Final Fantasy XII sucks. Period. Fact.

[Amellia]

Quickenings absolutely are desperation tactics. That's precisely why you hold your MP in reserve for them. The worst thing you can do to yourself is need them and not be able to use them. If that means some of your characters (the three male ones, in my case) have their MP sitting there doing nothing most of the time, so be it. One thing I started out hating but now quite like about FFXII is that it has Rare Game to keep you honest; you never know when an almost-boss-quality monster is going to just randomly wander in and hose you. (#^@&ing Cultsworn Lich...)

@Amellia: that's a smart setup (though I no longer need it, I got to the point where you ditch Larsa). The only problem is that it can take more slots than mine; some, though by no means all, of my characters are finding gambit slots quite precious (though that's largely due to buff routines I keep greyed out until I suspect a boss or mark is ahead). For other things I want on some but not all characters I simply use Ally: Party Leader and rotate leaders accordingly (much quicker than doing anything manually) but that isn't an option for raising because you can't make a dead character the leader!

I think I played the game through without ever really using quickenings. Maybe in the plantdragon boss fight (don't remember where that comes, so I'll say no more) but mostly, I didn't need them. Though you make a good point, it's been a while so I'm unsure when you get all the gambit slots. Of course, I was obsessed with completely filling in the license board, so I think I did it before I was supposed to, plot wise. The lich in Wraithwall's Tomb (I think) that's a rare spawn, that summons zombies, is perfect for that. If you fiddle with your gambit slots you can actually set something up whereby your characters only kill the zombies, keep themselves alive infinitely, and thus get license points and exp galore. A good tip for if you're later in the game and hitting monsters that are too hard.

 

[Felon]

Let's see, played FFVII like everyone else who owned a Playstation. It was an event.

FFVIII, IIRC, was the one that took place at an academy and had characters running classrooms and answering emails. Pretty bland.

FFIX was the one with the furries, right? Seemed that the difficulty scaled too high early in the game. I recall being on some kind of airship that crashed into a swamp or forest, and everything in it could kick my butt. Got old fast.

Didn't get a PS2, but might get a PS3 if there's ever another price drop. Both X and XII have gotten excellent reviews, so I might check'em out. Then again, the new PS3 won't be backwards-compatable with PS2 games.

 

[Amellia]

Didn't get a PS2, but might get a PS3 if there's ever another price drop. Both X and XII have gotten excellent reviews, so I might check'em out. Then again, the new PS3 won't be backwards-compatable with PS2 games.

I want to play XIII, and I <3 Blu-ray. I'll probably end up getting a PS3 for those reasons when I have disposable income, and once my roommate's gone, as she currently has one that I can use.

 

[drothgery]

I want to play XIII, and I <3 Blu-ray. I'll probably end up getting a PS3 for those reasons when I have disposable income, and once my roommate's gone, as she currently has one that I can use.

I've got a 360, so need for a PS3 for XIII, but if the PS3 remains the cheapest decent Blu-Ray player and gets at least a small price cut (I spent $650 on three consoles last-gen -- $300 PS2 + $200 Xbox + $150 GC -- and I don't want to spend much more than that on two consoles this-gen) then I'll probably end up with one this fall.

 

[Quemaqua]

Didn't read the entire thread, but saw so many negatives on the first page I had to contribute - this is one of my favorite games of all time. It has one of the greatest soundtracks ever, to my ear, and some of the most fantastic imagery. The rest of the system isn't perfect, but is infinitely superior to the other games, in my view. I enjoyed many past FF games, but none as much as this one.

Oh, and while the characters don't have the deepest relationships to one another, they're far more interesting than the usual archetypes, and there's some fantastic voice acting work for a good portion of them. Along those same lines, FFXII is probably the best-localized game I've ever seen, featuring jaw-dropping amounts of text all lovingly crafted with an aggressively persistent attention to detail and context.

 

[DonTadow]

Didn't read the entire thread, but saw so many negatives on the first page I had to contribute - this is one of my favorite games of all time. It has one of the greatest soundtracks ever, to my ear, and some of the most fantastic imagery. The rest of the system isn't perfect, but is infinitely superior to the other games, in my view. I enjoyed many past FF games, but none as much as this one.

Oh, and while the characters don't have the deepest relationships to one another, they're far more interesting than the usual archetypes, and there's some fantastic voice acting work for a good portion of them. Along those same lines, FFXII is probably the best-localized game I've ever seen, featuring jaw-dropping amounts of text all lovingly crafted with an aggressively persistent attention to detail and context.

So you liked the pretty graphics and the voice acting?

Sorry these don't have anything to do with a great game. Give me 16bit sprites and FFXI over this anyday. While you were being amazed by the voicework, the rest of the story was running in a mundane circle. Not saying it was the worst one, but it sure was one of the most mediocre.

 

[Amellia]

So you liked the pretty graphics and the voice acting?

Sorry these don't have anything to do with a great game. Give me 16bit sprites and FFXI over this anyday. While you were being amazed by the voicework, the rest of the story was running in a mundane circle. Not saying it was the worst one, but it sure was one of the most mediocre.

Okay... that's like saying "Oh, so you liked the great acting and gritty feel of Dark Knight? Sorry, that doesn't a good superhero movie make." Everyone plays games for different reasons, and it's not news that FF attracts a lot of people (myself included) because of how stunning its graphics are, and how polished the game. There are tons of reasons to like Final Fantasy in general, and FF12 in specific, and while it's fine to have a differing opinion, I don't feel like saying that a person's reasons for liking something are somehow incorrect because you don't share them.

My reasons for liking FF12:

1. Fighting/Gameplay (I adore the gambit system.)
2. Story (The politics and history of the world were so incredibly rich, it felt like something I'd find in a bestselling novel, and kept me playing far longer in a sitting than I ever intended)
3. Graphics (Cut scenes took my breath away, and real time gameplay was better than most other games' cut scenes)
4. Characters (they finally broke away from the stereotypes, coming up with characters like Balthier and Gabranth, whom I loved)

 

[Orius]

Well, I just got me a copy of FFXII, and so far it has the orius Seal of Approval.

But then, I learned long ago to ignore the haters.

 

[DonTadow]

Okay... that's like saying "Oh, so you liked the great acting and gritty feel of Dark Knight? Sorry, that doesn't a good superhero movie make." Everyone plays games for different reasons, and it's not news that FF attracts a lot of people (myself included) because of how stunning its graphics are, and how polished the game. There are tons of reasons to like Final Fantasy in general, and FF12 in specific, and while it's fine to have a differing opinion, I don't feel like saying that a person's reasons for liking something are somehow incorrect because you don't share them.

My reasons for liking FF12:

1. Fighting/Gameplay (I adore the gambit system.)
2. Story (The politics and history of the world were so incredibly rich, it felt like something I'd find in a bestselling novel, and kept me playing far longer in a sitting than I ever intended)
3. Graphics (Cut scenes took my breath away, and real time gameplay was better than most other games' cut scenes)
4. Characters (they finally broke away from the stereotypes, coming up with characters like Balthier and Gabranth, whom I loved)

Actually it's like saying that I went to see the darkknight and i loved hte popcorn they served.

People go to movies to watch and listen. People play video games to interact. I know you're kinda young, but back in the day final fantasy games were all about the story, not how much cgi they could throw on the screen. 10 was a great balance between the too, however 12 was a decent into lets just throw pretty pictures on the screen and 13 looks to be going the same direction.

It reminded me of a dnd game where the DM is so engrossed in his own world and story that you get shoved through it all without any real connection with anything and every 5 minutes he shows you a video of what you're talking about.

 

[Amellia]

I happened to love the story in FF12. No, it was not because they showed me "pretty pictures." I simply loved the story, I thought the history of the world was extremely rich, the characters engaging, and the pacing expertly done. I think you'll find that I rated the gameplay and the story above the graphics in terms of what appealed to me about FF12.

Just as one person might like a book and another person hate it, it's possible for two people to play the same game and one person to like it and another to dislike it. I've never tried to say that people's opinions are invalid because they don't coincide with mine.

I know you're kinda young, but...

What does my being 23 have to do with anything? Frankly, I'd be more worried if I was thirty and still incapable of understanding that human beings have different tastes, and that's what brings us such a rich variety of entertainment.