Final Fantasy XII

[bass]

so i finally purchased the game and got to playing last night.. i havent had a whole lot of time to spend on it, i got tied up in other things last night, but here is my impression so far..

time played: 3:45

graphics: the graphics blew me away from the opening movie scene.. its almost like watching another story like advent children.. the environment looks incredible, the people are the most realistic ive seen in a final fantasy game (CG sequences).. as far as in-game graphics, they are slick.. no complaints about them at all.. the people look better than they have before, there is a more natural feel to everything.. and again, the environments look incredible..

gameplay: i dont know about anyone else, but im really digging this real-time battle system.. its like a mix of crystal chronicles and all the other final fantasy games.. i really like the no random encounters, how all the enemies are out in plain sight.. i wish it was a little bit easier to evade or block attacks, but again, im not even 4 hours into the game and dont even have a shield yet, so im sure as i go that will get better.. it makes the battle a little more exciting when you can move around and pick your target, instead of a random battle popping up and doing turn-based battles.. im sure it will get even better once i learn some skills and techniques with all my characters.. right now all i can do is the basics..

the licensing system is different, but its pretty tight.. its a pretty big board so you never know what you are going to uncover.. i think having to buy the license and buy the weapon/item itself is kinda shitty, but i see what they are going for.. both my characters already have cure and steal, and the girl has fire blizzard and thunder also.. plus a badass dagger.. you get license points in almost every battle you fight, so that makes it a little easier to get the licenses you need.. at least this early in the game it does.. it also gives you the ability to take any character in any direction you want to.. only learn the magic you want to learn, choose what type of weapon you want to wield.. its pretty sweet to me

its typical FF gameplay so far.. travel to destination A, get this item or do this quest, go back to destination B, give the item to someone, they send you to destination C.. and so on and so forth.. im sure things will get a little more interesting when i meet up with ashe and set out on whatever mission it is im setting out on..

another thing i like is the whole bounty system.. its nothing spectacular, but a good way to make money, earn experience, and its just kinda fun to go hunt that mofo down.. i killed the first mark, but the second one is a mutant wolf that is 10 times the size of vaan, so.. i had a hard time with that one.. figured id come back to him when im higher than level 4 haha

sound: i like the audio, its typical final fantasy music.. as soon as the game loaded up and i heard the music, i was just like 😎 oh yea.. the voiceovers are done very well, a very natural sound to the way everyone talks.. seems to match up pretty well with the characters..

story: i dont know what everyone has been saying about the story being boring.. maybe im not far enough in to get to the boring parts.. so far all im seeing is military tactic, political scandal, love, loss, betrayal, and all kinds of twisted stuff.. the captain kills his own king and his soldier reks only to be taken away by the other captian or whatever who is posing as this great kind leader but is really a snake underneath im guessing? ashes husband dies shortly after their marriage and she 'kills herself' and disappears for two years, only to join vaan and his party? (havent gotten there yet, but i know she does) its got me enticed so far.. im looking forward to getting off work and playing it tonight for another 4-5 hours

just my impression so far.. even if nobody has anything to say or adds in to the discussion of this game, ill probably still update or add thoughts as i go on with the game..

 

[Speedbump]

The first few hours of the game were fun even to me, and had the best story elements of the 30 hours I've played so far. After about the 10th hour in, it was just a chore to keep playing, but I forced myself to go another 20. I don't know if I'll pick it up again or not.

Good to hear you're enjoying it though.

 

[bass]

hm.. well the way i look at the story is like a movie.. a long, long, long, long, long movie.. so like any movie, its probably going to have its not-so-exciting moments.. i dont think ill be able to put it down unless something really disappoints me..

and once i get past 30 hours, ill let you know if its really worth it to keep going or not

 

[Cave In]

I'm pretty jealous we're not getting FFXII until Febuary at the earliest. Its Shocking. I've got Dirge of Cereberus to complete before then so its not too bad

 

[Goodieluver]

So what is the story? Is it just another revamped graphic game of ff VII or is it a different retelling to fit advent\the vincent game and such

 

[bass]

time played: 7:35

im getting a better grasp on the game.. i already had a good grasp on it, but now its set in where i look at the clock and start playing and its 6:40.. and the next time i look at the clock, its 10:40.. im kind of surprised at the frequency that people join and leave your party, but its a good thing i suppose..

let me just say that was the longest prison breakout ive ever had to do in a game.. it was nuts.. i like the fact that your MP replenishes as you move around, otherwise i probably would not have made it.. ive got everyones gambits set up now, as far as what i have will allow me to anyway.. so its nice to have 3 other people doing what i would be doing, without me doing it..

im still not sure exactly which way i want to take any of the characters, but i got them all licensed and equipped with basic magick (why do they spell it with a k? haha) like cure and status cure spells, so everyone can help everyone else out if they need to.. and i figure from there, ill take everyone in their seperate directions..

the story is still going nicely, im enjoying it.. lots of things i didnt expect, some things i did.. and im starting to familiarize myself with the areas and what is where, so thats always good.. things are going smooth and im definately enjoying the game so far..

next time i say anything, i will probably have around 20 hours at least.. no work tomorrow or friday, so what should i do all day when im not eating? 😎

 

[bass]

I'm pretty jealous we're not getting FFXII until Febuary at the earliest. Its Shocking. I've got Dirge of Cereberus to complete before then so its not too bad

ah that sucks man, i think it'll be worth it when you get it..

i heard good and bad about dirge of cerberus.. i wasnt sure if i wanted to get it or not.. the idea of a final fantasy shooter just is kind of iffy for me.. im sure one day ill be walking through the store and just be like eh what the hell and get it anyway..

but they also had a preview i saw of final fantasy XIII on the PS3 and the graphics and gameplay look AMAZING

 

[Cave In]

So what is the story? Is it just another revamped graphic game of ff VII or is it a different retelling to fit advent\the vincent game and such

Its not related to FFVII in any way its back to being a stand alone game. Basically boy joins resistance and fights evil empire. Thats it in a nutshell lol

 

[hyped_up]

i take every FF as it is, but im always drawn to the story, but the battle systems are always diff in some way example:

FF 7- materia system*
FF 8- junction system*
FF 9- ap system*
FF 10- shpere grid & pre determined action line up w/ ability to switch characters
FF 10-2- Dressshpere system*
FF 11- real time MMRPO
FF 12- Real time battle system, gambits & license board*

* = uses ATB (active time battle) system

just a lil info for those who didnt know

 

[Fire_Sprite]

Like Speedbump, I started and stopped. It has a nice set up but the story really mellows out into a bunch of mediocre and predictable cut scenes. I like the combat system but they've pretty much made using black magic obsolete. You won't be able to buy a spell from a magiks shop until long after it would have stopped being useful. They way to win every fight is just to teach all your characters white magic and let battles go on as long as they have to. The cast was pretty lame in itself. I can go ahead and say that nobody in this game is going to move on to be a fan favorite. It seems like such a waste to set the game in Ivalice and then have 5 humans and 1 "viera" who was only thrown in because the game needed sex appeal and she's a bunny girl. I like the "epic" feel of most Final Fantasy's but to me this one seems like no effort to make it great was put in to it.

 

[bass]

UPDATE

time played: 42 hours 40 minutes

wow.. so.. in the past 4 days, my play time went from around 8 hours to almost 43.. i feel like ive barely scratched the surface of the story however.. there is still so much that is going to/needs to be revealed.. its predictable at times, but overall, i am still very satisfied with the story

the gameplay is getting much harder.. on the bounties, i have gotten through 14 of the marks, and i have another 4 open right now.. but all four of them, i cannot defeat.. one is the gil snapper, one is trickster, one is this bug creature in the mines that i cant even reach, and the other is this serpent that i cant get past.. its funny to me that im having a harder time with the gil snapper than ive had with some of the bosses ive faced.. last night i spent 30 minutes on one battle with the gil snapper, and in the end was STILL forced to retreat.. its fucking ridiculous, but it makes me want to play even more and beat that SOB..

vaan is level 40, ashe is level 39, penelo is level 37, basch and balthier are both level 21, and fran is level 11.. obviously you can tell who i enjoy using haha.. i chose penelo because of her magical abilities, but then i found out, as was stated by fire sprite, that most magicks are obsolete until they arent even really necessary.. so i then started focusing on white and green magicks..

and ive discovered that if you fight a monster with strong elemental powers, they basically render your characters gambits obsolete as far as curing goes.. you have to use reflect, otherwise you will die in about 3 hits.. but if you use reflect, you cant heal yourself with spells either.. and if you dont take the gambit off for casting cure/curaga, your characters will sit there and cast it over and over and over, with the HP going to the monster.. it got to be really annoying.. i find it kind of annoying how a monster can get you with a magic spell when you are halfway across the map, and you have to be within like 5 feet of them (in the game) to cast yours.. also with reflect, the elemental absorbs its own spells as HP, therefore healing itself everytime it uses a spell.. for these reasons, i try to avoid the elementals, even though they give great experience and license points..

i might have more to add later, but as of right now, thats all i can think of.. as of 42 hours in, id say im about 85% liking the game, 15% not

 

[Speedbump]

Like Speedbump, I started and stopped. It has a nice set up but the story really mellows out into a bunch of mediocre and predictable cut scenes. I like the combat system but they've pretty much made using black magic obsolete. You won't be able to buy a spell from a magiks shop until long after it would have stopped being useful. They way to win every fight is just to teach all your characters white magic and let battles go on as long as they have to. The cast was pretty lame in itself. I can go ahead and say that nobody in this game is going to move on to be a fan favorite. It seems like such a waste to set the game in Ivalice and then have 5 humans and 1 "viera" who was only thrown in because the game needed sex appeal and she's a bunny girl. I like the "epic" feel of most Final Fantasy's but to me this one seems like no effort to make it great was put in to it.

Yeah. Seems like they threw the battle system together in 5 minutes as an add-on so the game wasn't just a movie with a mediocre plot.

I don't see how Bass and so many others can enjoy it. I think most like it just because they're playing a game with the Final Fantasy name, or they're so deprived when it comes to gameplay and storyline that they actually believe this game to be top-of-the-line on both accounts.

In my opinion, this game is a winner in the cutscene graphics, and how the world appears to be full of life with the many different races and personalities the people have, and how everyone seems to be doing their own thing while you're wandering through town, rather than standing around waiting for you to talk to them.

 

[bass]

Yeah. Seems like they threw the battle system together in 5 minutes as an add-on so the game wasn't just a movie with a mediocre plot.

I don't see how Bass and so many others can enjoy it. I think most like it just because they're playing a game with the Final Fantasy name, or they're so deprived when it comes to gameplay and storyline that they actually believe this game to be top-of-the-line on both accounts.

In my opinion, this game is a winner in the cutscene graphics, and how the world appears to be full of life with the many different races and personalities the people have, and how everyone seems to be doing their own thing while you're wandering through town, rather than standing around waiting for you to talk to them.

man, i had a whole big response that i was going to say to that, but heres the short version

i dont enjoy being talked down upon, made out to be a moron, a degenerate, or any other sort of mentally inferior person.. so as far as me being 'so deprived that i think the gameplay and story line is top-of-the-line', you can go fuck yourself

i dont hold grudges or anything so im not looking to go back and forth with insults and im not going to speak badly of you everytime you say something or any dumb shit like that, that just really bothered me that you would say something like that.. never had a problem with you until now

 

[Speedbump]

man, i had a whole big response that i was going to say to that, but heres the short version

i dont enjoy being talked down upon, made out to be a moron, a degenerate, or any other sort of mentally inferior person.. so as far as me being 'so deprived that i think the gameplay and story line is top-of-the-line', you can go fuck yourself

i dont hold grudges or anything so im not looking to go back and forth with insults and im not going to speak badly of you everytime you say something or any dumb shit like that, that just really bothered me that you would say something like that.. never had a problem with you until now

Wow. I didn't even think what I said was insulting. I'd apologize, but I'm too tired to care right now.

 

[ChosenofMystra]

I watched my friend play it for a few hours after he raved about how good it was and honestly, it just looks to me like a game with a nice shiny surface of glitz and glam, but no substance to it. I'm an old-school gamer through and through and it really bugs me that games these days seem to only be about good graphics and skimp on the rest (absolutely no offense meant as well to people that did enjoy the game ok?) But then again I would probably have to see more of the game to really have a better opinion huh?

But you want a good rpg? Try a little cult classic for the PC called Planescape Torment sometime. Hands down, the best rpg I have ever played.

 

[bass]

Wow. I didn't even think what I said was insulting. I'd apologize, but I'm too tired to care right now.

hm well maybe i misinterpreted the way you said what you said then.. its hard to tell how people mean what they say when its said online.. it just seemed like you were degrading me and insulting my intelligence or something.. im impulsive, and thats how i took it, so i responded.. no blood, no foul

 

[ShiningIce]

When I first played FF2 I was blown away from beginning to end. When I played FF3 I was also blown away. When I played FF7 it became crack to me, I NEEDED it. Since then I havent really been blown away by any FF. FF12 has a great intro but after that I got pretty damn bored. Call me old fashioned but I LIKED the random battle thing. I LIKED not having real time combat. So far the story hasn't really impressed me much. Too much action not enough roleplay. Whatever happened to be able to walk into people's houses, talk to them then rob em blind?? I miss the old days. FF7 was the last great epic. FF12 gets a C+ from me.