Review of the FFXII demo..

[crashNUMBERS]

Looks like SEs plan is a success then . I probably shouldn't talk though, I bought ZoE because of the MGS2 demo ;/. I'd like to try the demo too, but first, I doubt DQ8 is even being released over here, and second, I can't afford another game right now.

Ha, I hope they set their minds to thinking and set this hip to sail. Remember what happened when FFIII wasn't shipped??

[Winter Nights]

Oh yah! I win! Member me autum rain? Im tidus rox and i told u that ff xii is gunna be the last one and ur like NO ITS NOT and then u put it right there!!!!! Sucker i love winning! (no hard feelings)

That's not what I meant by "final". I meant the finished product.

[Destai]

Ha, I hope they set their minds to thinking and set this hip to sail. Remember what happened when FFIII wasn't shipped??

Were you even born then?

[crashNUMBERS]

Supposedly, Im just guessing, y'know, MAYBE, I just looked up the internet or found out some fan search and such, I dunno...

I may be young but I probably know more than some of you...

[Russielloyd]

They said its basically FFXI offline with the battle system, which is ok as im use to the battles on FFXI but i feel cautious about not having full control of my other party members and if the leveling is the same as FFXI where it takes forever to do, it will get boring. The other aspects of the game look good, hopefully those two missions are just something leading on to the actual story, like in FF8 with the seeD test. I want to see some fancy weapons aswell, got to have the stylish weapons.

[Miriel]

I really doubt that the level grind will be anywhere near as bad or as tedious as it is in FFXI.

But I really do like how similar it is to FFXI. Yay for the return of Mandragoras.

[Necronopticous]

It's not going to take anywhere near as long as Final Fantasy XI to gain levels in Final Fantasy XII. All MMORPGs take months or even years to reach the top level because they want you to play for months and years and always have something to do so you'll keep sending that tasty monthly fee. There is a charm in an MMO taking that long to gain levels because you're doing it with friends and competing in a sense. If a single player game had that slow of a leveling system it would be painfully dull.

[Russielloyd]

Well i meant not to the extent that its like FFXI but if takes longer than usual, like i though FFXI took a while to do.

It took me two months to get my WAR on FFXI to level 30.

Is there anything on how new abilites will be learnt? The other pages wouldnt load for me, so i only read the first page.

[Big D]

Must say, I'm very optimistic after reading that demo review. I like the changes and innovations, but also the retention of key ideas.
Hopefully the 'mission' component won't detract from the ability to do things at one's own pace. I have a reasonable amount of faith that the finished product will have a good mix of events and styles.

Is it still going to be a two-disc game? I remember that being mentioned quite early on.

It's odd that a summon monster has been given an ability called 'roxxor'... I hope this isn't an example of n00bish getting incorporated into the game's script.

[Rostum]

Wow, it looks like it's going to be a top notch game. I just hope the story line and character developments live up to the standards of the new innovative battle system and gameplay. =)

[crashNUMBERS]

Man, this might end up just being my favorite FF. I gotta see what Gamespot and IGN say about it when it comes out...

[Nucah]

I just got done playing the demo and it's pretty sweet. The only thing i have to complain about is that Vaan can summon an esper called Hasmal, and he looks exactly like Ifrit, and if Ifrit is replaced by Hasmal I will be forever sad.

[Crossblades]

I just got done playing the demo and it's pretty sweet. The only thing i have to complain about is that Vaan can summon an esper called Hasmal, and he looks exactly like Ifrit, and if Ifrit is replaced by Hasmal I will be forever sad.

Me too

[Duncan]

Well, I played the demo and I'm really not sure how i feel about it. As someone state earlier it felt alot like FFXI, no more random battles. The demo let you play in wait mode or active mode (one quest for each). Since I don't like the idea of letting the computer control 2/3 of my party, first thing I did was turn gambit mode off. As a result, I found that I enjoyed playing in wait mode since there is alot more going on. However, since I've only played through it once I'm sure that once I got used to the gameplay mechanics that I would be fine running in active mode with gambit turned off.

The demo was quite short in my opinion and therefore I don't think I really got a good feel for how the final product will turn out. I will say that I'm a little disappointed that they've moved away from the random battles and the changing from battle mode to adventure mode, that for me has always been one of the things that make a FF game feel like an FF game. Yes, I know, games have to evolve but I like what i like.

One thing that did bother me was that during some of the fights i ended up not being able to even see some of the members of my group. Because the camera follows the main character, I noticed that when I would tell my team to 'attack' that two of them would move in for the melee fighting and as a result the third (ranged) character (Penelo or Balthier, depending on whether I was doing the active or wait mode) would end up behind me and off camera. Yes it's minor, but I'm just used to being able to see my team. Hopefully, in the final product, there's an option that you could set that always keeps the entire team in view or something like that.

One interesting thing to note was that once you chose to attack an enemy, it showed you exactly what it's weakness was. I thought that was interesting as it seems to take a bit away from the game, esp when it comes to encountering a new enemy that you know nothing about.

So, basically, I don't know how I feel about it. To a certain extent it didn't 'feel' like a FF game, but on the other hand it felt like I was right at home, (menus, espers, potion, hi-potion, etc.). I'm interested to see how the final product turns out.

[Slothy]

The demo was quite short in my opinion and therefore I don't think I really got a good feel for how the final product will turn out. I will say that I'm a little disappointed that they've moved away from the random battles and the changing from battle mode to adventure mode, that for me has always been one of the things that make a FF game feel like an FF game. Yes, I know, games have to evolve but I like what i like.

You said it yourself, games have to evolve. To be honest, I'm more excited for this game because of the battle system than I would have been had they used a traditional turn based random encounter style. Frankly after 11 games in this series which all used random encounters and turn based combat, I'm pretty sick of it at this point. The main thing I like is the fact that I'll be able to see the enemies on screen and avoid them if I choose. Random battles become annoying sometimes, especially if you're trying to get to a save point because you have to stop playing or something. And I don't see why they didn't ditch random battles years ago.