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ethelred · Nov 10, 2007

FINAL FANTASY XII: REVENANT WINGS
Official North American Thread

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The Essentials
 Publisher: Square Enix
 Developer: Square Enix and Think & Feel
 System: Nintendo DS
 Genre: Real-Time Strategy RPG

The Staff
 Director & Writer: Motomu Toriyama (Bahamut Lagoon; Final Fantasy X-2; Final Fantasy XIII)
 Music Composer: Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics; Final Fantasy XII)
 Character Designer: Ryoma Ito (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance; Children of Mana)
 Art Director: Toshitaka Matsuda (Final Fantasy X-2; Final Fantasy XIII)

The Release
 NA: 20 November 2007
 JP: 26 April 2007
 EU: lol who cares about Europe?

____________________________________________________________________

OVERVIEW
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is a sequel/side-story to Final Fantasy XII, the sprawling epic which covered the conquered kingdom of Dalmasca's efforts to resist the dominance of the Archadian Empire. The rebels (led by the kingdom's Princess Ashe B'nargin Dalmasca and fallen knight Captain Basch fon Ronsenberg; orphans Vaan and Penelo; and sky pirates Balthier and Fran) sought to use the power of the magical crystals known as Nethicite to stop the ambitions of Archadia's ruthless Judges and Prince Vayne Solidor. Revenant Wings begins a year after the conclusion of events in the main game and covers the quest of Vaan and Penelo to figure out their futures as sky pirates.

Where the original FFXII was a semi-real time RPG with automated field combat, FFXII: Revenant Wings is actually a fully real time Strategy RPG. And where the original game took place in cutting-edge 3D visuals, Revenant Wings features 2D sprites over colorful, vibrant 3D backgrounds. Gone is the expansive connecting overworld; instead, Revenant Wings features, like Final Fantasy X-2, a mission-based strucuture and has an airship available from the start of the game to travel to different locations. Most of the cast of the original game appears in Revenant Wings, but the tone is decidedly different -- Final Fantasy XII featured a dark story of betrayals and assassinations, but Revenant Wings, written by the director of Final Fantasy X-2, is a bit more humorous. The game also features copious amounts of high quality CG, with movies after many of the game's battles to help tell the story.

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MOVIES
E3 trailer
commercial
cutscenes & CG
gameplay trailer 1
gameplay trailer 2

____________________________________________________________________

GAMEPLAY
As mentioned before, FFXII: Revenant Wings is a real time SRPG. The player brings several leader characters (such as Vaan, Penelo, or Balthier) into battle, and they can summon groups of espers to help them fight. Battles play out in real time, with the player using the touch screen or button controls to target points on the map or specific groups of enemies. Like in Final Fantasy XII, characters will attack automatically when they move in range of enemies. You can also go into a menu to select spells and abilities for the characters to use. Characters acquire experience points and level up after battle.

Espers can be summoned into battle by way of gates placed around battlefields. If your espers die, it's important to summon new ones -- but you can't do that if your leader characters die as well. There are 51 espers in all that the player can learn to summon by mastering the game's License Grid. The summons are divided into several different combat types (melee, ranged, and flight) and six different elemental types. The three combat types form a triangle similar to Fire Emblem's rock-paper-scissors approahc. Each esper also has a rank from one to three, with rank three espers being the most powerful and the only type to be summoned individually rather than in groups.

____________________________________________________________________

NORTH AMERICAN CHANGES
It's becoming a recent tradition with Square Enix to make lots of little revisions and improvements for their games in the process of localizing them from Japanese for western audiences. Both Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions and Dragon Quest VIII received high quality voice acting when there was no VA at all in the original releases. Dragon Quest VIII also got a menu overhaul and a symphonic soundtrack. Final Fantasy Tactics had its much criticized slowdown reduced. Dirge of Cerberus received a number of gameplay modifications. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker has had a wifi mode added for its North American release.

So it's not a huge surprise that the company's also taken care to address some of the issues from the Japanese release of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings... but it's still great news all the same. One of the primary criticisms the game garnered originally was poor balance and an overall lack of challenge. In localizing the game for the west, Square Enix has gone back and done some rebalancing and they've added a greater amount of difficulty to make the game more enjoyable. Having demoed the US version of Revenant Wings, I can say that they definitely have added substantially to the difficulty.

Square Enix also wanted to address concerns about replayability, so they've added a version of Midlight's Deep (originally called Deep Dungeon in Final Fantasy Tactics) as a more challenging sidequest for determined players to complete. Midlight's Deep will also come with the difficult optional boss Yiazmat from Final Fantasy XII.

For those of you who actually want to play in Easy Mode, there's unfortunately no option available.

____________________________________________________________________

IMAGES

____________________________________________________________________

REVIEWS
Media Reviews:
GamePro: 9/10
Gamezone: 8.5/10
Play: 8.5/10
Hardcore Gamer Magazine: 8.5/10
IGN: 8.3/10
Gamespy: 8/10
1up: 8/10
Game Informer: 7.5/10, 8/10
EGM: 8, 7.5, 6
Nintendo Power: 7.5/10
Gaming Age: B
Ars Technica: Buy

GAF Review:
Bebpo: 8.5/10
Aeana: 7.9/10
Duckroll: 7/10

Jeremy Parish said:
The chapter-based story sends players through a linear series of self-contained battles posted around the world map with optional diversions. Between the rigid narrative structure, the amusing tone with an undercurrent of imminent doom, and the gameplay's streamlined take on a previous adventure, Revenant Wings is actually pretty similar to Final Fantasy X-2 -- which makes sense, since they're both the creation of FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama. They're also both fairly lightweight adventures that don't really add much to their predecessors' respective stories.

Lightweight doesn't mean worthless, though. Thanks to some tough (but never unreasonably frustrating) battles, a healthy dose of fan service, and a quality localization, Revenant Wings is a thoroughly enjoyable hybrid. It's hardly the second coming of Final Fantasy XII...but somehow manages to turn that into a strength anyway.

Bep said:
Personally I loved FFXII:RW. It captured the FFXII feel in an RTS for those who aren't really fans of the genre (aka, me). It's simple, with fast 5 min maps, but fun and filled with lush graphics, fantastic music and a nice FFXII-spinoff story. If you're a fan of FFXII and aren't a hardcore RTS buff who will hate the dumbed down RTS gameplay compared to PC RTS games, you should enjoy it.

ducky said:
Overall I feel the game was well worth playing, but it just falls short of the high expectations. It lacks real depth even though there's strategy in parts of the game, and some of the interface flaws can get aggravating at times.

There're definitely many, many ways S-E could have made the game much better, and I think handing the game to Think and Feel was a serious misstep. But once you get pass the fact that it's not a real FF game, and it's going to be a short diversion with nice graphics and music, it's pretty enjoyable.

GameSpy said:
Revenant Wings brings a lot of new elements to the table, but none of them are particularly excellent. The story is forgettable and the lack of strategy needed during battle is a bit disappointing, but far from game-ruining aspects. With the stellar control and the balance you must find for every battle made for a great experience. When you blend all of these things together, what you get is something that is an incredibly fun and capable title worth the time of FF XII fans or even those of the RTS persuasion.

Though it has a few blemishes, Revenant Wings still manages to be a good deal of fun. The way combat is handled is logical and enjoyable, making up for the missteps. If nothing else, we were happy to continue the adventure with some familiar faces and participate in some chaotic and tense battles. Thought it might not be what you were expecting, Revenant Wings is still a blast.

Gaming Age said:
Overall, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is fun take on the series, especially if you can overlook some of the poor judgment in the control of the game. With how good the game looks, and all of the different types of espers that can be recruited, players can get really creative with their armies. If you are a fan of the Final Fantasy series, and like real time strategy games with a dash of RPG elements, definitely take a good look at the game.

IGN said:
What Revenant Wings offers, however, is the next step in the story, complete with some inspiring music, beautiful visuals, impressive CGI, and some innovative RTS-like gameplay. Weve got a few gripes with the design, as units will often bunch together, enemy AI still isnt too bright, and the linear feel makes it easy to stock up on units and then run your blob of fighters from beginning to end with little challenge at least during the first half of the game but as an overall product Revenant Wings is nothing short of impressive. There are tons of side quests and hunts in the game, a huge amount of RPG depth in items, equipment, and skills, and an overwhelming amount of fan service for those that like us - cant get enough from the FFXII world.

Ars Technica said:
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is definitely the stand-out title in both Square-Enix's holiday line-up and the DS line-up as a whole. The story is captivating and well-presented, the gameplay is tight and feels more natural than the PS2 game which it succeeds, and the product as a whole is highly polished. It may cost a couple bucks more than most DS games, but it's definitely a worthwhile adventure whether you're a fan of the first game or not.

Aeana · Nov 10, 2007

Great thread, ethelred! I'm looking forward to trying the English version to see just how much things have changed from the Japanese version.

grandjedi6 · Nov 10, 2007

I'm probably going to wait until after the holidays to pick this up, way too many good games coming out this winter. However still I'm interested in playing this game.

Phthisis · Nov 10, 2007

Playable Basch and getting to return to Ivalice means I can disregard Ito's artwork (which I despise). Can't wait.

soul · Nov 10, 2007

Nice thread, 10 more days

Red Scarlet · Nov 10, 2007

Oh, I was wondering if this was coming out in NA or not.

PantherLotus · Nov 10, 2007

holy jesus this comes out on NOVEMBER 20th?!! i soooo forgot to put this on my list.

John Harker · Nov 10, 2007

I know ive asked this before but I don't recall a response.
Anyone know if the new gold DS Lites have the new shitty screens or are they on par with the better models?

I need this game, and I don't want to play it on my regular DS, so I finally want to jump in with the DS Lite, figured id get the zelda bundle... but I dont want it if its the screens everyone says sucks

ethelred · Nov 10, 2007

I don't know the answer, John. Sorry.

Phthisis said:
Playable Basch and getting to return to Ivalice means I can disregard Ito's artwork (which I despise). Can't wait.

And more Balthier and Fran, too. Can't wait! I had fun with the game with what I've played of it, so I'm really looking forward to the full release.

grandjedi6 said:
I'm probably going to wait until after the holidays to pick this up, way too many good games coming out this winter. However still I'm interested in playing this game.

This is one of the good games I've been waiting for this quarter.

Segata Sanshiro · Nov 10, 2007

Impressions from the Japanese version talked me out of this one, unfortunately.

Mejilan · Nov 10, 2007

Yep. Will buy. Heard the game was kinda crap though, no?

Aeana · Nov 10, 2007

Segata Sanshiro said:
Impressions from the Japanese version talked me out of this one, unfortunately.

Oh? I thought the impressions from those of us who played the Japanese version were generally pretty positive, but I only know of mine, Bebpo's, duckroll's and Jonnyram's.

Mejilan said:
Yep. Will buy. Heard the game was kinda crap though, no?

It has problems, but I still think it's a good game. I think some of the problems are fixed in the NA version, too.
duckroll was the harshest on it, and he gave it a 7 which I think is still pretty good.

ethelred · Nov 10, 2007

Mejilan said:
Yep. Will buy. Heard the game was kinda crap though, no?

I dunno. Bebpo really liked it, Jonnyram really liked it, Aeana liked it, Duckroll liked it but was disappointed in certain aspects. Not sure if anyone thought it was crappy. I played demos of the US and Japanese versions and I found it enjoyable, though obviously that's not the same as going through the whole game.

Segata Sanshiro · Nov 10, 2007

Aeana said:
Oh? I thought the impressions from those of us who played the Japanese version were generally pretty positive, but I only know of mine, Bebpo's and duckroll's.

You guys sounded kind of lukewarm-ish on it, aside from Bep who (god love him) has tastes about as far from mine as possible. There's way too many other things to play to bother with lukewarm.

Also, duckroll's thoughts on it elsewhere sure didn't make it sound like he enjoyed it all that much.

Dragona Akehi · Nov 10, 2007

That's so Canopus.

baruflea · Nov 10, 2007

[ ... ] lots of good content

-US version is a LOT tougher than the Japanese version

Day fucking one! :lol

Looks great and solid impressions. I'll put it on the list to be picked up.

MrDaravon · Nov 10, 2007

Segata Sanshiro said:
You guys sounded kind of lukewarm-ish on it, aside from Bep who (god love him) has tastes about as far from mine as possible. There's way too many other things to play to bother with lukewarm.

Also, duckroll's thoughts on it elsewhere sure didn't make it sound like he enjoyed it all that much.

I got the same vibe. Too much other shit that comes out the SAME DAY too. I'll pick it up within a few months for sure though.

dark_preacher · Nov 10, 2007

already pre-ordered, just need to buy a ds.

tokkun · Nov 10, 2007

I played around 4 hours of the Japanese version, and I wasn't a fan. The touch screen controls didn't seem precise and there wasn't enough depth to the strategy. It seems to occupy something of a weird space between SRPG and RTS, where you don't have the chess-like positioning of an SRPG or the resource-management complexity of an RTS.

ethelred · Nov 10, 2007

Segata Sanshiro said:
You guys sounded kind of lukewarm-ish on it, aside from Bep who (god love him) has tastes about as far from mine as possible. There's way too many other things to play to bother with lukewarm.

Also, duckroll's thoughts on it elsewhere sure didn't make it sound like he enjoyed it all that much.

He can probably clarify further if he wishes, but this is what he posted before:

duckroll said:
Final Verdict

FFXIIRW is a pretty good game overall. For a simple dumbed down RPGish RTS on a portable system it's pretty entertaining and the production values are really good. The game has a ton of control and balance issues and it would be pretty bad to expect a console level experience here. The game has a few challenging missions, but on a whole many of the missions are just really simple and easy.

The sprite work and music is excellent though, and really helps the experience. The story is well written and fun. There are ties to FFXII, but it's largely a stand alone story that takes place after the original game. There are good new characters and some great scenes. It's very similar to FFX-2 though, so not everyone might enjoy it. I sure did.

Overall I feel the game was well worth playing, but it just falls short of the high expectations. It lacks real depth even though there's strategy in parts of the game, and some of the interface flaws can get aggravating at times.

There're definitely many, many ways S-E could have made the game much better, and I think handing the game to Think and Feel was a serious misstep. But once you get pass the fact that it's not a real FF game, and it's going to be a short diversion with nice graphics and music, it's pretty enjoyable.

It helps to be a fan of FFXII and FF monsters too, since most of the appeal in the game comes from seeing what happens to the FFXII characters, and messing around with tons of FF creatures in your army.

And Jonnyram:

Jonnyram said:
Well, I played extensively today and I'm loving it.
I should read through the thread to see if there's anything I missed - I just read Bebpo's post pointing out that pressing X selects all. That would have saved me a few headaches

Differently from what duckroll posted just before me, it doesn't seem that the summons are assigned that randomly actually. For example, the classes of summons will always be matched with classes of leaders where possible -> i.e. Vaan gets close range summons, Penelo gets healer summons, etc. There may be some other rules too, to match elements and stuff, but I haven't looked much further into it yet.

I do think there's quite a challenge though, mainly due to the gambits being restricted to a single skill. I so far like to set Penelo to Esunaga and give her a bunch of curing summons, and that tends to work most of the time.

One thing that is a little unfortunate, is that it always seems easier to use two leaders instead of five on the most challenging missions. It's often too hard to manage five separate groups, and two or three end up getting killed randomly, if they wander off by themselves when you're not being ultra-careful. And progress tends to be a little slower with two groups, but it is definitely tighter to manage.

So I'm at 33% with about 6:00 on the clock, just beaten chapter 4. Story is very basic, but the graphics are really good (for the DS, of course), and the music is impressive too. Doubt I can finish it before FFTA2, but I might get far enough so that I'm hooked until I beat it, thus delaying FFTA2 a few days.

Jonnyram said:
Finished the game with 100% missions, 100% summons and 85% synthesis.
Just under 30 hours on the clock.

The game is really fun, quite a few challenges, and like others have said, the issue of characters not being able to walk through other characters, and having no AI to address this, is really shitty. There were times in the last few battles where my close range level 3 summon would be stuck on the outside, unable to battle, because they move slowly and the healers/mages always get to the scene first. So in the end those summons proved largely useless and I moved to the mid-range type.

So I have supposedly seen the secret ending - I'm not sure which part was secret though

I'm not trying to hard sell anyone on the game; just saying that it does seem the impressions were mostly favorable. I'm getting it, though, because I like the characters, love the world of Ivalice; I'm certain I'll enjoy the story, and I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy the gameplay as well.

Aeana · Nov 10, 2007

tokkun said:
I played around 4 hours of the Japanese version, and I wasn't a fan. The touch screen controls didn't seem precise and there wasn't enough depth to the strategy. It seems to occupy something of a weird space between SRPG and RTS, where you don't have the chess-like positioning of an SRPG or the resource-management complexity of an RTS.

That's probably why I like it. While I'd definitely prefer it to be a grid-based SRPG instead of what it is, I don't like RTS games. I was really worried about this prior to getting the game, in fact. The micro-management and stuff is something I really can't stand, but Revenant Wings ended up playing kind of like those maps in WarCraft 3 where you just move from one point to another instead of building a base (though you do use summon circles to amass your army in RW, and you have a crystal to defend sometimes).

RW is definitely an easy game (though not always, there actually were a number of parts where I had serious problems), but it's already been confirmed that the NA release is much more difficult... so I don't think that's something to worry about.

kay · Nov 10, 2007

REVIEWS
None yet!

There are some reviews if you want to count them, 2 are fully readable.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/finalfantasy12revenantwings

zurra · Nov 10, 2007

Don't forget this gem, from IGN's interview with Toriyama at E3:

Revenant Wings launched in Japan last April. What sort of changes can US gamers expect for its North American debut?

Motomu Toriyama: We're changing the overall game balance and adjusting that for the US audience. We've also placed new enemy units in battles and added new enemy unit gambits. The North American release will provide a completely different game play experience than the original domestic release.

When the original version was released in Japan, there were some complaints about its replay value. We've added some deep dungeons to the North American release. If you go into these dungeons, you could probably keep playing there forever. There's also a new boss, Yazmat, from Final Fantasy XII. Overall, it's a bit more difficult.

Please let me play forever. I put about 20 hours into the Japanese version before getting overloaded with other things and loved every minute of it. Can't wait to pick this up.

ethelred · Nov 10, 2007

Aeana said:
That's probably why I like it. While I'd definitely prefer it to be a grid-based SRPG instead of what it is, I don't like RTS games. I was really worried about this prior to getting the game, in fact.

Yeah, this is probably a big determining factor. You don't like RTSes and I don't think Bebpo has much experience with them... whereas Ducky is a big fan of them, and he was the one who was the most disappointed. I don't really want a hardcore RTS experience, personally -- and I would've wanted even more for RW to be a turn-based FFXII Tactics. The blend of RPG and RTS and the exclusion of many of the hardcore RTS elements is almost certainly going to be a very, very good thing for me, but it'll probably be disappointing for people who like RTSes.

kay said:
There are some reviews if you want to count them, 2 are fully readable.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/finalfantasy12revenantwings

Ah, okay. Thanks!

Mejilan · Nov 10, 2007

Well, it can't be any more shallow, pointless, and tedious than the console game it's spun off from. And hell, even if it is, it'll be portable! Looking forward to it!

ethelred · Nov 10, 2007

Mejilan said:
Well, it can't be any more shallow, pointless, and tedious than the console game it's spun off from. And hell, even if it is, it'll be portable! Looking forward to it!

I don't know about that. I really loved Final Fantasy XII (which is part of why I'm looking forward to this). But yeah, this probably isn't the place for that old debate.

zurra said:
Don't forget this gem, from IGN's interview with Toriyama at E3:
Please let me play forever. I put about 20 hours into the Japanese version before getting overloaded with other things and loved every minute of it. Can't wait to pick this up.

Interesting. I hadn't realized that Deep Dungeon/Midlight Deep was just being added for the NA version.

Attack You · Nov 10, 2007

On a scale of 1-5, how badly will this game spoil FF12's story? My DS is more convenient to play than my PS2 right now.

Mejilan · Nov 10, 2007

1, since FFXII had a terrible story that went nowhere. FFXII spoiled FFXII's story. ;p

In all seriousness, these types of sequels/spin-offs typically have some kind of recap to catch those up that didn't play the original, but should be sufficiently stand-alone as well. That is, if it'll even need a recap.

grandjedi6 · Nov 10, 2007

Attack You said:
On a scale of 1-5, how badly will this game spoil FF12's story? My DS is more convenient to play than my PS2 right now.

They have called this game a side story with no set timeline compared to the main game so...nothing?

jj984jj · Nov 10, 2007

grandjedi6 said:
They have called this game a side story with no set timeline compared to the main game so...nothing?

Umm... no they didn't, they said it's not FFXII-2, the story obviously tells us what happens to Vann and Penelo after FFXII.

Llyranor · Nov 10, 2007

This game was generally considered superior to Heroes of Mana, right? There was a time I was considering picking up both, but now I'm not sure I'd get either. The concept of a RTS-RPG was nice, but I'd want it to be tactically engaging and be spot on with stylus controls/interface, with good pathfinding and AI.

Diablos54 · Nov 10, 2007

ethelred said:
EU: lol who cares about Europe?

That hurts...

FoxSpirit · Nov 10, 2007

Will this heavily spoil FFXII for me should I pick it up?

ethelred · Nov 10, 2007

FoxSpirit said:
Will this heavily spoil FFXII for me should I pick it up?

Well, all the cast of FFXII returns, so at the very least you'll know what their status is at the end of that game. I don't think Revenant Wings goes too into detail about the stuff that occurs throughout the FFXII story, though, but I don't really know for sure.

Deadly Monk · Nov 10, 2007

Can't wait.

So many good games that week! My wallet will cry but it's worth it.

ethelred · Nov 17, 2007

I updated the first post with some of the reviews rolling in.

1up: 8/10
Game Informer: 7.5/10, 8/10
EGM: 8, 7.5, 6

From Parish's review:

Final Fantasy XII spin-off Revenant Wings is neither a true role-playing game nor a full-fledged real-time strategy game. It does sort of resemble each -- in fact, it spends most of its time oscillating between the two -- but don't be fooled. It's actually an odd hybrid that incorporates elements of both genres yet ultimately works like neither.

Understanding this fact is essential to enjoying Revenant Wings, because if you go into it expecting a pure experience -- a game that fits snugly into the little boxes and boundaries we like to draw around gameplay -- you'll come away infuriated. Japanese developers aren't really known for their outstanding work in the RTS field, and Revenant Wings won't be changing that reputation anytime soon. Yes, you can control up to 25 units at a time, and they're grouped into traditional RTS types (melee, ranged, and aerial). That's really as far as the game ever journeys into strategy territory, though; standard RTS concepts like resource-hoarding and progressive unit construction are either absent or have been simplified to such an extreme as to be almost unrecognizable. Even your warriors' autonomous artificial intelligence is hand-waved as "gambits" -- you know, the customization-heavy command sets from FFXII.

[...]

The chapter-based story sends players through a linear series of self-contained battles posted around the world map with optional diversions. Between the rigid narrative structure, the amusing tone with an undercurrent of imminent doom, and the gameplay's streamlined take on a previous adventure, Revenant Wings is actually pretty similar to Final Fantasy X-2 -- which makes sense, since they're both the creation of FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama. They're also both fairly lightweight adventures that don't really add much to their predecessors' respective stories.

Lightweight doesn't mean worthless, though. Thanks to some tough (but never unreasonably frustrating) battles, a healthy dose of fan service, and a quality localization, Revenant Wings is a thoroughly enjoyable hybrid. It's hardly the second coming of Final Fantasy XII...but somehow manages to turn that into a strength anyway.

Lightning · Nov 18, 2007

I buy very few DS games but I am definitely buying this one. I love FFXII on the PS2 so to continue things on I will buy this one as well.

Raging Spaniard · Nov 18, 2007

Damn I did the search too and found nothing! Oh well, sorry mods

sykoex · Nov 18, 2007

I'm really hoping this game isn't bogged down by huge amounts of text.

Most japanese ds rpg games i've played lately seem to be 5 minutes of text, 1 minute of gameplay, 7 minutes of text, 2 minutes of gameplay.

I wish more developers would take a note from games Contra 4 and Orcs and Elves.

Aeana · Nov 19, 2007

sykoex said:
I'm really hoping this game isn't bogged down by huge amounts of text.

Most japanese ds rpg games i've played lately seem to be 5 minutes of text, 1 minute of gameplay, 7 minutes of text, 2 minutes of gameplay.

I wish more developers would take a note from games Contra 4 and Orcs and Elves.

So you wish RPGs were action games?

adoniszero · Nov 19, 2007

I do not wish to enter into protracted and ultimately fruitless arguments about the merits of this game with people who reflexively love every game with Final Fantasy in the title. I do, however, want to do my best to warn fence-sitters that this game would be a waste of their time and money. I explain the reasons in detail in my review:

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/ds/finalfantasyxiirevenantwings/

If anyone wants clarifications I will happily oblige, but I repeat that I will only answer people who are clearly well-meaning. Aggressive/snide comments I will ignore.

MrDaravon · Nov 19, 2007

adoniszero said:
I do not wish to enter into protracted and ultimately fruitless arguments about the merits of this game with people who reflexively love every game with Final Fantasy in the title. I do, however, want to do my best to warn fence-sitters that this game would be a waste of their time and money. I explain the reasons in detail in my review:

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/ds/finalfantasyxiirevenantwings/

If anyone wants clarifications I will happily oblige, but I repeat that I will only answer people who are clearly well-meaning. Aggressive/snide comments I will ignore.

Yeah, I stopped reading your review right here, sorry.

You see the DS wasn't designed with RTS games in mind (in fact it wasn't designed with any videogames in mind, but let's open that can of worms some other day shall we).

Aeana · Nov 19, 2007

adoniszero said:
I do not wish to enter into protracted and ultimately fruitless arguments about the merits of this game with people who reflexively love every game with Final Fantasy in the title. I do, however, want to do my best to warn fence-sitters that this game would be a waste of their time and money. I explain the reasons in detail in my review:

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/ds/finalfantasyxiirevenantwings/

If anyone wants clarifications I will happily oblige, but I repeat that I will only answer people who are clearly well-meaning. Aggressive/snide comments I will ignore.

From the person that brought us that ASH review, another overwhelmingly negative DS review. Keep 'em coming.

Llyranor · Nov 19, 2007

SailorDaravon said:
Yeah, I stopped reading your review right here, sorry.

Heh, I stopped reading at that same spot.

ethelred · Nov 19, 2007

adoniszero said:
I do, however, want to do my best to warn fence-sitters that this game would be a waste of their time and money. I explain the reasons in detail in my review:

Oh, god.

Squeenix's complete and utter inability to produce a half-decent game

You see the DS wasn't designed with RTS games in mind (in fact it wasn't designed with any videogames in mind, but let's open that can of worms some other day shall we).

Awesome stuff.

adoniszero said:
If anyone wants clarifications I will happily oblige, but I repeat that I will only answer people who are clearly well-meaning. Aggressive/snide comments I will ignore.

Yes, the review wasn't at all designed to provoke snide responses.

Jonnyram · Nov 19, 2007

Haha. I stopped reading at the same point as the previous two people and just came to post about it :lol

The additions to the US version sound pretty cool. I think it could probably do with some harder content for really hardcore gamers, because even beating the game 100% only took 30 hrs or so, and wasn't what I would call difficult.

I don't think there are any major spoilers for people who haven't played FFXII yet, but I would say this game is 2-3x more enjoyable for people who have beaten FFXII because you have more attachment to the characters. The character development in this game is really not that major, and the new chars do nothing for me.

Mejilan · Nov 19, 2007

adoniszero said:
I do not wish to enter into protracted and ultimately fruitless arguments about the merits of this game with people who reflexively love every game with Final Fantasy in the title. I do, however, want to do my best to warn fence-sitters that this game would be a waste of their time and money. I explain the reasons in detail in my review:

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/ds/finalfantasyxiirevenantwings/

If anyone wants clarifications I will happily oblige, but I repeat that I will only answer people who are clearly well-meaning. Aggressive/snide comments I will ignore.

It's not often that someone posts a review in an attempt to contribute to an official thread, and ultimately wind up posting -1 contributions. But you've done it. Kudos.

I'm sorry, was that aggressive/snide? Are you going to try to lump into the Final Fanboys category, ignoring my earlier posts in this thread?

FateBreaker · Nov 19, 2007

Llyranor said:
Heh, I stopped reading at that same spot.

Now, now. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Went on his website. Saw a 2/5 for ASH. lol wtf okay whatever. 1/5 for FFXII:RW? Gtfo. Okay maybe he just rates synically

BULLET WITCH A 4/5?? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU. Argjhjsdfddslfgrr.

ethelred · Nov 19, 2007

FateBreaker said:
Now, now. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Went on his website. Saw a 2/5 for ASH. lol wtf okay whatever. 1/5 for FFXII:RW? Gtfo. Okay maybe he just rates synically

BULLET WITCH A 4/5?? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU. Argjhjsdfddslfgrr.

The ASH review was really bad.

explodet · Nov 22, 2007

The IGN FFXII: Revenant Wings review.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/837/837090p1.html

OVERALL
8.3 (out of 10 / not an average)

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