dont know if its been posted yet...

[Aria28]

They didn't get into Chocobo riding. I thought that was going to be quirky this time. Where like you had to rent them for a specific period of time. And some would be impatient and run off on you when you got off while others would hang around and wait for you. Or was that idea axed?

The review didn't really get me any more excited than I was already. As I had a feeling this would be an RPG experience a little different (thankfully) than the rest. It just reaffirms what I already suspected. I will probably be one of those people learning the best Gambits for putting your people totally on auto-pilot. As I abhore random encounters and the tedium of standard role playing fare.

Though summons being worthless in boss fights...? You hardly need them in regular encounters I'd imagine, so I wonder what exactly the point would be. That's almost as goofy as FF8 where it was basically the opposite. For the better portion of the game you had to use summons almost exclusively to do any real damage.

It is cool though you can basically form your own team based on who you like best instead of them having their own skills where they're kinda required from time to time.

Have they said where/when this game takes place in comparison to the Tactics games? They say its the same world. I'm assuming its after FFT? And when did FFTA take place in comparison to the two? :]

Also it says the Judges are back. I assume that means they were in one of the tactics games?

I didn't remember that you needed summons more in FF VIII, although they are hardly ever that necessary :O_O: Except in FF X to insure an overkill against some of the bosses in the game in its first stages, but that's pretty much it.....

There's a really great article about the chronology of Ivalice here:

Ivalice: Chronologie

It's in French though; I'll try to post a rough translation later (I'm at work, and they actually gave me stuff to do ), but basically, they say that FF XII's main part happens during year 706 of the "Ancient Valendien" era. The events around the character of Ajora Glabados must have happened somewhat later, which is twelve centuries before FFT.

Obviously, in FFTA, St Ivalice is the latest incarnation of Ivalice, but the writer of this article is of the opinion that you are transported back to the FF XII time period roughly (with the presence of so many characteristics that are similar -Vieira, Judges, Moogles associated with mob hunts, etc), it would make sense)