Final Fantasy XII ....I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart, Thank You
- Thread starter AgentOtaku
- Start date
Xaekid said:
That wasn't the problem. It's just so stupid that everyone can be strong in everything. I'm not against free character buffs, but there needs to some kind of balance involved.
Now about the game, it was my most wanted game of all time for so long. At first it felt really great but bad news kept on coming till the bitter end. Now I'm not in the crazy-wagon that tells you this is a bad game or the worst RPG ever, but it has some serious flaws. Which however are really relative to your playing style. Like in Oblivion you could ignore the shitty character interaction and just roam the forests a good 100 hours. Same is true here, you can leave gambits be and make your characters different from each other.
So I don't hate it because it's a bad game. I hate it because it didn't live up to my ridicilous expectations. I just waited it for soooo long... that can break a mans heart you know.
Finished it of course but a piece of me died too. Same thing with Advent Children and after these two my absolute faith in Square has been crushed. I'm interested about their new games but with a very stingy, cynical viewpoint.
zero to no character development made me turn it off. it was a boring, repetitive, grindfest. the music sucked (i can't remember a single catchy or epic tune), the story was extremely boring, and everyone looked the same... they had bangaa, moogles, those cow things.. and we're stuck with 5 humans and a tan human with huge fluffy ears. fuck that. they're even all either blonde or brunette. jesus christ.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Finally someone with some sense of taste! Sadly, I know the last five pages have been a shitfest of "FFXII SUCKS" "NO IT DOESN'T" "AHA" "NUUH", so I won't bother with that.
This is my second favourite Final Fantasy, just behind VI and only because the pacing issues of XII are hurting. Even then I can appreciate what it did. Seriously, a masterpiece.
This is my second favourite Final Fantasy, just behind VI and only because the pacing issues of XII are hurting. Even then I can appreciate what it did. Seriously, a masterpiece.
zaccheus said:
I think it was a beautifully crafted world and many places felt alot like more like a living breathing city than any other JRPG game. But like something you alluded to - the character devleopment problem. FFXII was NOT a character-centric game, not in anyway that FFVII had Cloud, FFVIII had Squall, FFIX had Zidane, FFX had Tidus.. etc. In fact the textures of the stry were more broad, sweeping strokes about the general background story of the politics and such. This is typical of Matsuno, but he usually has very strong central characters or at least strong character-centric plotlines (Final Fantasy Tactics' Ramza/Delita, Vagrant Story).
I think that given the development hell it went through we don't know what it was supposed to be, and only have what we have now. I don't care if Matsuno fucked up, I really want his return to the industry.. : ( The Square-Enix ninjas got to him, didn't they : (
AgentOtaku said:
Total stats:
- 2 times play-through, restarted first time, so ended with a grand total of 90hrs !!!
- Main Party: Vaan 47lv, Balthier 50lv, and Fran 50lv
and the Verdict?
!!! Hands down my favorite RPG of the Playstation2 era !!!
and as a Final Fantasy title, it will sit happily in the following of my top 3:
1. Final Fantasy IV
2. Final Fantasy VI
3. Final Fantasy XII
What can I say, I absolutely fell in love with this game...even though it took me almost a year of off and on play...the game is indeed a masterpiece and deserved every one of the accolades it received.
The game completely reinforced my love and faith in the franchise as a whole after the disasterous Final Fantasy X....though I will admit apprehension on the direction of XIII, especially with some of the staff associated with it....
Still, this game really did moved the jRPG genre forward! Everything from the ludicrously addictive gameplay to the amazing fucking script!
...seriously, for me, it's one of the finest written and acted titles i've ever played (right up there with the Legacy of Kain series) and I was completely enamoured by the world, the ensamble cast approach to the characters as a whole, to the political intrigue of the plot....
This game has now ruined my ability to accept generic jRPG # 324245 that the industry is still putting out (though I'll give Blue Dragon a pass) and if ever there was a game that deserves an HD remake in the future, it's not Final Fantasy VII, it's this game. The artwork and care put into this representation of Ivalice deserves it
My only criticisms in the end would probably be the musical score, which while I appreciate the theme behind it and get what Sakimoto was trying to do, it just mostly didn't do it for me and was regrettably passable most of the time.
Anyhow, let us celebrate and appreciate!
I didn't think DQ VIII couldn't be topped, but FF XII ended up being the best JRPG of last generation.
BTW, I also really like Fran. Awesome character.
Zoso
It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time.
I enjoyed FFXII quite a bit. It was a very fun game to me. The battle system was a nice departure from the norm and worked for the game. The world seemed believable and was semi-interesting. The story was passable with some neat characters along with plenty of bland characters. Overall, while it wasn't one of my favorite jRPGs, it certainly was an enjoyable one.
Azelover
Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
jeremy_ricci said:Your opinion really means a lot to me. I will print out your post and keep it close to my heart. Thank you for this wonderful work of art.
(Seriously, if you're going to cry your bitter bitter eyes out, make your own damn thread and complain there, no one here, in a thread to appreciate the game, wants to hear your shit and how disappointed you are with the game).
That's a good thing, you know I bought this game in the end because I listened to people in this forum, which is a bad thing. Still that's what it is for, so I guess I'd give my 2 cents, as far as art goes it's indeed amazing, very pretty. For me personally that warrants a video file, as far as anything else in there, it just wasn't my cup of tea at all and I think that will still be the realization with many many people who try to play it, the majority even.
That's one of the many reasons why it's valuable to recommend against a game, specially when it sucks so much time out of you, I wish there had been more recommendations against it than there were, but whatever.
I will never buy a game from SquareEnix again, even though I had been a fan of Final Fantasy for years.
Dark Octave
Banned
._Xenon_ said:
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
personally i thought the story wasn't half bad at all, the only problem was that the game wrapped things up way too quickly at the end, the game needed atleast one more dungeon before the end. I thought after the first fight with
when he runs away i thought he would escape to some final dungeon with a more satisfying conclusion to the Accuria people's story.
Vayne
Nameless said:
Meh, I personally had more fun having battle almost completely automated. But then again, I love grinding.
The number one thing that pissed me off about the most recent FF games was the amount of loading it took going in and out of battle, and the fact that FF battles are usually nothing more than button mashers. Eliminate all of those issues and you've got the awesomeness that is FF12's battle system.
:lol Good. You don't deserve to play high quality RPGs anyway. Go back to your movie games.
Azelover
Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
badcrumble said:
Well, I like good games. It seems to me like you would endure pain for some artsy fartsy presentation? That's okay, to each his own, and that's my opinion on the game, not yours. Still I bought it, I played, okay? I have every damn right to criticize a game I paid full price for, contributing to the "artist" and wasted my time playing all the way through. I think more people need to know not everybody likes this freaking game, and people who didn't should be able to talk about it, but apparently art police wants to put a lid on it. Whatever.
Joei
Member
I love this game. I'm on my 2nd play of it and it is so, so awesome. I absolutely love the battle system, it's like a modernized Secret of Mana. The characters are great and I love Fran. The pacing does hurt it at times, but otherwise it's a real solid game.
My sentiments exactly.
Regulus Tera said:
My sentiments exactly.
I am a slut to game worlds with History to them. So tired of playing games where you get a backstory of what happened hundreds/thousand years ago (namely a war) and what goes on a day before you start the game. So happy that FFXII had the timeline and sufficient information of tons of events throughout the history of the world. The bestiary was fun too.chandoog said:
domokunrox
Banned
I'm going to disagree and say that FFVII is the best FF game.
I know thats original.
I know thats original.
Angelus Errare
Banned
New to the forums, and I definitely agree that FFXII was one of the best RPGs of the PS2. A huge improvement to the linear snorefest that was FFX. As someone else said the combat alone made me fall in love with FFXII, no longer was I running around every 10 steps and triggering a random battle, but I could run up to the enemy myself and begin fighting. It was a needed change. It made grinding....fun, I've played every Final Fantasy minus Mystic Quest, and the combat in FFXII was by far my favorite. I was so happy not seeing my characters run back to their spot after hitting someone. (I mean seriously, look how dumb that looks.)
As for character skills, the characters are how you make them. Sure they can all have the same skills, but they're definitely not all at the same proficiency. If you have all your characters built the same, it's YOUR fault not the game. Learn to be creative, why have 3 pure damage dealing characters? That's boring, that and you'll probably end up dying in 3 hits from bosses and other enemies. I personally have 1 pure DPS, a tank, and a magicks user who stands away.
Either way, I still found this to be a breath of fresh air from the over cliche.
Main character - Sword user
Main female - healer / summoner
follow #1 - Blue Magic
Follower #2 - Black Magics
That is such a dumb setup, props to Square for getting rid of something so archaic.
This game probably would have been even more amazing if Matsuno stayed aboard the entire time =(
As for character skills, the characters are how you make them. Sure they can all have the same skills, but they're definitely not all at the same proficiency. If you have all your characters built the same, it's YOUR fault not the game. Learn to be creative, why have 3 pure damage dealing characters? That's boring, that and you'll probably end up dying in 3 hits from bosses and other enemies. I personally have 1 pure DPS, a tank, and a magicks user who stands away.
Either way, I still found this to be a breath of fresh air from the over cliche.
Main character - Sword user
Main female - healer / summoner
follow #1 - Blue Magic
Follower #2 - Black Magics
That is such a dumb setup, props to Square for getting rid of something so archaic.
This game probably would have been even more amazing if Matsuno stayed aboard the entire time =(
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
Particular characters that were interesting
Horrible everything else
The last thing I want to do in a game is micromanage AI. UGH
Horrible everything else
The last thing I want to do in a game is micromanage AI. UGH
Damn, I remember back when the FFXII demo shipped with DQ8 and thinking DQ8 is going to make FFXII look bad. Such a great surprise to see the game not only hold its own against DQ8s greatness, but truly carve out a unique FF adventure all its own. I love the world of Ivalice; Vann was never as grating as some make him out to be, the combat was always spot on; (once you learn how to really make Active mode your bitch, theres no going back), and the story, combined with its excellent score make it my number 2 FF.
FFVI
FFXII
FFVII
FFVI
FFXII
FFVII
I just finished this great RPG as well. I got stuck at the Ice esper boss with the little ice crystal minions and then I was so frustrated that I didnt play for MONTHS or one whole year. Once I picked the game up again and beat that bitch, I couldn't put the game down. I finished at level 56 for Vaan, Balthier, and Ashe. Loved the story, it is so different from the usual save the world cliche and the art was astonishing. I want to explore more of the sidequests but I have a lot of games to beat after this, next Yakuza and then Fatal Frame II.
Fun Factor
Formerly FTWer
Not going to go through all the pages here, but I agree with everyone who says this game was lousy.
Worst story in any FF game since the NES ones & the most repetitive battle system.
Worst story in any FF game since the NES ones & the most repetitive battle system.
Red Scarlet
Member
Stopsign said:
If you want to level up where you are at, it is pretty important to know where all you have been, since some of the side areas may be better to level up at. If you haven't been anywhere on the side, your best bet to get some levels may be to go back to the Tchita Uplands with some Icebrands or Blizzara and kill the cat monsters there really fast. You could also try Nabudis and use Icebrands/Blizzara on the little guys in there, but that can be dangerous.
Stopsign said:
It depends on what you are using. The generally-regarded 'uber weapon' is a spear, the Zodiac Spear, which is one of the strongest weapons in the game. It's at Nabudis, which is a dangerous area, and if you opened certain pots earlier on in the game, it won't be there. If you want to try and see, you can find it on the 3rd floor in a room with 16 pots. Don't bother if you opened those 16 pots next to each other on the Phon Coast, as those are the last ones of the ones you can't open if you want to get the Zodiac Spear in Nabudis. You can also get the second strongest armor in the game from a drop by the winged demon badguys in there.
There are a few other powerful weapons, but they are only obtainable right now if you did some mob hunts. If you killed the Antlion, then if you want to go back to its lair, you can find the strongest gun in the game, the Fomalhaut, there in a pot that comes back. You can also get it and some other powerful equipment in the next area after you beat the Draklor Lab.
makingmusic476
Member
Everyone I know tells me to avoid FFXII like the plague. Of course, they're all fans of FFIX, and hate every FF after VI but IX.
Anywho, should I get it? I have yet to play a FF (and really haven't played any JRPGs but Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy), but I own FFX and I'm going to start that soon.
Anywho, should I get it? I have yet to play a FF (and really haven't played any JRPGs but Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy), but I own FFX and I'm going to start that soon.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
makingmusic476 said:
Huh. I adore XII but I prefer the NES-SNES iterations over the PSX-PS2 ones. I must be freaky.
makingmusic476 said:
Get it at least to experience a very well-executed deviation from the JRPG formula. Whether you like it or not is something that should not be shoved down your throat by someone else.
Be warned, however, that if you end up liking it you will lose months of your life on it.
Ploid 3.0
Member
I loved this game too. The snappy battles, great customization (although I just ended up unlocking a lot of spots on the board without restriction). I loved the blocking and spells. I could live out my fantasy of a offline FFXI hah. Great game, I want another that more open, and less zoning (fix the repops with this less zoning also. I love me some high chains).
tzp2gameknight
Member
AgentOtaku said:
I don't know. I liked FFX quite a bit. I think the story was fantastic and I remember really enjoying the game play and Blitzball, or whatever it was called. Come to think of it, I think it's one of the few RPGs I have finished in recent years. But that's probably because of time constraints. I haven't even picked up FFXII yet! :lol
thestopsign
Member
Red Scarlet said:
Thanks for the info. I've done a decent amount of the side stuff; that includes ~18 mark, and a few of the side dungeons. I think I might be able to get the Zodiac Spear, as I have no memory of opening 16 pots anywhere. I should be fine without it if not, my guys are all around lvl. 31 now and I went through and got them better spells and some buffs on the license board. I'm going to try Draklor again now.
makingmusic476
Member
It's only $20. Might as well go for it.Regulus Tera said:
Stopsign said:
You can't open chests in some 4 locations. I remember the 16 ones in Phon Coast, and one in Lowtown. If you got any of those, scream FUCK YOU FFXII and hope you can get an enemy to drop it.
That kind of random crap pisses me off. I mean, go to that Bestiary. They created fucking backstories FOR EVERY SINGLE VARIETY OF WOLF-LIKE MONSTER, yet they can't tell you not to open 4 fucking coffers? Also, I remember going on a hunt at
Pharos
HOORAY
I still finished the Hunt, because I promised myself I would never EVER go back to that horrid, horrid place.
Rollo Lawson
Banned
wow i was under the impression everybody hated this game. guess its safe to say i loved it too...
actually ive beaten them all except VI, X, X-2, and XI...and i liked them all.
actually ive beaten them all except VI, X, X-2, and XI...and i liked them all.
Joei
Member
Totz said:
I honestly think the Zodiac Spear was intentially created as an easter egg for people who bought the official guide since there is seriously no way any person would randomly know how to get it. The locations are in front of Dalan's house, before getting the Goddess Magicite or w/e there are 2 chests in a southeast corner of the building, all the chests in the Confiscatory, and those 16 at Phon. There are just no clues in the game to indicate that this wasn't an intended easter egg for the guide. Knowing that doesn't make me get angry about the item. It just wasn't intended to be found by casual play.
And I have to say this everytime I post anything about this game: I love this game.
I agree that the license board system is a bit scattershot, that some of the areas can feel a little bit samey, the character development for your party is a uneven, the story is sometimes far too sparse, and that the fundamentals of the battle and gambit systems break early and in un-fun ways (especially with regards to boss fights). However, whatever things that exist in games that make me stop playing them just weren't present. From the first minute it had me hooked and I barely put it down until I finished that and only some of the sidequests about 90 hours later.
The story was fantastic, and arguably does a ton of interesting things that haven't been seen in previous jRPGs.
The cinematography/blocking during the cutscenes is some of the best I've seen in game.
The art design, be it architectural, environmental, character, or costume, is absolutely outstanding.
The voice acting and writing are top notch.
The bestiary is one of my favorite sidequests ever. The passages that you unlock by farming enemies are both interesting and well-written. While some people might not be interested in structures of the various governments and their racial policies, that sort of shit interests me to no end. I loved the in-game dictionaries in the Xenosagas and Star Ocean 3, and I love it ever more when it is hammered into a fun sidequest.
And, to those people that rage about the Zodiac Spear... it's an Easter Egg. Get over it. Yes, it is stupidly hidden in a way that makes me questions the devs sanity, but not obtaining it does absolutely nothing to hinder your progress.
The story was fantastic, and arguably does a ton of interesting things that haven't been seen in previous jRPGs.
The cinematography/blocking during the cutscenes is some of the best I've seen in game.
The art design, be it architectural, environmental, character, or costume, is absolutely outstanding.
The voice acting and writing are top notch.
The bestiary is one of my favorite sidequests ever. The passages that you unlock by farming enemies are both interesting and well-written. While some people might not be interested in structures of the various governments and their racial policies, that sort of shit interests me to no end. I loved the in-game dictionaries in the Xenosagas and Star Ocean 3, and I love it ever more when it is hammered into a fun sidequest.
And, to those people that rage about the Zodiac Spear... it's an Easter Egg. Get over it. Yes, it is stupidly hidden in a way that makes me questions the devs sanity, but not obtaining it does absolutely nothing to hinder your progress.
loved the script, story fell apart, was disappointed that it wasn't a carbon copy of ffxi (so please don't call it that), balthier was cool, fran was awesome, vaan was meaningless, and why oh why was there NOTHING with Ashe and Penelo and Vaan? Why? Just why?
Other than that, the missions were very fun to play, and I'm enjoying a similar experience with FF7:Crisis Core at the moment, taking missions that are hard and very hard (much like I did with XII).
I wish they'd release the international version with proper character growth stuff and jobs, but they never will
Other than that, the missions were very fun to play, and I'm enjoying a similar experience with FF7:Crisis Core at the moment, taking missions that are hard and very hard (much like I did with XII).
I wish they'd release the international version with proper character growth stuff and jobs, but they never will
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
rainer516 said:
Yeah, but, Dragon Quest VIII.
Fun Factor
Formerly FTWer
Yaweee said:
Yeah like having one of the most unfufilling & under developed stories ever made in a JRPG game.
Yet it's no better than FFX & as well as a large handful of JRPGs that came around the same time.
Wow, I thought it was one of the stupidest sidequest ever made.
Go to a town & find a quest, go to another town & find the person to confirm the quest. Go where ever the hell you need to kill the beast & then go back to the person you confirmed to tell him you killed the monster, only to go back to your guild to get your reward. :lol
Now repeat that 80 times for every mark & you got one of the most drown out & tedious sidequest ever made. Seriously, what the hell.
Another thing, they put all that effort in the bestiary backstory of what was essentially color swaps of normal enemies, but couldn't put that much effort in the main plot?
Final Fantasy XII is one of the most overrated games on GAF.
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