Final Fantasy XII

[Brasel]

I can't believe there aren't any threads on Final Fantasy XII yet. I had it preordered, so I got it on the day it came out. I had been looking forward to it forever, and I have not been disappointed. This game kicks major ass. Its so nice not having to stop gameplay and change screens to fight battles. The new battle system is so awesome. It closely resembles FFXI's battle system, so its not quite real time, I don't remember the term SE uses for it.

You can really tell that the people who worked on Vagrant Story and FF Tactics worked on FFXII. The music isn't as great as some of the previous FF games. Uematsu didn't do it this time, and you can tell its the same composer that did FF Tactics, which isn't bad, just not as catchy or memorable as past FF games.

The story is really strong as well, and the characters are really cool. I'm so glad that the girly man lead character, Vaan, isn't as whiney or immature as past FF lead characters. Balthier the sky pirate is a really cool character too.

Anyone else pick it up yet?

[Orion]

I did. I really do love how battles work now. I can tell them what to do and then just sit back and supervise their dirty work. It is a really refreshing change. The plot seems a little slow going right out the gate, but all in all, it's not a bad game.

[Dart Zaidyer]

Do they still have something in it called "Dalmasca"? Because that was a complete slap in the face to this project. (http://www.damasca.net)

I don't want to have to constantly explain that we're not some kind of doomed collective of hopeless FF fanboys over there. We have dreams, dang it, and Square sullied our name.

[Yoshiman]

I don't want to have to constantly explain that we're not some kind of doomed collective of hopeless FF fanboys over there. We have dreams, dang it, and Square sullied our name.

The raving FFVII fanboys/fangirls don't help much, either. Sephiroth was not the best villian ever, and he is not your bishie. >_<

I've been thinking about getting this game. A lot of people say it's really "political." It hasn't been changed into something that's like "well, I think we should attempt to overthrow [political figure], but first, we should have an hour's worth of gameplay discussing our plan of action" has it?
Or is it more like "Hey, these people are corrupt, let's go kill them."

However...
-=SPOILER=-

[Warlock]

The raving FFVII fanboys/fangirls don't help much, either. Sephiroth was not the best villian ever, and he is not your bishie. >_<

I've been thinking about getting this game. A lot of people say it's really "political." It hasn't been changed into something that's like "well, I think we should attempt to overthrow [political figure], but first, we should have an hour's worth of gameplay discussing our plan of action."
Or is it more like "Hey, these people are corrupt, let's go kill them."

However...
-=SPOILER=-

Well, it's basically Star Wars with Chocobos. Totally serious on that btw :D

[Orion]

Aw, no playable moogle in my future? WTF? :(

[CJC]

Do they still have something in it called "Dalmasca"? Because that was a complete slap in the face to this project. (http://www.damasca.net)

I don't want to have to constantly explain that we're not some kind of doomed collective of hopeless FF fanboys over there. We have dreams, dang it, and Square sullied our name.


Yeah, actually the 'invaded' country you start in is called "Dalmasca". That's actually really interesing, I wonder if they did that intentionally.

By that I mean, referencing that project and 'invading' it.




On topic, though, the battle system is amazing, and I especially enjoy the Gambit system. I think such a layout of 'If->then' commands is magnificently clever, and they should get bonus points just for that.

But... I would have liked to see some Bangaa/Nou Mou/Moogle main characters. I mean, they're all humans, except for the one Viera Fran. They went to the trouble of reusing the Ivalice world, they could have put more of it into the game. But, I haven't gotten very far yet, we'll see.

[DarkDragoonX]

Well, it's basically Star Wars with Chocobos. Totally serious on that btw :D

Glad I'm not the only person who thinks that. I'm about 20-odd hours into the agame right now, and it does give off a major Star Wars vibe, although that's not necessarily a bad thing. At any rate, I'm enjoying the storyline so far. The voice acting is pretty damn good, too, and I enjoy having more european type accents as well... nice to have something besides american accents in a game for once. My one complaint is that Vaan's voice never sounds quite... "right" to me. His speech patterns just seem kinda wierd.

Gameplay-wise, the Gambit system is brilliant. Being able to set up prioritized If/Then statements is excellent, and lets you automate all the tedious tasks, such as basic attacks, healing, etc, letting you focus on the more important commands. I was a bit concerned that Gambits would make combat a bit boring, but I'm pleasantly surprised that it make combat much more fun, with all the repetitive tasks taken care of for you. The Quickenings (this game's version of Limit Breaks, basically) is pretty cool, but I'm kinda disappointed in the summons so far. I only have one, but it's really weak. Completely worthless on boss fights, and not worth the effort to use on regular fights. I hope that future Espers are more worthwhile.

THe character development system, the liscense board, is also really nice. In essence, they took the sphere grid and made it much less linear. All your characters start at roughly the same spot on the board, and can branch out from there, allowing you to make your characters into whatever you want. The downside to this is, of course, that characters don't feel very unique any more. Stat differences between characters are so minor that you can safely ignore them, and since every character can learn anything, they all feel like carbon copies of each other. I would have preferred it if each character had at least one command only they could use, similar to FFVI. It gives characters a bit more personality in combat when they have unique traits.

This game may have a few problems here and there, but they're very minor. Final Fantasy XII is really, really good, and was definitely worth the 4-year wait.

[Darth Marsden]

If I recall the topic correctly, what American/European voice artists had to do with Final Fantasy X-2 is essentially match the cutscenes. It's like watching someone move their mouth, but putting your own words in. That's why the voices were a little odd in X-2, and I suspect it may be why some things are a little off in XII.

Of course I'm in the UK, so I won't get to buy the game and find out for myself til' 2008.

[biggiy05]

Of course I'm in the UK, so I won't get to buy the game and find out for myself til' 2008.

2008?! Why so long of a wait?

[SeirraMist]

Heh, the day it came out me and a couple of friends drove to the local Gamestop to pick it up... 1 hour later we were in a room with it popped in enjoying the opening sequence. While I havent been able to play it yet, the gameplay looks nice, the graphic look great, and while the Chocobos may not be quite as cute as they have been in the past, still kick ass. Hopefully when my friend is done she'll have the kindness of her heart to lend me it... and her PS2... :D

[Darth Marsden]

2008?! Why so long of a wait?
A swing and a miss.

[Brasel]

...and while the Chocobos may not be quite as cute as they have been in the past, still kick ass.

I'm glad the chocobos look like they do now. They look so much meaner, I think its great.

[Warlock]

Hey, did anyone get the Collector's Edition from EB/GameStop?

I watched some of the dvd that came with it last night. The Final Fantasy Retrospective thing was so freakin' stupid. Here's a basic rundown:

"Final Fantasy 1 was released for the NES in 1986 (or whenever)." (show 4 seconds of the japanese NES intro) "And it was later released on the PSX as Final Fantasy Origins" (show ALL THE REST as PSX graphics). "It was neat because it featured side battles with unique graphics for each attack. It also featured a boat, a Canoe, and an Airship."

Then rinse and repeat for each game. That is literally like all they said for each game, and FF1 and 2 were both shown with the PSX graphics and not the NES graphics (rediculously stupid). They also refered to the Famicom as "NES" everywhere - they will say "Released in Japan on ___ for the Nintendo Entertainment System" and then have a seperate thing for the US release or not at all in the case of FF2 (GBA/PSX only)/FF3 (no mention of upcoming DS version).

The formula was basically - "This is Final Fantasy #." + either "It was released in the US as Final Fantasy 'different #'" or "The version actually released in the US under this number was a different game". Then mention one or two interesting "facts" about the game (i.e. Job system, introduced Moogles, introduced Chocobos, Opera scene in FFVI was cool, etc). Tell everyone who Cid was in this particular game. Mention all the vehicles. The end - next game please.

There is almost no mention of other FF games at all. Tactics is mentioned for a whole 10 seconds while they are talking about FFXII because both are sort of set in the same universe (or FFXII is based off Tactics' universe at least). Extra versions are maybe given a passing mention (i.e. Anthology, GBA version of FFIV, etc) but no info on them or the extra stuff they had. Then at the end they talk about Final Fantasy XIII for a few seconds but show no footage of the game -_- Surprisingly no mention at all about the DS FFIII (which was already announced way before FFXIII). Mystical Quest or any of the GB titles were not mentioned at all. Basically almost nothing but the mainstream ones.

It was basically "Final Fantasy for 5 year olds" :P


BTW, looking through the art gallery, I did get a chuckle when I looked at the espers. One is Zeromus :D The others I had never heard of before (looked all new) though a few others may have been bosses of various games (was "Chaos" a boss?). I hope Shiva, Ramah, etc are still around!

[Breaker]

I only have one, but it's really weak. Completely worthless on boss fights, and not worth the effort to use on regular fights. I hope that future Espers are more worthwhile..

have you seen the Esper's special attacks? if you keep them up/alive until certain conditions are met, they let loose an awesome CGI sequence and attack on the enemy.

[DarkDragoonX]

have you seen the Esper's special attacks? if you keep them up/alive until certain conditions are met, they let loose an awesome CGI sequence and attack on the enemy.

Yeah, I've seen them. Still not worth it. A Quickening is far more effective. Every now and then I'll pull out an esper for kicks, but just my normal party can deal out far more damage than any summon in the same length of time. Espers just don't have the same kick to them that summons used to.

Oh, and Warlock.... Chaos was the final boss in the original Final Fantasy.

[Yoshiman]

BTW, looking through the art gallery, I did get a chuckle when I looked at the espers. One is Zeromus :D The others I had never heard of before (looked all new) though a few others may have been bosses of various games (was "Chaos" a boss?). I hope Shiva, Ramah, etc are still around!

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there's no Shiva, Ramuh, ect. in FFXII. As far as I know, all the espers are based on a Zodiac sign, meaning there are 12 in all (I think there might be a 13th "ultimate" one, but I'm not sure). I think it's nice to have a change of pace, though. Seeing Ifrit blowing something up for the 12th time would have been boring.

Demonic flying lightning goat FTW.

[CJC]

The summons are actually (As far as I know) the twelve zodiac monsters from the original Final Fantasy Tactics (The Playstation one), with five of them reappearing for the third time (They were called Totema in Final Fantasy Tactics advance). Some of them didn't make appearances in the actual FF Tactics (PSX) game, so they may have used filler. But there were twelve zodiac stones that made the wielders into unstoppable demons.

The thirteenth 'esper' in FF12 is an all-encompasing super-summon called 'Zodiac'.



Also, (Possibly why they used the 'Esper' term), anyone can learn a summon. Of course, only one person can know a summon, the rest are rendered unable to claim it after it has been selected by one character. Summons are obtained on the Liscence board after key events.