1) This game is FUCKING MASSIVE.okay but how is that a positive? most of the game is made out of empty desert,or empty forest,or empty mountains or empty what you want,dragon quest 7 isn't one of my favourite rpg but it still worked because it had the decency to throw you a lot of subplot to keep you interessed,there is NOTHING in ff12
2) The graphics are AMAZING.couldn't care less >:(
3) Monster design is IMPECCABLE.they are final fantasy monsters... if anything there are a lot of monster that look kinda banal,OMG IS THAT A WOLF? IS THAT A BAT? IS THAT A SKELETON? IS THAT A BUNNY? OMG A BUNNY!
4) Battle mechanics are INGENIOUS.i don't hate gambit perse but combat in ff12 is still very very stupid,one guy distract the monster,the other buff the guy who distract the monster,game,set,match
5) Story and characters are GREAT.oh good lord... i need to take a breath...
i'd can see how ff12 would be a polack's preferred rpg :nods
+ good voice acting[youtube=560,345]tUYJZ3Odm7o[/youtube]
not a lot going for ff12
[youtube=560,345]tUYJZ3Odm7o[/youtube]
In all truthfulness, I think those reviews might be suffering from the same thing you possibly are: they hadn't finished the game at the time they gave the opinion.
FFXII starts out stronger than almost any other jRPG. Unfortunately, when it comes unglued, it comes completely unglued.
Sad to hear. Oh well, I will enjoy the game as far as I can.
In all truthfulness, I think those reviews might be suffering from the same thing you possibly are: they hadn't finished the game at the time they gave the opinion.
FFXII starts out stronger than almost any other jRPG. Unfortunately, when it comes unglued, it comes completely unglued.
Sad to hear. Oh well, I will enjoy the game as far as I can.
Story turns to crap, gameplay gets omfg. It's a tradeoff.
The primary new addition--as the game's title clearly suggests--is the zodiac job system, which is more or less a fancy term for the game's new license board system. The boards come into play during character evolution. While the original FFXII had only one license board, FFXII International gives you a selection of 12 boards that you can set on each of your characters. Doing so will let you customize your characters into playing like a certain job, such as a knight, monk, time mage, breaker, archer, black mage, white mage, red mage, kikoushi (gunfighter), uhlan (spearman), shikari (a fighter that uses daggers), and mononofu (a fighter with a mix of Japanese-style attacks, including samurai and ninja skills).
It's completely up to you as to how you set the boards on your characters, and if you chose to do so, you can even set the same board on multiple characters. However, you can't change the board on your characters once you've picked them, meaning that you'll need to finish the game (or restart) if you want to change their boards.
So yeah this will be long.
I am currently playing FF12 for the second time (never got far during my first playthrough and I *hated* it back then) and simply put I am in love. For those unwiling to read on: this game is the pinnacle of japanese RPG and Final Fantasy design. It cannot and will not get any better, ever, much like BG2 is the pinnacle of western RPGs.
First things first:
- I didn't beat the game yet
- I beat all other SP FF games in the past
1) This game is FUCKING MASSIVE.
I just got my first Esper (Gigas) after clearing Raithwall's Tomb and my in-game clock shows 42 hours ALREAD :o :o :o So far it seems FF12 will be bigger than Dragon Warrior 7. There is a lot to do besides following the main quest. Hunting for Marks, filling up Bestiary by killing fixed amount of selected enemies, looking for unique fiends (Rare Game - I hope you get some kind of indicator later on that tells you where rare fiends are, I cannot imagine looking for 80 uniques that may or may not spawn by running through all the maps again) etc. Running back & fro is kind of tiring but at least there are Orange Crystals and besides imagine doing that with random encounters!
2) The graphics are AMAZING.
Best looking game on the PS2, bar none. Beats God of War 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3. The attention to detail is astounding. Every single map is gorgeous. From rolling Dalmasca Eastersand, through vast Ogir-Yensa Sandsea (there is a place where you climb high up to fight the Wyvern Lord, from there you can see the Sandsea flowing to the horizon - simply breathtaking), full of life Rabanastre to astonishing Raithwall's Tomb, each of those locales is everything but generic. You can see it was hand crafted by people with artistic soul. My favourite dungeon so far, Raithwall's Tomb is especially a sight to behold. It goes deep down into the ground, the stairs are awfully long and there is no fog or pop in for the environment! Same thing goes for each city you visit: Rabanastre, Bhujerba, Nalbina etc. Every one of them has its own soul, every one of them is full of people and detail. Even such earhtly things as shops (merchants) are unique to each city. This must have took hundreds if not thousands of manhours to create. Hats off to Square-Enix artists!
3) Monster design is IMPECCABLE.
Take every hallmark Final Fantasy monster like Bomb, Chocobo, Flan, Cactoid, Cockatrice, Malboro etc. Add interesting new monsters to the mix like Batteries, Mimics, Slavens, Sleipnirs etc. Design them for non-weeaboos, non-manchildren. You get FF12 monsters which are pretty much perfect to look at. Somehow Square-Enix artists refreshed them, made them interesting, beautiful and not embarrassing. Even the Bestiary art is marvelous.
4) Battle mechanics are INGENIOUS.
Much like FF8's Draw system FF12 Gambit system is a love/ hate thing. Either you love it like me or hate it like others. I cannot imagine going back to distinguished mentally-challenged old TBS with random encounters. It would make my veins explode from anger. Gambits are not WIN button. Gambits take strategy and skill to plan. Each area has different monsters that require different approach. Each Boss encounter pretty much forces you to play by hand and turn them off. Of course if you grind for 100 hours you would probably kill every monster, boss or not the same. Anyway Gambit system is a great idea. It helps a fucking LOT and speeds boring-ass actions that you had to perform in the past like using Potions, Ethers, Phoenix Downs etc. Would it work in a TB FF game? Hmm I think yes but I also hope we will never get a TB FF game ever.
5) Story and characters are GREAT.
No Wakka like idiots? No Rikku like distinguished mentally-challenged fellows? Is this a FF game? Yes it is and it has the best character cast in all FF games EXCEPT Final Fantasy Tactics and that is saying something. The whole story feels very epic and VERY similiar to Final Fantasy Tactics BTW. I love Balthier's personality, I like Basch's lines. I love Fran's voice. The *only* character that is very weak is Vaan. Too bad he's the main char. Other than him I cannot find a single fault in other PCs. Balthier is the best. There hasn't been such a great character in FF games since... like ever. Can't say much about the story as I heard it goes to shit later on but so far it is great. Typical FF "evil empire" crap but so well served that you forgive it.
demi once mentioned that the License system is broken in the way that every character can have every skill possible. There is no "uniqness" to the characters except cut-scenes. While this is a valid point the same could be said about FFX. You could also learn every sphere for every character but of course it would take longer for the spheres to overlap. In FF12 you can learn everybody the same exact skills from the very beginning. This is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
To sum up:
This is the best FF game ever created, bar none. The graphics are AMAZING for the PS2. Each area/ dungeon/ city is so wonderfully crafted that it makes my jaw drop. Unbelievable textures, architecture, monster design (!!!) and music. Raithwall's Tomb was almost as good as best dungeons from Baldur's Gate 2.
FF12 has succesfully merged the best of the jRPG world with the best of the WRPG world.
FF12 makes FFX look & feel like a PSX title.
FF12 makes all other FF games look like kiddie, Nintendo games.
FF12 makes all other jRPGs irrevelant.
I can only hope FF13 is the same --> no random encounters, absolutely huge-ass world, gigantic, full of life cities, impeccable graphics and monster design. I hope I am not mistaken.
The gameplay and story both fell apart near the end. Not a big fan of this one.
In all truthfulness, I think those reviews might be suffering from the same thing you possibly are: they hadn't finished the game at the time they gave the opinion.
FFXII starts out stronger than almost any other jRPG. Unfortunately, when it comes unglued, it comes completely unglued.
They tried something new I guess. And this type of gameplay speeds up the game tremendously.
They tried something new I guess. And this type of gameplay speeds up the game tremendously.
I remember a thread on GAF expressing precisely the opposite. That the gameplay padded the game length.
As for the battle system speed itself. It is pretty fast, but not in the way Borys means it. Other rpgs are faster, even FFX-2 in terms of quickness. He means user input; it's not so much that it's fast, but less tedious. I'll admit, inputing attack -> attack can get tiresome at times, but FFXII lets you do that and concentrate on other things through gambits. I used to hate the idea of gambits, but by end game, I learned to love em.
My problem with FF10 is that you fight 1-3 enemies per battle, tops. And almost always the same variant too. It'll always that damn giant bird for Wakka to kill, or the wolf for Tidus to kill, or the Flan for Lulu to kill, or the big dragon for Auron to kill, or the treasure chest for Rikku to fuck with a screwdriver, or a giant monster for Yuna to pull a summon out against.
Always.
Good basics (like the things you mentioned), but when almost every single non-boss battle is detailed like above, who gives a crap?
Great boss battles though.
I have the same problem with almost every 3d FF, though, X-2 and 12 aside. Those games have such great variety in terms of enemies, and 12 has the best damn enemy encounter system I've seen in a 3d jrpg. Fighting up to 6-10 enemies at once regularly?
Sign me the fuck up.
I always loved how in the old 2d games, you'd always fight 6 or 9 enemies at once. Sometimes 3, maybe 1; but that was so rare. But in the 3d FF's that happens ALL THE TIME. But in FF12, it's back to large enemy numbers. I like the idea of being against all odds in rpg battles. I can't stand fighting only a few enemies. I HAVE to feel like I'm going up against an army.
Since battles are the most common thing in a jrpg, I think battles are the most important thing.
I'm going to be starting my FF12 replay next month before FF13. Anyone else want in?
Hope I beat Mass Effect 2 before then.
Well you're a distinguished mentally-challenged fellow, I was referring to the other people you were trying to swindle.
Real talk: anybody EVER used Quickenings or Espers? I did not use them once so far (126 hours of playtime). Am I missing something or are those the most worthless "Summons" and "Limit Breaks" in history of FF games?the summoning are pointless but the quickenings helps at times
Real talk: anybody EVER used Quickenings or Espers? I did not use them once so far (126 hours of playtime). Am I missing something or are those the most worthless "Summons" and "Limit Breaks" in history of FF games?
OMG I WENT TO PHAROS
OH MY FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
The Tower... it looks like from BioShock's beginning! You approach it almost the same way!
When you guys complained about the story falling apart later on, are you being influenced by the long stretches of gameplay without any story/cutscenes? I haven't played the game but I've watched all the cutscenes back to back on Youtube. Viewed that way, it comes off as fairly cohesive and reasonably well-paced IMO. There seemed to be some weird lacunae in the story but it didn't strike me as going off the rails or anything (well, the actual "ending" ending did suck. everything up to there was fine, though.)
Like, there's one part where you're supposed to go to the Empire capital, Archades, and in order to get there you have to go on foot. Thing is, before you get there you have to travel across at least 5-6 different dungeons and areas before you even step foot in the empire.
It's like Himuro and Borys are caught in a feedback loop of bad taste.
Aren't you the one that said DQ series > FF series? Who has bad taste now :smug
It's like Himuro and Borys are caught in a feedback loop of bad taste.it's an experiment to see how many people they can convince of ffxii quality
so much homo
Quick thoughts as the credits scroll by:
- theRareGamehunt systemis SHIT.Spawn rate is ridiculously low.
I think I will start DQ8 next week. The only DQ game I haven't finished yet (excluding japa DQ9) :-*
Yes, I beat 7 and I posted about it countles times in response to your posts in the WRYP thread. You ignored them :maf
I did not beat God, didn't bother.
My wife cuts into my playing time 100% of the time. I can only play when she is not in the house and now she isn't as we have a total renovation.
I'll say it, DQ series > FF series.
i stopped playing dragon quest 7 a little before the end of disc 1
go me :rock
(http://i47.tinypic.com/ekot1z.jpg)
Damn. I was hoping you got him to spawn at least so you could school me on how it's done. Even after I read the faq for it I couldn't do it last time I played. I always missed some mob somewhere in the fog or something :/
Hey Fortus I spawned & killed it.
...
5) Go back to Edge of Reason and pray that you indeed have killed all monsters...
It took me exactly 1 try and 15 minutes to spawn him. The battle took 40 minutes though.
Now what? I don't have any new Hunts from Montblanc nor from any Notice Board. What gives?
Yeah I said fuck it and read the FAQs. I wanna 100% this bitch in under 200 hours (194 hours on the clock so far).
Question time, Evil Bore!
WHO IS MORE distinguished mentally-challenged:
- Yasumi Matsuno for putting a monster with 50 000 000 HP in this game
- me for spending 11 real-time hours on killing it :'(Hey Borys, since you enjoy this game so much, have you considered playing FF11?
I don't touch MMOs.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/ekot1z.jpg)
As you probably know I have every license for every character filled.
Moreover Fran & Basch have 10 000(!!!) LP left.
The system IS broken in the long run.
Dude I feel like such a doof not even knowing any of this shit to help me out through the game :/
The rare drops are time sink. The drop chance is like 1% to 5% if you chain the monsters to 50-level chain.
The Dustia levelling is basically breaking the game.
The game is still stupid easy when playing it the normal, non-power gaming way.
Robert, is it possible for you to evade some enemies?
Oh wait, if this is Leviathan you HAVE to fight some enemies to trigger the alarms and continue.
I'm trying to think of a way for you to get out of this.
his is exactly what it is. I dunno why are you having trouble at the Leviathan. You don't have to trigger that much alarms. Of course there is still the boss fight... Where are you exactly getting raped? At the beginning of the dungeon (ship), in the middle or even later?
Have you taught all characters in your party cure, by any chance?
HP < 30% -> Cure on all members is a lifesaver.
What about HP < 50%?
You should really head to the gambit shop.
HP < 30% is crucial, because the default one you get is HP < 70% and that's completely unrealistic in terms of saving mp.
You unlock HP < 30% when you get to Barheim Passage so it's been available for a while.
Go back to the Bhujerba save and tell us what equipment you have, what your levels are and buy any gambits you can get at the gambit shop. They cost 50-200 gill a pop, and you should be able to buy all of them depending on your wallet.
What chase scene? The part in the mines?
All gambits available at that shop.
What equipment do you have for your main party?
honestly, I don't understand why they opted for players to buy gambits when gambits are at the central core of the gameplay. Every gambit should be unlocked at the very beginning of the game and you shouldn't have to buy shit.
Okay, what weapon/armor does your main three have?
FF12 is a game where equipment > levels
because it's so open-ended you can end up with equipment you can use half the fucking game.
You have fine equipment.
The equipment you can buy in shops along the main story is totally enough for the part untill you unlock new equipment in new shops after you move the story forward.
Anyway back to Leviathan: there should be a Moogle in one of the cells, right? You can buy shit from him I think Potions and Phoenix Darks too.
Now if the Imperials have Protect on: do you have Dispel? Also you said you tried to Blind them, Blind makes every attack fail 50% of the time so BLIND IS GOOD especially on physical attacking enemies.
What spells do you have and what is exactly your problem in the Leviathan? You die too qucikly too a bunch of Imperials right? Can't you run past them? I don't want to spoil anything but I think if you have problems with NORMAL enemies in Leviathan you will have BIG FUCKING PROBLEMS at the end of Leviathan.
Do you run out of MP? Do you know Charge technick? Do you know Slow, Haste, Bravery or Protect? Protect is CRUCIAL in this game.
The last resort is of course levelling up which increases your HP, defense and attack power. Damage you take and cause is based on attributes AND your level so levelling up even 2-3 levels can make that small difference between life & death.
dude borys
what is the black trash bag even there for?
Jesus Christ how do I spawn Larva Eater in Giruvegan?
Wasted 2 hours and nothing.
FUCK THIS GAME