Final Fantasy XII

[Zell]

I've accepted hunt 5 with the cluckatrice in giza plains and I have no idea how to find it. The woman said I should ask the kids but no-one is giving me any help.

[Hellfire]

I've started playing again, but I'm stuck in a boss and far away from a teleporting stone. Annoying. This game is hard if you don't grind.

[Zell]

I've accepted hunt 5 with the cluckatrice in giza plains and I have no idea how to find it. The woman said I should ask the kids but no-one is giving me any help.

 

Okay, found the cluckatrice and it's much better than me so I think I'll leave that...

 

I've found myself having plenty of license points and so I have a fair few licenses but I never seem to have enough gil to buy all the awesome stuff I just got licenses for. A lot of armour for instance...

[Samdecahedron]

I'm about 15 hours in, and i have to say, whilst it's a great RPG, it seems to have forgoten what makes Final Fantasy great. The characters just don't appeal to me, i don't really care what happens to them, and for me that was always a big part of FF games. The battle system works, but i still prefer the old turn based style, planning everything as you wanted. The music isn't as good as before, either. i loved the FF7-X music so much i downloaded the albums, they create so much of the games atmosphere, and XIIs music seems like it could be any old RPG. Like i said, it's a perfectly fine RPG, i just wanted something that bit more special.

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm about 15 hours in, and i have to say, whilst it's a great RPG, it seems to have forgoten what makes Final Fantasy great. The characters just don't appeal to me, i don't really care what happens to them, and for me that was always a big part of FF games. The battle system works, but i still prefer the old turn based style, planning everything as you wanted. The music isn't as good as before, either. i loved the FF7-X music so much i downloaded the albums, they create so much of the games atmosphere, and XIIs music seems like it could be any old RPG. Like i said, it's a perfectly fine RPG, i just wanted something that bit more special.

 

You have pretty much said what many a FF fan and reviewer have said. If you grew up with FF games and loved the rachise the way it was then FFXIII would probably not be to your liking. I read about this and I waited for a few peoples thoughts before I decided whether to buy the game or not and it looks to be true.

 

I personally never wanted the series gameplay or story telling to change at all but thats just me. I can see why S-E have made these changes though but I still prefer the classic FF style. Heres hoping that Blue Dragon can give me my old skool RPG fix.

[Samdecahedron]

You have pretty much said what many a FF fan and reviewer have said. If you grew up with FF games and loved the rachise the way it was then FFXIII would probably not be to your liking. I read about this and I waited for a few peoples thoughts before I decided whether to buy the game or not and it looks to be true.

 

I personally never wanted the series gameplay or story telling to change at all but thats just me. I can see why S-E have made these changes though but I still prefer the classic FF style. Heres hoping that Blue Dragon can give me my old skool RPG fix.

 

I just think back to FFX and FFVIII as examples, and (as geeky as it may sound) there are so many great memories, and i honestly can't see me thinking the same about XII. But games like Dragon Quest that are just turns bore me, FF games always seemed to make it seem you were actually battling rather than selecting moves from a box, and that's what i loved. On the plus side, the boss music rules.

[Chuck]

Im on the airship and Ive got to et to the bridge to get my stone and the princess back, but just before I can get there, four Soliders and two Judges appear, and I am completly annialiated. Is there a Black Magic that is espiecally effective?

[Hellfire]

Im on the airship and Ive got to et to the bridge to get my stone and the princess back, but just before I can get there, four Soliders and two Judges appear, and I am completly annialiated. Is there a Black Magic that is espiecally effective?

 

I remember that part giving me trouble, I lead them to a door killed one, went inside the door, healed, go out, rinse, repeat.

[Philthy]

Also - only focus on the two judges... take them out and the others are no longer an issue.

 

 

Have to agree with many of the comments about this game. Here's my overall opinion 30 hours in...

 

Story, art/music direction and characters just aren't Final Fantasy. They've kept as many elements as possible to make it seem like a FF game, best example being the two massive FF themes in the opening sequence and also the victory music after bosses (which seems odly out of place).

 

I do however love the battle structure and the MMORPG ish elements make it very addictive to just grind and hunt for rare items, weapons and monsters - far more so than other RPG's. The gambit system is genious, the license board less-so. I'm not fond of the lack of a true main character and the fact that the main plot is much more politically driven than character driven. Vaan is very, very irritating though so it is nice that I can swap him out for Balthier rather than being forced to keep him 90% of the time.

 

Overall I'm really enjoying this as a great RPG, although I don't "feel" that this is a Final Fantasy game. This is a cross between FFXI, Vagrant Story and Phantasy Star Online which isn't a bad thing by any means, just not what you'd expect from a flagship FF title.

 

For the record, my fav FF games are: FFVIII, FFVI and FFVII. I'm really hoping that stylistically, FFXIII is more along the lines of VIII which had my favourite characters, plot and world.

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm really hoping that stylistically, FFXIII is more along the lines of VIII which had my favourite characters, plot and world.

 

I like you already

[Zell]

I like you already

 

He knows his stuff .

[Samdecahedron]

I like you already

 

FF8 Forever! I feel like going crazy at anyone who dares insult it.

[Aimless]

At the risk of generalising, I think the reason we all like Final Fantasy VIII is because it was a love story. And that's something that seems sorely lacking in XII, at least that's my impression at about 25 hours on the clock.

 

The Gambit system is proving a bit more useful now, but it still annoys me that I know what kind of rules I'd like to set up but I simply don't have the Gambits. And I'm sure I should have "foe: Lowest HP" by now, but I can't seem to find it in any of the shops.

 

Is there a way that you can preview all of an item's stats -before- buying it? I know it shows two at the top, but there doesn't seem to be any way to see how items will affect a characters stats (Strength, Speed, etcetera) without handing over Gil. At the moment I've taken to saving, buying, checking, and then reloading if necessary, but I'm sure there must be an easier way.

[mariosmentor]

The gambit system is missing quite a bit in my opinion.

Its just a low level way to program bots.

Its almost as if they gave you kingdom hearts characters and stripped away the AI.

 

I just feel in combat it's all too obvious your fighting with a couple of bots. It just takes away from the magic of final fantasy when your characters are nothing but poor AI bots because the gambits are not detailed enough.

 

Has anyone perfected a steal gambit yet? The closest I had was steal foe hp = 100% but that didn't last too long. I usuallu pummel one enemy then head onto another well the stealing character would randomly steal off another enemy while I pummeled. However once he stole he would just continue stealing from the same 100% hp enemy until i gave it a slap. Pain in the ass.

 

Don't know if there is one but there should be a gambit for "Until succesful" for theiving.

[Philthy]

You aren't wrong in saying that VIII had a great love story but I think there was more to it than just that. The plot was intelligent and required some deep thinking and was multi-layered throughout. Of course again that is important, but for me the most important thing is the characters and personally I can't think of a better set of characters than Squall and co.

 

Also damned fantastic was the whole "SeeD" concept where you were part of an elite military unit - loved it. Oh, and the soundtrack is easily Uematsu's finest ever.

 

To this day I still don't understand the hate for this game that so many people seem to have...

[Aimless]

You aren't wrong in saying that VIII had a great love story but I think there was more to it than just that.

I was just using it as a segue to point out the seeming lack of romance in XII, really. But part of the reason that VIII is my favourite of the series is due to the fact that it is a love story. More than one, in fact.

 

The plot was intelligent and required some deep thinking and was multi-layered throughout. Of course again that is important, but for me the most important thing is the characters and personally I can't think of a better set of characters than Squall and co.

I liked the way it tied up two generations, and how it pointed at the fact Squall is Laguna's son — and Rinoa Julia's daughter — without making a big scene out of it. I'm not too sure about all the Ultimecia stuff, though, but then I've only played through to the very end once so perhaps I've just missed things.

 

Also damned fantastic was the whole "SeeD" concept where you were part of an elite military unit - loved it. Oh, and the soundtrack is easily Uematsu's finest ever.

Have you heard 'Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec', the album of arranged tracks from the game? Fantastic.

 

Anyway, Final Fantasy XII...

 

I almost bought the hardback guide from GAME today, but they were charging £17.99. I had put it in my basket at Amazon a few days ago, but when I remembered yesterday and went to buy it the price had gone up by about £5.

 

Does anyone have it? Does it have any 'extras', such as some kind of story synopsis/background, concept art, and that kind of thing?

[Oxigen_Waste]

My party is as follows:

- Vaan

- Basch

 

(I'm missing a third element, and cannot decide between Ashe and Fran... wich is more balanced?)

[Hellfire]

Man the giruvegan part is infinite! I just want to get over it! Damn it! Also, I get dizzy playing this game, I have low blood pressure, so when a game has low framerate or is kind of blurry (like ICO and this when moving) I can't play it for a long time without taking a break. About party suggestions, I already said to you, I love Fran :P But that maybe because she's hot. I don't know. I let the hormones do the choosing.

[Philthy]

I was just using it as a segue to point out the seeming lack of romance in XII, really. But part of the reason that VIII is my favourite of the series is due to the fact that it is a love story. More than one, in fact.

 

 

I liked the way it tied up two generations, and how it pointed at the fact Squall is Laguna's son — and Rinoa Julia's daughter — without making a big scene out of it. I'm not too sure about all the Ultimecia stuff, though, but then I've only played through to the very end once so perhaps I've just missed things.

 

 

Have you heard 'Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec', the album of arranged tracks from the game? Fantastic.

 

 

I also loved that aspect of the story and it's surprising how many people I know who've played it never realised. I've played through maybe 10 times now and every time I pick up on other little details in the plot which is simply amazing.

 

I certainly have that album - infact one of my favourite CD's overall. I absolutely love the re-imagined "Fragments of Memories" at the end of the album. The arrangement is superb and I love how they've fleshed out the original Music Box track into a sweeping orchestral composition whilst retaining everything about the original track.

 

Also I loved the end section of "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" where it gets a little shall we say freaky especially if you're listening through headphones and forget it's coming.

[mariosmentor]

My party is as follows:

- Vaan

- Basch

 

(I'm missing a third element, and cannot decide between Ashe and Fran... wich is more balanced?)

 

You really should use everybody. When one part memeber gets a level above everybody else i switch them around.

For example my team is balthier, ashe and basch at 27 with vaan at 28 fran and penelo at 27.

When any of my current team levels up to 28 i just switch them for one of the other lv 27's on the reserves. That way I don't have any weak links making boss battles much eaiser. Just beat earth tyrant and elder wrym with a problem.

 

The thing is this game is a bit more free flowing in terms of character development. They really are just what you make them with very little difference between them.

[Hellfire]

To use everybody you'll either waste a lot of time leveling them up or you'll never be in high levels. I don't really like it when non party memebers dont get any exp, they should get at least 1/4 or something.

Anyway, just beat the trickster and I feel pretty good, level V marks aren't too hard right now and I'm at lvl 48. Also got an accessory that makes me have bubble (2x hp) all the time, which rocks.

[CooInTheZoo]

im trying to get everyone to the same level. im 12 hours in, and i have maybe spent almost 4 hours leveling up inbetween stuff, and im level 13! just got a guest character and he's level 17! wtf is going on here, i might just stick to 3 characters and make sure they are high levels.

 

anyone got a reccomendation on which 3? i cant face leveling up much more in this bloody area

[Ellmeister]

is my spoiler thing showing? :S

 

I like the game, i agree its lost a bit of what people would call real FF, but i'm starting to get into the story.

 

Im hate the CONGRATULATIONS you get they all look so queer with their poses especially Vaan

[Philthy]

I went along the lines of levelling just three characters past level 20. (Now at around level 64 with my main party)

 

Since all the characters get LP the other 3 characters will have thousands spare later in the game which means that you'll be able to equip them with all the powerful weapons and status upgrades yet be at low levels. Combine that with accessories that give double EXP and these characters will take no time in levelling up being able to battle easily in areas well above the recommended level.

 

Anyways, I'm really enjoying the gameplay of this game but right at the end of the game I still don't feel anything for any of the characters or plot so far which is a great shame. It would be very sweet to build the next MMORPG along these lines though... grinding is actually fun in this game. (also would be sweet if the next FF online allowed you to have a couple of AI controlled characters....)

[KKOB]

This is such a great game! I don't understand how people can say it doesn't feel like Final Fantasy, it feels like one of the best FFs for me so far.