Final Fantasy XII - Must buy?

[Shalimar]

Well, I have finally filled in the top of the License board for each character as well as maxing out their designated armor. From here on out I think I am going to swap out the Golden Amulets for the experience neclaces, at least for the active 3 in the party, and leave Amulets on the inactives. It seems like its going to take forever to get to level 99 since I'm 70+ hours in and I am not even to Nalbina on my way to Draklor.

 

[IcyCool]

Complete opposite of me. I find that the main bosses are way too easy and require no real leveling. I kinda like the old school leveling days where you'd have to spend a few hours leveling to fight the next boss. I"m finding it a cakewalk on then.

You know, I wouldn't mind grinding so much if the combat system were more enjoyable. *sigh* Maybe I'm in the minority, but I desperately hope the next FF game doesn't try to be a single player MMORPG.

 

[DonTadow]

You know, I wouldn't mind grinding so much if the combat system were more enjoyable. *sigh* Maybe I'm in the minority, but I desperately hope the next FF game doesn't try to be a single player MMORPG.

No i'm with you on that. I used to want to play an mmorpg by myself, now I don't. The combat feels more repetitive than in previous final fantasies. I'm actually kinda surprised that they didnt do like other mmorpgs and make monsters not agro you after you have surpassed their level. It gets annoying with the frequent attacks everytime i go into the giza plains.

The next one is suppose to be far more enjoyable. There going back to traditional fantasy for it. My ideal things i'd like in my next finalfantasy

1. Real Summons: I don't know who these guys are, but it peeves me that they replaced the traditional summoned creatures

2. old school real time battle feel.

3. 4 or more controlable characters. I know square knows that the majority of people think that final fantasy vi is the best one produced. Why have they not gone back to this design?

4. Different parties with different sets of storylines. Again this was cool in vi and vii when the party split up. REally felt likei was on an epic mission.

5. fewer and shorter cut scenes. Last week, during one cut scene, I warmed up some food, ate it, washed up and got ready for bed and the cut scene wasn't even over.

6. blitzball- ok i know i'm in the minority on this one. but at least a minigame that is fun to play. Maybe i havn't found it yet, but i havn't found any minigames in this game. No snowboarding, no cardplaying nothing.

7. Perhaps one day we'll get a non-linear story. That would be interesting.

 

[Arnwyn]

Thus far, I'm enjoying everything ... except for some elements of the combat system. Maybe it's because I'm not an MMORPG player, but I despise the Gambit system.

"Look, we'll give you 6 characters, but only let you play one of them, and if you don't want to do that, you don't have to, the game plays itself!" Great, but I paid for the game under the apparently novel premise that I'd actually be playing it. Yes, I know, I don't have to use Gambits, I could theoretically turn them all off and play it that way. Have you tried it though? It's painfully clunky.

I'm with you here. If there's a critical flaw in this game, for me it'll be the dreadful combat system. I'm much more of a FF 4-7 fan.

Now, I've only played a little tiny bit of it (still getting through other games) as well as the demo, so it might actually get really good - but I consider that to be highly unlikely.

 

[Seonaid]

I agree that it would be really neat to have a nonlinear story. And I can't stand grinding (thanks, IcyCool, for the term), but I don't at all mind the combat. The lack of mini-games doesn't bother me at all. I found the others annoying (I've only ever played X and X-2 though, of the recent ones), especially since blitzball was a requirement to get Waka's special. That's stupid, making an optional part of the game necessary for any reason.

The cut scenes also don't bother me, but it would be nice if they could all be skipped and if they were all in the superior animation. I know that's a lot to ask, but if I have to watch something I can't control, at least make it pretty. I'd pay more for that.

My one gripe about the license board is that some of the skills are useless to characters, depending on how you are aiming them. If, as Shalimar hints, the board will be full before the game is over, what's the point? Of course, I'm only about 17 hours in, so I don't really have a leg to stand on, in this case . . .

DonTadow, if you're talking about the turtle I think you're talking about, that was a breeze for me. The avian, on the other hand, took FOREVER. Demon Wall 2 was a cinch, though (even without the terrain help). Demon Wall 1 is going to have to wait a bit . . .

 

[Vigilance]

I have to say I havent encountered the "grind" that others speak of here, except by choice.

I only really needed to power level once, to beat those four damn mandragoras outside of Archades.

Other than that, all the grinding has been hunting for loot to get a few choice items, but as I can go to the final dungeon at any time, this is by choice. The Cat Ear Hood was pretty easy, making Masamune is really busting my chops right now...

Chuck

 

[ShinHakkaider]

And the cut scenes... do they have to be 30 minutes long? They've just gotten out ofhand with them.

And that's exactly why I havent bought or played a FF game since 9. I want to play the game not watch the game. If I wanted to do that I've got buttloads of anime that I can sit and watch. I'm replaying FFIV on GBA and loving it despite the graphics. FF IV, VI and Chrono Trigger are probably my favorite Square games, the stories are simple, strong and dont have 3-day long cutscenes. FF VII is a close runner up, but I HATE FFVIII with a passion that defies description. At one point I thought that maybe I wasnt giving it a fair shake so I went back and tried to play it again recently and became just as bored and sleepy as I did several years ago after I put it down.

 

[DonTadow]

And that's exactly why I havent bought or played a FF game since 9. I want to play the game not watch the game. If I wanted to do that I've got buttloads of anime that I can sit and watch. I'm replaying FFIV on GBA and loving it despite the graphics. FF IV, VI and Chrono Trigger are probably my favorite Square games, the stories are simple, strong and dont have 3-day long cutscenes. FF VII is a close runner up, but I HATE FFVIII with a passion that describes description. At one point I thought that maybe I wasnt giving it a fair shake so I went back and tried to play it again recently and became just as bored and sleepy as I did several years ago after I put it down.

I think at some point square mistook the appreciate of the ending to final fantasy 4. Remember the cool 25 minute ending you got and the wedding that rocked. 6 had a decent long ending too. Now the cut scenes are as long as the endings and the specialness is gone. If I didnt have an oath to beat every ff, i probably wouldn't play anymore either.

I don't know when the cut scenes eclipsed the gameplay. I havn't seen the type of innovation in part 6 since.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I think at some point square mistook the appreciate of the ending to final fantasy 4. Remember the cool 25 minute ending you got and the wedding that rocked. 6 had a decent long ending too. Now the cut scenes are as long as the endings and the specialness is gone. If I didnt have an oath to beat every ff, i probably wouldn't play anymore either.

I don't know when the cut scenes eclipsed the gameplay. I havn't seen the type of innovation in part 6 since.

Wow, now that you mention it when I finished FF IV on the SNES way back when that ending WAS awesome and made me look forward to VI (akaFF III on the SNES). It was like watching your heroes being rewarded for all of thier efforts and also rewarding you the player as well. That was the one thing that I hated about FF VII, the weak-ass ending. Especially after the endings of IV (FFII) and VI FFIII).

Also I dont think there are any truly cool things in the other FF's like the actions the twin magicians in IV take to ensure that the rest of the party survive. It's kind of a spoiler, but for those who have played the game know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[Vigilance]

I think at some point square mistook the appreciate of the ending to final fantasy 4. Remember the cool 25 minute ending you got and the wedding that rocked. 6 had a decent long ending too. Now the cut scenes are as long as the endings and the specialness is gone. If I didnt have an oath to beat every ff, i probably wouldn't play anymore either.

I don't know when the cut scenes eclipsed the gameplay. I havn't seen the type of innovation in part 6 since.

Eh, I didnt find the cutscenes that bad in this one, at least in terms of their length.

I think there were several cut scenes in FF X, for example, that were longer. I just think these cut scenes feel longer because the story isn't quite as strong as FF X.

I think FF XII is more about an action RPG gameplay experience, dungeon crawling and all. Depending on how you feel about that as a game experience will probably affect how you feel about the game.

Still, I beat the game with a party of 50-55th level characters, which I had at about the 80 hour mark, so I think you could complete this game quite a bit more quickly if you just got tired of it.

Also, directed to Don and others who aren't liking the cutscenes, you CAN skip them in this (hit the Start button and then hit X).

I agree the story isn't as strong and was tempted to skip some of the long cut-scenes myself. I probably will skip them when I play it again.

But having just spent 115 hours playing a game that I will definitely play again, it's hard for me not to say it's good

I do agree with some of the points you're making though Don.

Chuck