Not Much of a Final Fantasy.....

[Bolivar]

I wanted to wait until I beat it until I started checkin the forums. so here it goes.

And yes, there will be spoilers.

Before I get into it, I do want to say that this is a pretty good game, good level & character design, nice backstories to things, interesting gameplay.

But it's not a Final Fantasy.

First off, I already knew when it was in production that it was going to have a little bit of the touch of Final Fantasy Tactics, since that game's production team replaced the usual higher-ups to allow them to work with the PS3 and work on XIII. Cool. I loved Tactics.

But they made it waaaay too much like Tactics. First of all, Ivalice!? I'm glad they keep bringing this world up again and again, but for a numbered entry of FF? The entire game takes place on this little section-region-semi-continent-whatever. In Final Fantasy you're supposed to save the world, not a mega-kingdom. The way you're buffs go onto your characters look just like it did in FFT. The way you get around is basically the same as in FFT, the "world map" (if you really want to call it that) looks and functions exactly like it did in FFT! If they were going to do that, they should've went all out rather than this mediocre hybrid of the two series'.

Even the music sounds like it came straight out of Tactics. I understand, they're using the same development team. But if you're going to have them make a game in the same vein as their previous ones, don't make it the next Final Fantasy. The only song that sounded like it belonged in the game was the intro, which has been around since the first one! Well I guess the next best one would be Gilgamesh's theme. Oh wait, they stole that from FFV. Well they did a good job with the "Kiss Me Goodbye" song. Oh wait, Nomura did that one.

Is it just me, or does the Archades/judge theme sound like a rip off of the Empire's theme in Star Wars? This brings me to my next point.

It completely makes no sense, but this game is too much like Star Wars. I remember when I first played the demo that came with Dragon Quest VIII, I thought the game looked like a mix between FFT and Star Wars. I didn't know I was going to be right.

An empire against a rebellion. Large starcruisers with smaller ships having their dog fights. They wanted to be so cool that they made not 1, not 2, but 5 DARTH VADERS!!! (judges). Ashe is princess Leia, Balthier is Han Solo, Fran is a sexy Chewbacca (she's the non-human co-pilot!!!!), The Strahl is the Milennium Falcon, Vaan is Luke Skywalker (poor kid that just wants to fly), Basch is Vaan's Obie Wan Kinobe (except he fought with his brother instead of his father) and Penelo is R2-D2. Anastis is Yoda, the Bahamut is the Death Star, you get the idea.

Oh, and by the way.... Where the F*** is the storyline? In the beginning they bombard you with a load of movies and Omdore talking, but soon after that you're plunged into the hours of senseless dungeon wandering. Without even getting a Game Over, it takes a long time to make it through the mazes that are the dungeons in this game. If you want to go mark-hunting, one of the biggest aspects of this game, you might as well kiss any hope of a decent story goodbye. Halfway through the game, I asked myself "Where am I? What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Where am I headed? Why am I here? What is the point of this game?"

Like I said, the ratio of time you spend mindlessly wandering to the amount of time you spend advancing a story is not good. What else? Well the mini-map is rediculous, although it was necessary for the labyrinthical dungeons.. With a mini-map, we might as well go back to 2D gaming. The music was not up to par, the License system was a poor re-hash of the Sphere Grid (by the time you get everything, everyone can do everything), none of the traditional summons are there, no crystals, no theme of life & death, no 1,000 year legend, no threat to the planet, the higher power controlling the dark warriors (vanaar) had no clear motives, Cid was just some douchebag, i'd hardly call the strahl an "airship", the list can go on and on.

Like I said, I did enjoy playing the game, but if it wasn't titled Final Fantasy, it probably wouldn't have appealed to me. Thanks alot, Square-Enix, for wasting 108 hours of my life. Thanks alot.

[LunarWeaver]

[Dynast-Kid]

El o El, sexy Chewbacca.

P.S. I thought you said you liked the game!? *suspicious*

[Ashley Schovitz]

Oh come I'm dissapointed in the game too, but let's not just throw away ridiculous antics about that are wrong. Final Fantasy isn't about saving the world really. It's about change and experiencing tales and you could say that you are saving the world as your saving the planet from Vayne's tyranny. It has plenty of FF references thrown in, the work of the music isn't as great to be an FF game because nobuo didn't produce it. The story was weak though it pulled me in, in the begginning, but I lost it after I obtained the whole party. it lacked in touch with all the characters, cutscenes were scarse whiuh would be ideal for conversation between the characters to know them a lot better. That's the reason why i was so lost when I came to fight to Doctor Cid the first time. After going through 7 hours of combat through fields and dungeons, his presence and that whole dialogue seemed lost to me like I almost forgot what the whole game is about. That's the reason why the game's story isn't that good, it had a good concept,but it was presented very weakly.

[Renmiri]

... you might as well kiss any hope of a decent story goodbye. Halfway through the game, I asked myself "Where am I? What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Where am I headed? Why am I here? What is the point of this game?"

Like I said, I did enjoy playing the game, but if it wasn't titled Final Fantasy, it probably wouldn't have appealed to me. Thanks alot, Square-Enix, for wasting 108 hours of my life. Thanks alot.

Agree up to a point. I wouldn't say I wasted my time, and I played a lot longer than you did. Gameplay is fun, if you forget the lack of story. :rolleyes2

It took me a while to adjust to the changes and to the fact it didn't live up to my hype. And there was no romance, no strong characters.... But I found myself playing a lot of it in spite of all my bitching

Yeah, the plot was weak and they "undid" a lot of stuff that was well done in previous FF games. But they also had gambits, quickening chains, rare game, hunts.. A lot of innovation. Some worked, some didn't. But in the balance the game was fun.

[xtrava]

Bolivar, I agree with a lot of the things you said there and well done for at least backing up your reasons for such feelings.

About it being like Star Wars...well...lol, you're 100% right in the way you described how its similar (in fact, the same) but it could just be a coincidence (Wedge and Biggs are in Star Wars! ). Also, 2 hours into the game, I was thinking "So...Err...Am I playing Knights of The Old Republic 3??", it just seemed exactly the same as KOTOR to me.

However, after that initial reaction, saying its not a Final Fantasy, I dont really agree. Yes it went a lot different to others in the series, but a lot of the Final Fantasy stuff we know and love was kept in. As for the espers and various other things missing from it, I personally wish they werent, but I still think its a good game overall, and a fairly decent Final Fantasy.

You say you wanted to wait till you finished the game before commenting on it, and you also say that you enjoyed it, then why are you complaining that you spent 108 hours on it? If you liked it enough to play it for that long then I dont really understand why you are annoyed with SE for "wasting" that amount of time which is totally in your hands not theirs...And if you didnt like it (but you're merely saying so to not get flamed) then why didnt you just stop after 1 hour, rather than spending 100+ hours on a game that can be completed in 40-50? Or at least just complete it as soon as you could, then put it away and get on with your life.

(I personally spent 120 hours+ because I wanted to kill Yiazmat etc).

So overall, I agree with you in places, but I still think its Final Fantasy.

I give your post 7/10.

[rubah]

I prefer to think of it replicating Final Fantasy II rather than star wars. The dark knights working for the Emperor etc.

[TheSpoonyBard]

But they also had gambits, quickening chains, rare game, hunts.. A lot of innovation.

Fighting, fighting, fighting and fighting mixed with more dungeon crawling? Hooray for innovation.

Bolivar and Ashley, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I really want to get into the story, but by the time I reach the next cutscene I've forgotten why I'm meant to be there.

[oddler]

I've not played this game yet but I have seen it being played. To me, it looks like a single-player FFXI. I guess I could get into that, although I'd much rather play with an actual group.

[Arc_Master_14]

ok this to me is like the best FF game and yes it is one it may be like star wars but to me its like one of the best

[Bolivar]

Okay, i started this thread after I beat it today, and I just started playing FFT Advanced, and I gotta say WOW, I should've played this game before 12.

Good to see some good discussion going on here.

Ashley, good post, but I think with all the money Square, video games, and executive producers of entertainment projects have today, why can't they make music as good or in the same style? Also, yes, every FF is about the force of the essence of Chaos disrupting the balance in the world, and a bunch of orphans going to take it down, and the actors it has controlled.

Renmiri, part of the reason I had to beat it regardless of my liking of it is that I give every FF a fair shot, start to finish, as i am a fan of the series and wouldn't have much clout to talk about the series in general if i didn't give each one a chance. I also played 100+ hours because it always makes the final dungeon more of a reward when you try to get everything beforehand, but I gave up on that after I couldn't beat King Behemoth. I already got to see my boy Gilgamesh, that was good enough for me, although I know X-Death is still out there.

xtrava, thanks for the props. overall, I did enjoy this game, but I'm not going to deny that it was very tedious, lacked story, and does not fit in with the other FF's.

rubah, I'm glad I wasn't the only one to notice that this game has alot of references to FF II, maybe moreso than any other FF. From Judge Ghis' airship being called the DREADNOUGHT Leviathan to the Empire's final weapon being surrounded by a tornado, I thought it did in some respects tie in with the other games, and II especially.

Peace to everyone else for contributing (Odd Eye - Shining Force II???), good to see we can have some good discussion in the forums.

[Setzer Gabianni]

To me, and many others it was a great FF. It featured a lot of things in it from past FF's, Espers, Espers named after previous FF bosses, all sorts of little things. People think differently on the story, and the characters, but to me, their backstories not being long winded, and the story not being incredibly long winded also, made this a very appealing game, as most FF's I've played, seemed to drag on after a while.

That's all I can add. Wolf Kanno, will be popping in shortly to give his word :3

[Neo-Omega Mk XXV]

The music was not up to par, the License system was a poor re-hash of the Sphere Grid (by the time you get everything, everyone can do everything), none of the traditional summons are there, no crystals, no theme of life & death, no 1,000 year legend, no threat to the planet, the higher power controlling the dark warriors (vanaar) had no clear motives, Cid was just some douchebag, i'd hardly call the strahl an "airship", the list can go on and on.

*Yawn*
Complaining about crystals is so 1997.

And please people, can we stop pretending that every previous FF had a compelling storyline and exciting gameplay throughout? Or is everyone content to ignore FF1-5?

But they also had gambits, quickening chains, rare game, hunts.. A lot of innovation.

Fighting, fighting, fighting and fighting mixed with more dungeon crawling? Hooray for innovation.

Bolivar and Ashley, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I really want to get into the story, but by the time I reach the next cutscene I've forgotten why I'm meant to be there.

The bulk of gameplay in every previous FF was composed of dungeon crawling and combat. Combat that IMO was significantly more tedious and repetitive than FF12 and was generally unavoidable to boot. They just covered this up with a greater cutscene/dungeon crawl ratio (post FF3 at least).
It would have been nice to have some kind of in-game story summary though, since in some parts I also found myself forgetting plot points.

[levian]Please don't double post, instead use the edit button if you have something to add to your first post. I merged your posts. ~Levian :mog:[/levian]

[dennenappelke]

Halfway through the game, I asked myself "Where am I? What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Where am I headed? Why am I here? What is the point of this game?"

Well, I guess that has more to do with you then with the storyline self. I'm just past the point where I visited that holy mountain and Larsa just left the party, but the story is absolutely for 100% clear to me. And then to realize I'm not even living in an English speaking nation, so I guess the storyline must be very easy to understand for anyone who lives in the US, England, Australia or whatever

[GF_Diablos]

Aw geez not this again, LunarWeaver's post summed this up.

If you didn't like the story then why play through it? If you didn't enjoy the combat why play through it? Any of you? If you don't enjoy again after 50 hours of gameplay your not going to enjoy it at all, so sell the bloody thing and buy something else and stop putting a 1000 threads about how it sucks.
You can't say things about a narrative like "it's the same as Star Wars" because there are a million stories the same as Star Wars, there is a very limited amount of things you can actually do with a set of characters and while the series is famed for innovation on a storyline level you can't expect every game to have a storyline that is 100% original and 100% interesting to you. If you knew anything about storytelling and authoring a narrative you would know that if you look hard enough every story can be compared to a handful of basic ideas. The fact it has a few similarities is irrelevant.
I have not completed FFXII yet but I am enjoying it for what it is, if you can't understand this concept stop watching any films and playing any games because you are not going to enjoy the stuff they are turning out over the next few years.
I understand the game has flaws but I have never played a game that was perfect. The whole idea of this project, in my opinion, is implicating a few ideas from other game genres and other media forms altogether into the FF series to see how it works. If experimenting with a game formula is your idea of ruining a series or even just a game then why follow the series, you just want 30 games exactly the same? I want a different experience in every FF, that's why the series is good, it gives me something more than a sequel a year with a bunch of story tagged on.
Currently I am having no problems understanding the story, I have however, paid attention to cutscenes which usually helps. I agree it can be slightly disorientating at times but I expect this from an intense story, it's just part of it.