Gaming Final Fantasy XII

[TheResplendent]

[QUOTE=Engel][color=seagreen][size=1]

Also, I really hope I get a new [spoiler] esper soon.I mean, Belias is pretty neat, but I heard I can get Adrammelech soon, and Adrammelech was my favorite from FFTA, and his design is supposed to be the same. Meh.[/spoiler]. That would be incredibly nice.[/color][/size][/QUOTE]

[font=tahoma]If Belias is still your only esper so far, don't count on that being too soon. [spoiler]Adrammalech[/spoiler] is an optional esper gain, so guage how well you'll do based on how close you can get to it with the hunts up until the one that leads you into the cavern (i forget which it is). I got him on the way to a mark completely by accident, you shold count on getting [spoiler]Mateus[/spoiler] and [spoiler]Shemhazai[/spoiler] first though.[/font]

[Sandy]

Oh my... I did it. I finished it. Just a moment ago.

I clocked over 120 hours, but my characters were only in levels 55-56. I didn't do the hardest of the sidequests, because, well, they were too hard. I will, however, finish them once I read some guides to learn how and what else I missed. Already I know that I missed [spoiler]three Espers (Ultima, Chaos and Zodiark), two Elite Marks (Ixion and The Seer, just because I didn't want to rummage the freaking Pharos of Ridorana for the second time in a row), and the optional dungeons in Pharos Underground, Henne Mines, Necrohol of Nabudis and Giruvegan Grand Crystal. I also only got the best weapons for katanas, bombsticks, measures and guns.[/spoiler] I think I did quite well for playing first time without any guides.

Okay, enough about my achievements, let's talk about the game itself.

[B]Graphics & Music:[/B] I loved them, although they aren't comparable to what the next-gen consoles have to offer. But honestly I think the game has the best graphics that the PS2 can run. The animation of the characters was very life-like, and the expressions brought a whole new way to show emotions to the series. The designs of the characters and locations pleased me, although they were quite different from what the series has offered in the past installments. All in all, although flashy graphics aren't what I usually look for in a game, it's of course great to enjoy what you're seeing.

The musics were quite [I]meh[/I], nothing special that would've stuck to my head. I'm not that musical a person, however, so I wasn't really bothered. The greatest scores were heard in the end, both of which I have listened thoroughly in these long years awaiting for this game. I'm of course talking about [I]Kiss Me Good-Bye[/I] and [I]Symphonic Poem Hope[/I]. Love them both to death!

[B]Gameplay:[/B] It was a whole new experience for me, this ADB-system, and in my opinion it's the best part of the game. It removes the tedium of having to endure endless random battles and smash the same button repeatedly. The battles were alive, situations could change rapidly, like if you happened to use magic around an Elemental or, even worse, and Entite.

Gambits were a great innovation to how to control the characters, and I used them with my whole party. The majority of the gambits were useless, though, I only seldom changed them. The AI was pleasuringly clever; if I had the same gambit on two characters, for example "Foe: Status Faith > Dispel", only the other would use it.

So battles were enjoyable, although the difficulty was very high in some places, and especially in the beginning. Unfortunately there weren't much else to do in the game except battling. The "minigame" of this game, Mark Hunting, was based on battling (and often on playing Hide&Seek with the marks), which on the other hand was entertaining, but on the other hand there could've been more. Sure, there were some fetch quests and [spoiler]even the familiar running minigame from FFIX[/spoiler], but mostly the gameplay relied on the thrill of battling. The rewards for the sidequests were also minimal, although in the end I had plenty of gil but nothing to spend it on.

Oh, then there was the License Board, which I found enjoyable as well, but it filled up too quickly. There should've definitely be more Augments and Quickenings, but the Technicks aside from Steal and Libra were all useless. The Magicks were only useful if you made a few of your characters magicians with the correct equipment and augments.

I wasn't bothered by the fact that the six playable characters didn't have specific "jobs" - it's not like it's never been done before, both FFVII and FFVIII were very open in customization. My roster for the majority of the game was this:
[indent][B]Vaan[/B]: all-around magician equipped with spears or staves
[B]Balthier[/B]: thief with high HP using crossbows and bombsticks
[B]Fran[/B]: mostly healing magician and an archer
[B]Basch[/B]: defending warrior wielding axes/hammers and shields
[B]Ashe[/B]: white knight with healing magic, swords and shields
[B]Penelo:[/B] magic warrior equipped with katanas[/indent]
I meant to separate my party more, but towards the end most of them knew most of the magic and had all of the augments. I used the equipment to discern them from each other.

I was disappointed by how useless the Quickenings and especially Espers turned out to be in the end-game, when in the beginning they felt even a bit too powerful. Having all your MP drained out just wasn't desirable in a tough situation when healing and buffering was direly needed...

I think that's about it for the gameplay, let's move onto the most controversial part of the game.

[B]Story:[/B] I have mixed feelings about this. On the other hand, everything I saw and heard I loved, but there was so much missing that it almost felt like the game had been heavily edited (although the lenght of the whole game was satisfying to me). The main problem with the story - or mostly with the characters - was that [spoiler]there simply weren't enough scenes. The characters weren't shown communicating with each others much, there weren't even places where they could've had idle non-dubbed chatter in-game, like in the other games. This caused the characters to not become very alive for the player, although the world around them was extremely vivid. Penelo suffered from a serious lack of background story and personality, and even Vaan's background was forgotten after the beginning, with only few mentions of Reks afterwards. Balthier was in the limelight for the majority of the story, and Basch shone in the end. Fran had her moments, and the plot followed Ashe's quest although she seemed just to follow her destined path. Some of the supporting cast were also quite important, which on the other hand was good, but on the other hand diverted the focus from the main six.[/spoiler]

The story had plot-twists aplenty, although some devices were used too many times in my opinion [spoiler], like everybody having a secret identity. There were quite many betrayals as well.[/spoiler] I actually loved the epic, almost Shakespearean style of storytelling that has been criticized by some people, although sometimes the sentences were almost incomprehensible to a speaker of another language like me. The grandeur it expressed forgave those few times, though. It didn't affect the emotional side of the characters, either, they didn't appear cold or disconnected from the events to me.

Ah well, it was a mighty experience, this game. Right now I can't say if it's the best game I've ever played, or even the best FF, I'll have to sink it in for a while. In any case FF XII is pretty damn high on both lists. It's definitely a worthy continuation to my favorite videogame series. I loved it. Can't wait for the sequel.

... And I've written this for an hour, so I think I've gotten out everything I wanted to say about it. Feel free to comment/ask/disagree with me!

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=Sandy]
I was disappointed by how useless the Quickenings and especially Espers turned out to be in the end-game, when in the beginning they felt even a bit too powerful. Having all your MP drained out just wasn't desirable in a tough situation when healing and buffering was direly needed...
[/QUOTE]
Wow, really? I agree that Espers were not as powerful as in some previous games like FFVIII, though I still used them for feeling out or softening up bosses. By using chains, though, it's possible to take out all of the later bosses almost solely with Quickenings. (I felt a little guilty about falling back on that, haha, but it was still fun). If you start with three characters who have almost all their MP, do a decently sized chain, then switch in your reserve members for another long chain--well, most bosses will have practically nothing left in their health bars.

~Dagger~

[Sandy]

[QUOTE=Dagger]Wow, really? I agree that Espers were not as powerful as in some previous games like FFVIII, though I still used them for feeling out or softening up bosses. By using chains, though, it's possible to take out all of the later bosses almost solely with Quickenings. (I felt a little guilty about falling back on that, haha, but it was still fun). If you start with three characters who have almost all their MP, do a decently sized chain, then switch in your reserve members for another long chain--well, most bosses will have practically nothing left in their health bars.

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]

I had no problem with the bosses - it was the long and grueling battles with the Marks that required continuous healing. Like with all FFs, Ethers and Elixirs are sparse, and the technick "Charge" is too risky to be used in a heated situation.

Besides, my Quickening skills must've sucked, but I never got more than nine hits in a row. The "Mist Charge"-option comes up very rarely and the gradually speeding up time bar made it even more difficult.

But yeah, the actual bosses didn't require much else than a sharp blade and some scorching magic to be felled. The toughest boss battle for me must've been [spoiler]Judge Bergan, he and his cohorts managed to kill my whole party a couple of times until I finally got them.[/spoiler]

[Engel]

[QUOTE=Dagger]Wow, really? I agree that Espers were not as powerful as in some previous games like FFVIII, though I still used them for feeling out or softening up bosses. By using chains, though, it's possible to take out all of the later bosses almost solely with Quickenings. (I felt a little guilty about falling back on that, haha, but it was still fun). If you start with three characters who have almost all their MP, do a decently sized chain, then switch in your reserve members for another long chain--well, most bosses will have practically nothing left in their health bars.

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]
[color=seagreen][size=1]What I've always found best is pummel them down a lot with normal attacks, keep your MP up, then when they get to about 20% just unload the Quickenings on them.

NOTE: I hate flying monsters. =[[/color][/size]

[TheResplendent]

[FONT=Tahoma]Espers were most definitly utterly useless for the most part. It's hard to argue that. The only exceptions may be [spoiler]Zodiark, Ultima, and Chaos[/spoiler]. Quickenings on the other hand I found to be quite useful. When you start getting the chains up into the 40s and 50s they really start pile on the damage. They are typically better used in the later half of the battle though when your sure the boss can be taken out by it. That way your MP is preserved for healing matters.

Also yeah @ flying enemies sucking. With Fran in the party casting shock, scourge, and flare non-stop though they go down rather quick. Telekenisis totally would have been so much more useful if gotten earlier then when it's possible to get >.>

[/FONT]

[Dagger]

I always took care of flying enemies with two party members casting Drain (or a relatively low-level attack spell) and the third using a long-range weapon. They generally seemed weaker to me than some of the ground enemies in the same areas.

~Dagger~

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Just clocked up my fifty-eight hour leaving Balfonheim Port with my characters currently being between level 41 and 42. I have to really agree everyone who's said this is a time consuming game, but it's been worth it for the most part so far. One little thing actually that does bug me is the amount of gil farming that has to be done to keep up with the best weapons, armours and spells offered, for every hour of gameplay there's at least, for me anyway, three of levelling/farming.

[b][u]Party Alpha[/u][/b]
[b]Vaan[/b]
Level 42
Knight with Mage abilities, mostly used for attacking and healing/buffing.
Sword and Shield wielding.
All Quickenings obtained.

[b]Basch[/b]
Level 42
Pure Knight, has magic though it?s rarely used and only for emergency healing or buffing.
Sword and Shield wielding.
All Quickenings obtained.

[b]Ashe[/b]
Level 42
Knight with Mage ability, like Vaan but more powerful, as such is Alpha?s main healer.
Sword and Shield wielding.
All Quickenings obtained.

Party Alpha is basically made up of three identical characters for the most part, all Knight/Mages in heavy armours with swords and shields. They all have a good deal of magic at their disposal, level 5/6 in most cases, and have all the Channelling, Swiftness, Lore, Shield and Health bonuses already acquired. Definitely my preferred party against everything but flying enemies, who are a real pain, they collectively do between 5000 and 6000 damage per round.

[b][u]Party Beta[/u][/b]
[b]Balthier[/b]
Level 41
Gunman with Healing/Buff magics. Highest party attack.
Gun wielding with varied shots available.
All Quickenings obtained.

[b]Fran[/b]
Level 41
Archer/Mage, works in tandem with Penelo in mage capacity.
Bow wielder with varied arrows.
All Quickenings obtained.

[b]Penelo[/b]
Level 41
Mage/Knight, best spellcaster in game for me in all areas.
Mage with sword and shield for close up damage.
All Quickenings obtained.

Beta is well, I?m not really sure what they are except my B team in most cases. They handle aerial enemies for the most part and are more magic oriented than Alpha, as Fran and Penelo seem to be of that nature. Fran is something of an irritation for me, as one of only two ranged characters I don?t want to take away her bow, but his miss rate has been noticeable and often with some enemies it?s only Balthier and Penelo attacking. Like Alpha they have all the combat, magic and health bonuses already acquired but their damage is rarely over 4000 unless Balthier hits a critical. They use Light Armour [Balthier and Fran] and Magic Armour [Penelo].

I?ve got two Espers so far, though I?ve never used them seriously, as the only time I did, [spoiler]against Bergan, Belias [/spoiler] seemed to do less damage than my regular party. Chaining Quickenings is also something I?ve found to be difficult, I?ve only ever hit about 8 in a chain so far, and I?m not really sure why.[/SIZE]

[Sandy]

It's interesting to read about your party build-up, Gavin. One question, though: why aren't you using the variety of weapons offered? You know you could go with mace+shield for magic oriented characters, or if you want a real power-house, a spear, two-handed sword or hammer/axe+shield would be a better choice. Speedy weapons such as daggers are a good option because of their ability to combo, and poles are always nifty as they attack against magic defense instead of physical defense.

So many choices, this game offers! XD

[Gavin]

[QUOTE=Sandy]It's interesting to read about your party build-up, Gavin. One question, though: why aren't you using the variety of weapons offered? You know you could go with mace+shield for magic oriented characters, or if you want a real power-house, a spear, two-handed sword or hammer/axe+shield would be a better choice. Speedy weapons such as daggers are a good option because of their ability to combo, and poles are always nifty as they attack against magic defense instead of physical defense.

So many choices, this game offers! XD[/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1]To be absolutely honest Sandy it was because I wasn't really sure what they each did, and I guess I was just comfortable with what I had.

I did give Basch a katana for a while, but eventually normal swords became more powerful so I switched him back. I also tried staffs and ninja swords with Penelo but they just either lacked power in the staff's case, or they weren't really effective in the ninja swords case.

The fact that every weapon is so bloody expensive meant I never experimented to see what might suit particular builds.[/SIZE]

[Veritas]

[quote name='Gavin][size=1']I did give Basch a katana for a while, but eventually normal swords became more powerful so I switched him back.[/size][/quote] [size=1][color=gray]If I remember correctally katana damage is determed by the characters magic att. not strength, so they are good weapons for characters with high magic strength. I had Ashe using one for the majority of the game.[/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray][/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray]Ninja swords on the other hand deal damage based apon a characters speed. I used them for a bit with Vaan. Overall I liked it as a weapon, the combo rate and damage it did were good, but it made more sense to use a one handed sword to me, or even a dagger, partly because you can outfit a shield, as well as ninja swords have a dark based attacks and there seemed to be alot of zombies who eat that like candy. [/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray][/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray]I can't remember exactally and I'm too lazy to go check, but there is a section in you Hunters Guide or whatever it's called that explains out all the weapons and what the damage they deal is based upon.[/color][/size]

[Gavin]

[QUOTE=Veritas][size=1][color=gray]If I remember correctally katana damage is determed by the characters magic att. not strength, so they are good weapons for characters with high magic strength. I had Ashe using one for the majority of the game.[/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray][/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray]Ninja swords on the other hand deal damage based apon a characters speed. I used them for a bit with Vaan. Overall I liked it as a weapon, the combo rate and damage it did were good, but it made more sense to use a one handed sword to me, or even a dagger, partly because you can outfit a shield, as well as ninja swords have a dark based attacks and there seemed to be alot of zombies who eat that like candy. [/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray][/color][/size]
[size=1][color=gray]I can't remember exactally and I'm too lazy to go check, but there is a section in you Hunters Guide or whatever it's called that explains out all the weapons and what the damage they deal is based upon.[/color][/size][/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1]Ah thanks for the tips, I really only check the Hunter's Guide for Marks and stuff, I'd forgotten there were other tips in there.

Just OOC do any of you guys by those Grimoire things sold by merchants ? I know they're monographs that improve loot, I suppose what I'm asking is do people think they're worth buying as it'll take about a hundred grand's worth of farming to get them all.[/SIZE]

[Dagger]

At least the first couple of them are worth buying. I had to pinch pennies to get my hands on the early Grimoires, but I don't recall having any issues with gil by the endgame.

~Dagger~

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]I might check them out then, I bought one before in Bhujerba but the rewards didn't seem to be worth the 19,000 gil I had to shell out for it. [/SIZE]

[Dodeca]

[SIZE=1]I bought this a couple of days ago [finally], and I've been playing it pretty much to death since then. I love it, through and through.

Firstly, there's the battle system. Maybe it comes from playing too many MMORPGs, but it just appeals to me much more than the old ATB system, and much much more than FFX's mind-numbingly boring one. It sort of reminds me of playing FFXI, minus the tedious grinding, and with an entire party at your command. It reminded me of MMORPGs so much, in fact, that at first I half expected someone/something to come along and steal one of my kills when I least expected it. The gambits are a nice touch too, but all in all I still prefer to issue my own commands, with the only auto's being heals and basic 'hit something' commands.

The environment is pretty snappy too - not only can you see monsters and prepare for battle's accordingly, but it also [i]feels[/i] great. It seems much more expansive than FFX's limited, constricting world... so much so that I think I actually [i]prefer[/i] this setup to the age-old one too. Marks and Rare Breeds really add to things too - especially if you stumble across one of the latter completely by accident, mistaking it for a normal beastie and getting yourself caught up in a tough fight. I almost got my entire party wiped out twice under those circumstances, but it was still a lot of fun. : P

Yeah... there's so much else that I love about it, but I don't care to type any more for the moment.[/SIZE]

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Sandy']I had no problem with the bosses - it was the long and grueling battles with the Marks that required continuous healing. Like with all FFs, Ethers and Elixirs are sparse, and the technick "Charge" is too risky to be used in a heated situation. [/quote]

[color=deeppink]Buh? You can buy as many Ethers as you want and can afford. True, not until late in the game, though.

Besides, that's hardly true with all of FFs. In Final Fantasy VII, you could buy Ethers throughout the game, and in FFIV also had a shop late in the game where you could purchase Ethers.

Anyway, I love FFXII. This has turned out to be my favorite in the series.

The combat feels more fluid than the previous incarnations, and the turn away from Summons as a major force was a very welcome thing. Any damage a summon could deal, my regular team could deal just as easily, and without the annoying cutscenes. The only time I ever needed them was real early in the game when I wanted a good tank.

The story was also fun, and I find myself very grateful for the chracters this time around; they felt a lot more muted than previous incarnations, and it seemed like they weren't trying to shove them down our throats this time. Balthier is totally freaking awesome. I loves me a cocky rogue. Although for being the main character, Vaan sure didn't have much of an impact, heh.

I love the extensive sidequest. They're probably what made me take 100 hours just to beat the game, heh. And I've still got a hell of a lot to do.

As far as the graphics go, they were pretty. Although Vaan often looked absolutely terrible for some reason.

I have a feeling this is going to kill my interest for future FF games.[/color]

[boothten]

[quote name='Sandy][size=1']Like with all FFs, Ethers and Elixirs are sparse, and the technick "Charge" is too risky to be used in a heated situation.[/size][/quote]

[size=1]You know, in that situation it's best to use your Syphon ability. If I'm not mistaken, it's an Arcane Magick, and if you set it up just right, it works out extraordinarily well. I personally have it set up like this:

[b]Foe: Character MP < 50%---Syphon[/b]

It's pretty simple, if the character that has that gambit [spoiler]uses up more than 50% of his/her MP, he/she uses the magick Syphon which absorbs MP from a foe. It only uses up 2 MP to use the ability, and it's very useful except in certain situations. I found that it didn't work when fighting certain Undead enemies. I haven't tested them on all Undead enemies, so don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work against them. I also found out that it doesn't work when used against quite a few of the Marks, but I'm not sure about all of them.[/spoiler][/size]

[quote name='Gavin][size=1']Just OOC do any of you guys by those Grimoire things sold by merchants?[/size][/quote]

[size=1]I did, they definitely helped me get better loot, seeing as how I was trying to get a lot of the "Ultimate" weapons in the game. If you get all the Grimoires, and after you complete a certain hunt [spoiler](I can't remember which one it is, but I remember it involves an urn or vase or whatever, and one of the headless turtle things, haha. Gil Snapper? Bah, whatever) Arcanas and High Arcanas are now more common to be dropped and stolen from enemies.[/spoiler]

What did everyone think of the quality of the voice overs? That doesn't mean the voice actors or anything, but I found that the actual quality of the recordings wasn't very good at all. Maybe it was just my TV? haha[/size]

[Guest Tenchi-sama]

i need help with this game. first of, i'm doing the elite hunt and the hunt i'm trying to find is a level 68 Fafnir. he is locate in the silverflow area, the vieara that is the petitioner said the Fafnir only comes out when the blizzard is falling down hard. does anybody know when to look for him and when Fafnir comes out? i have try to be patience and i keep going back and forth from that one area for 3 hour and i got tired, so please help me out anyone T_T:animecry:

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Well I finally broke down and bought this game. Final Fantasy X was such a disappointment that I wasn't interested in paying $50 only to be disappointed yet again. XP So now that it's on the favorites list and only $20 I picked it up a few days ago. So far I'm enjoying it. The visuals are beautiful and the graphics are nicely done as well. I like how you have full control over the camera aspect of the game, making it easy to look around. I love games that give you full control with the camera.

The battle system took a little getting use to and was actually annoying until I unlocked the license for healing which made things much easier. I wasn't sure what to think of the license system at first but now that I'm getting use to it it's not so bad. I like how so far it looks like you can develop your characters however you wish.

Now so far, the thing I like best is the dialogue and the voice acting. It's positively superb, one of the best I've heard in a game in a long time. I can't recall the last time that the lines weren't cheesy and the voices actually fit the characters. Especially Balthier, the voice actor doing his character has such a nice voice. Gideon Emery, if what I looked up is correct. He has such a nice wonderfully sexy voice. :catgirl:

Anyway, unless it changes, right now I am definitely liking this game. I just hope it keeps living up to that since I'd hate for it to end up being disappointing. [/FONT][/COLOR]