Favorite & Least Favorite Area/Dungeon

I'll admit that FF12 took a good whle to capture my interest. The opening bit witH Vaan did not make me like the game and the stuff to come didn't do anything for me either. Crappy, uninteresting mines and a huge stretch of sand...not very interesting in my opinion.

HOWEVER, once you head for the Garif Village, things take a huge upswing. I adored the Ozmone Plains. I could literally just spend hours wandering around. This is when the game finally revealed its amazingly immersive quality.

So...yeah. Which areas like the Plains or the Phon Coast did you like/ And how about dungeosn like Raithwall's Tomb?

In contrast, which areas do you think were the worst?

I know a lot of people seem to hate Giruvegan and the Great Crystal... I don't understand why. Compared to the snorefest of Draklor, with its bland visuals and stupid gimmick of color coded doors, the Occuria's home was positively amazing. I loved how it looked, I loved how challenging it was and well....it all just worked so very well

Oh and we can't forget the music. This has become truly one of my favorite tracks in the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ2rw-VDwfA

I agree with your assessment. The Crystal was easily the most ambient part of FFXII, and it's already a pretty ambient game.

After the Crystal, my favorite areas in FFXII were probably the Necrohol (it conjures hours of thought about what life there was like, how different it looked in its prime, how its culture went, etc.) and the Feywood.

My least favorite is probably like yours: the deserts. In general the deserts are consistently where I get most bored in any given game (sole exceptions: Secret of Mana, Ocarina of Time, and A Link to the Past). I didn't think much of the part with the sluice gates under Rabanastre, either. And after actually bothering to beat Yiazmat... I think I have my own Gambit set. "Self: see ruins near Pharos ---> Vomit."

Does the Trial Mode count as an area? If no, I guess it would be the Mosphora Highwaste. As for the dungeon, the Necrohol of Nabudis was a great experience and tops even the Pharos.

My least favourite area would have to be the Sandseas. They're so bland. And I hated the Subterra of the Pharos...

I don't really have a dungeon I hate, at least not for visuals or boredom, I can say I don't care for the Henne Mines, but anyone who has tried to get Zodiark will know what I mean... Other than that, no, I never got bored with the Yensea or the Dalmasca desert.

I think Giruvegan/The Crystal and The Pharos might be my two favorites, though I also love Paramina Rift and the Tombs of Raithwall, and the Stillshrine of Miriam.

One thing I really liked about XII was the "oh, another area? cool!" feeling I got from it. The game just keeps throwing out another mountain or another cave or another flowing plains. Just when you begin to think the game is just about full up of standard RPG content, you arrive at the best late-game town/village in the series (Balfonheim port, oh yeah). People can complain about the "pacing" in XII all they want, but very few of the FF games are able to avoid a sense of a shrinking game world as they come to the end. XII just feels very full to me, regardless of how much content or ideas we know were cut during all the development drama.

Answering the thread:

My favourite areas are probably all of the cities/towns/outposts/etc. I also really liked places like the Cerobi Steppe, the Sandsea, and any ancient tomb or shrine.

Least liked: Probably some of the more advanced-looking areas, usually associated with being in an Empire facility. I found stuff like the Leviathan really uninteresting, for instance.

They're both the same answer! Giruvegan! On the one hand, it's very monotonous and so repetitive it's almost confusing. It's the perfect representation of the disappointing aspect of FFXII's level design - it's all simple geometric shapes constructed with ultra-repetitive art assets. However, Giruvegan arguably tops Pharos for its ability to reward a mastery of the Gambit system. Some enemies like the Malboros or Behemoths can be show stoppers that slow the action down, but if you've learned a lot about Gambits you can really whiz by and PWN everything, even at an average level. When you combine that "knowledge test" with its significance to the plot, a kind of mystery you're unravelling, it makes it one of the most rewarding areas in the game for players giving it a second or third go at it. Now that I think about it, I think I may have actually beaten this game four times...

Pharos is a close runner up to me. That place is beautiful when you get there on the outside, awesome with the insane stuff traps once you get on the inside, and is an awesome journey all the way up, until you get to what arguably is the climax of the game and my favorite scene(s). I love how these two sections (Giruvegan and Pharos) are connected by the meeting with the Occuria, the real "oh snap" moment in the game, even if it is the ultimate "White man in a suit stops the movie and comes out to 'force-feed' explain everything that's been going on to you."

Mmm, for my most fave, I don't know. I actually really dug Pharaos.
As for most hated(and this is my opinion); Great Crystal- Worst. Fuc*ing. FF stage. Eveeeeer. Why would anyone create such a frustrating, helletic, jumbled maze? I STILL can't find my way to Omega, and I've seen maps and read walkthroughs.
And I beat Yiazmat! Twice! On two seperate files, and not only that, I got both Goldslayers and Lu Shang's Badges...whenever I get lost in GC, my morale goes on suicide mode.

The only stand-out dungeon on merit, IMHO, is indeed the Great Crystal. The Zertinan Caverns seemed a bit limp, but maybe that's just me. However, factoring in the visual environment, Giruvegan is a massive disappointment: come in from the Feywood and it looks like you're gonna be exploring a huge, secret metropolis...what you get is tedious Water Steps and a friggin' maze!
For the sheer wow-factor, I'd like to nominate the Lhusu Mines -the open trackways, especially where the routes cross, are gobsmacking.

The Pharos is both my favorite and least favorite :stare:

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Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

The Pharos is both my favorite and least favorite :stare:

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How so? It's friggin' awesome!

Anyhow, that is abviously my fave. As for least liked - Paramina Rift. I remember being severely underlevelled on my first playthrough and being killed by everything. Not really something I can associate fond memories with.

Man I'm gettin really nostalgic right now, thinking about the dungeons and the gameplay, this was truly a game for advanced RPG gamers.

The westersand if only because I spent hours of my time with Dustia. The music hardly help either...

My favourite area is probably the Phon Coast, it's just so beautiful. Favourite dungeon is without a doubt the Pharos. It is just all-around epic, and one of the best final dungeons in the series. The music during the first ascend is just beautiful and greatly adds to the scope of "epic grand climax" feel you get from that place.

My favourite areas are Jahara, Ozmone Plains, Phon Coast and Cerobi Steppe. My favourite dungeons the Great Crystal and the Pharos.

My least favourite places are Giruvegan (not the Great Crystal part of it) and the Zertinan Caverns.

I seem to think I liked the Phon Coast very much because its music was excellent, whereas I couldn't stand Archades because running around for chops was dull as hell.

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Originally Posted by ReloadPsi

I seem to think I liked the Phon Coast very much because its music was excellent, whereas I couldn't stand Archades because running around for chops was dull as hell.

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While I don't think I could really pick an area I don't like, Archades is definitely low on my favourites list.

I liked a lot of the "world map" areas far more than I would have thought, considering the game really doesn't have a world map. The game and each area just felt huge, and exploring was very enjoyable. I don't remember the names of all the areas, but the Cerobi Steppe and Phon Coast stood out.

I didn't really have a least favorite. Maybe some of the dungeons, like Barheim if I remember correctly, where you do nothing but fight non-stop through a very long dungeon.

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Originally Posted by Raistlin

I liked a lot of the "world map" areas far more than I would have thought, considering the game really doesn't have a world map. The game and each area just felt huge, and exploring was very enjoyable. I don't remember the names of all the areas, but the Cerobi Steppe and Phon Coast stood out.

I didn't really have a least favorite. Maybe some of the dungeons, like Barheim if I remember correctly, where you do nothing but fight non-stop through a very long dungeon.

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I need to start playing this again.

That is one thing I can say, even when I hated this game--the world is impeccable. You really feel like you're immersed in this real place. Everything is massive, and having it on a grande scale opened it up for a lot of exploration, despite not having the over-world map like in older titles.