forevercloud3000 said:
I see myself as probably one of FFXII's biggest fans.....but lets be honest here. The soundtrack for that game was gawd awful. I could not listen to any of it without fear of being put to sleep. I literally would have to cut it off entirely and put my own tunes on in the background to get through the game, regardless of the fact I loved the battle system and the story. Also, 12 may be dark but not as dark as say....FFVI,VII, or IX. I was referring more towards asthetic in the OP but these are darker in story and over all tone as well. FFXII does have a distinct oppression to it but I never fealt like the characters were losing/sacrificing anything to get the job done. Ashe and Basche both experienced decent losses but they never hit home like...
I felt something special with each one of these moments that is very hard to put into words. Its like a sinking feeling, like you have lost what they have lost as well, like you fear what they fear, disturbs the soul.
And I would like to add that I think you have Noctis in the wrong light in your head. If he was more cartoony looking I think he wouldn't just automatically be being lumped in as a Squall, despaired Cloud clone. He is not depressed at all, as Nomura has stated. Hes actually a more upbeat personality from his spoken dialogue. He is being crafted to be more "smooth and suave". Think Zidane from IX, a ladies man at heart, just Noctis will be less goofy about it. He does wear a lot of black but that is due to the more uniformed look he has with his teammates.In one of the gameplay videos, it was translated that Noctis starts to get really comfortable with his powers causing Ignis to try and quell his cockiness. It is almost like he knows hes the shit but tries not to rub it in too much. If this is an annoying personality/arch type to you or seems stereotypical than it is what it is.
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I appreciate what your saying, and you have made some interesting points, but I'm afraid we cant say anything until we have more information.
On the FF12 point, I suggest you go to youtube and listen to some of the following tracks: The Sochen Cave Palace, The Cherobi Stepp, The Stilshrine of Mirium, Ground of Recollection, To The Place of The Gods.
I honestly thought the soundtrack was mesmerising at some points. No soundtrack is perfect, but FF12 does have some of the best soundtracks in the series imo, maybe you just didnt like them.
I agree with your points about FF12's characters. The problem was to do with the developers and the departure of the director halfway during the project. The original main character was meant to be Basch but SE didnt think the Japanese audience would respond well to a 35 year old male man character which is why Vaan and Penelo were incorperated into the game. It didnt really work imo, because those characters felt juxtaposed from the story, and it did leave characters like Fran and Basch under utilised. And the developers did admit that their were problems with the story of the game because of conflicts with the Playonline team. While I agree with what your saying, I also have to take into account that the developers of FF12 were prevented from making the game they wanted to make.
Theres actully 2 or 3 moments in FF12 that stand out in the way that you mentioned:
I think the dialogue, the voice acting, the writing in this scene is amazing, its one of the scenes where you are truthly in awe over the story. To me this is equal to the scenes you also mentioned. The only problem was as I mentioned the developers were prevented from creating the game they wanted to create.
The thing with FF Versus is Advent Children. I think that film epitomises the poor storytelling associated with FF these days. And Tetsuya Nomura directed that film. With reference to a specific scene. That scene where Barett is shooting enemies, and Cloud saves him. Barett says 'Hey, how you been'. To me its one of the worst peices of dialogue, both written and spoken I've heard in a film. Worst that Batman and Robin dialogue. They changed Barett's characterisation; in FF7 Barett was a father and a believable character, in Advent Children they changed him to be the comic relief black guy.
I don't know if FF13 Versus will be a good game, based on what I've seen it looks like Tetsuya Nomura will be doing the same thing as Advent Children. I dont think the characters will be believable, I dont think the dialogue will be intelligently written, and I think it will feel too much like a soap opera, like FF13. However I am open to be proven wrong by Square Enix.
