Why should I replay this game?

[Ayen]

In the spirit of Wolf and Mae's threads, I have decided to ask the Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums Experience why I should give this game a second chance. As many of you know, I played it, got real into it, eventually grew bored and put it away without even so much as touching it since. Why should I pull it out of the bin and dust it off after *looks at watch* a long time has passed?

Go! Go! Go!

[Colonel Angus]

Because it's the greatest game ever & if you don't, the terrorists have won.

[Formalhaut]

Because this game is like a toybox. Like seriously, the game has so many challenges attached to it, you could have several multiple playthroughs of it. Below is just an overview of what you can do in this game:

Enforced Class System Challenge (http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/459841-final-fantasy-xii/faqs/45802) - If you don't have the international version, this is the closest you can get to it. Surprisingly deep and engrossing once you get into it!

Low Level Challenge (http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/459841-final-fantasy-xii/faqs/46465) (122333) - Pretty standard, really. Most games have this sort of function. However, the game allows you to never level up, as mandatory bosses give no EXP, and there's an accessory that negates EXP gain.

Power Challenge (http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/459841-final-fantasy-xii/faqs/46170) - Not much of a challenge. The game can be broken the other way, but allowing you to level up to crazy levels, and get a metric ton weapons and items way earlier than you normally should.

Perfect Game Challenge (http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=145011&rlid=156507) - Similar to the Power Challenge, but more hardcore, you could say.

No Licence Board Challenge (NLB) - Not allowed to use the Licence Board whatsoever. It's a very hard challenge.

Dual Character Half Licence Board Challenge (http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=157788) (DCHLB) - A lighter version of the NLB, you only use two characters, one of them has the entirety of the top half of the board, and the other person has the bottom half. This means that one character knows all the abilities but can only equip very sucky weapons and equipment, while the other guy is a master of weapons and armor, but knows hardly any abilities.

Solo Challenges - Only use one character in the game. You could merge some challenges together with this one to make it even harder.

No Licence Board + Low Level Challenge (NLBLLC) - An impeccably hard challenge.


And there's probably more. If you aren't really into the XII story, and/or found the game too easy, the game is just designed to be abused with the challenges!

[Pumpkin]

I play it for the license board and the world honestly. If neither of those thing appeal to you, then I dunno :<

[Dat Matt]

This game consumed me when I played it. I loved exploring, looking for rare marks, getting rare weapon and arm or drops from rare monsters (e.g. grand armour/helm). I still don't actually know what happened in the story because I pretty much avoided it entirely unless I had nothing else to do at that point.

[Ayen]

I play it for the license board and the world honestly. If neither of those thing appeal to you, then I dunno :<

What's a license board?

[Miss Mae]

Licence board, gambit system, world and characters (particularly Fran and Balthier *swoon*).

[Raistlin]

I've never had so much fun or spent so much time exploring the world in an FF game than I did with FFXII.

Additionally, I think that with the game's bad pacing issues, you may be more likely to fully appreciate the story on a second playthrough.

[Aulayna]

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca

/thread

[Carl the Llama]

Go for a full Sky Pirates Den, its one of my top FF games purely for the SPD, I love seeing it full and the satisfaction it brings.

Aside from that I really appreciated the star wars aspect of it, cause you know... FFXII is Star Wars.

[Fynn]

I've never had so much fun or spent so much time exploring the world in an FF game than I did with FFXII.

Additionally, I think that with the game's bad pacing issues, you may be more likely to fully appreciate the story on a second playthrough.

Yes. The second time you somehow get to appreciate it way better.

Also, the world and exploration.

And Balthier and Fran.

And Ashe.

And Basch.

Heck, even Vaan and Penelo. I love the cast.

[Ayen]

FFXII is Star Wars.

Are there lightsabers and space battles?

[Fynn]

FFXII is Star Wars.

Are there lightsabers and space battles?
No. But everything looks like either Tatooine or Naboo.

[Colonel Angus]

The license board is similar to the sphere grid in X, in the sense that you learn abilities, but you also gain licenses for armor & weapons. It looks like a chess/checkerboard, but it works pretty well. You're only able to learn things on adjacent squares from what you already know. Eventually, everyone can learn everything.

The cast is great. Vaa-aa-aan takes a lot of crap for being a dope, some is justifiable, most is overkill. The NPCs/temporary characters are also a lot of fun. XII utilizes races moreso than others from the standard series, even though only one (Fran) of your team is non-human.

The world is pretty massive compared to FFI-X. Lots to explore.

The sidequest aren't these annoying dodging games, but actually utilize the gameplay through hunts & searching for rare game.

The monsters are incredible. They range from whimsical, like the Cactoids & Mandragons to ferocious, like the Ring Wyrm. They may be overshadowed by XV's screenshots, but @ least you can play this game. :p

One thing people don't mention are the Quickenings. It's probably because there's a learning curve, but once you get the hang of them, they are great. Everyone has 3. Some are truly epic, like Balthier's Tides of Faith. You should search them on Youtube.

FFXII seems to take great influence from Star Wars, in spite of the producer's denial. It's the standard Rebels vs Evil Empire. Judges that resemble Darth Vader. Roguish Sky Pirate & his non-human co-pilot w/ cool airship. Princess dethroned by Evil Empire. Bounty Hunter chasing Sky Pirate. City in the Sky working w/ rebels behind the scenes. Lots of desert & dust. The list goes on.

[Formalhaut]

The license board is similar to the sphere grid in X, in the sense that you learn abilities, but you also gain licenses for armor & weapons. It looks like a chess/checkerboard, but it works pretty well. You're only able to learn things on adjacent squares from what you already know. Eventually, everyone can learn everything.

The cast is great. Vaa-aa-aan takes a lot of crap for being a dope, some is justifiable, most is overkill. The NPCs/temporary characters are also a lot of fun. XII utilizes races moreso than others from the standard series, even though only one (Fran) of your team is non-human.

The world is pretty massive compared to FFI-X. Lots to explore.

The sidequest aren't these annoying dodging games, but actually utilize the gameplay through hunts & searching for rare game.

The monsters are incredible. They range from whimsical, like the Cactoids & Mandragons to ferocious, like the Ring Wyrm. They may be overshadowed by XV's screenshots, but @ least you can play this game. :p

One thing people don't mention are the Quickenings. It's probably because there's a learning curve, but once you get the hang of them, they are great. Everyone has 3. Some are truly epic, like Balthier's Tides of Faith. You should search them on Youtube.

FFXII seems to take great influence from Star Wars, in spite of the producer's denial. It's the standard Rebels vs Evil Empire. Judges that resemble Darth Vader. Roguish Sky Pirate & his non-human co-pilot w/ cool airship. Princess dethroned by Evil Empire. Bounty Hunter chasing Sky Pirate. City in the Sky working w/ rebels behind the scenes. Lots of desert & dust. The list goes on.


You pretty much summed up what I have to say. Another thing that you forgot though is that summons are way more underpowered than they were in FFX and previous installments. While this sounds bad, it means that you have to think very strategically about when to use them. They aren't the 'summon and watch while they slaughter everything' types.

[Fynn]

The license board is similar to the sphere grid in X, in the sense that you learn abilities, but you also gain licenses for armor & weapons. It looks like a chess/checkerboard, but it works pretty well. You're only able to learn things on adjacent squares from what you already know. Eventually, everyone can learn everything.

The cast is great. Vaa-aa-aan takes a lot of crap for being a dope, some is justifiable, most is overkill. The NPCs/temporary characters are also a lot of fun. XII utilizes races moreso than others from the standard series, even though only one (Fran) of your team is non-human.

The world is pretty massive compared to FFI-X. Lots to explore.

The sidequest aren't these annoying dodging games, but actually utilize the gameplay through hunts & searching for rare game.

The monsters are incredible. They range from whimsical, like the Cactoids & Mandragons to ferocious, like the Ring Wyrm. They may be overshadowed by XV's screenshots, but @ least you can play this game. :p

One thing people don't mention are the Quickenings. It's probably because there's a learning curve, but once you get the hang of them, they are great. Everyone has 3. Some are truly epic, like Balthier's Tides of Faith. You should search them on Youtube.

FFXII seems to take great influence from Star Wars, in spite of the producer's denial. It's the standard Rebels vs Evil Empire. Judges that resemble Darth Vader. Roguish Sky Pirate & his non-human co-pilot w/ cool airship. Princess dethroned by Evil Empire. Bounty Hunter chasing Sky Pirate. City in the Sky working w/ rebels behind the scenes. Lots of desert & dust. The list goes on.

Still, the story is much better than Star Wars. Nothing is either black or white, the warring factions are all just shades of gray. Typical Matsuno.

[maybee]

Why ?


Vaan's funny looking abs that's why


http://squarehaven.com/games/PlayStation-2/Final-Fantasy-XII/guide/characters/vaan2.jpg

[Colonel Angus]

A shower would do him some good. He must smell like a marlboro.

... or a Malboro.

[Ayen]

Judges that resemble Darth Vader.

This was all I heard.

[Colonel Angus]

The license board is similar to the sphere grid in X, in the sense that you learn abilities, but you also gain licenses for armor & weapons. It looks like a chess/checkerboard, but it works pretty well. You're only able to learn things on adjacent squares from what you already know. Eventually, everyone can learn everything.

The cast is great. Vaa-aa-aan takes a lot of crap for being a dope, some is justifiable, most is overkill. The NPCs/temporary characters are also a lot of fun. XII utilizes races moreso than others from the standard series, even though only one (Fran) of your team is non-human.

The world is pretty massive compared to FFI-X. Lots to explore.

The sidequest aren't these annoying dodging games, but actually utilize the gameplay through hunts & searching for rare game.

The monsters are incredible. They range from whimsical, like the Cactoids & Mandragons to ferocious, like the Ring Wyrm. They may be overshadowed by XV's screenshots, but @ least you can play this game. :p

One thing people don't mention are the Quickenings. It's probably because there's a learning curve, but once you get the hang of them, they are great. Everyone has 3. Some are truly epic, like Balthier's Tides of Faith. You should search them on Youtube.

FFXII seems to take great influence from Star Wars, in spite of the producer's denial. It's the standard Rebels vs Evil Empire. Judges that resemble Darth Vader. Roguish Sky Pirate & his non-human co-pilot w/ cool airship. Princess dethroned by Evil Empire. Bounty Hunter chasing Sky Pirate. City in the Sky working w/ rebels behind the scenes. Lots of desert & dust. The list goes on.


You pretty much summed up what I have to say. Another thing that you forgot though is that summons are way more underpowered than they were in FFX and previous installments. While this sounds bad, it means that you have to think very strategically about when to use them. They aren't the 'summon and watch while they slaughter everything' types.
The summons have really cool aesthetics, but, as you say, are underpowered. My feeling is this is due to their set in stone gambits. They are only useful against enemies that are either overpowering, hunts & boss battles. There isn't a point of using them against minor enemies, even when you're just trying to clean house real quick & move on. They also have a habit of quickly dying if called @ the wrong time/in the wrong situation. As you say, you don't just call them to wipe out something in a pinch.

[Miss Mae]

And Balthier and Fran.

[metagloria]

cause you know... FFXII is Star Wars.

NO SHUT UP NO I CAN'T HEAR YOU *plugs ears* LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LAAAAAA

In all seriousness, this game is amazing. I've Order of Ambrosia'd it twice and solo-challenged it with Vaan. The world is huge and open and well-developed, and even farming for certain goals can be fun.

[Ayen]

I don't care for challenges, and I say I like open-world games but I actively avoid side-quests in Mass Effect and only play games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim for a little bit because I'd rather just follow the main story.

[Neptunia]

they stole the millennium falcon taking off from mos isely scene frame for frame, how can they deny that its star wars FF style. story is ok, rubbish pacing. oh wait reasons to play..... Penelo's leather esque almost skin tight costume shows off her arse well.

[Wolf Kanno]

Why should you play this?

- Great forward thinking battle system
- Brings back exploration as a feature
- Great cast of characters
- Good Story
- Bitchin' Soundtrack (http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/156173-I-think-the-music-for-this-game-is-actually-pretty-great)
- Deep customization in Matsuno's usual "not so obvious depth" way he's known for.
- Lots of fun references to past FF games sprinkled around everywhere.
- Well thought out world
- Cause they are awesome singing Disney Songs in French
GXU84JD9uKo
- Most people agree it is much more fun the second time around.

[Neptunia]

Is it sad that I recognize all the songs in that video? even more so that I know the one starting at 4:36/37 is from Anastasia which is not a Disney movie.

[maybee]

I love how everybody knows that Vaan = Final Fantasy's version of Aladdin.

[Miss Mae]

With a shirt like his, who else could he be?

[Fynn]

With a shirt like his, who else could he be?

Shirt, what shirt?

[Skyblade]

I still just don't see the appeal of this game. The plot may be ok, but it's hardly great, even by FF standards. And the gameplay is the most mind-bogglingly dull affair in the series, as I literally just walked through everything with the Analog stick and only ever changed things up by using Quickenings on bosses. Heck, even turning off Gambits doesn't really help, because it just makes combat take forever, it doesn't make it interesting. The world is great, but the game's pacing ruins it and makes the entire thing feel like a massive dungeon crawl that you can't wait to get out of. The lore is fantastic, but is delivered to you in a way that makes you have to kill more stuff if you want to see more of it, even though you just want to avoid everything because it's so boring. The Mark hunts massively overshadow the actual well-written sidequests, and are boring and repetitive. The item progression is totally borked, with end-game items being available really early on, and the entire system being based around grinding for rare drops. The Espers are near worthless, because your party members are better for 99% of the situations. The battle mechanics are self-contradictory and annoyingly unfair. The "I'm Captain Basch" is the most annoying and nonsensical scene Square has ever written, easily beating out FFX's laughing scene. The story shifts gears massively at several points for no real reason. Vayne is still one of the most cookie-cutter evil villains in the series. Vaan has less involvement in the plot than any other character in the cast...

I just... I just don't get this game. I played it. I kept playing it because Ivalice is awesome, even in this game. But for the life of me, I can't figure out why I would ever want to finish it or go back to it.

[Karifean]

And the gameplay is the most mind-bogglingly dull affair in the series, as I literally just walked through everything with the Analog stick and only ever changed things up by using Quickenings on bosses.

Sounds to me like the curse of overleveling. Try going from story point to story point for the first few parts of the game without doing much additional fighting, and then see if you can still just 'walk through everything'.

[Ayen]

I still just don't see the appeal of this game. The plot may be ok, but it's hardly great, even by FF standards. And the gameplay is the most mind-bogglingly dull affair in the series, as I literally just walked through everything with the Analog stick and only ever changed things up by using Quickenings on bosses. Heck, even turning off Gambits doesn't really help, because it just makes combat take forever, it doesn't make it interesting. The world is great, but the game's pacing ruins it and makes the entire thing feel like a massive dungeon crawl that you can't wait to get out of. The lore is fantastic, but is delivered to you in a way that makes you have to kill more stuff if you want to see more of it, even though you just want to avoid everything because it's so boring. The Mark hunts massively overshadow the actual well-written sidequests, and are boring and repetitive. The item progression is totally borked, with end-game items being available really early on, and the entire system being based around grinding for rare drops. The Espers are near worthless, because your party members are better for 99% of the situations. The battle mechanics are self-contradictory and annoyingly unfair. The "I'm Captain Basch" is the most annoying and nonsensical scene Square has ever written, easily beating out FFX's laughing scene. The story shifts gears massively at several points for no real reason. Vayne is still one of the most cookie-cutter evil villains in the series. Vaan has less involvement in the plot than any other character in the cast...

Welp, that settles it. I'm reviewing the game in September. Why September? I have a long list of recently acquired games I want to play first and my schedule only gives me time to play the games I review so that's the soonest I can play it...

[Fynn]

I still just don't see the appeal of this game. The plot may be ok, but it's hardly great, even by FF standards. And the gameplay is the most mind-bogglingly dull affair in the series, as I literally just walked through everything with the Analog stick and only ever changed things up by using Quickenings on bosses. Heck, even turning off Gambits doesn't really help, because it just makes combat take forever, it doesn't make it interesting. The world is great, but the game's pacing ruins it and makes the entire thing feel like a massive dungeon crawl that you can't wait to get out of. The lore is fantastic, but is delivered to you in a way that makes you have to kill more stuff if you want to see more of it, even though you just want to avoid everything because it's so boring. The Mark hunts massively overshadow the actual well-written sidequests, and are boring and repetitive. The item progression is totally borked, with end-game items being available really early on, and the entire system being based around grinding for rare drops. The Espers are near worthless, because your party members are better for 99% of the situations. The battle mechanics are self-contradictory and annoyingly unfair. The "I'm Captain Basch" is the most annoying and nonsensical scene Square has ever written, easily beating out FFX's laughing scene. The story shifts gears massively at several points for no real reason. Vayne is still one of the most cookie-cutter evil villains in the series. Vaan has less involvement in the plot than any other character in the cast...

Welp, that settles it. I'm reviewing the game in September. Why September? I have a long list of recently acquired games I want to play first and my schedule only gives me time to play the games I review so that's the soonest I can play it...

You might need more time than that.

This game is really, really long :|

[Loony BoB]

I agree that it's better the second time around and that you can focus on and understand the storyline a little better (although it's still a bit too political for my tastes). Also, if you forget something about the storyline you have more YouTube videos to refer to than there were the last time you played it. :p

[Ayen]

I still just don't see the appeal of this game. The plot may be ok, but it's hardly great, even by FF standards. And the gameplay is the most mind-bogglingly dull affair in the series, as I literally just walked through everything with the Analog stick and only ever changed things up by using Quickenings on bosses. Heck, even turning off Gambits doesn't really help, because it just makes combat take forever, it doesn't make it interesting. The world is great, but the game's pacing ruins it and makes the entire thing feel like a massive dungeon crawl that you can't wait to get out of. The lore is fantastic, but is delivered to you in a way that makes you have to kill more stuff if you want to see more of it, even though you just want to avoid everything because it's so boring. The Mark hunts massively overshadow the actual well-written sidequests, and are boring and repetitive. The item progression is totally borked, with end-game items being available really early on, and the entire system being based around grinding for rare drops. The Espers are near worthless, because your party members are better for 99% of the situations. The battle mechanics are self-contradictory and annoyingly unfair. The "I'm Captain Basch" is the most annoying and nonsensical scene Square has ever written, easily beating out FFX's laughing scene. The story shifts gears massively at several points for no real reason. Vayne is still one of the most cookie-cutter evil villains in the series. Vaan has less involvement in the plot than any other character in the cast...

Welp, that settles it. I'm reviewing the game in September. Why September? I have a long list of recently acquired games I want to play first and my schedule only gives me time to play the games I review so that's the soonest I can play it...

You might need more time than that.

This game is really, really long :|

My Skyrim review laughs at this.

It's laugh at me, too. Make it stop :(