Espers

[YTDN]

Does anyone feel that the Espers in this game felt, I dunno, tacked on? As well being near-useless in battle, they had hardly anything to do with the plot. I liked how they went back to the FF6/FF9 style of them being magical creature/god/angel/things, but they didn't fit very well with the overall plot of 'Saving Dalmasca' ('cause face it, the Occuria/Nethicite storyline was horribly underutilized and didn't mesh very well). Then again, it may be part of the overall problem regarding the magical elements feeling out of place, IMHO.

So, Espers in XII, yay or nay?

[ANGRYWOLF]

espers were useless in this game.I never bothered to use them once I had them after I saw how useless they were..
They were tough fighting you but were pushovers when you tried to use them against enemies.Even a dive talon could beat an esper.I saw it happen.

I believe sincerely that had Matusno not had his breakdown and run off that he would have completed the game and prevented the deficiencies that we experienced playing it.Sadly that didn't occue and we were left with an unfinished product deficient in many ways..the espers just being one of them.

[Vermachtnis]

Yea, they weren't that great. That one opened that big door and that was it. They made pretty fun boss fights though, since they almost always ban something.

[Roogle]

The only time I used an Esper in the entire game was to open the door that Vermachtnis referenced. Honestly, I never even attempted to try them out because of the poor reaction to them that other people had.

[Clo]

I had an easy enough time with the battles that I never even needed an esper. Strategy-wise, there was really no point to them. Plus, they were strange characters, and I really had no attachment to them at all, whereas a Shiva and Ifrit I just like using for reasons being they're a FF battle motif.

[silverjunky]

I think that yes the Espers were severly underused/badly conceived in this game. I would have actually preferred it if the whole "political intrigue" and empire stuff had been thrown out the window and instead the game had been about the espers/gods/occuria/crystals thing. That to me would have been interesting and would have worked properly in a mmorg style huge "FANTASY" rpg.

[Crossblades]

Yeah, they were pretty useless, but I would always use them just for fun on regular enemies and for quick leveling(since I designated one of my characters to be a Summoner)

[Roogle]

Ashe was the only character that learned how to summon the Espers in my game. As I mentioned earlier, I cared little for them in gameplay, but, for the storyline, the Espers were in a pact with Ashe, correct?

[Raistlin]

I think that yes the Espers were severly underused/badly conceived in this game. I would have actually preferred it if the whole "political intrigue" and empire stuff had been thrown out the window and instead the game had been about the espers/gods/occuria/crystals thing. That to me would have been interesting and would have worked properly in a mmorg style huge "FANTASY" rpg.

Espers were mostly useless and it would have been nice for them to be more effective in battle, but I strongly disagree with this. The plot had some very bad pacing and other development issues, but the "political intrigue" was a type of plot that should be encouraged. If only more FFs had such a complex, mature basis for a plot instead of the tired old "evil force out to destroy the world."

[Roogle]

I believe that the game would benefit the most from the storyline focusing more heavily on either of the aspects of the world.

The world of Ivalice has a deep, mystical mythos about it, but the political landscape is a good backdrop for a story, too. There can be a problem when the game tries to focus on both. Pacing can become a big problem.

[Depression Moon]

I tried them out a seldomly. When I got a new one I mainly just used them to see their ultimate attack. Those things were pretty useless. Being defeated by regular enemies. I didn't even try to attempt making one of my characters a summon class on my third playthrough. I don't know how awful that would've been. The game should've been more structured for making classes overall. I heard Japan got that version, but we didn't. I would have gladly paid for the game again if it meant better gameplay. I love class systems.