Dull story

[Darth Tjador]

i think the story in finalfantasy 12 was lame maybe the 13 wil be better
but 7 stills the best!!!! WOO go FF7!!!!!!!!!:p

[Brennan]

12 is awesome :eep:

[Bolivar]

we been through this so many times. it's a great story yet its so inevitable for the player to get sidetracked from it that by the end of the game the player is left asking "where's the story?"

[Rostum]

Welcome to 2006, little fanboy.

[Jessweeee♪]

FFX was my favorite story n.n


FFXII...was nicely developed, but too political for my tastes :p

[ff is da best]

ff12 was cool and all but i mostly liked ff8

[fifie]

ff12 has a story, it is just a little more subtler and slow-burning than what, perhaps, we are used to.

[gudkid]

i like it but it seems a bit out of the ordinary... still cool though
:D

[MustangCobraSVT]

It has a good story it is just very straightforward and often theres other things to be doing then progressing the story so it kind of takes a back seat, but it is still there in all its glory.

[Dragonsoul]

A story's goodness is partially based on people's opinions/preference and partially based on how good the story itself is.

The story is what it is, some people like it and some don't. I thought it was ok but I think other FF's had better storys(FF VI).

[Renmiri]

FFX was my favorite story n.n


FFXII...was nicely shoddily developed, but and too political for my tastes :p

Corrected for perfection :p

[Depression Moon]

we been through this so many times. it's a great story yet its so inevitable for the player to get sidetracked from it that by the end of the game the player is left asking "where's the story?"

I completely agree. It had a good thing going for it, but the flow of it wasn't presented well. I forgot several times what was going on after some hunts and dungeons when I came to a cutscene.

[Serapy]

Uh, personally, the story is not that dull. If you understood everything what the story said in every sequence, at the same time, try not to be subtle of understanding the story. There are actually a lot of things in the story which seemed so "subtle" to you.

[silentenigma]

Welcome to 2006, little fanboy.

[Darth Tjador]

i think 1 of the reasons i didnt like it was cuz the story was moving 2 slow
for me....:(

[Renmiri]

Yeah to me too, but we who don't like the story telling have had countless discussions here with the XII fanatics since the game came out last year so that is why everyone here is giving you a hard time.

How quickly they forget! :p

[Darth Tjador]

hhmmmm(starts to sob):/

[Vivisteiner]

It has a good story it is just very straightforward and often theres other things to be doing then progressing the story so it kind of takes a back seat, but it is still there in all its glory.
I dont think it is.

Personally, I like it.

[Gennosuke]

The story was soooooooooooooooooo poor i hated it!!!I skipped every bit of dialogue i could, so half the time i really didn't know what was going on!!!POOR!!!But everything else was good:D

[MustangCobraSVT]

How can you say the story was poor if you skipped the majority of it...

[Darth Tjador]

ya thats kind ofstupid so technically u havent really payed attention to the game.....lol i got the special edition of ff12 for christmas from santa..:):):):)

[Levian]

I haven't finished the game yet, and I don't really know how much I've got left either, but I'm missing some character focus. I hardly know anything about Penelo, Balthier and Vaan. and the other three I know very little of. I've just visited the town Fran lived in, Eruyt, or something, and at least they digged a bit into her character. But for all I know, there might be some more character development later in the game.

I don't really like the way they speak. They speak as if they were born 200 years ago and with a stick up their ass. I like the more casual style from the other FF's. So, I'm finding the story pretty uninteresting. It doesn't grab me or anything. :p I'm sure there's some decent storyline deep down there somewhere, but yeah, it didn't grab me like the other FF's did. So far anyway, I haven't finished the game, so things can still change. I have a feeling it won't, though.

[Darth Tjador]

i still think 13sgonna be better...maybe maybe not

[boys from the dwarf]

I only recently completed it despite having bought it 2 days after its EU release. it was my third attempt at the game.

the story was dissapointing. in fact, the only reason i came on EOFF was for someone to convince me otherwise, i would gladly listen to constructive reason.

the text is difficult to understand. I think some people are mistaking subtlety for "finding the pretty wordplay confusing". Theres little backstory on Landis so whenever its mentioned it fails to interest me.

]and as for reddas. and dont say i didn't use spoilers. the fact that he was judge zecht meant nothing to me. he was mentioned about once and didn't seem important. his death was a yawn and i felt nothing for him
it becomes more and more like this towards the end. please. tell me im wrong.

[Darth Tjador]

lol u just did use a spoiler!!!!

[LunarWeaver]

I found it intriguing enough to finish it, but ultimately nothing special. It has been done better elsewhere, and the plot hides behind Alexander O. Smith's flowery translation. It wasn't until towards the end I had realized nothing much even happened and it came off like the haughty-speak was trying to hide it.

It's not the worst plot I've ever seen, and it has some inventive moments in there. Many RPGs don't even try, so I give it credit for things like art direction or graphical beauty. The battle system that forms the meat of the game was also very fun to me. But when it comes down to it, the plot is just about a princess lugging around 5 other nobodies while she collects crap.

[boys from the dwarf]

i can agree with that. my hopes occasionally raised but i was always dissapointed.

a lot of the reason i played FFXII was because of judge zargabaath being voiced by "simon templeman" (kain in legacy of kain).

the flashy last scenes and bosses are good but let down by lack of story and explanations and i just felt nothing after the ending especially in comparison with other FFs.

but perhaps a lot of this is to do with the experimental, next-gen styling and graphics and voices. maybe they would have done better under different circumstances.

I'll need a PS3 to play FFXIII and theres a chance i wont risk it after this dissapointment. but i have high hopes for it. i just wont buy hastily.

[Nifleheim7]

So far anyway, I haven't finished the game, so things can still change. I have a feeling it won't, though.

Oh yes,it will.
It will get far,far worse...Just wait until you get to the final part.

Anyway,as i've said before,FFXII is a great game but unfortunately it lacks in the story and character department.
Funny thing is that i start to really like Hitoshi Sakimoto's music (maybe listening to BoF V helped me appreciate him more),and dare i say it was a nice change from master Uematsu.

[Renmiri]

I like him but Uematsu just can't be beaten! I just started playing FFVIII and right in the first hour of it the soundtrack already caught me. XII took me almost 200 hours to get me to memorize one measly song.

[Formalhaut]

So far anyway, I haven't finished the game, so things can still change. I have a feeling it won't, though.

Well, you say Balthier don't have much history? Or at least you have not seen much from him? Wait until you get to Phon Coast

The game basicly focuses on, Ashe, Balthier, and Basch. Vaan also has a less minor part in the Village. Vaan and Penelo really don't have "Much" I terms of history and stuff. I think the game focuses on them in the beginning.

[Vivisteiner]

I like him but Uematsu just can't be beaten! I just started playing FFVIII and right in the first hour of it the soundtrack already caught me. XII took me almost 200 hours to get me to memorize one measly song.
Haha, I memorised one in the first few minutes. Rabanastre's theme tune.

But Uematsu's music is in another league in terms of overally depth in quality. A game like FFIX has so many good tunes, its quite frankly scary.

[Darth Tjador]

any of u guys like ff12 so much that u know every line in the game???

[Dragonsoul]

After further thought and viewing the trailer for memories, I think I underestimated the story and characters of Final Fantasy XII. The game is fantastic! :)

25 hours to go, 100% completion! :)!!!

[ff is da best]

hay does any 1 know wat the jagd is? they mention it often in ff12.
im trying to understand ff12 story and all.

[Renmiri]

The Bestiary cards have it, on page 2. Jagd is an area where the magic mist is too thick, making it impossible for airships and other machines to cross it. It is a place full of deformed monsters also due to the excessive mist so no one lives on the jagds. It is an area only few dare to cross on foot.

Using nethicite Cid found a way to make some empire ships immune to it so some empire ships can fly over jagd.

[Dragonsoul]

hay does any 1 know wat the jagd is? they mention it often in ff12.
im trying to understand ff12 story and all.

I think the continent on the bottom has two regions, and both are two words, that start with the word Jagd.

By the way, Giruvegan is pretty great! :D

[Renmiri]

Yes, the souther continent, Kerwoon has two Jagds but so does the continent of Valendia and the naldoan see.

Jagd can be roughly translated as "wilderness" an area full of monsters with no cities or villages.

[Darth Tjador]

thats why they call it the wild lol!

[Skyblade]

Yes, the souther continent, Kerwoon has two Jagds but so does the continent of Valendia and the naldoan see.

Jagd can be roughly translated as "wilderness" an area full of monsters with no cities or villages.

I always thought of Jagds as being more a place where normal rules don't apply. In FFTA, the laws did not hold there, and in FFXII, skystones don't work there. The wilderness was a side effect, not a defining feature. If you have the word's roots, I'll agree with you, but I haven't found any source of he word outside of the games.

[Bolivar]

After further thought and viewing the trailer for memories, I think I underestimated the story and characters of Final Fantasy XII. The game is fantastic! :)

25 hours to go, 100% completion! :)!!!

It feels bad to say it, but this really helped me appreciate it, too. (youtube is a great source for this) My second playthrough I tried to stay away from mark hunting as much as possible and just play through the story. When you view the cut scenes in succession you really do start to appreciate the story more, reviewing videos helps you draw deeper meaning, and saving the game before important parts also helps. I must have watched the scene at the top of Pharos 4-5 times now, and it is one of the best scenes in FF IMO.

The characters do actually develop, at least the younger ones - vaan, ashe, and penelo. By the end of the game they realize that not everything is black and white and they really mature, which makes sense since all 3 are at the point of leaving adolescence and entering adulthood.

Unfortunately, as many have said, and I had early on, this game's storytelling is a huge step back from what we've come to expect from Final Fantasy with the more recent games. The way cutscenes and gameplay in RPG's were noticeably different is something that holds back the art form, and is one of the constraints that Square wanted to destroy with Final Fantasy VII. From then on, you had cutscenes leading into and picking up from (and at times even interrupting) gameplay, yet in this game, the cut scenes and game were again very distinct. But that's Matsuno's style, he's extremely good at what he does but he's not Yoshinori Kitase.

[Renmiri]

From the German for "hunt" iirc

[Dragonsoul]

Bolivar, somebody played through FF XII and used screen capture software to make a movie of FF XII, which is hours long of all movies and cutscenes. There's a thread on it either here or ffshrine.org

I'm gonna watch it before I do the final boss!

[Bolivar]

Bolivar, somebody played through FF XII and used screen capture software to make a movie of FF XII, which is hours long of all movies and cutscenes. There's a thread on it either here or ffshrine.org

I'm gonna watch it before I do the final boss!

I didn't know that. seems like it's good, but doesn't it kind of feel empty without all the stuff in between? actually i wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, seeing my thoughts on how it divided gameplay and storytelling.

To me, watching the individual scenes that slipped out of memory helped, like what happens with Gramis when Vayne returns to Archadia. I don't think i'd need to see it all one after another.

[Dragonsoul]

This seems pretty cool! :)

[Darth Tjador]

wow im suprised this theread didn't get locked for what i said(starts to wonder if there gonna lock it)lol!

[Setzer Gabianni]

i think the story in finalfantasy 12 was lame maybe the 13 wil be better
but 7 stills the best!!!! WOO go FF7!!!!!!!!!:p

Good lord. I come back to the forums to find some interesting discussion, but I still find stuff like this. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm not going off one on now. If Renmiri feels like it, she can relay some stuff about what I think about the story. She better not pull any fast ones. :mog:

[Khaotic]

ya thats kind ofstupid so technically u havent really payed attention to the game.....lol i got the special edition of ff12 for christmas from santa..:):):):)

Should I? SHOULD I?...... 11 years old, I see, I think I'll be a good boy.


It only makes sense that an 11 year old finds this story line boring.

[Woodinator]

heh i was thinking the same thing seppuku :P

Although I didn't find it as interesting as other FF's (I really enjoyed IX's) , this one's storyline is pretty good when you think about it... I mean, most of the game is about Ashe's struggle to make a decision wether..to reclaim her kingdom by force with nethicite, following the will of the "gods"...or to destroy the nethicite and defy the "gods" So yeah I though Ashe had quite a bit of a storyline there, as did balthier which was mentioned earlier. Thing I didn't like about it was how it seemed Penelo's only purpose was to tie Larsa into the story...that and the last boss was rediculously easy IMO

Oh and there are a couple quotes Vayne makes towards the end that I really like..

[Heath]

The fact that it was political was part of the reason it interested me as much as it did. I found the story to be one of the more interesting in the series to be honest. I've always enjoyed kingdoms warring with each other and the internal politics of them (ala Final Fantasy IX).

[Vivisteiner]

^Thats probably a good reason as to why I enjoyed FFXII's storyline.

(And FFIX)

[Karellen]

If you look at the number of plot points and the narrative progression in FFXII objectively it doesn't really lack anything that any of the other FF games had. A lot of people complain that the majority of the plot is confined to the last fifteen hours or so of the game but this has pretty much been the same for every FF games since FFVIII. FFXII's problem is that everything is way, way too drawn out thanks to the longer dungeons and more expansive environments. Bigger generally means better (See: Morrowind) but since JRPGs are very much plot centric and fans of the genre have been battered over the head with cinemas every five second for so long the added time between cutscnes just becomes a nuisance to most players and they start calling FFXII silly things like a dungeon crawler which is a ridiculous label for a game of this style but hey, 'RPG' is a ridiculous label for a game with no role playing and even those who are supposed to be the authorities on the subject use that definition so perhaps we can't blame them for being stupid.

[Renmiri]

It only makes sense that an 11 year old finds this story line boring.

Well mature people have read thousands of BOOKS and watched hundreds of MOVIES (ever heard of them ?) with the same basic story of kingdoms warring between each other so we can also find the XII story extremely dull... :eep:

Try picking a book about the Roman Empire or The Three Musketeers at your local library. You will find out what a good political intrigue story looks like

[Darth Tjador]

exactly people so what if i think the storys boring im not the only one!

[edczxcvbnm]

The story was awesome but lacked in one key area...political intrigue XD I liked what they put in there but they didn't get involved enough with everything for everything to really shine. What helped it to work was the involvement of those super being guys and the nethicite and stuff. Not completely original but the way in which they pulled if off was rather nice...or so I thought.

Another thing FFXII did that made it seem like less story is that they didn't focus on the obvious at all. Bathier was gonna teach van how to fly the ship...by the end of dungeon Van can fly the ship. They didn't have a cut scene or anything to show the training. It just happened and that is fine by me. Skip the super obvious :D

[Vivisteiner]

It only makes sense that an 11 year old finds this story line boring.

Well mature people have read thousands of BOOKS and watched hundreds of MOVIES (ever heard of them ?) with the same basic story of kingdoms warring between each other so we can also find the XII story extremely dull... :eep:

Try picking a book about the Roman Empire or The Three Musketeers at your local library. You will find out what a good political intrigue story looks like
Try looking at a few plot twists in some fiction books, and they'll be remarkably similar to FFX. ;)


All games copy off books to some extent, because the supply of potential plot spoint is exhaustable.



EDIT: On the subject of original plotlines, try telling Shakespeare that.

The alternating view on FFXII's plot are very interesting.

IGN: Final Fantasy XII Review (http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/741/741991p1.html)
Final Fantasy XII (ps2: 2006): Reviews (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/finalfantasyxii?q=Final%20FAntasy%20XII)

[McLovin']

i think the story in finalfantasy 12 was lame maybe the 13 wil be better
but 7 stills the best!!!! WOO go FF7!!!!!!!!!:p

8. :magus:

[rubah]

political intrigues are usually pretty dull for most of the people who like video games. This would be something to let your dad play if he liked stories.

[Hazzard]

I loved the political aspect used in this game, it produced something entirely different from what you'd expect, and has been a repeatedly used factor in all Final Fantasy stories, just touched on more greatly in this particular game.

Far from a dull story.

[Clawsze]

Yeah, it was a good story, but I think it lacked that certain depth, because for the majority, it's in Vaan's PoV. Vaan is a little poor kid so he's dumb.

[Mercen-X]

I don't find the story to be that dull.

[KoShiatar]

i think the story in finalfantasy 12 was lame maybe the 13 wil be better
but 7 stills the best!!!! WOO go FF7!!!!!!!!!:p


Now with 33% more fan bias!

(I do think that FF XII's story is dull.)

[Heath]

From the German for "hunt" iirc


Yeah, it is. (http://www.dict.cc/?s=Jagd%20machen%20auf) From the German 'jagen' meaning 'to hunt.'

[boys from the dwarf]

The majority of what people talk about and enjoy is the non story related stuff which is neatly integrated with believeable backstory and history. E.G. espers, the bestiary and secrets of ivalice.

but if you want the story to be the main thing you'll be dissapointed because espers and hunts lose meaning as they take far longer than the main story. the side quests so huge and seperate that it may as well be another game.

Edit: come to think of it. all of the graphics and epic cutscenes and flashiest bosses were put into the main story but more time and effort was probably put into the side story. a bit unbalanced.