These are a few of my hated things...

[Bolivar]

Kanno, you're firstly missing the point. Crystal Armor still constitutes amazing end-game equipment that you get right off the bat. You're also forgetting that trading off benefits for others is what FF equipment is all about, especially endgame. I think you're reaching for straws by saying simply because something is not the best, it's not in the same category of ultimate equipment your characters want end-game. You're post is also a red-herring in that you explain why Crystal Armor is not the best in the game without refuting the fact that you begin getting the best equipment in the game shortly after the mid-way point, while not even establishing that Crystal Armor does not fit in that category.

Something else that's part-minigame and part-chaps my hide was the marks in FFXII. Somewhere along the line it becomes a redundant excuse to draw out the length of the game. They start swapping monster templates with an added touch of color to show how lazy it got. All it is is text and swapped templates, taking up a minimal amount of memory in order to greatly expand game experience. I did actually play nearly all the marks in my last game and did enjoy it, but I really wish it had more substance to it. Adding in an extra guest character on specific hunts was great, and I really wish it was an idea they went with from their original ideas.

[Wolf Kanno]

Kanno, you're firstly missing the point. Crystal Armor still constitutes amazing end-game equipment that you get right off the bat. You're also forgetting that trading off benefits for others is what FF equipment is all about, especially endgame. I think you're reaching for straws by saying simply because something is not the best, it's not in the same category of ultimate equipment your characters want end-game. You're post is also a red-herring in that you explain why Crystal Armor is not the best in the game without refuting the fact that you begin getting the best equipment in the game shortly after the mid-way point, while not even establishing that Crystal Armor does not fit in that category.

I'm mostly messing with you cause you know I need to do my obligatory "standing up" for FFVI just as you would do in turn should I say something terribly bad about VII

If you want me to be serious in defending the game then I would simply point out two things. The first point is that the second half of VI is almost completely open ended which is something that is not as common in the series as one would think. The Crystal equipment doesn't become available until about the time you get the airship which is about the point in which the game opens completely up and allows the player to explore as they see fit. If they tried to stick to a progressive equipment system in this environment it forces the player to stay to a strict path or even worse, allows some players to skip to the powerful stuff and ignore the rest in order to jump to godhood as quickly as possible. I don't see how you can be open ended and progressive. Chrono Trigger did a similar set-up since all the optional content nets you Ultimate or end game gear.

The second thing I would like to point out is that VI has a difficulty jump when you get into the WoR. Even with good levels, your crappy spell selection combined with your decent equipment will allow even normal encounters to eat you alive if you are not careful. Its why I always suggest teaching Celes, Sabin, and Edgar all the healing spells before going to the Floating Continent to noobs. To be honest, you need access to great equipment as soon as you can cause the open-ended nature of the Second Act also prevents the developers from making an obvious increasing difficulty curve for the enemy encounters. That's why the second half of the game has more puzzle centric dungeons or theme dungeons like the Phoenix Cave or the Cultist's Tower.

By wishing for progressive growth, you ruin the beauty of the games design.

Something else that's part-minigame and part-chaps my hide was the marks in FFXII. Somewhere along the line it becomes a redundant excuse to draw out the length of the game. They start swapping monster templates with an added touch of color to show how lazy it got. All it is is text and swapped templates, taking up a minimal amount of memory in order to greatly expand game experience. I did actually play nearly all the marks in my last game and did enjoy it, but I really wish it had more substance to it. Adding in an extra guest character on specific hunts was great, and I really wish it was an idea they went with from their original ideas.

I disagree to a point. I personally found that the Mark Hunts were utilized in a way to show the beauty of the Gambit system as they often require a greater level of strategy than the main story bosses. Like X's Monster Arena, the Mark System is created to show off the battle system and unlike X is available throughout the game so you don't get bored as quickly. If I learned anything from playing XII, its that its one of the few games I don't like over-leveling in as I feel the beauty of the game lies in using strategy to overcome difficult odds. The Mark Hunt provide this as they tend to be 10x nastier than anything else the game throws at you in the main storyline.

I usually find that people who don't like the Gambit system are also individuals who didn't bother with the Mark System. They just powered level and stuck to very simplistic Gambit schemes. Sorry to go on the personal rant but it bugs me when I talk to some of the XII detractors (Not you of course).

On the note about your last statement though. Originally, the team planned on having the player have the ability to hire Clan Mates to help them with the Mark Hunts and I think they even talked about making it a multiplayer experience with allowing a second player to plug in and take control of a secondary unit. Regretfully it was another idea that got thrown out (like the airship battles) due to the game's troubled production.

[Quindiana Jones]

In response to Kanno's last paragraph: that would have been freaking amazing.

[Jiro]

*totally ate faces in the blitzball tournament*

I only lost the first time I got to that point. Then I learnt about Jecht Shot and have won ever since

And agreeing with Quin's post. That would have been so darn awesome

[Bolivar]

By wishing for progressive growth, you ruin the beauty of the games design.

Understood! However, I feel there could have been some creative way to balance this. Even then, I can't chastise the team for things they didn't do. Overall they were able to take the traditional mechanics of FF and implement it in a unique, non-linear way.

I disagree to a point. I personally found that the Mark Hunts were utilized in a way to show the beauty of the Gambit system as they often require a greater level of strategy than the main story bosses. [/QUOTE]

Agreed again. I think it's astonishing that they were able to have possibly the deepest strategy system in an FF where you essentially do nothing and watch your characters. The Gilgamesh hunt went from nearly impossible to relatively easy on different playthroughs where I had essentially the same equipment, simply from having a better understanding of Gambits.

[Wolf Kanno]

I still think Gilgamesh is a cheap ass cause he has all those blue magic spells...

As for the balance issue, I do agree as I feel its the fundamental problem with all of the post FFV titles in the series. There just always seems to come a point in every game where your party becomes almost god like and you know damn well you are no where near the final dungeon.

Also, here is a link to the interview where Minagawa mentions elements that were taken out. The one about airship battles is from another interview and I'll have to search the XII forums for that one...

[Edea's-Ether]

Actually I tend to like mostly all of the mini games....I become more addicted to them than the main game. Most of the time I dont like them at first like blitzball but then I became tottally in love with it.
I cant even remember one I didnt end up liking...

[Kyros]

Another thing I hate is how blue magic is pretty much 99% crap in just about every game =/

[Marshall Banana]

I like chocobo breeding, but it's glitchy: when breeding a Wonderful Chocobo with a Black Chocobo, talking to the Wonderful Chocobo first will prevent you from getting a Gold Chocobo. I wasted hours, resetting my game over and over - thinking that I was just unlucky - because I didn't know! Chocobo racing, though, is so cuuute!

A mini-game I just didn't like was Triple Triad. I could just never get into it and I would usually get steamed the few times I'd give it a shot and lose a lot. I guess I've just never given it a fair shake.

It's best to wait until Squall defeats both Ifrit and Diablos, thus receiving both of their cards! They're good cards, which you can use to easily defeat Zell's mother for Zell's card. With Ifrit, Diablos, and Zell, you'll be invincible! All three can be obtained before the Timber mission (as well as MiniMog and Quistis). =D

Another thing I hate is how blue magic is pretty much 99% crap in just about every game =/

Blue Magic is great, especially in FFV and FFIX! I can't really speak for FFVI, because I don't know, but I like having strictly a party of Blue Mages when I play FFV, because many bosses can be taken out in one turn with them or with one spell from them! Blue Mages are awesome!

[Kyros]

There's a few good blue magic spells but overall I've just found it kinda pointless to actually try to gather all the spells when there's plenty of other ways that are easier to get everything done, and when you have to be a blue mage class it seems to make me want to mess with it even less.

[Wolf Kanno]

I generally find Blue Magic more useful than both normal black magic and summons. Yeah it sucks in VIII and X but those games have a whole series of faults in gameplay we don't need to discuss right now. V-VII its just freaking awesome.

As MB mentioned, Blue Mages can literally decimate a third of the bosses in FFV even up to battles in The Rift. Not to mention their use in power leveling job classes in Odin's chamber. They have awesome defensive abilites and crippling status magic that works more often than they should.

Strago's Blue Magic not only makes him one of the best defensive characters in the game but his wind/water magic is incredibly powerful and few enemies have resistance to it and many are weak to one or the other. Not to mention Grand Train is just nasty...

The Enemy Skill materia is my "end all, be all" for VII. Not only does VII give you access to most of the powerful and broken abilites before you even leave the first Disc but most of it makes magic seem useless and makes most of the summons obsolete as well until you get the over powered stuff in Disc 2... White Wind and Mighty Guard are criminally broken in this game and both are fairly easy to get. I don't see why people even bother with magic materia in this game once you leave Midgard.

[VeloZer0]

My biggest problem with Blue Magic is that you essentially need an FAQ to use it properly. This regulates it to something that I would never use on a first play through, as I never use walkthroughs until I get to the end game.

On that note, I dislike how it seems the 'end game' content is completely inaccessible without a walkthrough. When I get to that point in the game I generally like going out to look around and seeing what extra stuff I could do. I don't expect to get all of it without a guide, but I really dislike getting to the end of the game and then immediately firing up the guide and playing through step by step. What happened to extra dungeons instead of mini-games? (min-games take less time to develop, I know I know.....)

[Mirage]

I found blue magic to be very useful in FF5, FF7, and FF11.

[Kyros]

I hate XI, and when I have enemy skill equipped it just seems like a wasted slot to me in VII. I have it on all my people in my current playthrough only b/c I'm actually going to max 3 of them out for the first time just to say I've done it pretty much. White wind is good, but FFVII's regen is godly so don't really need another heal spell once I have that. Trine's convenient in a few circumstances, but really I felt like it was just to help me speed up the battle b/c I was lazy and didn't want to wait on limit break animations (yeah I'm that lazy sometimes in games lol) even though using limits = higher lv limits. Having the fury status effect was better than enemy skill imo but w/e I'm not saying it's horrible in VII (one I've used it in the most but have messed with it some in others), but I just preferred other stuff over it.

[Wolf Kanno]

White Wind is useful (and broken) in VII cause it not only heals your whole party but restores their status and since the HP restored is based on the caster's Hp all you need is a simple HP+ materia or high levels to make it heal 4000-9999 every time. That seems far more convenient to me than having each character use Regen.

Mighty Guard is broken cause it cast Wall and Haste on your whole party at half the cost of doing it with normal magic materia. Trine, Beta, Aqualung, and Magic Breath are all overly powerful spells that put most of the standard magic to shame. Really, VII has more good spells than lousy. I stopped using Magic and Summon materia because of it. I only use Command Materia at the end of the game. To be fair, I build my teams for Blitzkriegs. Enemy Skill Materia is far more affective than magic materia and have quick animations to boot.

Limit Break and Ultimate Weapons are still better damage dealers but that's the game's crappy balance issue...