This game is awful

[I Don't Need A Name]

I want Vaan's blood to flow, but he's the only character I find even remotely annoying, and that's an amazing thing. Larsa and Penelo should have been annoying beyond compare, but wow! They turned out ok!

Larsa I like, but I don't like Penelo either. But Vaan is still the worst. He must be eliminated. It's just a shame that the only place he doesn't suck is statswise/in battle, otherwise I just wouldn't use him. :{

yeah, i wouldnt use him either, but, as it happened in FFX as well, i use him, even when i dont have to, because, in essance, he is the team leader and i am used to them being in the party

[Renmiri]

Basch or Ashe are my team leaders

[Setzer Gabianni]

Basch or Ashe are my team leaders

Basch is Captain, therefore he should always be leader

[CStrife]

What do you know! It's reality time!

One of the things I enjoy about RPG's in general, and about FF's specifically, is the process of building the characters and covering the entire game world with a fine-tooth comb. In this respect, at least, FFXII does pretty well.

Towards the end of the game, you start to get a sense that things are coming to a head, and as I realized this fact I thought, "This better not be the end! There is just no way they could wrap the whole thing up so shortly." Hence my disappointment.

It is possible to spend a lot of time (a lot of hours) making your way through the game, but "high number of hours" does not equal "adequate development." I think the development team got lost on their way to include everything plus the kitchen sink in this game, and completely forgot about the overall experience.

The whole license board thing seemed to me a flawed imitation of the sphere grid. Collecting gil is tedious- spending hours just to obtain enough to keep up with the tons of superfluous equipment being dumped into the shops.

Anyway, I truly wouldn't mind a return to the PS1 platform FF's. I'm happy to stand in an unrealistic line during battle if it means more attention would be paid to what's really important.

I couldn´t have said it better my self...

[f f freak]

Okay I haven't read all the other posts because I'm too lazy and because I only care about me. I love this game. I've only had it a little while but I thought the characters were pretty good and their designs were awesome. The first time I saw Ashe I felt a strange tingle that is not natural on so many levels.

The scenery is amazing. I ran around Rabanastre for about an hour taking eveything in. Giza plains was amazing being able to see all the dark crystals when you weren't on the same screen. I thought that the Ogir-Yensa sandsea was good as well.

The monsters were brilliant. The fact you could lead a weak monster to a strong one and let the strong one kill it was cool even though not many of the monsters do that. The designs of them were amazing(Apart from Tiamat) and they had a great AI.

Espers were really cool as well (Even though I only have Belias). Even though you can't control them they still done the moves that I would have done in that situation. Their Gambits were set up perfectly.

I'll post more later.

[chrisfffan]

how can u compare this game to X? X is nothing compared to this

[Wolf Kanno]

I wonder if Square attempted to draw more attention to the greater happenings of the story, such as the politics and the like that were unfolding, by having less attention given to the characters.

In some FFs, it seemed there was more character developement than that of the actual occurances of the story itself. Sometimes this worked, and other times it did not.

This FF is a break from many things typical of FFs from FFVII on up to FFX, so it might be true.

I'm not sure though.

I've said before that FFXII is the "anti-FFX" and it's not just to be an insult. The storytelling is very different from each other. FFX is told from Tidus' perspective, a rather "personal narrative". His journey is simply to "get to Zanarkand and stop Sin" the story never really alters much and is told rather simplistically, what Tidus mostly recounts is the going ons of the journey, the places he see's the people he meets and the friendships and relationships he forms with Yuna and her guardians. Because of this, FFX is completely character driven, moreso than previous FFs.

On the other hand, FFXII is told in an "objective narrative". The story is told by Marquis Ondore IV. A man you may remember actually spends little time with your party. He is most likely recounting what Lady Ashe told him and thus his story is more focused on the historical ascpect of what happened. This would also explain why the story also focuses on Lady Ashe the most. Not only becuase of her relationship with the Marquis but because he most likely recieved the account from her. You ever noticed that most of the actual character scenes revolve around her perspective?

I do feel the lack of "quality time" (as sickening as I usually find it in RPGs:rolleyes2 ) was due to the writers wanting the player to stay focused on the story.

[Renmiri]

The scenario designer (what SE calls their writers) said on his interview that he tried to "not decide who is right", as far as Ashe and her opponent, leaving that decision to the players. He also mentioned that he wanted to stay clear of the extremes (good or evil). XII good characters have some problems and the bad characters have some kindness.

Which is an interesting thing to do but failed IMHO. During the Pharos ascent, the darn Occurian pedestals had so many arrogant messages I wanted to side against the Occuria but the game would not let me. So why make you want to help the guy you have to eventually kill ? Weird. And then at the end the "kind" villain wants to kill hundreds ? what kind of kindness is that ? Felt forced and not "real" IMHO.

[Wolf Kanno]

The scenario designer (what SE calls their writers) said on his interview that he tried to "not decide who is right", as far as Ashe and her opponent, leaving that decision to the players. He also mentioned that he wanted to stay clear of the extremes (good or evil). XII good characters have some problems and the bad characters have some kindness.

Which is an interesting thing to do but failed IMHO. During the Pharos ascent, the darn Occurian pedestals had so many arrogant messages I wanted to side against the Occuria but the game would not let me. So why make you want to help the guy you have to eventually kill ? Weird. And then at the end the "kind" villain wants to kill hundreds ? what kind of kindness is that ? Felt forced and not "real" IMHO.

Lady Ashe chose to fight for herself. (SPOILER)She decided to do her own part to stop the Occurians so the party didn't really side with them, of anything they helped Vayne by wiping out the last of Occurians Nethicite. Your party ultimately decided to be on their own side, they disliked the rule of the Occurians but also hated Vayne for his dubious methods...

[KasaiDraco]

This game is awesome! Whoever doesn't like this game is nuts! Yeah, the story sucks, but the gameplay makes up for that, I think.

[Renmiri]

This game is awesome! Whoever doesn't like this game is nuts! Yeah, the story sucks, but the gameplay makes up for that, I think.

Fair enough, I agree

[Setzer Gabianni]

Guess what? I don't Well about the story bit anyway

[chrisfffan]

1. their is a story it is hard to understand though i had to watch the videos a few times.

2. their is a main character but compared to in other ff he isn’t as prominent.

3. I agree with somebody else who posted that you shouldn’t judge a new ff by your favourite ff its usually the first one you have played and I think if you had played this one before the others it would probably be your favourite.

It would be interesting if somebody who has only played this ff would give his or her views about the game.

[f f freak]

2. their is a main character but compared to in other ff he isn’t as prominent.

Well they aren't really a main character if, gee they aren't the main character.

[chrisfffan]

vaan is the main man