FFXII; putting the R back into RPG?

I know every one's been either loving or hating on the new changes to FFXII. I wanted to post this to give a different point of view on how these changes actually make it a better game (as in more true to it's RPG genre game) and a more realistic one; hence the more realistic it is the more you are drawn in and by that taking more of a "role" in the game. I apologize in advance if i ramble on or my argument isn’t as concise as it should be or my syntax and spelling suck im a single dad and well.....kids rot your brain. ;)

I'd like to give a bit of background on where the RPG's got their start....with D and D (dungeons and dragons). Im not going to turn this into a discussion on how D and D is the bases for RGP's that would take away from the post and we'd start arguing on that. I will state my case using references to tie analogies to how this style of RPG is old and with ffxii's changes it is actually stepping forward and being coming more "role" intensive. Accept this as where i formed my thesis and agree to either agree or disagree. Now this is a very old game as we all know and is "pen and paper" game where by a person acts as the "computer" or everything not controlled directly by a character. Having a person do the math and algorithms for random events and random number equations. Yes they had these and have had these "complex" equations since they dawn of time you know them as.... well DICE. Nothing more that a set of different sided dice representing different degrees of difficulty in getting a favorable number. Rolling them represented your hit/miss per turn, dmg etc. Now the computer does all that for us. Having computers (i.e. the "game" itself) doing these and on a higher level of operation and flexibility; RPG's have not advanced much since the "model" rpg from the "pen and paper" game. Even the random encounters came from this. The controller of the game had tables with this and rolled dice to see if you were attacked or not. Same has been with all previous FF's.

Here's were i get to the meat of my thesis and state my point of why this system and style is better for the game and should be given a try. Lets start with the random encounters. Personally i HATE these things. Nothing worse than being over leveled for an area going back and doing a side quest only to be attacked every 2 steps by horribly easy monsters you one hitter quitter either wasting MP or just time in general having to escape or take the whole minute that’s required to dispatch the enemy and move on. However each incident in itself is fairly short. However with the frequency it happened it was severely aggravating. You just wanted to run to the little outpost talk to the NPC go get his item then bring it back. Not spend an extra hour of your time fighting every lvl 1 monster along the way who was feeling froggy and wanted a piece of you. Now the monster's are clearly visible. If they are using the FFXI model for the mobs AI (which i hope they do for depth and realism; but we'll get to that in a minute) you should not catch "aggro"...schazzy word for pissing a monster off and looking like an appetizing snack if you are about 5 or so lvls higher than your aggressor. So if you just got a quick minute on your lunch break to try to rescue the hot FF virgin vixen for her very rich and thankful father; you can and not have to worry about "crap cant take 3 freaking steps with out a smurf chewin on my ass". With the monsters being seen and as i have read on different... MANY different sources for FFXII info they pursue you bases on different attributes the mob uses. Scent, sight, sound to name them; so now you cant just escape a monster. You have to think about "where am i going to run to", "crap where was the zone line again", and "geez i hope they don’t link" (link being having a second monster see you running and decide to join in with his friend and violate you prison shower style). That adds realism to it. It ads a depth even to the monsters and adversaries. Now they think and pursue and team up and ambush. Not just pop up on screen at a random time or random reason. No more just hitting escape and running from the monster...only to take another few step before being forced into another random encounter. Going on the basis of "linking" you now how to think about where you are relative to the world and the other monsters around. Not being on the battle line, reminiscent of colonial attrition warfare, you may use your terrain and topographical differences to your advantage; i.e. being on "higher ground". Don’t know if it would be possible but dare i saw have a ranged attacker sniper a monster from atop a hill he cant climb up to engage you from? Possibility is there and an exciting one at that. So now the characters with "ranged" weapons become more pronounced and more realistic in their place in the party. Barret from FFVII was a bad ass char with that schazzy gun arm. What would be cooler him standing next to you and clippin off a few rounds after your turn in combat of running up to the monster wackin him running back and waiting for his turn to come over and bitch slap you. This scenario i cooked up i think sounds better. Lets say your on uneven terrain with a ranged attack AI (gambit) set on him. Your hero character is more "heroic" as he is now the "meat shield" taking the mob on face to face alone. While Barret sits on the hill and rains down pain with his bad ass gun arm of furry from a safe distance getting a ranged bonus for being up hill (all info and gambits I am basing off of not one site but a few that have a consensus concerning gambits and terrain in combat). That just appeals to me more. You might be thinking "DUDE you are waaaaaayyyyy too much into this". You are right but before i could never get into the battle it was all about the numbers of who was going to get hit first when the mob took his turn how much damage is AOE (area of effect, those spiffy spells the baddies do that dmg every one in your party at the same time) Which leads us to our next point AOE's. Now that its less linear the AOE's wont be a he jumps up and then you see every one in your party take damage; or the AOE will be seen and.... could it be if your party member is out of range not take dmg?!?! Imagine it put your mage with a bowmen (well woman Fran is that cool rabbit-chick with the bow) and not have to worry about your healer being punked do to the crappy armor they can use. I don’t know if they will or not but the thought is enough to want to try it. As i said with the new system new possibilities are open. Less linear means more control. More control means more involvement and more planning. More of that means more realism.

As i have heard many things about summons I’ll put it here cuz it relates to my point as well. I cant find too much on summons and if I cant find a second or third source for the information I don’t quote it. Please don’t make me find you guys links my history log is HUGE from searching for weeks for FFXII info. From what i can gather YES there will be summons and they are based off of a previous FF where each race has a TOTEM; or specific deity the represent. With this its more realistic as well. I assume deep in some Square-enix vault there is a pantheon of these summons. Being as such they do have a history. They are not just supper powered being who any one who finds them can say "YO; IFFIE handle this for me bro come up here and woop an ass". Different races might embody something these "gods" don’t like. Maybe Ifrit got pissed off and Shiva one day and destroyed one of her temples and hates the people she looks out for. Hey you never know. With them being totems or "patrons" if you will it makes them more of what they were intended to be and not merely mindless machines of destruction that we call out to do our bidding. Honestly if you were Ifrit or B-mut and saw a lvl 5 you asking for your help to kill a boss you weren't ready of ill prepared to fight would you save your ass or saw "stupid piss ant i pledged to help him an hour ago and he's already getting krunked by Cerberus and wants me to do the dirty work" As i said this in an RPG and the less linear it is the more room you have to imagine and think and do.

The games realism is more RPG based to me. Its not taking away from the FF series and its a "sell out" not being true to the past. It gives you the opportunity to plan out a battle not just get sucked into it because you see the screen shatter and the music play. Its not just a random war machine for every one to call out to kill for them. Personally i LOVE the cutties (cut scenes) and the story line. At some points i have saved a game in a different slot if i saved a previous on just before a badical cut scene. I still have the memory card from just before the LUNAR TEAR scene in ffVIII. Every one saying that this is far from FF I don’t buy into it. FF things we love: SUMMONS, CUTSCENES, the twisting turning story line, to love or hate the characters in it, and of course after 100's of hours of thought and blood and sweat and turning off the console pissed of from being killed for the 1000000000 time, the joy of completing the game. These are still there.

The changes in summation I believe are only intended to add realism and a more satisfying time playing. If you haven't played FFXI I can see why you would have these feeling. I had them too before i played it. Having seen a template for the new system in FFXI i am very fond of it. I can see how it would add to the game and make it more of the RPG it was intended to be and less of the outdated D and D game it was based off of. This was used for a lack of technology when all that was out there was a pen, paper and computers that your wrist watch has more power than. We have technology to move passed a need for the precision and control of random events and linear ness of the style. Its giving us more control over the world we play in giving us more depth to the story to imagine infer or to actually see on screen. Giving us more of a "role" in the story" More of a "role" in the game play and combat. Shaping new ideas about how to use the differences of the characters. Making us think about how best to use them and place them to their fullest extend. Not just making sure our mages have MP and healing spells. We are drawn into the game in this style by being the hero character and thinking about how to keep your ass alive and use each party members abilities to their fullest. We are getting a better "role" in the game by leading our character not just telling them what to do on their turn. Playing the hero character is now more real in this was if u stop to think about it and not just hate on it cuz its different. Love them or hate them give the changes a fair shot. If you go on a date thinking you'll hate the person and you don’t want to be there....you probably will hate being there and not like them. If you make up your mind early about hating it every little quirk or tiny imperfection will piss you off and you will wind up making yourself hate it. Keep an open mind and u might find that special some one you never knew was there. In the form of a new and exciting world and style of game play in the latest installment of a truly wonderful series of games we love that we have played and replayed for many years.

I agree. Don't have anything to add though. Heh.

I thought this was about how FFXII would be more "Mature" or something, like it was rated R.

:(

I want more pure RPG and less hash in RPG/ACTION. That'll do me fine.