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So Final Fantasy XII is a pretty fun game

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Posts

  • Lord ShplaneLord Shplane Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Corsair wrote: »
    I guess I can consider myself one of the lucky ones who happens to enjoy every Final Fantasy I play, new or old.

    Same here. I just really wish that I'd finished XII... ;_;

    Also, the story for FFTA was horrible. And no matter what anyone says, Marche was the badguy.\
    Hai guyz, let's run the risk of destroying an entire world because I'm homesick!
    IT'S ESCAPISM!

    Lord Shplane on
    Awww... My evil anime mask guy picture doesn't work. ;_;
  • Random Name GeneratorRandom Name Generator Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Probably should've said this in my last post, but I really like the gambit system over ATB, even if I've never used the tanking system at all. Every party member is healer and damage dealer for me, not to mention everyone can switch the black magic for those annoying Palings. Seriously, I hate defined character classes, and this aspect of XII was a godsend for me. Seriously guys, I understand you can't learn everything possible during your life, but if I'm being given a limited number of potential party members then don't tell me what to do with them, or that I'm fucked when the only healer gets one-shotted.

    Also, someone talked about one character or another being better? I know I read that stat-wise Vaan is supposed to be the best, with Balthier coming in slightly behind just because of strength and speed. Ashe is the best mage by a long shot, but overall, these differences are small enough that any advantage is only seen in a tiny portion of the game where bosses have lots of hp, but you haven't yet gotten to the damage cap.

    Random Name Generator on
  • StratoStrato Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Curaga restores pretty much all of a character's life, so I'd usually use it in an emergency if they got really low. However, spells take a few seconds to cast, and so on the last boss one of my gambits had to be set to:

    Ally: HP < 60% = Curaga

    It was pretty ridiculous (but fun!).

    I made my party pretty much like WoW, with a sword-n-board tank, a ranged damage dealer, and a caster. Since the former two often had tons of unused mana, I would have gambits to constantly cast things like Protect and Regen and sometimes Haste on everyone. Once I got Decoy (taunt), which I also set to be on constantly, the game became pretty easy with this setup (if it wasn't already).

    One thing though, I never got any use out of summons. They were puny against any monsters worth using them on, and it left your summoner character exposed to attacks too.

    Strato on
  • DevKimikoDevKimiko Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    "To this point we've given the player enemies that either attack in squads, or use our new powerful debuffs, or just respawn over and over. Well, we need to make the Bahamut hard, so let's throw all 3 of them at once, but it's okay because the player can just hold R2 and run past it all.
    Also Vayne will become a demi-god for no apparent reason, despite Venat saying his/her plans were accomplished, and the player has to use bubble belts not to die."

    Was the last boss really that hard? I finished him in one run and I was level 60-ish and Basch was like 6 levels above everyone else.

    The tower did kind of grate after a while though... too many levels!

    Fran, Balthier and Basch is the best party. FTW. But I'm a sucker so I make sure the others don't drag by too many levels. Also, there's something strangely satisfying about LP farming with long range weapons. Just pretend you're having casual hunting jaunt through the local countryside.

    DevKimiko on
  • WybornWyborn GET EQUIPPED Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Man guys.

    Isn't there anybody else who thought that all the characters and plot twists (yes even that one) were at worst appropriate for utility and at best completely and totally awesome in ways that made subsequent developments more awesome?

    I can't be the only one.

    Show of hands!

    Wyborn on
    dN0T6ur.png
  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    SirUltimos wrote: »
    This game seems to have had a weird progression in popularity. When it first came out last year everyone was going nuts over how good it was, then earlier this year it seemed like everyone hated the game. Then in this thread the prevailing opinion seems to be "It's okay".

    Man, that happens to any and every game here, especially if it's part of a popular series. The exact same thing has occurred with Mario Sunshine, and Zelda WW/TP. Shit, it happened with Tales of Legendia. I bought that game because everybody was raving about it here. Imagine my surprise a month later when everybody flip-flopped and started calling it the worst in the series.

    I'm not knocking or flaming the board here. But this phenomenon is not unique to FFXII.

    The Wolfman on
    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    SirUltimos wrote: »
    This game seems to have had a weird progression in popularity. When it first came out last year everyone was going nuts over how good it was, then earlier this year it seemed like everyone hated the game. Then in this thread the prevailing opinion seems to be "It's okay".

    Man, that happens to any and every game here, especially if it's part of a popular series. The exact same thing has occurred with Mario Sunshine, and Zelda WW/TP. Shit, it happened with Tales of Legendia. I bought that game because everybody was raving about it here. Imagine my surprise a month later when everybody flip-flopped and started calling it the worst in the series.

    I'm not knocking or flaming the board here. But this phenomenon is not unique to FFXII.

    Hey! In all fairness, Mario Sunshine sucked balls. Carry on.

    Dragkonias on
  • Random Name GeneratorRandom Name Generator Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    DevKimiko wrote: »
    "To this point we've given the player enemies that either attack in squads, or use our new powerful debuffs, or just respawn over and over. Well, we need to make the Bahamut hard, so let's throw all 3 of them at once, but it's okay because the player can just hold R2 and run past it all.
    Also Vayne will become a demi-god for no apparent reason, despite Venat saying his/her plans were accomplished, and the player has to use bubble belts not to die."

    Was the last boss really that hard? I finished him in one run and I was level 60-ish and Basch was like 6 levels above everyone else.

    The tower did kind of grate after a while though... too many levels!

    Fran, Balthier and Basch is the best party. FTW. But I'm a sucker so I make sure the others don't drag by too many levels. Also, there's something strangely satisfying about LP farming with long range weapons. Just pretend you're having casual hunting jaunt through the local countryside.

    I never said the boss was hard, just cheap and way outside what the game had established as "The Point". With the right equipment it was just a waiting game and sometimes casting curaja. Now the pharos at ridorana, that was a great dungeon. Took some thought, rather than just lots of levels.

    Random Name Generator on
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Actually, I think what happens with the whole "hate for <series> months down the road" stuff is that you get a bunch of people in the anticipation threads who are (obviously) excited about the game coming out. The games come out and fans (and plenty of non-fans) enjoy it. Then down the road, a thread like this comes up and people who didn't have any real personal investment in the game say how they felt about the game. Unfortunately for something like FFXII, it has to live up to expectations from 11 prior incarnations. So you end up with people griping about this part or that part because chances a predecessor did that part better (or more to their tastes).

    An example would be like this. I enjoyed the stories from 6, 7, and 8 much more than 12. However, I think 12 has much better characters than 9 or 10. I also liked the skill systems from 6 and 7 more, but I really liked how much combat was streamlined in 12. So I end up griping about the story from 12, some of 12's annoying characters, and how I didn't like how much it felt like I wasn't playing the game. I'm not hating on the game, I just get irritated that SquareEnix gets rid of older features that were good in the vein of trying to be innovative. The gripes stick with me more than anything else in the game (since you put up with them for so much of the game), and I think it works out that way with a lot of other people, too.

    Ninja Snarl P on
  • DevKimikoDevKimiko Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I never said the boss was hard, just cheap and way outside what the game had established as "The Point". With the right equipment it was just a waiting game and sometimes casting curaja. Now the pharos at ridorana, that was a great dungeon. Took some thought, rather than just lots of levels.

    Ah, Ok. I see what you mean. It did turn into something of a waiting game, that fight.

    Pharos wasn't bad and was quite interesting/challenging in some areas, but I felt it began to drag towards the end. It could have done with fewer levels.

    DevKimiko on
  • DarkSymphonyDarkSymphony Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    FFXII is damn fucking awesome. I loved it. I liked 7 more for the story, but XII was far FAR superior for the gameplay.

    DarkSymphony on
  • redstormpopcornredstormpopcorn Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    It just occurred to me that I've had FFXII, the Collector's Edition even, since the day it came out and I haven't so much as opened the case. Once I finish moving, that is being remedied ASAP.

    redstormpopcorn on
    emot-kamina.gifBELIEVE IN YOU, WHO BELIEVES IN YOURSELF emot-kamina.gif
  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    SirUltimos wrote: »
    This game seems to have had a weird progression in popularity. When it first came out last year everyone was going nuts over how good it was, then earlier this year it seemed like everyone hated the game. Then in this thread the prevailing opinion seems to be "It's okay".

    Man, that happens to any and every game here, especially if it's part of a popular series. The exact same thing has occurred with Mario Sunshine, and Zelda WW/TP. Shit, it happened with Tales of Legendia. I bought that game because everybody was raving about it here. Imagine my surprise a month later when everybody flip-flopped and started calling it the worst in the series.

    I'm not knocking or flaming the board here. But this phenomenon is not unique to FFXII.

    Hey! In all fairness, Mario Sunshine sucked balls. Carry on.

    Blue coins > Basch plot twist.

    jothki on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2007
    I kind of like the gambit system. It basically takes all the pain out of combat. On the other hand, I just beat a boss whilst making a cup of tea.

    Tube on
  • Psycho Internet HawkPsycho Internet Hawk Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I kind of like the gambit system. It basically takes all the pain out of combat. On the other hand, I just beat a boss whilst making a cup of tea.

    You won't be doing that later on, don't worry.

    The main reason behind gambits, you'll eventually learn, is to vastly speed up the battles by making sure the player doesn't have to input every single obvious command. The result, however, is that the CPU is also capable of throwing much more at you much more quickly without completely obliterating you, and so you'll be constantly juggling buffs/healing/spells in turn.

    Expect to get by on the skin of your teeth. A lot.

    Psycho Internet Hawk on
    ezek1t.jpg
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2007
    Also it turns out I borked the zodiac spear thing. I'm thinking of starting again, because A. that's the sort of thing that really gets to me and B. I can have a better go now I know what I'm doing

    Tube on
  • LanrutconLanrutcon The LabyrinthRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I kind of like the gambit system. It basically takes all the pain out of combat. On the other hand, I just beat a boss whilst making a cup of tea.

    You won't be doing that later on, don't worry.

    The main reason behind gambits, you'll eventually learn, is to vastly speed up the battles by making sure the player doesn't have to input every single obvious command. The result, however, is that the CPU is also capable of throwing much more at you much more quickly without completely obliterating you, and so you'll be constantly juggling buffs/healing/spells in turn.

    Expect to get by on the skin of your teeth. A lot.

    Especially because the badass shit (the end hunts, optional bosses & espers) have phases and some blatantly unfair abilities. 100% instakill? check.

    Lanrutcon on
    Capture.jpg~original
    Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
  • AphostileAphostile San Francisco, CARegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Also it turns out I borked the zodiac spear thing. I'm thinking of starting again, because A. that's the sort of thing that really gets to me and B. I can have a better go now I know what I'm doing

    But you can still get it.

    Infinite its, as it were.

    Aphostile on
    Nothing. Matters.
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2007
    Yeah I looked it up. Fuck that. 1/1000 chance? I have shit to do.

    Tube on
  • AphostileAphostile San Francisco, CARegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Yeah I looked it up. Fuck that. 1/1000 chance? I have shit to do.

    Like start completely over...

    ...

    ...

    I kid!

    Aphostile on
    Nothing. Matters.
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2007
    Could someone spoil for me how far into the game the zodiac spear is? Like late, medium or whatever. I've just
    beaten the big lightning bot thing and gotten back out into the desert, my party having left

    Tube on
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    edited December 2007
    Aphostile wrote: »
    Yeah I looked it up. Fuck that. 1/1000 chance? I have shit to do.

    Like start completely over...

    ...

    ...

    I kid!

    It'll take me two hours to start over if I blitz it, and I'll have more fun now that I know how everything works.

    Tube on
  • harvestharvest By birthright, a stupendous badass.Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I kind of like the gambit system. It basically takes all the pain out of combat. On the other hand, I just beat a boss whilst making a cup of tea.
    Expect to get by on the skin of your teeth. A lot.

    I keep seeing this kind of sentiment and I totally disagree. If you're barely winning you're probably doing something wrong. Well, not wrong, but this game actually has a pretty dumb flaw: A diverse, balanced party actually makes the game harder.

    Spoilered for my uniform party build of boring invulnerability
    The entire game can be trivialized as I (accidentally) found out if you make everyone a Paladin-analogue. You give everybody a sword and shield, cure magic, and buff spells as you can afford the LP. Once you get 5 or 6 gambit slots the game might as well end because you are invincible. Set each character's healing threshold slightly higher than the last. Ignore offensive magic except where the game requires a ranged attack. Ignore ranged weapons because they aren't compatible with shields. Ignore all but the heaviest armor. When you get Lure+Bubble it becomes even more trivial.

    I really enjoyed the game but found out that I basically cheated myself out of a more engrossing experience by playing it as described above.

    harvest on
    B6yM5w2.gif
  • AphostileAphostile San Francisco, CARegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    harvest wrote: »
    I kind of like the gambit system. It basically takes all the pain out of combat. On the other hand, I just beat a boss whilst making a cup of tea.
    Expect to get by on the skin of your teeth. A lot.

    I keep seeing this kind of sentiment and I totally disagree. If you're barely winning you're probably doing something wrong. Well, not wrong, but this game actually has a pretty dumb flaw: A diverse, balanced party actually makes the game harder.

    Spoilered for my uniform party build of boring invulnerability
    The entire game can be trivialized as I (accidentally) found out if you make everyone a Paladin-analogue. You give everybody a sword and shield, cure magic, and buff spells as you can afford the LP. Once you get 5 or 6 gambit slots the game might as well end because you are invincible. Set each character's healing threshold slightly higher than the last. Ignore offensive magic except where the game requires a ranged attack. Ignore ranged weapons because they aren't compatible with shields. Ignore all but the heaviest armor. When you get Lure+Bubble it becomes even more trivial.

    I really enjoyed the game but found out that I basically cheated myself out of a more engrossing experience by playing it as described above.

    And hell, with Telekenesis, you don't even need offensive magic for ranged.

    Aphostile on
    Nothing. Matters.
  • LanrutconLanrutcon The LabyrinthRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    harvest wrote: »
    I kind of like the gambit system. It basically takes all the pain out of combat. On the other hand, I just beat a boss whilst making a cup of tea.
    Expect to get by on the skin of your teeth. A lot.

    I keep seeing this kind of sentiment and I totally disagree. If you're barely winning you're probably doing something wrong. Well, not wrong, but this game actually has a pretty dumb flaw: A diverse, balanced party actually makes the game harder.

    Spoilered for my uniform party build of boring invulnerability
    The entire game can be trivialized as I (accidentally) found out if you make everyone a Paladin-analogue. You give everybody a sword and shield, cure magic, and buff spells as you can afford the LP. Once you get 5 or 6 gambit slots the game might as well end because you are invincible. Set each character's healing threshold slightly higher than the last. Ignore offensive magic except where the game requires a ranged attack. Ignore ranged weapons because they aren't compatible with shields. Ignore all but the heaviest armor. When you get Lure+Bubble it becomes even more trivial.

    I really enjoyed the game but found out that I basically cheated myself out of a more engrossing experience by playing it as described above.

    Um. Even with all that, you telling me you just sat through the optionals without pressing a button? bull.

    Lanrutcon on
    Capture.jpg~original
    Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
  • The Black HunterThe Black Hunter The key is a minimum of compromise, and a simple, unimpeachable reason to existRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Guys, can you indicate to me how far I am in?

    I'm up to
    collecting the moogles in the forest who are slacking, after visiting Fran's home

    The Black Hunter on
  • Nova_CNova_C I have the need The need for speedRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Lanrutcon wrote: »
    harvest wrote: »
    I kind of like the gambit system. It basically takes all the pain out of combat. On the other hand, I just beat a boss whilst making a cup of tea.
    Expect to get by on the skin of your teeth. A lot.

    I keep seeing this kind of sentiment and I totally disagree. If you're barely winning you're probably doing something wrong. Well, not wrong, but this game actually has a pretty dumb flaw: A diverse, balanced party actually makes the game harder.

    Spoilered for my uniform party build of boring invulnerability
    The entire game can be trivialized as I (accidentally) found out if you make everyone a Paladin-analogue. You give everybody a sword and shield, cure magic, and buff spells as you can afford the LP. Once you get 5 or 6 gambit slots the game might as well end because you are invincible. Set each character's healing threshold slightly higher than the last. Ignore offensive magic except where the game requires a ranged attack. Ignore ranged weapons because they aren't compatible with shields. Ignore all but the heaviest armor. When you get Lure+Bubble it becomes even more trivial.

    I really enjoyed the game but found out that I basically cheated myself out of a more engrossing experience by playing it as described above.

    Um. Even with all that, you telling me your just sat through the optionals without pressing a button? bull.

    He's got a point though. I didn't quite go this far, but my party ended up heavy on tanking characters with heal spells just because they were incredibly effective. I got screwed when I ran into the infinite stream of enemies that do status effects and haven't gone back to finish the game but I pretty much let the characters play by themselves except for the main character.

    Nova_C on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    So I got up to the flooded plain, and then all of a sudden my characters were like 15 levels too low to fight the bad guys running around there, and then I bought Persona 3.

    So should I go back to the game now and play it? Does it get awesome enough to justify grinding, or should I just let the memories of Persona 3 keep me warm?

    DarkPrimus on
  • The Black HunterThe Black Hunter The key is a minimum of compromise, and a simple, unimpeachable reason to existRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    So I got up to the flooded plain, and then all of a sudden my characters were like 15 levels too low to fight the bad guys running around there, and then I bought Persona 3.

    So should I go back to the game now and play it? Does it get awesome enough to justify grinding, or should I just let the memories of Persona 3 keep me warm?

    There should be another area you missed that will be more appropriate to grind in.

    The Black Hunter on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Could someone spoil for me how far into the game the zodiac spear is? Like late, medium or whatever. I've just
    beaten the big lightning bot thing and gotten back out into the desert, my party having left
    Really late. It's basically in a post-game dungeon. GFAQs has a guide on getting through it when you're low level but it's tough. Actually it's pretty fun, too, really nerve-wracking.

    But yeah, the first three chests to avoid are right at the start of the game, and then the last one (the pile of 16 chests on the coast) is really hard to miss.

    UncleSporky on
    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    So I got up to the flooded plain, and then all of a sudden my characters were like 15 levels too low to fight the bad guys running around there, and then I bought Persona 3.

    So should I go back to the game now and play it? Does it get awesome enough to justify grinding, or should I just let the memories of Persona 3 keep me warm?

    There should be another area you missed that will be more appropriate to grind in.

    But I'm supposed to go to that place to progress in the story.

    DarkPrimus on
  • Zen VulgarityZen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    I thought Persona 3 was a far better game.

    Zen Vulgarity on
  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    So what are the chances we'll ever see Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System over here?

    Magic Pink on
  • Zen VulgarityZen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    So what are the chances we'll ever see Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System over here?
    HA

    HAHA

    HAHAHAHA

    Zen Vulgarity on
  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    So what are the chances we'll ever see Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System over here?
    HA

    HAHA

    HAHAHAHA


    I sob aloud.

    Magic Pink on
  • WybornWyborn GET EQUIPPED Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    What was the difference between the version we got and IZJS?

    Wyborn on
    dN0T6ur.png
  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Wyborn wrote: »
    What was the difference between the version we got and IZJS?
    wickipedia wrote:
    The game includes twelve License Boards available (instead of the original one), each corresponding to a different Zodiac sign and job. The battle system as a whole has been tweaked; guest characters and summons are controllable by the player, and pressing the L1 button accelerates the game's speed. Additionally, the game features the English voices and the widescreen 16:9 ratio support of the North American version, as well as a bonus disc based on the one initially released with the North American version. Other new features such as new licenses, new spells and new gambits have been shown as well. There is also a "New Game+" option, as well as a new "Trial Mode" which allows the player to hunt monsters in 100 different maps to gain items and money.

    Magic Pink on
  • MahnmutMahnmut Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Oh, that is just not fair.

    Mahnmut on
    Steam/LoL: Jericho89
  • WybornWyborn GET EQUIPPED Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    Ouch. I'd play the Hell out of that.

    But I'll play the Hell out of this game again anyway, because it is a pretty fun game.

    Wyborn on
    dN0T6ur.png
  • OhioOhio Registered User regular
    edited December 2007
    captaink wrote: »
    I had a decent steal gambit of Enemy HP=100%: Steal. It only steals once unless there's a real mob.

    This may have already gotten a reply since I'm quoting off page 3 without reading the next 7 pages but...

    I often used this same gambit. It works well unless you're fighting a group of enemies. For instance, I have Basch as the "stealer" and when we'd find a group of, say, 3 enemies he'd still from one until the rest of my party attacked it, and then when that original enemy no longer had 100% HP, Basch would move on and start stealing from the second enemy, over and over, until the rest of my party moved on attacking the second enemy (at which point Basch would start stealing from the third).

    What this means is that you're basically fighting the enemies with two party members instead of three, while the the third person is continually stealing and you're seeing the "There's nothing to steal!" message over and over, growing ever more frustrated.

    Ohio on
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