It just felt more like an MMO that doesn't have other people on the server, just you, like a FFXI remake but singleplayer.
Have you played FFXI? Does it really play just like a remake of that game? I hadn't read anything about that before.
I think that even this many years after the game's been out, people still persist in the "MMO" garbage because some people drew comparisons ages ago before it was even released. I've played quite a few MMOs and XII does not feel like an MMO. At worst it feels like Kingdom Hearts.
When you look at FF12's company in Ivalice Alliance - FF Tactics, Vagrant Story, FFTA and FFTA2 (But we'll ignore Crystal Defenders, which despite being Ivalice isn't canon anyway) it certainly fits with those games more than it fits with FF1-11.
Lost Odyssey is certainly FF12 in disguise in many ways.
XII didn't feel like an FF to me because it didn't feel like the characters mattered in the grand scheme of things, except maybe Ashe.
This is how I feel as well. I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters. All the other FFs were tear jerking, deep based characters, with a mysterious background that was slightly revealed throughout the storyline.
This is how I feel as well. I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters. All the other FFs were tear jerking, deep based characters, with a mysterious background that was slightly revealed throughout the storyline.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Oh don't get me wrong, I love it when shit makes sense and they actually explain it. Especially now that it's starting to become the norm.
But I've also grown up playing games where my 9999 hp party member gets laid out in one hit via cutscene and dies, while everybody else laments the fact that he's gone, despite the fact that they're carrying a Life spell and a full stock of Phoenix Down's.
Thats because your characters dont die in battle, they get knocked out, and Life/Phoenix Down revives from K.O.
Sure, but what governs why a solar system-destroying explosion simply does "damage" when a sword through the chest instantly kills? The truth is, there's not really any way around it unless the game has some weird explanation with battle taking place inside an alternate reality and characters being entirely vulnerable outside of a formal battle.
Oh don't get me wrong, I love it when shit makes sense and they actually explain it. Especially now that it's starting to become the norm.
But I've also grown up playing games where my 9999 hp party member gets laid out in one hit via cutscene and dies, while everybody else laments the fact that he's gone, despite the fact that they're carrying a Life spell and a full stock of Phoenix Down's.
Thats because your characters dont die in battle, they get knocked out, and Life/Phoenix Down revives from K.O.
Sure, but what governs why a solar system-destroying explosion simply does "damage" when a sword through the chest instantly kills? The truth is, there's not really any way around it unless the game has some weird explanation with battle taking place inside an alternate reality and characters being entirely vulnerable outside of a formal battle.
Actually, that might be kinda cool.
Or perhaps visions inserted into your characters' minds doing mental damage. Seems the most reasonable explanation to me if you're looking for a better reason than "because it looks cool." :P
FFXII has Chocobos, Moogles, and not much else. And it plays wildly differently from FFI through FFX.
I was going to leave this alone, but Lunker is right. XII has Cid and all the relevant summons, all the classic item names and equipment types, enemy names and abilities, ability and spell names, "Limit Breaks," the theme of the quirky ragtag team taking down an empire (what is that, like 3/4th of the FFs), the sort of back stories for each character including that one nonhuman person.
FF2 wasn't wildly different from other FFs? You don't think the jump to the Active Time battle system was considered a wildly different change back in the day? Or its subsequent return with heavy modifications in X, that by the way didn't even have character levels?
XII was more of an FF game that X; at least it was high fantasy rather than a tropical world with bizarre names and customs. That isn't to say anything against X, just that it did not feel like a Final Fantasy game to me. It felt like Waterworld or something.
Again, this is subjective, but I don't consider naming a bunch of ships after the summons (when the game actually has summons) to count. And the item/spell names were pulled from FFT. Yes, some of them match up with the main numbered series, but just as many were made up for FFT. Kingdom Hearts may have FF spell names, but I certainly don't expect to see a Dumbo summon or Keyblade in FFXIII.
Also, I consider the jump from classic turn-based to ATB to be a much, much smaller jump than completely abandoning turn-based.
As for FFX, I thought it just felt right. The evolution of the combat was very clear from the rest of the series. The Sphere Grid was a combination of the defined roles of FFIX, with some of the flexibility of FFV. The combat system was ATB without a time limit.
The story touched on the themes of sacrifice that have evolved throughout the series, beginning with the Light Warriors merely not receiving praise for their actions, through the comical sacrifices in FFIV, past Aeris in FFVII, and all the way to Yuna. The motivation of the villains flowed naturally from those in FFVII on, where the omnicidal maniac was replaced with the more sympathetic villains who merely wanted to end the pain.
In contrast, half of the heroes in FFXII didn't even have a motivation other than being either "a leading man" or following a male friend around. The main villain's goal, while certainly compelling, had more in common with Delita from FFT than any of the main numbered games. That, and it felt like Star Wars.
gjaustin on
0
KorKnown to detonate from time to timeRegistered Userregular
Oh don't get me wrong, I love it when shit makes sense and they actually explain it. Especially now that it's starting to become the norm.
But I've also grown up playing games where my 9999 hp party member gets laid out in one hit via cutscene and dies, while everybody else laments the fact that he's gone, despite the fact that they're carrying a Life spell and a full stock of Phoenix Down's.
Thats because your characters dont die in battle, they get knocked out, and Life/Phoenix Down revives from K.O.
Sure, but what governs why a solar system-destroying explosion simply does "damage" when a sword through the chest instantly kills? The truth is, there's not really any way around it unless the game has some weird explanation with battle taking place inside an alternate reality and characters being entirely vulnerable outside of a formal battle.
Actually, that might be kinda cool.
Or perhaps visions inserted into your characters' minds doing mental damage. Seems the most reasonable explanation to me if you're looking for a better reason than "because it looks cool." :P
This is actually what I've always thought. I don't recall why, though. I remember concluding once that, I'm not actually created fire out of thin air, I'm simply convincing my opponent that he has caught fire.
Now if only I could remember why I came to that conclusion...
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
You've never actually played (and if you have never looked into the story) of FFXI or WoW have you?
It takes a lot longer to reach parts of the story due to the nature of the game, but even though Im not playing it any more I'm still thoroughly engrossed in the world/lore of Azeroth/Warcraft.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
I've never played XI, but anytime I speak to someone about it, the story is almost always the first thing they bring up in their list of pros.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
11 for its time had tons of story elements to it. I havent played it for awhile but ive seen they have released a few more expansions and they do regular content updates. Id say it has much more story elements than any single player rpg out there by now.
In MMOs most people skip story elements so it is thier own fault. Hell EQ1 had more story in it than most RPGs and that game is ancient.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
Except that FF1, 3, and 5 focused way more on gameplay and the job system than story. FFXI did have a lot of story in it, too, certainly more than those ones anyway. I was actually really engaged with the story when I was playing.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
You've never actually played (and if you have never looked into the story) of FFXI or WoW have you?
It takes a lot longer to reach parts of the story due to the nature of the game, but even though Im not playing it any more I'm still thoroughly engrossed in the world/lore of Azeroth/Warcraft.
I have played WoW. The background story is cool, but the actual story lacks anything remotely resembling pacing or character development.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
You've never actually played (and if you have never looked into the story) of FFXI or WoW have you?
It takes a lot longer to reach parts of the story due to the nature of the game, but even though Im not playing it any more I'm still thoroughly engrossed in the world/lore of Azeroth/Warcraft.
I have played WoW. The background story is cool, but the actual story lacks anything remotely resembling pacing or character development.
...
eh? Are you talking in relation to your playable character?
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
You've never actually played (and if you have never looked into the story) of FFXI or WoW have you?
It takes a lot longer to reach parts of the story due to the nature of the game, but even though Im not playing it any more I'm still thoroughly engrossed in the world/lore of Azeroth/Warcraft.
I have played WoW. The background story is cool, but the actual story lacks anything remotely resembling pacing or character development.
Pacing is due to the nature of the medium, but Character development?
Lets just look at the current expansion shall we? One of the focal characters of the current expansion - Varian Wrynn.
Despite his past as a slave (mirroring thralls) Varian wrynn was grudgingly beginning to ally himself with the horde, as the horde and alliance fought together at Angrathar: The Wrath gate. Out of nowhere Putress' faction of renegade forsaken betray both sides, and in the process kill one of the alliance heroes, Bolvar. Wrynn learns of Bolvars death and lays the blame on the entire horde and tries to overtake the undercity at all costs. He discovers the horde leaders who had cleaned the undercity out from the rule of Putress/Varamthras'. He tries to call thrall out before jaina teleports the alliance forces away. He declares war on the entire horde due to his ignorance and racism.
Well paced the story is not, but lacking character development? Bullshit.
If you're talking about your player created character, heres a hint. Hes not important. Hes a footsoldier paving the way for the main characters of the story, Thrall, Jaina, Arthas, Varian, Malfurion, ect. ect.
eh? Are you talking in relation to your playable character?
To be fair they don't exactly have a lot of stuff with Night Elf #324 learning what really happened to his father and becoming a better person as a result. But then, is that really necessary? It's a different type of game than a CRPG, you don't have people following you around that are expected to have character development. These are NPCs going about their daily lives. The story can still be as good/better without having precisely the same elements.
Everything else though, besides the job system, WoW skullfucks XI on. Even the new, vastly improved FF XI.
I dunno, Metzen has done a damn good job with the lore of Warcraft. The only gripe I have is that 75% of the villains are former goodguys who went lolinsane.
I find it funny that people think FF11 shouldn't have been a number. I think spiritually it really goes back to FF1, 3, and 5 and expands things a lot. Nowadays that sort of formula, with job systems and such just lends itself really really well to an MMO rather than a highly story based single player game. I see nothing wrong with giving 11 and 14 full on numbers. It's not like the worlds in those games are/are going to be half assed or something. They're just as fleshed out (if not moreso) than the rest of the FFs.
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
You've never actually played (and if you have never looked into the story) of FFXI or WoW have you?
It takes a lot longer to reach parts of the story due to the nature of the game, but even though Im not playing it any more I'm still thoroughly engrossed in the world/lore of Azeroth/Warcraft.
I have played WoW. The background story is cool, but the actual story lacks anything remotely resembling pacing or character development.
Pacing is due to the nature of the medium, but Character development?
Lets just look at the current expansion shall we? One of the focal characters of the current expansion - Varian Wrynn.
Despite his past as a slave (mirroring thralls) Varian wrynn was grudgingly beginning to ally himself with the horde, as the horde and alliance fought together at Angrathar: The Wrath gate. Out of nowhere Putress' faction of renegade forsaken betray both sides, and in the process kill one of the alliance heroes, Bolvar. Wrynn learns of Bolvars death and lays the blame on the entire horde and tries to overtake the undercity at all costs. He discovers the horde leaders who had cleaned the undercity out from the rule of Putress/Varamthras'. He tries to call thrall out before jaina teleports the alliance forces away. He declares war on the entire horde due to his ignorance and racism.
Well paced the story is not, but lacking character development? Bullshit.
If you're talking about your player created character, heres a hint. Hes not important. Hes a footsoldier paving the way for the main characters of the story, Thrall, Jaina, Arthas, Varian, Malfurion, ect. ect.
EDIT: Nevermind. I swear that last line wasn't there before...
Everything else though, besides the job system, WoW skullfucks XI on. Even the new, vastly improved FF XI.
I dunno, Metzen has done a damn good job with the lore of Warcraft. The only gripe I have is that 75% of the villains are former goodguys who went lolinsane.
Warcraft big story flaw is the retcons, dear god man the retcons...
Every new warcraft game re-writes something from the past. That's one of the main reasons I stopped playing. I used to love the shit out of warcraft lore, but the went to far. I even bit my lip and accepted the lolspace travel bullshit.
While the player characters in that game aren't technically the true heroes at hand, they obviously play parts. Sure, technically you saved the tauren from planned attack from the quillboars, or liberated the gnome city, as did 8.4 million other people. Its pretty cool though, when you get to escort Thrall to Outland, or have Malfurian contact you from the Emerald dream.
Hell, i guess if you really wanted to, there is always the RP servers.
I've never really looked into the story of XI, probably because I don't want to read endless wiki pages on it. I'd rather play it. If it ever turned out that you could solo most of the game, I might have given it a shot, but I feel too much time has passed for me to care.
You've never actually played (and if you have never looked into the story) of FFXI or WoW have you?
It takes a lot longer to reach parts of the story due to the nature of the game, but even though Im not playing it any more I'm still thoroughly engrossed in the world/lore of Azeroth/Warcraft.
Exactly. The storyline for XI is unparalleled and solid.
It continues as time progresses, but stays true to the foundation of the story, which keeps the players very interested.
Holy crap a ton of posts there that XI has a great story. I kind of want to look it up now (I don't think I want to play it).
I remember seeing its intro video and wanting to learn more, too. The kids running from monsters, only one escaping...
True story: Back in the day when I played FFXI, I was travelling through a forest and I saw literally 20+ people running away from a fucking walking humongous tree! It had a haunted look with little enemy squirrel things, dangling from it's branches, throwing stuff at them as they ran away. I later found out it was a rare epic monster they tried to group up and kill.
Still one of the funniest fucking things to see 20 people running from a haunted tree with squirrels throwing acorns at them.
Everything else though, besides the job system, WoW skullfucks XI on. Even the new, vastly improved FF XI.
It's just a shame that, for the most part, you need to actually play FFXI to experience the story. Because...ughh...
Thats one of the good parts about WoW lore, the books. Sure some of them are completely terrible (Anything written by Richard Knaak) But plenty of them are completely awesome (Anything written by Christie Golden)
Final Fantasy really needs a rebranding. The numbers are just stupid at this point. They're getting high enough now that they start to blur together, and soon we'll have to ignore 2 MMOs taking up the real FF numbers. I keep getting FFXIII and FFXIV mixed up because fuck those are stupid names. Is there any other game series that has gone so far in numbering without a name change?
Final Fantasy really needs a rebranding. The numbers are just stupid at this point. They're getting high enough now that they start to blur together, and soon we'll have to ignore 2 MMOs taking up the real FF numbers. I keep getting FFXIII and FFXIV mixed up because fuck those are stupid names. Is there any other game series that has gone so far in numbering without a name change?
Really, since I don't pay as much attention to the series as I used to, the numbers in general are completely and stupidly confusing.
Final Fantasy really needs a rebranding. The numbers are just stupid at this point. They're getting high enough now that they start to blur together, and soon we'll have to ignore 2 MMOs taking up the real FF numbers. I keep getting FFXIII and FFXIV mixed up because fuck those are stupid names. Is there any other game series that has gone so far in numbering without a name change?
Final Fantasy really needs a rebranding. The numbers are just stupid at this point. They're getting high enough now that they start to blur together, and soon we'll have to ignore 2 MMOs taking up the real FF numbers. I keep getting FFXIII and FFXIV mixed up because fuck those are stupid names. Is there any other game series that has gone so far in numbering without a name change?
Madden
Well, they did just change numbering schemes this year, with Madden 10
Final Fantasy really needs a rebranding. The numbers are just stupid at this point. They're getting high enough now that they start to blur together, and soon we'll have to ignore 2 MMOs taking up the real FF numbers. I keep getting FFXIII and FFXIV mixed up because fuck those are stupid names. Is there any other game series that has gone so far in numbering without a name change?
Madden
Well, they did just change numbering schemes this year, with Madden 10
Final Fantasy really needs a rebranding. The numbers are just stupid at this point. They're getting high enough now that they start to blur together, and soon we'll have to ignore 2 MMOs taking up the real FF numbers. I keep getting FFXIII and FFXIV mixed up because fuck those are stupid names. Is there any other game series that has gone so far in numbering without a name change?
Madden
Well, they did just change numbering schemes this year, with Madden 10
Because last years wasn't Madden 09?
Perhaps SE just sees FF as the super bowl of JRPGs.
When the roman numerals start getting long enough that I actually have to work out the number in my head, there is a problem. At this point they might as well just go back to english numbers.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Posts
Have you played FFXI? Does it really play just like a remake of that game? I hadn't read anything about that before.
I think that even this many years after the game's been out, people still persist in the "MMO" garbage because some people drew comparisons ages ago before it was even released. I've played quite a few MMOs and XII does not feel like an MMO. At worst it feels like Kingdom Hearts.
This is how I feel as well. I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters. All the other FFs were tear jerking, deep based characters, with a mysterious background that was slightly revealed throughout the storyline.
Lots of great drama.
Oh my god...
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
Sure, but what governs why a solar system-destroying explosion simply does "damage" when a sword through the chest instantly kills? The truth is, there's not really any way around it unless the game has some weird explanation with battle taking place inside an alternate reality and characters being entirely vulnerable outside of a formal battle.
Actually, that might be kinda cool.
Again, this is subjective, but I don't consider naming a bunch of ships after the summons (when the game actually has summons) to count. And the item/spell names were pulled from FFT. Yes, some of them match up with the main numbered series, but just as many were made up for FFT. Kingdom Hearts may have FF spell names, but I certainly don't expect to see a Dumbo summon or Keyblade in FFXIII.
Also, I consider the jump from classic turn-based to ATB to be a much, much smaller jump than completely abandoning turn-based.
As for FFX, I thought it just felt right. The evolution of the combat was very clear from the rest of the series. The Sphere Grid was a combination of the defined roles of FFIX, with some of the flexibility of FFV. The combat system was ATB without a time limit.
The story touched on the themes of sacrifice that have evolved throughout the series, beginning with the Light Warriors merely not receiving praise for their actions, through the comical sacrifices in FFIV, past Aeris in FFVII, and all the way to Yuna. The motivation of the villains flowed naturally from those in FFVII on, where the omnicidal maniac was replaced with the more sympathetic villains who merely wanted to end the pain.
In contrast, half of the heroes in FFXII didn't even have a motivation other than being either "a leading man" or following a male friend around. The main villain's goal, while certainly compelling, had more in common with Delita from FFT than any of the main numbered games. That, and it felt like Star Wars.
This is actually what I've always thought. I don't recall why, though. I remember concluding once that, I'm not actually created fire out of thin air, I'm simply convincing my opponent that he has caught fire.
Now if only I could remember why I came to that conclusion...
Do any of the FF games mention that method?
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
Wow, missed a lot of posts while writing my thesis.
I object to FFXI because it's an MMO. While it may hit on a lot of the themes, an MMO simply can't have as engaging of a story as a single-player game. Due to world persistance issues it just is not possible. Final Fantasy games are at least half story.
You've never actually played (and if you have never looked into the story) of FFXI or WoW have you?
It takes a lot longer to reach parts of the story due to the nature of the game, but even though Im not playing it any more I'm still thoroughly engrossed in the world/lore of Azeroth/Warcraft.
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
I've never played XI, but anytime I speak to someone about it, the story is almost always the first thing they bring up in their list of pros.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
11 for its time had tons of story elements to it. I havent played it for awhile but ive seen they have released a few more expansions and they do regular content updates. Id say it has much more story elements than any single player rpg out there by now.
In MMOs most people skip story elements so it is thier own fault. Hell EQ1 had more story in it than most RPGs and that game is ancient.
Except that FF1, 3, and 5 focused way more on gameplay and the job system than story. FFXI did have a lot of story in it, too, certainly more than those ones anyway. I was actually really engaged with the story when I was playing.
I have played WoW. The background story is cool, but the actual story lacks anything remotely resembling pacing or character development.
I remember seeing its intro video and wanting to learn more, too. The kids running from monsters, only one escaping...
...
eh? Are you talking in relation to your playable character?
Pacing is due to the nature of the medium, but Character development?
Lets just look at the current expansion shall we? One of the focal characters of the current expansion - Varian Wrynn.
Despite his past as a slave (mirroring thralls) Varian wrynn was grudgingly beginning to ally himself with the horde, as the horde and alliance fought together at Angrathar: The Wrath gate. Out of nowhere Putress' faction of renegade forsaken betray both sides, and in the process kill one of the alliance heroes, Bolvar. Wrynn learns of Bolvars death and lays the blame on the entire horde and tries to overtake the undercity at all costs. He discovers the horde leaders who had cleaned the undercity out from the rule of Putress/Varamthras'. He tries to call thrall out before jaina teleports the alliance forces away. He declares war on the entire horde due to his ignorance and racism.
Well paced the story is not, but lacking character development? Bullshit.
If you're talking about your player created character, heres a hint. Hes not important. Hes a footsoldier paving the way for the main characters of the story, Thrall, Jaina, Arthas, Varian, Malfurion, ect. ect.
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To be fair they don't exactly have a lot of stuff with Night Elf #324 learning what really happened to his father and becoming a better person as a result. But then, is that really necessary? It's a different type of game than a CRPG, you don't have people following you around that are expected to have character development. These are NPCs going about their daily lives. The story can still be as good/better without having precisely the same elements.
WoW isn't even close.
Everything else though, besides the job system, WoW skullfucks XI on. Even the new, vastly improved FF XI.
I dunno, Metzen has done a damn good job with the lore of Warcraft. The only gripe I have is that 75% of the villains are former goodguys who went lolinsane.
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EDIT: Nevermind. I swear that last line wasn't there before...
Warrior | Mage
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Warcraft big story flaw is the retcons, dear god man the retcons...
Every new warcraft game re-writes something from the past. That's one of the main reasons I stopped playing. I used to love the shit out of warcraft lore, but the went to far. I even bit my lip and accepted the lolspace travel bullshit.
While the player characters in that game aren't technically the true heroes at hand, they obviously play parts. Sure, technically you saved the tauren from planned attack from the quillboars, or liberated the gnome city, as did 8.4 million other people. Its pretty cool though, when you get to escort Thrall to Outland, or have Malfurian contact you from the Emerald dream.
Hell, i guess if you really wanted to, there is always the RP servers.
I've never really looked into the story of XI, probably because I don't want to read endless wiki pages on it. I'd rather play it. If it ever turned out that you could solo most of the game, I might have given it a shot, but I feel too much time has passed for me to care.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????
It continues as time progresses, but stays true to the foundation of the story, which keeps the players very interested.
Still one of the funniest fucking things to see 20 people running from a haunted tree with squirrels throwing acorns at them.
It's just a shame that, for the most part, you need to actually play FFXI to experience the story. Because...ughh...
Thats one of the good parts about WoW lore, the books. Sure some of them are completely terrible (Anything written by Richard Knaak) But plenty of them are completely awesome (Anything written by Christie Golden)
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The story, plot, and immersion factor were not one of them.
It's an awesome paradise, where Selphie will be waiting for you.
What are you waiting for?
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YES
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Oh god. You've seen that stupid 4chan shit as well, haven't you?
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Really, since I don't pay as much attention to the series as I used to, the numbers in general are completely and stupidly confusing.
Madden
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Well, they did just change numbering schemes this year, with Madden 10
Because last years wasn't Madden 09?
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Perhaps SE just sees FF as the super bowl of JRPGs.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat