Final Fantasy XII sucks. Period. Fact.

[drothgery]

Since ENWorld ate a much longer reply earlier...

Jeff, try spending some time mark hunting. That's what I did when I figured out I was rather under-leveled. Also note that you can swap characters in the middle of combat, and that equipment doesn't matter all that much. The best stuff you can buy is fine, and you'll be able to afford it by the endgame.

But if you want something more along the lines of FFVII-FFX, try Lost Odyssey on the 360 (which, surprisingly, is turning out as the best RPG machine of the current non-portables).

 

[jeffh]

Since ENWorld ate a much longer reply earlier...

Jeff, try spending some time mark hunting. That's what I did when I figured out I was rather under-leveled. Also note that you can swap characters in the middle of combat, and that equipment doesn't matter all that much. The best stuff you can buy is fine, and you'll be able to afford it by the endgame.

But if you want something more along the lines of FFVII-FFX, try Lost Odyssey on the 360 (which, surprisingly, is turning out as the best RPG machine of the current non-portables).

I'm well aware that I can swap characters; got used to using and abusing that ability in FFX. It's just that by the time I realize I should, someone's dead, or at the moment I want to do it every name is in red and I can't.

Equipment seems to matter a great deal, to the tune of almost a 50% difference in damage-dealing ability (judging from the numbers that pop up in the smaller battles where I can tell what number is associated with what action).

Mark hunting is exactly where most of my complaints originate; the wraith in the mines just slaughters me every time, for example, no matter what I do. It doesn't help that other monsters keep spawning all around it, which are theoretically easy to kill but if you focus on them the wraith has time to heal itself and you have to start that fight all over again, with more undead where those ones came from. Meanwhile those auxiliary monsters are another pretty reliable source of damage and contribute more than you might think to the fight's seemingly-unwinnable status. And to add insult to injury, I doubt the reward could possibly cover the number of phoenix downs I've had to pour into that battle, so I expect I'll actually *lose* money overall.

 

[drothgery]

Mark hunting is exactly where most of my complaints originate; the wraith in the mines just slaughters me every time, for example, no matter what I do. It doesn't help that other monsters keep spawning all around it, which are theoretically easy to kill but if you focus on them the wraith has time to heal itself and you have to start that fight all over again, with more undead where those ones came from. Meanwhile those auxiliary monsters are another pretty reliable source of damage and contribute more than you might think to the fight's seemingly-unwinnable status. And to add insult to injury, I doubt the reward could possibly cover the number of phoenix downs I've had to pour into that battle, so I expect I'll actually *lose* money overall.

Oh, that one. Skip it and come back later. Look up how to kill it at gamefaqs.com or in a strategy guide.

I don't know if it was just me, but by mid to high levels I was mostly relying on magic for damage-dealing. Also, status magic is important in FFXII. You pretty much want the strongest versions of the protection from physical attack spell and the protection from magic attack spells that you can manage up all the time.

 

[jeffh]

Oh, that one. Skip it and come back later. Look up how to kill it at gamefaqs.com or in a strategy guide.

I don't know if it was just me, but by mid to high levels I was mostly relying on magic for damage-dealing. Also, status magic is important in FFXII. You pretty much want the strongest versions of the protection from physical attack spell and the protection from magic attack spells that you can manage up all the time.

Hmm. I'll try that; it shouldn't be too hard to set up gambits that'll automate the process of setting those up, and I'm starting to get the tiles on the license board that lower MP costs so it shouldn't compromise my offence or healing too much; I'll have walked the costs off by the time I get into a fight in most maps.

I don't, however, expect that I'll ever like the MMO-style interface. The fact remains that I find it impossible to follow what's going on in any fight hard enough for that information to be worth knowing.

 

[drothgery]

Hmm. I'll try that; it shouldn't be too hard to set up gambits that'll automate the process of setting those up, and I'm starting to get the tiles on the license board that lower MP costs so it shouldn't compromise my offence or healing too much; I'll have walked the costs off by the time I get into a fight in most maps.

You're just starting to get those and you're going after monsters in the mines? Eek. You didn't spend a lot of points on technics, did you?

 

[LightPhoenix]

I was turned off to FF12 by the battle system. I tried it (via my brother) and just didn't like it. I never got far enough into the story to judge it. I will applaud SE for taking a chance and trying to be innovative with the battle system however. It's just not my cup of tea.

I don't have a specific issue with the Gambit system, but again, I didn't play enough of the game to really get into it. I will say I am a little tired of SE almost completely changing the ability system in every (recent) game. For reference though, I would say my favorites were probably FF6 and FF10 - some decisions to be made, but mostly not opening up until the end-game. On the complete opposite spectrum I'd put FF7 and FF8. I loathed the open-ended ability systems, and I think it hurt not just the system but characterization as well.

(As an aside: I am a firm believer that if you're going to have a battle-oriented story-based game with multiple characters (like an RPG), then by necessity characters need to have a personality in battle, since that is where the most time in game is spent.)

For the series as a whole, the only one I truly didn't like was FF8. Terrible plot, terrible ability system, terrible battle system, just overall god-awful. I stopped playing towards the end and never picked it up again. There are things I like and dislike about each of the other games, and I could enumerate them if anyone really wanted me to. Otherwise, I can sum up and say I mostly enjoyed them all.

 

[jeffh]

You're just starting to get those and you're going after monsters in the mines? Eek. You didn't spend a lot of points on technics, did you?

We may be talking past each other; I'm still fairly early in the game, and the mine I was referring to is the one in Ondore's backyard. Plot-wise I'm up to trying to cross the desert to get to the Tomb of Raithwall. (First time through I was doing fine until I got creamed by a Wyvern I couldn't even tell was there until it was too late, second try I got slaughtered by those little walking tomatoes almost instantly. I honestly don't think I did anything different that would explain how I did so poorly the second time through, so that was very frustrating for me.)

 

[deadplayer]

I never got to play FFXII. Guess I am not missing much.

I am on and off again playing FFVI. The sheer amount of level grinding I have to do makes me abandon it for stretches of time though.

I also never player FFXI

 

[jeffh]

This will be blasphemy to some, but I started Final Fantasy X-2 and so far I like it a lot better. Like I said in a certain other thread recently, big sprawling non-linear games that don't take themselves too seriously FTW. (And, I might add, ones that have some depth to them but that aren't aimed exclusively at hardcore gamers.)

 

[Orius]

This will be blasphemy to some, but I started Final Fantasy X-2 and so far I like it a lot better. Like I said in a certain other thread recently, big sprawling non-linear games that don't take themselves too seriously FTW. (And, I might add, ones that have some depth to them but that aren't aimed exclusively at hardcore gamers.)

I wouldn't really consider FFX-2 to be all that big and sprawling, but it certainly fits everything else. It's a fun game, and there's lots of different stuff to do, even trying the insanity of getting 100% completion in a single game.