That surprises me too. Where's the love?Originally Posted by leilei
I agree, XII is a remarkable game and I've always felt it gets discriminated for rather shallow reasons. Matsuno's works have all been personal favorites of mine in the SE library. FFT, FFTA, Vagrant Story, and FFXII are all beautiful and darkly mature games. His team has transformed Ivalice from a little world based on the mythos of the FF franchise into a beautiful standalone world that is deeper and more wonderful than most game worlds out there. I'm replaying through the FFs right now (up to VII) and so far, XII is the one I look forward to the most.
Kuja is definetly an awsome villain and its a shame many people consider him nothing more than a knock-off of Kefka and Sephiroth. Though I disagree, cause I feel Sydney is easily the best antagonist in gaming history. God I love VS...As far as non-Matsuno FF titles are concerned, Final Fantasy IX is just about perfect, combining the best elements of every single main entry that came before it. Of special note is the game's wonderful art/world design. The game has a wonderfully whimsical, autumn-like vibe to it, but at the same time it has this strong, dark undercurrent running through it all. The overall effect is one that oftentimes gets me nostalgic for halloween. This unique combination of darkness and whimsy really gives the game a strong personality, and the characters in the game are incredible. Others have said it better than me, particularly in the lovely "IX vs VII and VIII" thread.
EDIT: It has to be said: Kuja is the greatest antagonist in the entire damn series. If it weren't for Vagrant Story's Sydney Lostarrot, Kuja would have taken the cake for my favourite antagonist of the entire 32/64-bit generation, even besting Panzer Dragoon Saga's Craymen and the many wonderful antagonists of games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Xenogears, and Suikoden II.
It funny what time does to things. I'm playing through VII right now, and despite its shoddy localization and archaic graphics, I feel the story and gameplay are still quite strong. I feel most FFs have aged well even games I never thought would (FFI and FFIV). Playing through the game after experiencing XII was an eye opener though... I never noticed how laughable the character movements were in cutscenes. Though some of the VA is still top-notch (except Yuna and Seymore IMHO). I remember having issues with Zelda: OoT cause despite what most people feel, that game has not aged well at all... maybe its music. Maybe its cause I noticed that most of OoT best puzzles and dungeon designs were taken straight out of A Link to the Past (a game I consider far superior to OoT) but who knows. Lord knows, Zelda fans don't like me...And that's the problem with FFX: I can't accurately judge it. Because I cannot stand to play it anymore, one might say that it hasn't aged well and that I shouldn't allow it, but I haven't given it a full replay to see if that is not the case. At the same time, on paper the idea of replaying a game so many times you get sick of it sounds wonderful. But again, it prevents me from being an accurate judge of the game's overall quality. So FFX is certainly not on my list, but at the same time it's probably about the only game I'm undecided on. Essentially, it's in a type of limbo. :/
I completely agree and this is the closest to my true sentiments about the game that I've heard. I also enjoy the Cloud identity plot twist cause it was quite bold of Square to do that.I also wanted to mention FFVII. This is a game that I feel is above average, and has moments of brilliance, but it gets bogged down in various flaws. I don't love it, I don't hate it, I just like it. It's not enough for me to consider it a favourite, but I have always enjoyed myself with it and I appreciate the fact that it opened the floodgates for RPGs outside of Japan. One thing I do like to note about the game, however, is that for all of its storytelling faults I rather appreciate the fact that it is one of precious few examples of the "unreliable narrator" device in gaming. The fact that Cloud is not what he claims to be, and that much of the player's perspective for the better part of the experience ends up being something of a lie, is quite fascinating. That game actually does need a more current replay out of me before I really say anything more, however.
Its a shame you won't be playing the superior GBA version. The GBA has a wonderful localization that brought a wealth of depth to the games story (I consider VI to be the best written FF after playing the GBA version) To be honest, since the GBA version, I can't even bring myself to play the old translation anymore. It feels so childish why the new one was mature. Sorry if I'm making you regret your decision, its a fine game either way and despite my sentiments, the original script is good its just that I prefer the new one. The gameplay is still the same though and its a damn fine game so I hope you enjoy it.Also, I just wanted to do a little confession: I have not yet completed FFVI, after all these years. I missed out on it during the 16-bit generation, the PS1 port is too load-time heavy to bother with, and I don't have a GBA or NDS. Before anyone mentions, I DO plan to rectify this by ordering an SNES copy at some point in the near future. My only major experience with FFVI was with an emulation of the GBA version: I enjoyed it immensely, and it felt like it could really hold its own against the greats of the era that I loved, like Chrono Trigger and both Lunar games. However, that was my first and only experience with emulation, as I ended up feeling quite guilty about the methods I was using to experience it, and ended up deleting it all off of my computer. So there. *breathes deeply*
Tell me about it. XII was a game I feel the FF series really needed. I only hope that XIII takes note of XII's awesome world design. I want a fully rotatable camera in dungeons and cities.
I think its a shame for it to be missing as well. Though I've only played a little, I've been quite impresses so far and despite being the most outrageous entry in the series, I do feel its quite deserving of the numbered moniker.
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