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Forums - Gaming - FFXII: What's the verdict?

twesterm on 28 April 2008
Lamace said:

Ok I had to join VGChartz just for this thread, so first here is my RPG Expirience:


Hi, welcome to VGChartz, now for the fun...

The thing that I've noticed about Final Fantasy XII is that it really isnt for the younger crowd, like everyone that I've seen that loved it were over 18 or 20, and those that didnt like it were like under 16 or so. I cant really tell you why but maybe that the younger gamers cant relate to the majority older cast of XII, or maybe the plot is too grown up for them or something.

I'm 26 and hate the game, everyone I know in real life (who are all around the same age or older) hate the game. Since we're making crazy assumptions I bet you're around 19-20 and think you're king of the world.

One thing that i noticed about the character development in this game was that alot of it was told visualy, instead of the usual "This is my life story, deal with it". Now you may or may not like this aproch to character development, but the development is there if you look for it. Another thing that people might not have liked about the game is that Vaan is not the main character, the story is told through his eyes, but Basch and Ashe are the main characters in the game. Its kind of like the story telling in Hellboy, were the story is told from Mayers perspective, Hellboy is still the main character.

That's not proving there's character development. I've never heard this theory so please elaborate.

Another thing that people probably didnt like was that this is by far the most serious story of the main franchise ( Final Fantasy Tactics being the overall most serious), while there is still humor in the game for the most part it gets down to buisness and doesnt fool arround too much (unlike X). And when people say that this is direct copy of the Star Wars story, they are unfortunatly looking only skin deep. The story in FFXII is way more complex and political driven than Star Wars ever was, it is true however that if you look at the basic story they will seem very similar, but when you delve deeper and get into the more subtle details they are totaly different expiriences.

I'm guessing you never played FFVI. I don't know if it's the darkest, but there was suicide, genocide, mass deaths, betrayal, kids losing their parents, oh, and the world ending because you failed to stop a madman.

As for gameplay there really isnt much to say that hasnt been said already, at first you will probably hate the gambit system, but when you get your full party and start getting the more complex comands, it easily becomes one of the best combat engines the series has seen yet. Its one of those systems were it gradualy gets you into it so you dont become overwelmed with the amount of things you can do with it. Graphics are as people have stated some of the best the PS2 has to offer, if not the best. The music while great is not one of Hitoshi Sakimoto's best works, its his longest score though which is probably why it isnt one of his best. There are a few really exceptional songs in the game though, like the boss theme is probably the best I've heard in a Final Fantasy game.

I agree the gambit system is really cool I just think it's shitty to start you off with so little. I understand they want to build your experience with it but I don't want to constantly throw out Cure I's when a character is at less than 90% HP. By the time you finally start getting the good gambits you just stop caring.

So if you havent noticed already I loved Final Fantasy XII, I personaly think its the 3rd best in the franchise (Final Fantasy VI and Tactics being my favorite), and if you look at the top of my post you will see that I have played them all and beaten most of them. So overal, both the story and the gameplay are quite complex in XII, While I will agree that not every one will like it in the end, I sugest that you at least try it to see for your self. I paid $60 for the colectors edition and I do not regret it at all, so it is beyond well worth the $20 you pay for it now.

Whoops, I guess I shouldn't have skimmed your post the first time through, you have played VI (I ignored the experience part since it's more or less worthless to me). My bad. :-p

And I still say that XII very well could have a fantastic story and characters after that mythical 20 hour mark (or wherever you draw that line, different people seem to draw it at different places-- whatever the case I couldn't make it there) but that still doesn't change the fact that there's 20 hours of shitty gameplay before it gets good.

 



 

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Brainslug on 28 April 2008

This is an amusing thread - I thought I'd share my experience in it.

Here's where I'm coming from - I'm 28 and I don't consider myself an RPG fan; I'm a *Final Fantasy* fan - scratch that - addict.

I've been playing them since the original first came out and loved every one of em - straight through. They're not all equal of course but I loved em all. My MP3 folder is filled with countless Final Fantasy soundtracks and re-recordings of Final Fantasy music and my office is full of Final Fantasy Toys.

Final Fantasy was the only reason I was still playing video games past high school. When a new ones would come out - I'd borrow a Playstation, rent the game and play it through, non stop. To me, ever game up till X-2, although varied had the spirit of Final Fantasy at it's core - it's hard to explain, It's the way the characters and the story and the world were weaved together that gave it the "Final Fantasy" essence.

I skipped Final Fantasy XI because that was just retarded - Final Fantasy isn't online OR multiplayer and should have been graced with a "Spin Off" title because that's what it was.

And unfortunately, Final Fantasy XII wasn't a Final Fantasy either - Beautiful game, great production value, gamplay that is probably enjoyable for those who like that type of gameplay.

Just not the spirit of Final Fantasy.

It's the only Final Fantasy that I've ever gotten rid of. Pity too... the metal collector's edition box was pretty cool.

*Crossing my fingers for XIII



Ari_Gold on 28 April 2008

the problem with the game is that it carries the "FINAL FANTASY" name, setting itself for failure as it would be compared with its predecessors. As a no name JRPG its a pretty darn good rpg. As a Final Fantasy game its a 7-7.5 game @ best.



Bingoo on 29 April 2008

Lost tears of kain

alright well ill put it this way.

As a game itself, its a pretty danm good jrpg with ALOT of value and replay value and yes i think 20 bucks is worth it so no worries there. Though the story is lacking even for bad jrpgs.

However, having the FF name...the game sucks...by far the worst of the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the FF ive played of 1-10 and since 10 was the last one before 12 it puts it to shame.

the story is a joke and by far the part that ruins the whole experience. I still have yet to beat it and i wont ever beat it. It will be the first FF ive started and not finished. It gets that boring. Theres no emotions, characters are the WORST ive seen. I did not care for any of them and none of them developed at all. The plot is alright but because of bad characters you dont really care. I could not push myself to finish the game if i did not care how it ended.

The battle system is not a terrible idea, but it gets pretty boring . The worst part is the game forces you to make everyone the same, and that just helps to worsen the already boring characters.

However, i put alot of hours into the game and i think its well worth the money. But a huge dissapointment of a FF. I will always remember FF 6-10 for their stories and characters and i know ill never forget them. FF 12 i could care less for and if FF 13 is anything like it ill never look at the series again.



Owner of all consoles cept DS.....Currently in love with prototype!

makingmusic476 on 29 April 2008
Bingoo said:
Lost tears of kain

alright well ill put it this way.

As a game itself, its a pretty danm good jrpg with ALOT of value and replay value and yes i think 20 bucks is worth it so no worries there. Though the story is lacking even for bad jrpgs.

However, having the FF name...the game sucks...by far the worst of the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the FF ive played of 1-10 and since 10 was the last one before 12 it puts it to shame.

the story is a joke and by far the part that ruins the whole experience. I still have yet to beat it and i wont ever beat it. It will be the first FF ive started and not finished. It gets that boring. Theres no emotions, characters are the WORST ive seen. I did not care for any of them and none of them developed at all. The plot is alright but because of bad characters you dont really care. I could not push myself to finish the game if i did not care how it ended.

The battle system is not a terrible idea, but it gets pretty boring . The worst part is the game forces you to make everyone the same, and that just helps to worsen the already boring characters.

However, i put alot of hours into the game and i think its well worth the money. But a huge dissapointment of a FF. I will always remember FF 6-10 for their stories and characters and i know ill never forget them. FF 12 i could care less for and if FF 13 is anything like it ill never look at the series again.

 Does not compute.



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makingmusic476 on 29 April 2008
Lamace said:

Ok I had to join VGChartz just for this thread, so first here is my RPG Expirience:

Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ,10-2, DOC, CC, T, TA, MQ

Xenogears, Xenosaga 1,2,3

Brave Fencer Musashi, Samurai Legend

Saga Frontier 1,2, Unlimited Saga, Romancing Saga

Persona 1,2,3, Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner

Dark Cloud 1,2

Chrono Trigger, Cross

Suikoden 2, 3, 5

Kingdom Hearts 1, 2

Front Mission 1, 3, 4

Breath of Fire 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Megaman Legends 1, 2

Shining Force 1, 2, CD

Phantasy Star 2, 3, 4, O

Valkyrie Profile 1, 2

Legend of Legaia 1, 2

Summoner 1, 2

Parasite Eve 1, 2

Legend of Dragoon, Stella Deus, Vandal Hearts 2, Chocobos Dungeon 2, Threads of Fate, Enchanted Arms, Folklore, Lost Odyssy, KOTOR, Oblivion, Vagrant Story, Odin Sphere.

 

Ok Yeah thats alot of RPG's (no thats not all of the ones I've played), so any way on to FFXII.

 

The thing that I've noticed about Final Fantasy XII is that it really isnt for the younger crowd, like everyone that I've seen that loved it were over 18 or 20, and those that didnt like it were like under 16 or so. I cant really tell you why but maybe that the younger gamers cant relate to the majority older cast of XII, or maybe the plot is too grown up for them or something.

 

One thing that i noticed about the character development in this game was that alot of it was told visualy, instead of the usual "This is my life story, deal with it". Now you may or may not like this aproch to character development, but the development is there if you look for it. Another thing that people might not have liked about the game is that Vaan is not the main character, the story is told through his eyes, but Basch and Ashe are the main characters in the game. Its kind of like the story telling in Hellboy, were the story is told from Mayers perspective, Hellboy is still the main character.

 

Another thing that people probably didnt like was that this is by far the most serious story of the main franchise ( Final Fantasy Tactics being the overall most serious), while there is still humor in the game for the most part it gets down to buisness and doesnt fool arround too much (unlike X). And when people say that this is direct copy of the Star Wars story, they are unfortunatly looking only skin deep. The story in FFXII is way more complex and political driven than Star Wars ever was, it is true however that if you look at the basic story they will seem very similar, but when you delve deeper and get into the more subtle details they are totaly different expiriences.

 

As for gameplay there really isnt much to say that hasnt been said already, at first you will probably hate the gambit system, but when you get your full party and start getting the more complex comands, it easily becomes one of the best combat engines the series has seen yet. Its one of those systems were it gradualy gets you into it so you dont become overwelmed with the amount of things you can do with it. Graphics are as people have stated some of the best the PS2 has to offer, if not the best. The music while great is not one of Hitoshi Sakimoto's best works, its his longest score though which is probably why it isnt one of his best. There are a few really exceptional songs in the game though, like the boss theme is probably the best I've heard in a Final Fantasy game.

 

So if you havent noticed already I loved Final Fantasy XII, I personaly think its the 3rd best in the franchise (Final Fantasy VI and Tactics being my favorite), and if you look at the top of my post you will see that I have played them all and beaten most of them. So overal, both the story and the gameplay are quite complex in XII, While I will agree that not every one will like it in the end, I sugest that you at least try it to see for your self. I paid $60 for the colectors edition and I do not regret it at all, so it is beyond well worth the $20 you pay for it now.

 

Overall I give the game a 96/100


Welcome to VGChartz.  I hope you stick around and post more often, because you obviously have a wealth of gaming knowledge to share.  ^^

You raise some interesting points, and it inclines me to buy the game all the more.

One thing that I've come to notice throughout this thread, is that FFXII's story isn't lacking in substance, but more so emotion. While that does make me somewhat wary, I feel that I'll probably enjoy the game despite this.



Kasz216 on 29 April 2008
makingmusic476 said:
Lamace said:

Ok I had to join VGChartz just for this thread, so first here is my RPG Expirience:

Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ,10-2, DOC, CC, T, TA, MQ

Xenogears, Xenosaga 1,2,3

Brave Fencer Musashi, Samurai Legend

Saga Frontier 1,2, Unlimited Saga, Romancing Saga

Persona 1,2,3, Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner

Dark Cloud 1,2

Chrono Trigger, Cross

Suikoden 2, 3, 5

Kingdom Hearts 1, 2

Front Mission 1, 3, 4

Breath of Fire 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Megaman Legends 1, 2

Shining Force 1, 2, CD

Phantasy Star 2, 3, 4, O

Valkyrie Profile 1, 2

Legend of Legaia 1, 2

Summoner 1, 2

Parasite Eve 1, 2

Legend of Dragoon, Stella Deus, Vandal Hearts 2, Chocobos Dungeon 2, Threads of Fate, Enchanted Arms, Folklore, Lost Odyssy, KOTOR, Oblivion, Vagrant Story, Odin Sphere.

 

Ok Yeah thats alot of RPG's (no thats not all of the ones I've played), so any way on to FFXII.

 

The thing that I've noticed about Final Fantasy XII is that it really isnt for the younger crowd, like everyone that I've seen that loved it were over 18 or 20, and those that didnt like it were like under 16 or so. I cant really tell you why but maybe that the younger gamers cant relate to the majority older cast of XII, or maybe the plot is too grown up for them or something.

 

One thing that i noticed about the character development in this game was that alot of it was told visualy, instead of the usual "This is my life story, deal with it". Now you may or may not like this aproch to character development, but the development is there if you look for it. Another thing that people might not have liked about the game is that Vaan is not the main character, the story is told through his eyes, but Basch and Ashe are the main characters in the game. Its kind of like the story telling in Hellboy, were the story is told from Mayers perspective, Hellboy is still the main character.

 

Another thing that people probably didnt like was that this is by far the most serious story of the main franchise ( Final Fantasy Tactics being the overall most serious), while there is still humor in the game for the most part it gets down to buisness and doesnt fool arround too much (unlike X). And when people say that this is direct copy of the Star Wars story, they are unfortunatly looking only skin deep. The story in FFXII is way more complex and political driven than Star Wars ever was, it is true however that if you look at the basic story they will seem very similar, but when you delve deeper and get into the more subtle details they are totaly different expiriences.

 

As for gameplay there really isnt much to say that hasnt been said already, at first you will probably hate the gambit system, but when you get your full party and start getting the more complex comands, it easily becomes one of the best combat engines the series has seen yet. Its one of those systems were it gradualy gets you into it so you dont become overwelmed with the amount of things you can do with it. Graphics are as people have stated some of the best the PS2 has to offer, if not the best. The music while great is not one of Hitoshi Sakimoto's best works, its his longest score though which is probably why it isnt one of his best. There are a few really exceptional songs in the game though, like the boss theme is probably the best I've heard in a Final Fantasy game.

 

So if you havent noticed already I loved Final Fantasy XII, I personaly think its the 3rd best in the franchise (Final Fantasy VI and Tactics being my favorite), and if you look at the top of my post you will see that I have played them all and beaten most of them. So overal, both the story and the gameplay are quite complex in XII, While I will agree that not every one will like it in the end, I sugest that you at least try it to see for your self. I paid $60 for the colectors edition and I do not regret it at all, so it is beyond well worth the $20 you pay for it now.

 

Overall I give the game a 96/100


Welcome to VGChartz. I hope you stick around and post more often, because you obviously have a wealth of gaming knowledge to share. ^^

You raise some interesting points, and it inclines me to buy the game all the more.

One thing that I've come to notice throughout this thread, is that FFXII's story isn't lacking in substance, but more so emotion. While that does make me somewhat wary, I feel that I'll probably enjoy the game despite this.


Well if by substance you mean length. Yes... there is a lot of it.

I put a ridiculious number of hours into my game because I did all I can to avoid progressing in the story that's how bad the story was. I literally grinded for liscense points until it got unbelievable frustrating to progress at all... at all times. By the time I got the rest of my crew Vaan was like double their level.

Reminds me, after i get sick of Phantom Brave i've been meaning to start over and give them a more varied liscense movement instead of my previous move towards the free stat boosts plan.

It's just not good though. Ghost in a Shell: Stand Alone Complex(the show, not movie or videogame), now that is a good example of deep political intrigue.



ookaze on 29 April 2008

Interesting. I have some points to address.
First of all, people that say the story is copied from Star Wars obviously have played very few FF, as they just don't know the series. Star Wars references were in lots of FF games.
Even if they copied Star Wars (that's not true), that would just be back to the source, as Star Wars story (the first trilogy) was taken from several Kurosawa movies, and Darth Vader is just a plain ripoff of a Go Nagai character (which George Lucas admits and explains why he couldn't make Darth Vader such a deep character in the second trilogy).

Then, I've not much time right now, but I think what destroyed this one for most people, is that it was too much on the WRPG side for the liking of most people, in presentation and in gameplay.
It's not borderline though, it's still a JRPG, which must explains why I still like it.
FFVIII suffered from the same problem I think, must be why I could never like this game.



http://www.backloggery.com/main.php?user=ookaze

Kasz216 on 29 April 2008
ookaze said:
Interesting. I have some points to address.
First of all, people that say the story is copied from Star Wars obviously have played very few FF, as they just don't know the series. Star Wars references were in lots of FF games.
Even if they copied Star Wars (that's not true), that would just be back to the source, as Star Wars story (the first trilogy) was taken from several Kurosawa movies, and Darth Vader is just a plain ripoff of a Go Nagai character (which George Lucas admits and explains why he couldn't make Darth Vader such a deep character in the second trilogy).

Then, I've not much time right now, but I think what destroyed this one for most people, is that it was too much on the WRPG side for the liking of most people, in presentation and in gameplay.
It's not borderline though, it's still a JRPG, which must explains why I still like it.
FFVIII suffered from the same problem I think, must be why I could never like this game.

 Refrenced.  Not outright stole most of it.  They named a couple guys Vicks(Biggs) and Wedge... nothing big.



ookaze on 29 April 2008
Kasz216 said:

Refrenced. Not outright stole most of it. They named a couple guys Vicks(Biggs) and Wedge... nothing big.


 http://www.ffcompendium.com/h/excross.shtml#starwars

 

'nuff said. 



http://www.backloggery.com/main.php?user=ookaze