin talking to him about what was going on, we saw him snap at the empire and we saw him come to terms with things. FFXII on the other hand just handed us Basch and said her you go, one stereotypical knight on stereotypical quest, he has a motivation that will keep him on course...hope your happy! Thats NOT good development and it tossed the pacing of the game off!

In FFVII we saw the extra charcter Vincenet and Yuffie go through development in scenes like the revealing of Vincents past with Shinra and his dealing witht he death of a loved one. We saw it in Yuffie when she dealt with the issues of her father and it developed a reason for why she is materia obssesed. FFXII didnt do this with Panelo who is the most useless tag along charcter ever.

Like it or not FFXII did not do a good job developing most of the charcters nor giving their actions reasons. It said heres baltheir he is out for this gem...yet he wont steal it from the charcters nor does he take it in many oppurtinites. Fran and Baltheir have a relationship....but its not expanded upon. FFXII handed the very minumn it possibly could and then in the end of the game wrapped some stuff up. Like I said, if your happy with that good. But personally iv come to expect well developed charcters with depth and history.

The story was no different. They just opened plot point line after plot line and then ended them briefly. There was no fleshing out, there was no development, no history...nothing.

And are you kidding me, you actually think the main charcter your controlling as action based? No, he still follows commands which you give him by bringing up a list. Action based would be you push X and he instantly attacks, you push square and he instantly casts a spell. Again im not knocking the battle system its great! I was just saying it would have been cool if they went all out and made it truely action based.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Well, I guess there will be no FFXII tattoo for you then.[/QUOTE]

Heh nope but I hope to get one for IV, VI, VII and maybe IX. First comes the Kingdom Hearts tat though. Me and the fiancee are going to get matching ones for either KH or Invader Zim.
 
I like how the guy marking up his body with tacky renditions of video game artwork is lecturing on the intelligence of storytelling.

Sorry man.

Now I don't have any tattoos, but in my eyes, if you can create compelling characters without using flashbacks you are doing a much more effective job.
 
It's a great game so far (i'm a few hours from beating it), but I think the game is lacking in some parts. When I saw the opening FMV, I was instantly wowed. It was amazing. I was hoping for more things like it. When it breaks off to the save point thing and he explains the story, I love that shit.

I guess i'm just feeling left out in some aspects of the story. It's not a bad game at all, but I've seen better. I also hate how almost every boss is a monster, why can't I fight more Judges, or important people? Bleh.

Either way, it's a compelling game and I will beat it.
 
[quote name='willardhaven']I like how the guy marking up his body with tacky renditions of video game artwork is lecturing on the intelligence of storytelling.

Sorry man.

Now I don't have any tattoos, but in my eyes, if you can create compelling characters without using flashbacks you are doing a much more effective job.[/QUOTE]

Why toss insults? I never insulted any of you let alone you specifically. Anyways....that would be true, but the thing is compelling is in the eye of the beholder. Facts are that the charcters like Tidus, Wakka, Cloud, Cyan, Cecil and many others were developed not only through flash backs but also the story. XIIs charcters didnt get this. So you can argue all you want that they are compelling but that just means they were to you. If a charcter is developed he/she is much more likly to be compelling to a person. So again...XII is flawed.
 
[quote name='TahoeMax']I've gotten the ark blast finisher quite a few times. Once i got cataclysm...is that better or worse than ark blast?[/QUOTE]

I've gotten Black Hole (highest?), so take that! :lol: But I think Cataclysm is better than Ark.

42//Giruvegan
Zodiac Spear//Deathbringer//Deathbringer
 
The story is fine, nothing great or memorable. I think I've played too much mmorpgs, where there is basically no story. I agree that there does need to be more character development. Overall a flaw but good game.
 
[quote name='Thongsy']The story is fine, nothing great or memorable. I think I've played too much mmorpgs, where there is basically no story. I agree that there does need to be more character development. Overall a flaw but good game.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, im not saying its a bad game. Id still give it an 8/10 Just saying I personally really dont care for it and that it does have some major flaws which means it shouldnt be ranked the Godly AAA best FF/best RPG ever as many sites and fans are saying.
 
Ummm I hope im not interupting anything but whats all this talk about about not obtaining X number of items to get a rare X item.

Sorry got the game yesterday
 
[quote name='martin8me']Ummm I hope im not interupting anything but whats all this talk about about not obtaining X number of items to get a rare X item.

Sorry got the game yesterday[/QUOTE]

The game uses a horrible system of making chest drops random based on a percent system. This means when you open a chest it has a X % chance its an item and an X % chance its money. Once it determines if its an item or money it then has X% chance its X amount of money or X % chance its X item. So while there may only be one chest in the game that drops the weapon Demons Bane there is only a small chance its an item and then only a 50% chance its the Demons Bane and not a Holy mote. This means that many chests have to be opened multiple times to actually get what you want. In the example of Demons Bane many people spend an hour or even hours(took me 2 hours)to get 1....others spend 30 mins and get 3 for the whole party.

Personally I feel its a horrible system. Whats the point of having a huge world to explore when what you get is random....it kills any reason to explore....especially since alot of the good stuff comes from monster hunts anyways.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Whats the point of having a huge world to explore when what you get is random....[/QUOTE]

Umm, a little thing called REPLAY VALUE, maybe? Perhaps you've heard of it, if you haven't unstuck your nose from the player's guide yet.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']The game uses a horrible system of making chest drops random based on a percent system. This means when you open a chest it has a X % chance its an item and an X % chance its money. Once it determines if its an item or money it then has X% chance its X amount of money or X % chance its X item. So while there may only be one chest in the game that drops the weapon Demons Bane there is only a small chance its an item and then only a 50% chance its the Demons Bane and not a Holy mote. This means that many chests have to be opened multiple times to actually get what you want. In the example of Demons Bane many people spend an hour or even hours(took me 2 hours)to get 1....others spend 30 mins and get 3 for the whole party.

Personally I feel its a horrible system. Whats the point of having a huge world to explore when what you get is random....it kills any reason to explore....especially since alot of the good stuff comes from monster hunts anyways.[/quote]

IS it really recommedned(sp) to get the demonbane(i heard of the death bringer, is that any good?) ? Thanx anyways
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']You take things to litterally and are obviously pleased with too little.

Yes the charcters have pasts, but we are given their basic info almost the moment we meet them and then they are not developed any further. Bash could have been replaced with any knight with any attitude and it wouldnt have made a difference, Vaan again any orphen etc etc. In some cases like Baltheirs most of the game he could have even been replaced with a compltly different style of charcter like a Theif and it wouldnt have made a difference. The charcters were given their most basic stereotype and basic reason to be in the story and then most of the game forgotten about. Maybe your happy with that but after playing so many other RPGs that have done it better im not.
[/QUOTE]

What the fuck are you talking about? Your character swap argument is pointless--you could say the same for basically any RPG, but seriously, what does it even matter? I don't understand how saying "Character A could have been like this instead and it would have worked" is pointing out flaws in FFXII. The cast works incredibly well as is.

And what's with your insistance on one type of formulaic storytelling? Why do you absolutely need to know everything about the characters and their past? I'm not even halfway through, and everyone's actions are justified--I don't need to know about their fucking childhoods if they aren't relevant to the plot (and there's no reason they need to be). The story is crafted in a manner that focuses on the present, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

"But we don't know why Balthier is a sky pirate! Is he a womanizer because his dad was an abusive alcoholic? Why aren't there flashbacks to show how he was raised so his character can be properly developed?"

Put down the James Patterson and Dean Koontz novels and take FFX's cock out of your mouth.
 
I haven't read through this thread because it's long and probably filled with spoilers, but I am wondering: How long is FFXII compared to previous FF games?
 
Why is everyone getting worked up over someone's opinion? I'm not gonna bash someone just because they think country music is awesome and rock is garbage. Life is too short, let it go. Unless you were conceived by Square Enix and they are your daddy and mommy, there is no reason to be so upset.

And martin8me, go for the Demonsbane first. It's basically a level 30 weapon that you obtain while your level 15 to 20. The Deathbringer is more like a level 45 weapon and you should be at least level 25 before attempting to get it. And the Demonsbane is a great sword when you first get it. Makes the next few dungeons so much easier.
 
[quote name='keithp']Umm, a little thing called REPLAY VALUE, maybe? Perhaps you've heard of it, if you haven't unstuck your nose from the player's guide yet.[/QUOTE]

Ermmm I didnt use the strat guide. I didnt even know things were random untill I heard about demonbane. As far as replay, yes you could argue that....but the items you get in chests in most cases and most of the game are worse then the monster hunts meaning again there is no point to it. And again without the strat guide you would have to play obsessivly to know an item came from X chest meaning again the replay value of it is nill. You would have a point if every chest was compltly random like in Diablo 2....but the way it is...no.

Defiance as I said before but you people keep choosing to ignore we dont HAVE to have back story to have charcter development. Wakka and Rikkus relationship with the whole prejudice thing developed them as charcters, as did Lulus reletationship and questiong of Tidus. Any good RPG has things like this. XII didnt.

You can argue all you want that its just a diferent style of story telling...but thats just not true. XII basically equated to.

Baltheir - Im a pirate. I want your gem.
Vaan - You cant have it.
Baltheir - O really? Well nows not the time to talk about this.
Vaan: Ok lets escape!
*charcters escape*
Vaan: So, your a pirate. I always wanted to be a pirate.
Baltheir: Ok come with us then!
Vaan: *pockets gem and dances away becoming an air pirate

The whole game is like this. Plot points are raised and never dealt with. Motives are given....but then forgotten. The charcters should have split up a million times or atleast had SOME kind of conversation with eachother over whats going on. But outside Vaan and Ashe having a conversation once or twice this isnt the case. Not only is there no real past given for the cahrcters(till end game)but they rarely even freaking talk to eachother and never deal with hanging plot lines which need to be dealt with.

So, ya. Insult me like a child(resorting to insults in a tame topic about games like this is rather childish, especially considering iv not been insulting). But ya know, Id rather be told I have FFX's cock in my ass, the cock of a game that actually did things right, then have XII's shit stained old man cock in my mouth. Some people think feeling boned feels good, but no one enjoys the taste of one as nasty as XII's.

To the few of you that have given objective arguments, and done so without insulting thanks.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']
Defiance as I said before but you people keep choosing to ignore we dont HAVE to have back story to have charcter development. Wakka and Rikkus relationship with the whole prejudice thing developed them as charcters, as did Lulus reletationship and questiong of Tidus. Any good RPG has things like this. XII didnt.

You can argue all you want that its just a diferent style of story telling...but thats just not true. XII basically equated to.

Baltheir - Im a pirate. I want your gem.
Vaan - You cant have it.
Baltheir - O really? Well nows not the time to talk about this.
Vaan: Ok lets escape!
*charcters escape*
Vaan: So, your a pirate. I always wanted to be a pirate.
Baltheir: Ok come with us then!
Vaan: *pockets gem and dances away becoming an air pirate

The whole game is like this. Plot points are raised and never dealt with. Motives are given....but then forgotten. The charcters should have split up a million times or atleast had SOME kind of conversation with eachother over whats going on. But outside Vaan and Ashe having a conversation once or twice this isnt the case. Not only is there no real past given for the cahrcters(till end game)but they rarely even freaking talk to eachother and never deal with hanging plot lines which need to be dealt with.

So, ya. Insult me like a child(resorting to insults in a tame topic about games like this is rather childish, especially considering iv not been insulting). But ya know, Id rather be told I have FFX's cock in my ass, the cock of a game that actually did things right, then have XII's shit stained old man cock in my mouth. Some people think feeling boned feels good, but no one enjoys the taste of one as nasty as XII's.

To the few of you that have given objective arguments, and done so without insulting thanks.[/QUOTE]

Don't take it so personally. I'm an asshole when it comes to my opinions, it's nothing against you.

I thought the characters, as well as the story, in FFX were total shit, so it's hard for me to accept that someone (you) could absolutely worship that game. You can cite examples all you want--they only serve to remind me why I'm right.

As far as your dialogue "recap," you're wildly exaggerating, and forgetting that Balthier was able to keep an eye on Vaan, and thus the "gem." It's reasonable to infer that he intended to get his hands on it at some point, until it became a more important part of the plot. I could do the same thing a million times for FFX:

Wakka: I hate technology! This is a sin!
Tidus: We can't talk about this now. We have to use technology so I can confront my daddy about the way he treated me. *cry*
Wakka: Okay, we'll use technology. *growl, kick some dirt*

Reoccuring themes aren't spectacular in and of themselves. If the themes are garbage to begin with, or aren't implemented in a manner that is even remotely interesting (as in FFX), going back to them repeatedly isn't going to do anything to enhance the story. In FFX, the characters' constant stubbornness was irritating, at best--not a sign of "development."

And how can you go from saying FFXII is an 8/10 to calling it a "shit stained old man cock"?
 
[quote name='defiance_17']Don't take it so personally. I'm an asshole when it comes to my opinions, it's nothing against you.

I thought the characters, as well as the story, in FFX were total shit, so it's hard for me to accept that someone (you) could absolutely worship that game. You can cite examples all you want--they only serve to remind me why I'm right.

As far as your dialogue "recap," you're wildly exaggerating, and forgetting that Balthier was able to keep an eye on Vaan, and thus the "gem." It's reasonable to infer that he intended to get his hands on it at some point, until it became a more important part of the plot. I could do the same thing a million times for FFX:

Wakka: I hate technology! This is a sin!
Tidus: We can't talk about this now. We have to use technology so I can confront my daddy about the way he treated me. *cry*
Wakka: Okay, we'll use technology. *growl, kick some dirt*

Reoccuring themes aren't spectacular in and of themselves. If the themes are garbage to begin with, or aren't implemented in a manner that is even remotely interesting (as in FFX), going back to them repeatedly isn't going to do anything to enhance the story. In FFX, the characters' constant stubbornness was irritating, at best--not a sign of "development."

And how can you go from saying FFXII is an 8/10 to calling it a "shit stained old man cock"?[/QUOTE]

I dont worship FFX. I love the game but I can be I dont know...OBJECTIVE! FFX had its flaws, it was FAR too easy, many side quests take longer then humanly possible(blitz)and they needed to put more info into making the charcters lip sycnch better.

The whole Vaan/Baltheir thing is a joke. Your telling me a crafty pirate of the world didnt have the mental abilty to steal it from him in some way? Or as an experienced fighter with another person on his side he couldnt have just physically taken it at some point?

Your Wakka Tidus thing was a joke. It wasnt doing the same thing I did because there wernt conversations directly like that. Your taking your hatred for the charcters arch type and stereotyping them to it then mixing scenes. Tidus hated his father but he never just randomly started crying about it, nor did Wakka flip out unless someone was doing something against the teaching. The charcters responded as their charcters should have in any given situation, but were also developed through their pasts, through the story, and even just through random interaction. And from start to end they had reasons to be together and we saw them discuss this not only directly with eachother but with others(like when Wakka and Lulu talk about Tidus behind his back). Again this isnt the case in XII. XII no matter how you are going to try arguing this just had bad pacing and was not filled out.

The way you end your post just shows you are judging off nothing but a personal bias. The theme nor charcters were garage, given that they were well developed and not full of plot holes(which is more then you can say of XII)yet you call them such and unintreasting. You cant set aside your dislike for the world or charcters of FFX to give them a chance. I didnt buy FFX for 2 years because when I read up on it and saw it intially I thought it was going to be crap, I hated the stereotypes of the charcters and pretty much everything about the game. But you know what....when I played it I opened my mind. I didnt say hey I cant see myself in this charcter so I dont like him. I didnt react like you and say he's not the uber cool sexy pirate I wish I was, nor is he the brooding anxty jackass squall is so hes like me. I saw it for what it was, and ended up enjoying it as a result. Even when I havnt enjoyed a game though ill give it a fair rap. I freaking hate FFVIII, V and XII but I still call them great games. I loathe Halo 2 but I still recognize it as an awsome game. Judge thigns for what they are.

And I called FFXII shit stained like that because if your going to call X that then that fits XII.
 
Okay, so now that I am officially done with Xenosaga, gave up on playing Ultimate Alliance, and finished with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I have started my very first playthrough of Final Fantasy XII.

I am utterly unimpressed. The opening cut scene was absolutely gorgeous, but after that everything went downhill. My real problem isn't the battle system. I admit it isn't perfect. I think it honestly would have been better if they had made the battle system completely hack and slash [like X-Men Legends or Kingdom Hearts]

However, my real problem is that I am just completely uninterested by the story. People often complain about games like Xenosaga, that start out by throwing a bunch of terminology and scientific "mumbo jumbo", and I think I understand how they feel now. The introduction of XII, from the cutscene, to the narration, throws a bunch of names, regal titles, and countries at you, and it's just plain BORING.

Then I thought, where have I played this before? And I thought to myself, XENOGEARS. The entire intro is a small anime cutscene followed by a six page text intro, that describes a war between countries: a political conflict. Except I remember playing Xenogears for the very first time and that text intro was INTERESTING to read. I don't know if it's just me, but nothing in the introduction actually pulled me into the story.

What's worse is the game...it's just so overbearing. I admit I've barely played an hour and a half, but the first hour has been just completely ridiculous. Go here, for no reason. Okay, I am here, now go here. Okay, now I'm here, oh, go kill this monster that's been stopping all the couriers. So I go to the desert and what's this great and powerful monster that's stopping all the couriers? No, it's not the packs of wolves, cactuars, or the huge overpowered T-Rex roaming around, it's a foot tall mutant tomato..now look it from this point of view.

I just went from battling giant mechs, demonic entities, and immortals, from solving the mysteries of the universe and exploring the relationships of deep, fleshed out characters, to killing a fucking cartoon tomato. Final Fantasy XII is supposed to be the most fucking epic RPG on PS2. What did we wait for it? 5 years?! And this is what I get characters that look mostly the same [Rex, Vann, what's his name, they all look the same to me] and little mutant guys that look straight out of Star Wars, running around killing tomatoes. And don't get me started about Vann's little airship fetish and his sky pirate dreams...this is Final Fantasy..what's it doing stealing a cliched plot from Grandia III and Skies of Arcadia?

I'm going to keep playing, because I paid $42 fucking dollars for this so far utter mess of a game. I'll keep playing, and maybe my mind will change, if something changes. The battles are okay, but everything else is just hideous..

Someone tell me, if this game gets ANY better...?

If it doesn't, no wonder X-Play gave it a 5/5
 
[quote name='sarausagi']Okay, so now that I am officially done with Xenosaga, gave up on playing Ultimate Alliance, and finished with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I have started my very first playthrough of Final Fantasy XII.

I am utterly unimpressed. The opening cut scene was absolutely gorgeous, but after that everything went downhill. My real problem isn't the battle system. I admit it isn't perfect. I think it honestly would have been better if they had made the battle system completely hack and slash [like X-Men Legends or Kingdom Hearts]

However, my real problem is that I am just completely uninterested by the story. People often complain about games like Xenosaga, that start out by throwing a bunch of terminology and scientific "mumbo jumbo", and I think I understand how they feel now. The introduction of XII, from the cutscene, to the narration, throws a bunch of names, regal titles, and countries at you, and it's just plain BORING.

Then I thought, where have I played this before? And I thought to myself, XENOGEARS. The entire intro is a small anime cutscene followed by a six page text intro, that describes a war between countries: a political conflict. Except I remember playing Xenogears for the very first time and that text intro was INTERESTING to read. I don't know if it's just me, but nothing in the introduction actually pulled me into the story.

What's worse is the game...it's just so overbearing. I admit I've barely played an hour and a half, but the first hour has been just completely ridiculous. Go here, for no reason. Okay, I am here, now go here. Okay, now I'm here, oh, go kill this monster that's been stopping all the couriers. So I go to the desert and what's this great and powerful monster that's stopping all the couriers? No, it's not the packs of wolves, cactuars, or the huge overpowered T-Rex roaming around, it's a foot tall mutant tomato..now look it from this point of view.

I just went from battling giant mechs, demonic entities, and immortals, from solving the mysteries of the universe and exploring the relationships of deep, fleshed out characters, to killing a fucking cartoon tomato. Final Fantasy XII is supposed to be the most fucking epic RPG on PS2. What did we wait for it? 5 years?! And this is what I get characters that look mostly the same [Rex, Vann, what's his name, they all look the same to me] and little mutant guys that look straight out of Star Wars, running around killing tomatoes. And don't get me started about Vann's little airship fetish and his sky pirate dreams...this is Final Fantasy..what's it doing stealing a cliched plot from Grandia III and Skies of Arcadia?

I'm going to keep playing, because I paid $42 fucking dollars for this so far utter mess of a game. I'll keep playing, and maybe my mind will change, if something changes. The battles are okay, but everything else is just hideous..

Someone tell me, if this game gets ANY better...?

If it doesn't, no wonder X-Play gave it a 5/5[/QUOTE]

Considering your complaitns of the game are similar to mine...ya you probally wont care for it as it goes on. As far as Xplays review im not suprised, US reviews of RPGs are generally idiotic. RPGs that are viewed as classics like Suikoden 2 and ToD were scored lower then crap that came out at the same time...this today has not changed. I dont know why I got hyped for XII when every mag was calling it the best FF ever......none of them are ever right.
 
I have had much more fun with this game than I had imagined I would. To be honest, I didn't expect much after playing the demo. However, I've enjoyed the battle system so much that I got Vaan all the way to lvl.17 at the first chance I had to explore.

One great thing I noticed was that when a character joins your party they are automatically at your level or higher. In most RPGs party members have a set level that they started out at, so it was a nice surprise to see that Penelo was lvl.17 with license points equivalent to Vaan's when she joined.
 
[quote name='onikage']I have had much more fun with this game than I had imagined I would. To be honest, I didn't expect much after playing the demo. However, I've enjoyed the battle system so much that I got Vaan all the way to lvl.17 at the first chance I had to explore.

One great thing I noticed was that when a character joins your party they are automatically at your level or higher. In most RPGs party members have a set level that they started out at, so it was a nice surprise to see that Penelo was lvl.17 with license points equivalent to Vaan's when she joined.[/QUOTE]

That's the reason for the good powerleveling exploit you can do with Vaan. Some people (strangely enough) have leveld up to their 30's before they get Panelo so they can breeze through 70% of the game.

I, not having the patience nor the motivation to do this, decided level 13 was good enough.
 
Got 4 Deathbringers, gonna get 2 more so everyone has one. Having a MUCH easier time getting this than Demonsbane. Getting ONE Demonsbane took me like 2 hours, got 4 Deathbringers in less than an hour. All of my characters are level 24-26 btw.

EDIT: Highest Quickening chain was 19, got it a couple times.
EDIT 2: Just got another one. One more!!!!
EDIT 3: GOT THE FINAL ONE! God that was easy.
 
Finally managed to get out of town and drive 40 miles to the nearest GS in order to pick up my FF-XII CE preorder yesterday. Also picked up the LE guide (Ashe cover) too.

BB was already out of the mini artbook :cry: Anyone who has no use for the artbook please PM me to work something out...
 
[quote name='sarausagi']Okay, so now that I am officially done with Xenosaga, gave up on playing Ultimate Alliance, and finished with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I have started my very first playthrough of Final Fantasy XII.

I am utterly unimpressed. The opening cut scene was absolutely gorgeous, but after that everything went downhill. My real problem isn't the battle system. I admit it isn't perfect. I think it honestly would have been better if they had made the battle system completely hack and slash [like X-Men Legends or Kingdom Hearts]

However, my real problem is that I am just completely uninterested by the story. People often complain about games like Xenosaga, that start out by throwing a bunch of terminology and scientific "mumbo jumbo", and I think I understand how they feel now. The introduction of XII, from the cutscene, to the narration, throws a bunch of names, regal titles, and countries at you, and it's just plain BORING.

Then I thought, where have I played this before? And I thought to myself, XENOGEARS. The entire intro is a small anime cutscene followed by a six page text intro, that describes a war between countries: a political conflict. Except I remember playing Xenogears for the very first time and that text intro was INTERESTING to read. I don't know if it's just me, but nothing in the introduction actually pulled me into the story.

What's worse is the game...it's just so overbearing. I admit I've barely played an hour and a half, but the first hour has been just completely ridiculous. Go here, for no reason. Okay, I am here, now go here. Okay, now I'm here, oh, go kill this monster that's been stopping all the couriers. So I go to the desert and what's this great and powerful monster that's stopping all the couriers? No, it's not the packs of wolves, cactuars, or the huge overpowered T-Rex roaming around, it's a foot tall mutant tomato..now look it from this point of view.

I just went from battling giant mechs, demonic entities, and immortals, from solving the mysteries of the universe and exploring the relationships of deep, fleshed out characters, to killing a fucking cartoon tomato. Final Fantasy XII is supposed to be the most fucking epic RPG on PS2. What did we wait for it? 5 years?! And this is what I get characters that look mostly the same [Rex, Vann, what's his name, they all look the same to me] and little mutant guys that look straight out of Star Wars, running around killing tomatoes. And don't get me started about Vann's little airship fetish and his sky pirate dreams...this is Final Fantasy..what's it doing stealing a cliched plot from Grandia III and Skies of Arcadia?

I'm going to keep playing, because I paid $42 fucking dollars for this so far utter mess of a game. I'll keep playing, and maybe my mind will change, if something changes. The battles are okay, but everything else is just hideous..

Someone tell me, if this game gets ANY better...?

If it doesn't, no wonder X-Play gave it a 5/5[/quote]


Man, seriously, youi're a whiny bitch.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']EDIT: I FINALLY GOT ONE!!! fuck YOU SQUARE!!!![/QUOTE]
For some reason I found this absolutely hilarious.
 
[quote name='Zing']For some reason I found this absolutely hilarious.[/QUOTE]

I'm glad people are getting a kick out of my trouble. I also basically repeated those lines to a friend over and over on IM while I was getting my 6 Deathbringers.
 
dude I beat White Mousse at level 25!!!

gamefaqs said it was one of the hardest hunts, but not I!!

he's weak to fire, so I set everyone's gambits to use FIRA instead of attack,

and when I was ready, I brought out my character from Reserve who can cast Belias.

I made sure to have that character have reflect casted on her before I went into battle,

then brought her out, summoned Belias, casted reflect on him ASAP (otherwise wateraga kills him in one hit)

and then I was set!!!
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']I'm glad people are getting a kick out of my trouble. I also basically repeated those lines to a friend over and over on IM while I was getting my 6 Deathbringers.[/quote]

Bleh. I had the same trouble getting all those swords. It took me like two hours+ to get four of the Deathbringers and like three hours just to get two Demonbanes. I'm not going to keep resetting just to get two more swords. I'll just switch equipment since I have to do that for armour anyways.
 
[quote name='Thongsy']Bleh. I had the same trouble getting all those swords. It took me like two hours+ to get four of the Deathbringers and like three hours just to get two Demonbanes. I'm not going to keep resetting just to get two more swords. I'll just switch equipment since I have to do that for armour anyways.[/QUOTE]

So not to keep the argument going...but ya I guess to keep the argument going I want to raise this question. Whats more fun? Exploring a dungeon, beating a boss and being rewarded with chests containing uber swords for your party? Or having to learn from a guide that a chest may contain a sword sometimes and spending two hours resetting the game and running back and forth trying to get it?
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']So not to keep the argument going...but ya I guess to keep the argument going I want to raise this question. Whats more fun? Exploring a dungeon, beating a boss and being rewarded with chests containing uber swords for your party? Or having to learn from a guide that a chest may contain a sword sometimes and spending two hours resetting the game and running back and forth trying to get it?[/QUOTE]

I take it you've either A) never played an MMORPG or B) absolutely hate them?

I honestly see why people don't dig the whole system of FFXII since it's modeled around that of an MMORPG... if you don't like MMORPG's, chances are pretty decent you won't like FFXII gameplay.

All FF's had a time sink in them, somewhere, whether it's doing the chest thing in FFXII or farming a rare monster in some other FF game (like in FFV, spent about three hours farming fucking movers for job points).

The swords are optional though, you can get through the entire game without ever doing it, so it's not really a major point.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']I take it you've either A) never played an MMORPG or B) absolutely hate them?

I honestly see why people don't dig the whole system of FFXII since it's modeled around that of an MMORPG... if you don't like MMORPG's, chances are pretty decent you won't like FFXII gameplay.

All FF's had a time sink in them, somewhere, whether it's doing the chest thing in FFXII or farming a rare monster in some other FF game (like in FFV, spent about three hours farming fucking movers for job points).

The swords are optional though, you can get through the entire game without ever doing it, so it's not really a major point.[/QUOTE]

Lets see...iv played
Everquest
Dark Age of Camelot
World of Warcraft
Monstania
Monsters Online
Maple Story
Ragnarok Online
Fairyland

I'v played MMOs. This is a different style of game, and if they were trying to mix the two flavors they didnt do it well. Also ALOT of MMOs...hell id say most dont use random drops from chest. People assume ignorantly because WoW does all do. But EQ doesnt, EQ2 doesnt and I dont recall most others iv played doing that.

I disagree with the swords being a major point. Maybe its not a game breaker but it certainly cuts back on the fun. Killing monsters is a large reason people play RPGs be they MMOs or traditional Japanese RPGs...so saying every FF has a time sink and using monster is a horrible example. Thats something most people find fun, and atleast your getting experience, items nad power that whole time. I doubt many people find running from point a to point be then resetting for two hours very fun....just to turn around and do it again in a few hours.

And again using random chests made XII have the same problem World of Warcraft currently has. It makes the huge world pointless. Who outside a graphics whore or someone with no life enjoys exploring a huge world with no lore or items. Walking into a cave and battling the same monsters you find outside that area and getting the same items makes it pointless. Walking into a cave and fighting harder and cooler looking monsters just to ultimatly fight a huge boss that actually rewards you for the risk you took in exploring this area makes it a true role playing game where you went on an adventure.
 
[quote name='BREVITY']I ended up not sleeping last night and just played this all night. I will crash later.[/quote]

Manufactured methecite.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']So not to keep the argument going...but ya I guess to keep the argument going I want to raise this question. Whats more fun? Exploring a dungeon, beating a boss and being rewarded with chests containing uber swords for your party? Or having to learn from a guide that a chest may contain a sword sometimes and spending two hours resetting the game and running back and forth trying to get it?[/quote]

That is a damn good point. As far as I know (I'm no FF expert by any means) you've always needed to have a guide to get most of the secrets. Um for instance, "Make sure not to open that chest in the beginning of the game."

Very frustrating.

Here's my question for you guys. WTF is up with beating the bosses - in addition to no loot of any sort do you get ANY license points or XP?? I'm not seeing anything.
 
Water doesn't heal him? I just cast berzerk on him and had my tank decoy'd. All I had to do was cast curaga once in a while while everyone slapped the shit outta him. I found the serpentwine hunt a bit harder, but just set up your gambit to keep him slow and blind and decoy your tank with guantlets on.

[quote name='JEKKI']dude I beat White Mousse at level 25!!!

gamefaqs said it was one of the hardest hunts, but not I!!

he's weak to fire, so I set everyone's gambits to use FIRA instead of attack,

and when I was ready, I brought out my character from Reserve who can cast Belias.

I made sure to have that character have reflect casted on her before I went into battle,

then brought her out, summoned Belias, casted reflect on him ASAP (otherwise wateraga kills him in one hit)

and then I was set!!![/quote]
 
[quote name='coltyhuxx']That is a damn good point. As far as I know (I'm no FF expert by any means) you've always needed to have a guide to get most of the secrets. Um for instance, "Make sure not to open that chest in the beginning of the game."

Very frustrating.

Here's my question for you guys. WTF is up with beating the bosses - in addition to no loot of any sort do you get ANY license points or XP?? I'm not seeing anything.[/QUOTE]

Mob hunts yield LP. Boss fights? Nothing.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus'] I doubt many people find running from point a to point be then resetting for two hours very fun....just to turn around and do it again in a few hours.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah it doesn't sound fun, so I won't do that. If this chest has a sword in it, great. If it doesn't, oh well. Why is everyone obsessed with this anyway?
 
The Deathbringer took about an hour of gameplay to get me 6 of them. I'd say that was worth it; the 1 Demonsbane in two hours, definitely not. I'm "obsessed" about this because I want to get through the game as easily as possible. I also bought the double LP armlets for everyone. I'm honestly not really enjoying the gameplay or the storyline. I don't want to get into a flamewar over it, but that's really how I feel, and the easier I get through the game with these items, the better. I've already invested 30 hours in the game so I'm not going to just quit even though I don't really like it. I want to see how it plays out.
 
Well, like many others I started out in awe. I'm still having a good time (consider this my official preface) but I'm starting to become disinterested in the storyline, slightly. The first twenty hours I was really in to the cutscenes. They seemed of higher quality (all in all) and had more relevance (semblance) toward/of a storyline. That's an exaggeration... there is a semblance of a story line - it's just getting murky and I think they are letting the threads slip.

I'm probably (?) half way. I'm about to head to the northern continent. After the infamous shrine.

Can anyone give a VERY vague hint - is this story going to come back together?
 
So I just tackled another 4 hours last night. And I feel kind of pathetic, because those four hours were just going to the plains to get the sunstone and making my way through the water ways

I played four hours last night because I had my hopes up that once I got to the palace and the feast the game would turn around. Well, it kind of did, but I was so disappointed. The save points told me to save over a separate file, so I expected some boss battles or some LOOONG cut scenes, but it was just a puzzle, and a very short cut scene.

I saw a glimpse of Ashe and finally got Fran and umm..god I forget his name, the guy with the guns. I finally got gambits and party in my menu. Hopefully it'll make the game easier, less tedious.

I certainly hope this game isn't just fetch quest after fetch quest after fetch quest.

So far I feel like I'm stuck in the Pirates of the Carribean world from Kingdom Hearts 2.
 
Yeah, one thing I really enjoy about the game is the CG cutscenes. The quality is INSANE. Vaan doesn't look like a complete douche in them. Very impressive.

Colty: I'm around the same place as you are, so I can't really comment very much, but I hear the story doesn't really "come together." :(
 
Having completed the game, I was far from impressed with the story. Had some decent moments, but few swerves if any and none comparable to the ones in the intro. But I'm still playing. Want the best weapons, and want to complete the toughest hunts. Not something I normally bother with in an RPG. I suppose that speaks good things, but the story? It accelerates near the end, but they never do anything incredibly out of the ordinary with it. Decent eye candy though.
 
I have to say after 9 hours that this game far surpasses the tenth iteration.

It takes the feel of Final Fantasy XI and applies it to a smooth 1-player experience.

Almost as tasty as FFIX, plus the Gambits make random encounters seem so outdated.
 
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