Final Fantasy 12

[sandgolem]

-Vaan. Was there any point to his character, or his brother? He served NO purpose.

This video shows he was good for something.

I didn't even bother to finish the game because it was so boring & watched the rest of the cutscenes on youtube. On the plus side, I've heard many many people (hundreds) say they really enjoyed it when they hated the older final fantasy games.

 

[Mac]

Final Fantasy 12 is short played and character development is rather bland and boring. For so mcu hype it got it really didn't turn out as highly as once thought.

Character Development
Usually Final Fantasys are pretty good for their character development and stories, even thought they are a tad clich? most of the time...but Final Fantasy 12 was the worse....their were only two characters that were focused on and even then they were ever so weak stories.

The main story was behind Ashe trying to run away from the Imperial Army but along the way she realises she can reclaim her throne to Dalmasca and tries to do so.....thats pretty much everything about Ashe...a very bland character.

Then you had Vaan, ok well lets see.....hmmmm...umm...all i really got from this character was he wanted to be an Air Pilot or whatever it was called...and pretty much through the whole game he kept bringing it up...this character was very short lived and pretty much reminds me of naruto with his "Believe It!" phrase.....although Naruto actually had some good character structure unlike Vaan.

Story
Now the story, well it was obvious that the Imperial Army was trying to take over Dalmasca and rule over it and use the power of that round orb which i forgot the name of etc etc...and yes the worlds story was pretty well told...one of the up points about the game....but theres no real story without the characters story..it felt like only Ashe was the one that had the push to get a story going...the rest of the characters really need not be in the story because of their motivation towards the storyline.

Battle System
Alot of people hated this but i didn't mind it, it showed final fantasy breaching out and trying something new....but even so i still didn't like it more over the turn based battle systems.....as its what gives you that Final Fantasy Nostalgia feel and helps you enjoy the game even more.

Music
The music in this game wasn't exactly memorable or interesting....one of the first final fantasy's i was dissapointed about in this department.

Rating
As i said earlier 6/10, its ok to play but its only there for a quick walk around....its not something you can enjoy playing for hours on end like the previous versions (obviously excluding X-2)

 

[shannon]

I thought it sucked. people describe the political storyline as mature and intelligent but they forget one other adjective; boring. This is not what I made me enjoy JRPGs in the first place, I want a fun, exciting story not confusing crap with too many names of characters and countries.

The battle sytem sucked too. All in all, the FF series has went on a downward spiral since the atrocity that was FF7. It's because they want to attract a wider audience while leaving their old fans (who are responsible for the game being popular in the first place) Too bad.

 

[Rye]

I fail to see, shannon, how FF6's battle was better than FF7. It was the same, really, just in 3-D or whatever.

 

[shannon]

I fail to see, shannon, how FF6's battle was better than FF7. It was the same, really, just in 3-D or whatever.

I never compared FF6 to 7's battle system. I thought all of the FF battle systems were fine until 12's. But its the storyline that went the wrong direction IMO in part 7, which brought about the whole sci-fi thing which has dominated most FF games since. Before that the games used a fantasy approach which I liked much better. Also with the sci-fi storylines came incomprehensible endings. Oh and pointless FMV cutscenes which seemed cool at first but now only cheapen the experience.

 

[Rye]

Oh, ok, nevermind. Must have misread it. Sorry.

The battle sytem sucked too. All in all, the FF series has went on a downward spiral since the atrocity that was FF7.

Yeah, misread it for good reason. You should have started a new paragraph there, after "sucked too.", as it seems to be that you are going on the same subject of the battles sucked, therefore, that is why I misread it.

 

[Prexus]

How can it seem cool at first but cheapen the experience? There was nothing negative about the FMVs, except on the PC version they took a minute to load.

Most of the FF games have Sci-Fi stuff, FF4 had the moon, FF5 had an alternate world, FF6 has all sorts of armors and machines. Hence the point of "Fantasy" setting, as opposed to Medieval setting. Fantasy can be anything the creator dreams up.

Also, of course all the FF battle systems between 1-10 were fine because they were all the same, FF12 took a new approach which was welcomed by some and shunned by others. Square made the right move by making a change because sticking with the same system was a bad idea. The series needs some new sparks and such, and FF12 does that just fine.

 

[Sirc]

I only just noticed this now.

You must fail to understand what interactive storytelling is. In a game of dungeons & dragons, sure the GM is telling the party the story but guess how the actions and the events of the story unfold? The players make it up. They decide what happens, they roleplay what their characters say, etc.

In any RPG, the story is you controlling your party, talking to NPCs, exploring dungeons, wandering through towns and the world, and yes, cut-scenes. To make a retarded claim that only cut-scenes constitute an RPG's story makes it obvious that you have been treating them like interactive anime instead of role-playing games.

FF12's story was good enough that any weird flaws regarding character history or motivations are so minor and inconsequential that to gripe about them only shows a lack of appreciation or enjoyment of the actual game. If not knowing why Cid had a poor role in the game really bothers you over everything else the game offers, your priorities are just jacked.

You can't just cast the gameplay aside and focus only on cut-scenes. When you do that, you reduce an RPG to nothing more than an interactive anime. An RPG's story is much more than that.

I don't know where I even mentioned cut-scenes and character speech, other than the imaginary words you've thrown into my mouth.

Secondly, there is no way you're claiming the player tells the story. Tidus is going to break down and cry and whine about his situation whether I want him to or not. Aerith is going to be impaled by a masamune whether I want it to happen or not. There is very little, if anything, you can 'change' in most RPGs (besides what your character will sometimes say). The final fantasy games are relatively linear, when compared to something like TES: Oblivion. So I really fail to see your point about the player constituting the story. Character Development and Plot were aspects left to the developers. Interactive anime, what? Right, now I don't even acknowledge what a Role-playing game is even though I've been playing AD&D for over 5 years and half my video games are categorized as sRPGs. You baffle me.

I never even mentioned Cid either. I'm wondering if you quoted the wrong post. My priorities aren't jacked, I looked for story and found gameplay. Cool, but it wasn't my expectation. Some like it, I'm not saying everyone SHOULD NOT LIKE FFXII THE STORY IS BAD PUT THAT GAME DOWN. As you and other defenders are saying FFXII IS GREAT NEW CHANGE ITS YOUR FAULT YOU DON'T LIKE IT PICK THAT GAME UP. I completely acknowledge the fact that others have different tastes and opinions, but it seems others can't. FFXII either has to be universally 'good' or universally 'bad'?

How can it seem cool at first but cheapen the experience? There was nothing negative about the FMVs, except on the PC version they took a minute to load.

Most of the FF games have Sci-Fi stuff, FF4 had the moon, FF5 had an alternate world, FF6 has all sorts of armors and machines. Hence the point of "Fantasy" setting, as opposed to Medieval setting. Fantasy can be anything the creator dreams up.

Also, of course all the FF battle systems between 1-10 were fine because they were all the same, FF12 took a new approach which was welcomed by some and shunned by others. Square made the right move by making a change because sticking with the same system was a bad idea. The series needs some new sparks and such, and FF12 does that just fine.

They were not the same, they were 'turn-based' but not the same. There were a bunch of variables that changed, more-so in the later sequels. This includes Job-systems, materia, how 'limit-breaks' are handled, number of party size, options within battle, active time, etc. They differed. I haven't heard complaints when FFV - FFX were released about repetitive battle-system. However I have heard complaints about FFXII's giant leap with the battle-system. I wonder what that says.

The series needs some new sparks? You could say that, I guess. But i don't know if they 'accomplished' that. At the moment in two of my frequented forums there are FFXII debates going on, so isn't the controversy evidence enough? It's throwing off some of the older fans and bringing in a lot of the new, so if they plan on acquiring a new fan-base (Like I said, most new generation gamers don't give a shit about story, like my friend who just clicks through all the dialogue and watches the cut-scenes because they're pretty) then they're doing a good job. Just not my cup of tea.

 

[rickster090]

FF12 is the best
thats all i can say

 

[shannon]

Well as a lot of Fallout fans are saying about Fallout 3, if you want to change the gameplay so drasticly that its not the same game anymore, call it something other than fallout.

FMV cutscenes seemed cool at first because games never had stuff like that before, so it was new. Now FMV is old news and I am not impressed by it anymore. All they do is take up diskspace and development time which could have been spent on making actual gameplay.

But hey, I gave up on the FF franchise a long time ago so I really dont care if Square flushes it down the toilet to appease casual gamers.

It's throwing off some of the older fans and bringing in a lot of the new, so if they plan on acquiring a new fan-base (Like I said, most new generation gamers don't give a shit about story, like my friend who just clicks through all the dialogue and watches the cut-scenes because they're pretty) then they're doing a good job.

And its those people who are ruining videogames for all of us.

 

[tgman]

i expected more to be in the game
cause after FF10
i started to like final fantasy games

 

[IAmReno]

I first buyed Final Fantasy X-2, Then after a while I buyed Final Fantasy X. My sister buyed Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The Movie made me more Final Fantasy Crazy, so I buyed Final Fantasy VII. After that I buyed Final Fantasy XII. It's a good game, but really, Square Enix Is getting out of ideas, Square Soft Where better....

 

[Granas3 REMIXED]

It's the best FF game I've played. There, I said it.

I loved the characters, the political story, and especially the gameplay. FF12 was definately a game meant for hardcore RPG gamers and not the casual crowd that prefers their cinematics be spoonfed and their stories be light on intelligence and heavy on action/anime crap.

FF12 rocks. One of the few FF games worth playing through to the end.

I know this is a little way nack, but still, the story was not that great. Yes there was a good bit of political intrigue etc, but there just isn't enough to be good. FFIX on the other hand had a rich story. By the end of it, you could care about every character equally, along with a few NPCs. Freya's story was resolved around disc 2 and she was never a good party member after that, but you still didn't mind her in cutscenes. Vaan, however, I would prefer it if Vayne would win. What little story he has is pretty much summed up by the time you get Penelo back, and since he's the main character, that's not the best thing.

The Gameplay was alright, but it was frustrating. I just wished it was more like the other ffs or kingdom hearts, it was too much in the middle. i know that better gameplay should mean more control and more moving around, but I like the ATB and CTB. I can't think why, but they were fun.
And i liked random encounters.

 

[Lazyguy077]

In my opinion, that game was all about the stupid "marks" you were assigned... The entire game, for lack of a better explanation of line of terminology to precisely describe it, was a huge string of side-quests, one after another. Then, at the end of the game, "Hey you have to go save the world." I got blind-side by that, I think. I was like, "what the hell?" When I was done with the game, I was thinking to myself, "Did I just play a video game? Or, perhaps, did I go comatose for 2 days and imagine, given the illusory adventure that only gave the appearance of a video game?"

I want side-view battles. I want a story. I want to save the world, playing the entire game to do so. I want to sit for hours, irritated because of a video game's hard puzzles. I want to play an RPG. I don't want to play an rpg hack and slash genre cross-over game. If they continue making these games, I dare say my true allegiance to Square will be false, no longer backing up that company's reputation as I have done for years. Final Fantasy XII was a huge disappointment.
~b~

 

[Freyr]

I agree, they really went overboard with the sidequests. It's nice if the game some bonus quests, but this game just had way too many. To do everything in FF7 takes you about 70-80 hours, but in FF12 it takes almost 200. It's ridiculous, and on top of that, the hunts or whatever seemed like an excuse for the poor story and way underdeveloped characters.

 

[shannon]

Politics are boring. I like fun happy anime styled adventures in my RPGs.

 

[Diogo //Skyfusion//]

In my opinion, that game was all about the stupid "marks" you were assigned... The entire game, for lack of a better explanation of line of terminology to precisely describe it, was a huge string of side-quests, one after another.

Challenging and fun sidequests that take full advantage of the new battle system, instead of crappy and poorly-designed mini-games that detract from the battles. I aprove it.

Then, at the end of the game, "Hey you have to go save the world."

Except that you don't. Never in the entire game you have to save the world, and every single cutscene you saw at the end was just the conclusion of the entire plot that you apparently ignored.

"what the hell?" When I was done with the game, I was thinking to myself, "Did I just play a video game? Or, perhaps, did I go comatose for 2 days and imagine, given the illusory adventure that only gave the appearance of a video game?"

I wonder if you even know what makes a video game a video game.

The huge exploration, the countless challenging sidequests and the huge character customisation makes FFXII much more of video game than any other psx offline FF could ever dream to be. Never in a FF before have I spent so much time customising my characters and exploring a gigantic world for optional areas, rare monsters or optional challenging bosses at the same time. The only exception was FFT, another gameplay-driven game that was a lot about the battles and costumisation as well.

Illusion of a game? The previous FFs are illusions of games compared to FFXII, for having much more non-interactive content and a lot less interactive content.

FFXII - 100-200 hours of GAMEplay.
Other FFs - 20-40 hours of gameplay (the other 20 hours for cinema)

I want side-view battles.

I want a good menu-based battle system, either it is turn-based or real-time, either it is seamless or not, either it is side-view or not.

FFXII removed the random encounters, making everything much more seamless and less annoying. It featured the gambits, making it more unique and removing the need to continously repeat the same actions over and over, as well as making grind faster and (again) less annoying. And added the marks so the game could be challenging enough to make all the training worth it, as well as to add more strategy to it.

Bosses are one of the most fundamental aspects of any RPG's gameplay. They are the reason why you train for, and they are what bring strategy and challenge to a game. The FFXII's team was aware of that when they created the geniously mark's system. Instead of having a game all about non-interactivity, easy random encounters that are finished in a few seconds by just hacking away the enemies, and crappy mini-games (the exceptions are not the rule), the staff decided to make all those BORING and FILLER random encounters more "invisible" with the gambit's system, and actually DARED to focus on customisation, exploration and bosses. Why do people see it as a bad thing, I don't understand.

I want to save the world, playing the entire game to do so.

Unfortunately for you, FFXII's plot never tries to be juvenile, and it was already confirmed that FFXIII will not be a save-the-world story neither.

I want to sit for hours, irritated because of a video game's hard puzzles.

Really? I'd much prefer wasting those very same hours exploring locations, improving my characters and hunting for strategical and fun bosses.

I want to play an RPG. I don't want to play an rpg hack and slash genre cross-over game.

Except that FFXII is not hack-and-slash. In fact, gameplay-wise, it's more Role-Playing than the previous FFs.

 

[shiroun]

Final Fantasy IX was good for a lot more reasons then people stated before. It was the only game that gave you the option to power level (garduras and grand dragons outside the moogle save area in the tunnel)

Freyas story was never resolved, you don't see her lover remember her, you don't hear anything about it, it just ends, which was sad, and makes you want to play on to hear more.

Final Fantasy XII had great graphics, but really was more hack and slash. They should make a Final Fantasy with Kingdom Hearts real time, where you control 1 character, and you have 3 npcs, or have 3 ppl play with you.

 

[Diogo //Skyfusion//]

Final Fantasy IX was good for a lot more reasons then people stated before. It was the only game that gave you the option to power level (garduras and grand dragons outside the moogle save area in the tunnel)

FFXII also had done that, actually.

 

[OdioOmnus]

Challenging and fun sidequests that take full advantage of the new battle system, instead of crappy and poorly-designed mini-games that detract from the battles. I aprove it.

Sorry, but to me they were quite easy and a bit on the boring side. Maybe it's just cause I've had to adapt to Phantasy Star/Shin Megami Tensei difficulty while playing them lately, but FFXII seemed ridiculously easy overall.

I wonder if you even know what makes a video game a video game.

The huge exploration, the countless challenging sidequests and the huge character customisation makes FFXII much more of video game than any other psx offline FF could ever dream to be. Never in a FF before have I spent so much time customising my characters and exploring a gigantic world for optional areas, rare monsters or optional challenging bosses at the same time. The only exception was FFT, another gameplay-driven game that was a lot about the battles and costumisation as well.

If I want exploration, I'll play an MMORPG and get the added bonus of being able to do so with friends and have a blast doing so.

If I want character customization, I'll play Shin Megami Tensei, Pokemon, or again, a MMORPG. All three do that way better than FFXII. I spent infinitely more time customizing my party in Nocturne than in FFXII, and had much more fun doing so.

FFXII removed the random encounters, making everything much more seamless and less annoying. It featured the gambits, making it more unique and removing the need to continously repeat the same actions over and over, as well as making grind faster and (again) less annoying. And added the marks so the game could be challenging enough to make all the training worth it, as well as to add more strategy to it.

Call me a geezer, but I've always preferred random battles. It's great not to have them when you just want to plow through the dungeons, but when you need to grind non-random encounters make the process that much more tedious.

And again, the game wasn't particularly challenging. Compared to other FFs, maybe.

Bosses are one of the most fundamental aspects of any RPG's gameplay. They are the reason why you train for, and they are what bring strategy and challenge to a game. The FFXII's team was aware of that when they created the geniously mark's system. Instead of having a game all about non-interactivity, easy random encounters that are finished in a few seconds by just hacking away the enemies, and crappy mini-games (the exceptions are not the rule), the staff decided to make all those BORING and FILLER random encounters more "invisible" with the gambit's system, and actually DARED to focus on customisation, exploration and bosses. Why do people see it as a bad thing, I don't understand.

Sorry, I didn't get what exactly made the bosses good. I've seen far better bosses in my time playing RPGs.

Unfortunately for you, FFXII's plot never tries to be juvenile, and it was already confirmed that FFXIII will not be a save-the-world story neither.

Saving the world isn't really juvenile, although usually the plots to do so are. One of the few save-the-world plots that really worked IMO was in Persona 2, and that partially worked because your enemy never really had a face until the end.


You seem to be comparing FFXII to other FF games, so forgive me if my points are irrelevant.