Final Fantasy XII - PS2 -- First Impressions

[mor911]

Didn't expect to play this till the end of the month. Can't say I'm upset for getting a hold of it a tad early.

Where do I start?

Let's start with differences and similarities. So far, it's your typical Final Fantasy. Hero, girl, badguy. Hero has some chip on his shoulder and doesn't realize his true power yet. Enter and older character into our group (who's always way more awesome than you) and he helps you learn. I'm at 6 hours 11 minutes and the story is great. I will leave the story out of this because it's such an important part to the game. Trust me, it's good.

Fighting is VERY different than any previous Final Fantasy. It's almost real time. It's a lot less like final fantasy and a lot more like KOTOR. That's good and bad. It's good because KOTOR has a phenomenal fighting system. It's bad because it doesn't seem to quite pull it off like KOTOR does. Plus, some poeple buy a Final Fantasy game to play classic turn-based action. This is not that.

The graphics may be the best on the PS2. Period. Yes, better that Shadow of the Colossus. Yes, better than God of War. Yes, better than whatever game you're thinking of. It looks that good. The character models are superb down to the last detail. Props to them adding 16:9 support in the US release. Negative points for ANOTHER PS2 GAME WITH NO PROGRESSIVE SCAN. What the hell is wrong with developers. Progressive scan should be goddamn required by now.

The sound effects are great. The voice acting are probably the best I've ever seen (err heard). You never get that feeling that your watching a bad anime (I'm looking at you Enchant Arms and Star Ocean). Great acting and the voices all fit the characters very well. Thumbs way up! Plus it supports surround sound (which they use to the full extent) and it's a go!

The game basically is Final Fantasy. Great story, graphics, and most of all, atmosphere. Final Fantasy (probably better than any game) draws you into the life and troubles of the main character. XII is no exception. Just over 6 hours in and I'm hooked. When it comes out, go buy this game if you're an RPG or Final Fantasy fan. Action fans wanna try something new out? Give it a shot. You might just become a fan.

Famitsu gave this game a perfect 10. I disagree already. 10 means perfect. Perfect means without flaws. The game does have flaws. the camera isn't sxactly ideal all of the time, and the battle system could still be much better. But this game (so far) is still phenomenal. Perfect? No. But damn near it.

:mor911:

[Dol-Fan Dupree]

I just played Valkarie Profile 2. That game has some amazing graphics.

I thought God of War was progressive scan

[Stitches]

I hate you...

How'd you get it already(a US version I mean)?

[mor911]

I just played Valkarie Profile 2. That game has some amazing graphics.

I thought God of War was progressive scan
God of War did have progressive scan. FF12 is still better looking... Not resolution wise, but character models and graphical effects and such.

[Scatman]

mor when your in combat do you constantly have to like click to attack again as they hit you?

combat system felt kinda weird to me.....

[mor911]

mor when your in combat do you constantly have to like click to attack again as they hit you?

combat system felt kinda weird to me.....
once you give a character a command, they'll carry i out, then in their next turn (if you don't give them a command) they'll do a standard attack.

It get's more usable with Gambits. Gambits are AI tweaks you can give your party members. For example, When any character is under 40% of health, Balthier's #1 priority is to do first aid on the party member in question (in an effort to keep the character alive). These are completely customizable.

You can also turn Gambits off if you want to micro manage every aspect of every battle... I promise you, it will get old. You will use them. they'r not hard to setup. The one dumb thing about it, you have to buy additional gambits. You don't just get to enter the scenario you want the character to adjust to. You need to buy these gambit situations. It's pretty silly.

I am not a fan of the fighting in this game. I'm not against it, but I preffer FFX's fighting sceme much more. There's no more random encounters. I like that, but without random encounters there's also no battle music and no battle winning music... Both traditions in Final Fantasy games.

this game actually feels a lot more like Vagrant Story 2 than Final Fantasy XII. That's not saying it's bad. It just doesn't feel like an FF game.

[Majpain]

The fight system sounds cool. Much better than previous FF.

[Dolfan984]

I am getting this game the day it comes out.

[Stitches]

The combat system sounds cool, but like you said earlier Mor, I kind of play it expecting it to be turn based.

[Scatman]

once you give a character a command, they'll carry i out, then in their next turn (if you don't give them a command) they'll do a standard attack.

It get's more usable with Gambits. Gambits are AI tweaks you can give your party members. For example, When any character is under 40% of health, Balthier's #1 priority is to do first aid on the party member in question (in an effort to keep the character alive). These are completely customizable.

You can also turn Gambits off if you want to micro manage every aspect of every battle... I promise you, it will get old. You will use them. they'r not hard to setup. The one dumb thing about it, you have to buy additional gambits. You don't just get to enter the scenario you want the character to adjust to. You need to buy these gambit situations. It's pretty silly.

I am not a fan of the fighting in this game. I'm not against it, but I preffer FFX's fighting sceme much more. There's no more random encounters. I like that, but without random encounters there's also no battle music and no battle winning music... Both traditions in Final Fantasy games.

this game actually feels a lot more like Vagrant Story 2 than Final Fantasy XII. That's not saying it's bad. It just doesn't feel like an FF game.


about 2 hours in now... starting to adjust a little better to camera and fighting system
liking it more and more as i play....not as automatically engaging as ffx was.

[mor911]

Nice. I'm about 10 and a half hours in. The plot is getting thick fast. Great story. The fighting system is really becoming a serious downfall in the game. You never feel like you have full control of your party. The fights are a whole lot less exciting now.

Just beat this guy:
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[Scatman]

Nice. I'm about 10 and a half hours in. The plot is getting thick fast. Great story. The fighting system is really becoming a serious downfall in the game. You never feel like you have full control of your party. The fights are a whole lot less exciting now.

Just beat this guy:
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yea witt this system i was wondering how boss battles would play out....as even fighting a small group feels awkward.

i dont think mixing the old turn-based system with the new ...."wow style" plays out as well as they might have thought.

man, and i wish you had more control over the camera - liking being able to zoom in and out.

Regardless good game....but i feel this time is better just cause of story.

[mor911]

Yeah, the camera is really annoying at times. Agreed tho, still an excellent game.

[mor911]

I was trying to take a good screen shot, but the pics from my phone suck balls.
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[Bruzer]

Lol yea more you picture probably doesnt do game justice lol

[mor911]

A feature I forgot to point out, for the first time in Final Fantasy history (that I can think of) -- Your character regenerate MP while walking... GREAT NEW IDEA. Seriously, it saves so much time when leveling.

[Scatman]

Lol yea more you picture probably doesnt do game justice lol

i dont think the game is really that amazing graphically.....just think it was in development around 4 years ago or more...so its not that great in my opinion

i would give it an 8/10 for a ps2 game in the graphics department

[mor911]

Ok, my stance for the battle system has gone from "meh" to "dislike"... Because you never have full control of your party, boss battles later in the game tend to be unnesassarily hard.


FFXII Fighting :thumbsdown:

[Dol-Fan Dupree]

Ok, I know this is not really the right thread, but I am 7 hours into Valkairye Profile II and I love that game. The fighting is kind of fun. I actually enjoyed leveling my people up today.

[mor911]

Ok, I know this is not really the right thread, but I am 7 hours into Valkairye Profile II and I love that game. The fighting is kind of fun. I actually enjoyed leveling my people up today.
Awesome. VP2's fighting > FFXII fighting.