Review of the FFXII demo..

[Duncan]

Random battles become annoying sometimes, especially if you're trying to get to a save point because you have to stop playing or something.

I definitely know what you're talking about there. As I've thought about it more I don't think it's the randomness that I'll miss. I think it's the feeling that I'm losing a bit of control with the gambit mode and the fact that once you select and attack, I don't have to do anything else. Or rather, I can do something else, but the game doesn't force me to choose and action. However, I've played through the demo again and, now that I knew what to expect, felt much more comfortable with the gameplay mechanics.

Truth be told, everytime a new FF game comes out I always go through a period of, "What the...why did the designers do that?" time until I get comfortable with the gameplay mechanics. Since I do enjoy controlling the entire group (no gambit for me) wait mode seems like it will be my play style of choice when it's released. It's just too hectic for me in active mode (I guess i'm getting old).

[Sephex]

I liked the demo. Uh...that's all I got to say about that. The full version should be all good.

[Nucah]

I agree with Duncan, I really don't like that fact that when I am attacking i can only see the main character that I am controlling. Turn based I think it is nice having all of your character at least so you can see them all doing something, it makes you feel like they are more of a team and it makes you feel like the characters are more part of the game because you are interacting with them more.

[Duncan]

Well, I played through it again, and I'm liking it less. When you leave gambit on in particular there doesn't seem to be any challenge. The AI automatically heals you when you need it and you just hack away. I preferred when I was in complete control and The game would ask me each turn what I wanted to do with each character. It doesn't seem to be much of a challenge. What would be nice is an option that would either let the game go on autopilot in battles or have the ability to choose the action for each character for each turn (like in previous games). That option, coupled with active/wait mode option would allow the player to tailor the game a bit for how they want to play and make everyone happy.

[Slothy]

I doubt I'd mind the computer controlling the other characters myself. I loved games like KH and Tales of Symphonia, both of which had the computer controlling the other characters and it didn't bother me one bit. I'll have to decide which I like more in FF12 though once I can see how it's implemented there.