Why a lot of fans don't like this game *SPOILERS*

[Crizpy]

I don't understand why disliking the game because its not the same as it used to, isnt a legitimate reason.

If I go buy starcraft 2, and I find out its an FPS rather than an RTS, im supposed to just say "hey, its different, and thats good"?

I havent been around here for long, but I know there are two scenarios in which you can act like a complete douche to another poster, that is if 1) He thinks the R=U theory might be correct 2) He doesnt like final fantasy changing.

[Karellen]

I don't think removing random encounters, adding party AI and adding the element of positioning into battle strategies is really anywhere near as drastic a change as a game completely switching genre. These are all modifications that were made to Western RPGs way back in the early 90s. Why Japanese RPG fans don't seem to like them is beyond me.

As a side note, this is from someone who is extremely disapointed in the direction Bethesda has taken Fallout 3. If the changes FFXII made to its established formula were THAT significant then I might understand but for the most part FFXII is just a slightly less archaic take on the battle system the series has had since FFIV.

[Skyblade]

Drat! They changed the game formula which imo was getting old! TIE THEM UP AND BURN THEM FOR SUCH A CRIME!

Just because you thought it was getting old doesn't mean that everyone else shares that opinion. Quit whining and try to make a valid point.

I don't think removing random encounters, adding party AI and adding the element of positioning into battle strategies is really anywhere near as drastic a change as a game completely switching genre. These are all modifications that were made to Western RPGs way back in the early 90s. Why Japanese RPG fans don't seem to like them is beyond me.

Positioning has very little effect on battle in this game. It affects AoE attacks, but even that is under-utilized since there is no way to direct your characters to go to certain places or even to stay where they are.

[Karellen]

For the record, I wasn't making a statement on the quality of said implementation. By 'positioning' I mostly meant that you can now move your characters around. The only thing I really used positioning for was to ensure I didn't agro too many enemies.

[Skyblade]

For the record, I wasn't making a statement on the quality of said implementation. By 'positioning' I mostly meant that you can now move your characters around. The only thing I really used positioning for was to ensure I didn't agro too many enemies.

Sorry if I misquoted you there then. But that was an example of one of my most annoying things about the game. A lot of the changes (such as the adding of positioning) were not that well executed.

[Roto13]

I may never play an RPG with random battles again. There's no advantage to them at all.

[demondude]

Final fantasy 12 was innovative, and it still contained lots of final fantasy staples! (Espers, chocobos etc)

[Dreddz]

FFXII lacked a lot of what made previous games great but then made up for it by the gameplay. I appreciate Square for doing something different and put my faith back into the company.

People who bitch piss me off because its not encouraging developers to go beyond the standard RPG formula.

[Crizpy]

So you want people to give positive feedback regardless of what they actually think of the game?

[Dreddz]

So you want people to give positive feedback regardless of what they actually think of the game?

They should at least be thankful that Square didn't go back to turn based combat. I'm actually with most people when criticizing everything else.

Square should bring the story back to the characters and bring a better composer to work on their Final Fantasy games but should keep on trying to innovate the RPG genre.

[Skyblade]

So you want people to give positive feedback regardless of what they actually think of the game?

They should at least be thankful that Square didn't go back to turn based combat. I'm actually with most people when criticizing everything else.

Square should bring the story back to the characters and bring a better composer to work on their Final Fantasy games but should keep on trying to innovate the RPG genre.

While I never had a problem with turn based combat, I am very unhappy with the real-time combat in XII. I won't mind if they use real-time combat in all future Final Fantasy games, as long as they fix the problems that XII's system has.

[Wolf Kanno]

I don't understand why disliking the game because its not the same as it used to, isnt a legitimate reason.

If I go buy starcraft 2, and I find out its an FPS rather than an RTS, im supposed to just say "hey, its different, and thats good"?

I havent been around here for long, but I know there are two scenarios in which you can act like a complete douche to another poster, that is if 1) He thinks the R=U theory might be correct 2) He doesnt like final fantasy changing.

The problem with the argument about FF changing is that its always changing. No game in the series is exactly alike and all bring countless changes that make each special to their fans. FF has always been about change, its the only constant in the series. I mean it took ten games for SE to finally make a direct sequel to a game in the series and even then it was radically different from its counterpart.

You would have to define what you feel the core elements of FF are. Even then, due to its changing nature, you won't find many who will agree cause we all have a different opinion of what constitutes as "core elements" in the series.

[Egami]

Final Fantasy 1 - 10-2 all had random battles the way they did. Thats a lot of game titles. So to turn that into something else is just blasphemy to all the people who played Final Fantasy cause of its traditions, like summons, creatures, magic like enemy skill, and more then I want to list.

Final Fantasy 1 - 6 were all on 2D graphics, that's a lot of game titles. So, to turn that into something else (3D graphics) is just blasphemy to all the people who played Final Fantasy.

Just because something has been part of the series for a long time, it does not means that it is the best thing for the series. The random battle system is good, I do like it, but I did not miss it while playing XII. The battle system introduced by XII simply runs circles around it and it is a change for the better of the series. I went into some detail about it and it's advantages in an earlier post.

Final Fantasy, at least to me, has always been about innovation, braking new ground, setting new trends, etc. The random battle system has run it's course already, it was good for a while, but there are better options available and I do feel that the series was starting to fall behind in that department in the last couple of installments.

[Egami]

...as long as they fix the problems that XII's system has.

Which problems do you believe it has?

[champagne supernova]

I will agree that random battles were probably getting a bit old. But XII still utilizes the ATB battle system. If you look at the battle system (and exclude the gambits of course), the battle system is very similar to the one in VII when in 'Active' mode.

The implementation of the system was also not perfect. I think the gambits were useful, as long as they weren't overused (which some people did, and then complained that the game played itself). But, I also don't believe gambits should be the way forward for the series. A game should be fun, not involve programming moves in (which basically is what gambits are).

My biggest gripe with the battle system was the spell casting. First, I'd have to wait for my ATB bar to fill up. Then I'd have to wait while the spell bar would fill up. Then, I'd have to wait some more while a boss would do a million things before it would cast. But, an item would be used immediately.

The License Board is in my opinion the Sphere Grid v0.5. You still level up normally, but you get to basically move your character in any path from the start of the game. Vaan starts off as a thief, but within a few hours, he can become a spell-casting monk. And Fran starts off with a bow, but from the go, she can become a knight in shining armour.

Agreeably, at the end of X, many abilitites started to merge. But, Yuna played a white mage through most of the game for me, and Lulu a black mage, etc. I couldn't decide at the beginning of the game that Wakka should be a blue mage, and Auron a healer. Also, the license board was so easy to complete, unlike the Sphere Grid. To get a player to have every single ability in X would take forever. Not so in XII.

IMO, the best modern FF battle system was in X. It was a lot more strategic than the one's before, the underlying leveling mechanics required thought (unless one used the Tonberry for massive levelling), and it was fun. I'd have preferred it if they had managed to make it non-random battles, but I still prefer it to XII.

But I don't dislike because of the battle system. I disliked it because the story was unfocused and the characters were uninteresting. When I walk through the entire Sandsea without the story moving forward at all, I am worried. Or when I walk from Mt Bur Omisace to Archades (or whatever the capital is), and there is one piece of dialogue the entire way, I am worried. Both of those "walks" would take most gamers an hour or two. Can you imagine having to wait two hours for the story to move forward in any other Final Fantasy, unless you were delibarately messing about?

I felt that XII didn't have enough, storywise, for it to be compared with any other game in the series. Even X-2. I didn't care much for X-2's story (but who can say they cared much for XII's story), but at least there were plenty of characters to care about, who did speak more than twice (Penelo), and who developed.