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Final Fantasy XII....Surprised how well parts of it have aged!

poodaddy

Gold Member
wow, never heard good things about it until now. Should i play?
Hey broham. For what it's worth, my FF rankings go like this.

FF VI
FF XII
FF Tactics
FF IX
FF IV
FF X

I think you should play it. Might dig it. Be aware that it's a much more political story, and has much deeper lore and writing than most other entries in the series. If you didn't like Tactics or Vagrant Story, I'd say skip it. I love it though.
 

itshutton

Member
I used to think this game was the death of Final Fantasy. Then I played the re-master, platinumed it and loved every minute. What a game!

Just to call out the hunt system as well. I am convinced Monster Hunter was born from this game.
 

hyperbertha

Member
This is the most divisive game in the FF franchise. The comments here ranging from 'BEST EVER' to 'trash' is not surprising.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
It aged well. Stinks just as much as it always has..
 

Fuz

Banned
Story was ridiculosly bad, the main chast was underwhelming but it's not completely a bad game. Good art style and good worldbuilding and exploration.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Im about 70 percent or so through the story, but can't bring myself to beat it. I hate the license and gambit systems. The combat, story and characters aren't particularly good either.
Oh that’s my favorite part about the game. I still load up the game every once on a while to just walk through the area’s having my team demolish everything in site. 😈
 
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NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
“I slew your king! I slew your country!”

Also Fran is the only furry I can endorse fetishizing. A healthy degree removed from Playboy bunnies.
Fran is the sexiest thing that ever featured in a video game.
I only tried FFXII when it was on Game Pass and even then I didn’t get far because the gambit system gives just too many options too fast and I got overwhelmed. But jeez, that bunny girl.
 

StueyDuck

Member
I wish I could get Into 12... one of my favorite franchises and I've completed every title minus 11 and 12.

I don't know why but 12s story just bores me. The weird combat doesn't help.
 

Komatsu

Member
The characters and dialogue are pretty low quality.

Matsuno could outwrite Nojima and most FF writers in his sleep.

FFXII as Matsuno wanted to do it would have been the greatest game in the franchise - a title that belongs to another Matsuno title, FFT - but even FFXII with the untimely changes Kawazu et al brought in after Matsuno's departure is still one of the best games in the franchise.
 

TheDreadLord

Gold Member
I did enjoy the battle system. It actually is pretty deep when you’re leveled up and have all the options available. On the other hand, when it comes to content, I feel that the game is a little bit barren. Besides the hunts there isn’t really much left. The rng aspect is also a bit tedious sometimes with a few drops requiring more than 100 attempts.
 

SCB3

Member
This is a weird game for me as I know I've played a considerable amount, but I can't remember anything about it

Maybe I should get this on Steam and have it as a Steam Deck game, I was thinking of grabbing a bunch of the FF games on sale anyway
 

ChoosableOne

ChoosableAll
The first Final Fantasy game I've played. Although I like turn based games, other final fantasy games just didn't draw me in, because of random encounters probably. I was very close to finishing it but either my ps2 or the disc was broken, I can't remember exactly, so I couldn't finish it. Now I can't afford to play that many hours again. I had a lot of fun in the nearly 100 hours I played.
 

Vognerful

Member
I remember playing it when it first came out and I found the story and characters really boring, but was still able to put 100+ hours into it and coming short of 2 hunts to complete the game.

but now, I can tell you that it is my 2nd best game after IX. I feel now that I was not fare to XII story and characters and I can now understand and empathize with its character. the story is a bit more mature than previous entries.

Also, for people complaining about Vaan and Panelo being too shallow and stupid protagonists, THEY ARE NOT THE PROTAGONSITS! they are supposed to be like you; watching Bash and Ashe (who are the actual main protagonists) trying to achieve their revenge on the empire.
 

Kumomeme

Member
now same art director Hiroshi Minagawa is working for FF16.

we will see how FF16 aged in next 10-15 years later in future.
 

Days like these...

Have a Blessed Day
I very recently replayed and completed FFXII for the 1st time since it launched. I was 16 years old when I first played it and 32 when I replayed it.

How foolish the 16 year old me was. The game was so ahead of its time on the PS2 and my 16yo chimp brain back then didn't appreciate how incredible the world they crafted is, as well as the writing, battle mechanics and much more.

I was part of the FFX was the last great new mainline FF brigrade, but now think it was XII (never played XIV and know its meant to be up there with the rest before some of you jump on me). Now I'm very excited for XVI considering the respect the dev team have for Matsuno and staff crossover from XII.
FFIX was the last great mainline FF. X put me off the series even though I've heard good things about Xll
 
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NecrosaroIII

Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
I think the reason I ended up loving FFXIV so much is because a lot of 12's DNA is the game, especially in ARR and Heavensward. If you like FF12, give FF14 a try OP
 
I tried playing it twice but wasn't in the mood both times. I should give this game another chance. What's the best way to play this visually? PC with some mods?
 

Davesky

Member
I baught the game on launch but never got far, was so preoccupied with my social life at the time leaving school and also the upcoming release of PS3. Played the remaster a few years ago and loved it just as much as any other in the series. I think the remaster really helped to show off the world that was created and also the improvement to gameplay with the zodiac system. I thought the story was great, some mature themes with subtle nods to earlier elements in the series with the Occuria. It’s just a shame that Basch wasn’t kept as the main character. Playing the game later made me realise that the game was really far ahead of its time.
 
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I baught the game on launch but never got far, was so preoccupied with my social life at the time leaving school and also the upcoming release of PS3. Played the remaster a few years ago and loved it just as much as any other in the series. I think the remaster really helped to show off the world that was created and also the improvement to gameplay with the zodiac system. I thought the story was great, some mature themes with subtle nods to earlier elements in the series with the Occuria. It’s just a shame that Basch wasn’t kept as the main character. Playing the game later made me realise that the game was really far ahead of its time.
Oh yeah they released FF12 on PS2 even though the PS3 had already come out iirc. Sony must have been pretty pissed.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
FFXII is my number one FF game. I like a lot about it. Okay, the vanilla version I had difficulties to get to terms with. But the Zodiac Versions are great to me. Even without the QoL features I would still love this game the same. I only used speed up when I was farming materials or for zoning in and out. I went through rest of the game at normal pace. But farming is rather painless now because of the optional faster speed.

FFXII has the art direction of the Ivalice/Matsuno games, it has the world building of those games, its about an ensemble and not really a chosen one OP protag with a complicated history. The writing and delivery is mature, and not pretentious. Compare this part to XIII for example. I like the pace, there is not too many cutscenes and I feel the game moves at a good rate if you just play it. Downside of this is that all the world building, villains etc do take a backseat during the second half. Since they are very well written, its a shame the Judges are being backseated.

The game is my favourite too. I like setting tactics and see them work well. To me its pretty cool if I see my party casting Oil and Fire on ice enemies, or cure negative statuses appropriately. I still micromanaged a ton. I gave many manual commands. But for trash mob its great if you can just walk in and let the game play for you. Esp. if you are farming rare drops.

What I don't like about it is perhaps a remnant of its time. The game obviously tries to push you towards an official guide. There are random drops and chests in here, also in the Zodiac versions, you will never find. Let alone the crafting. You can craft very cool weapons, but I don't see how this is possible without guide. This was at a time when Square pushed their own guides and PlayOnline site. They wanted you to sub.
 

SSfox

Member
The thing that really hit me most, is the loading screen every 10m walk. Still great FF game, but not my fav of course. It has some super cool characters tho.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
One little thing I appreciate is how buffs are a lot more useful because you can cast them outside of battle + don’t wear off at the end of battle.

It’s pretty stupid how in the older FF games, it’s completely pointless to use buffs/regen outside of boss battles. And even in boss battles they were, at best, situationally useful.

Then FF XIII took it a step further and came up with a battle system where every single role/ability/buff/debuff was useful even in non-boss battles + where knowing how to use them all was crucial. I thought that was pretty awesome. And yet the “turn-based games are more STRATEGIC” purists still wish for a return to the old days where you just pick “attack” from a menu over and over until you win…
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
wow, never heard good things about it until now. Should i play?
You didn't hear good things about it because there's an rabid portion of the FF fanbase who seem to have series derangement syndrome if a modern FF game dares to have different gamplay to the PS1 entries. To this portion of the fanbase, the most important element that defines an FF game is turn-based combat for some reason, not emphasis on story, characters, world building, themes of heroism, sacrifice, music, cinematics, production values etc etc..


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Even upon release it was one of the most praised FF games, up there with FFIX, but that portion of the fanbase discredted it as a bad game, when it's actually one of the most well crafted games from that generation and puts many of the games released during the PS3 era to shame and also holds up today against modern games.
 
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I hate the battle system and license board so I've never been able to stick with it more than a few hours. A shame because I love everything else.
The studio forgot they are suppose to make a GAME.
For example, they gave Balthier a special gun firing animation, and the same for Fran with the bow... But because of that, it SLOWS their attack rate down, so they are the worst users of their respective weapons in the party.

This tells you all you need to know, that the studio focused on anything BUT the gameplay. You are basically nerfing yourself if you try to be lore accurate.

It also plays like an MMO with randomized loot chests. But that is just my anger that single player gamers are not respected these days.
 
This is me, I've tried so many times to play through it, and I always quit at the airship level. I just find it so boring to actually play. I want to like it, but I just don't.
I have tried to play through this game twice: on PS4 and then on PS2. Your post made me realize that I quit both times at the point you mention.

This game is just boring. The license board and the combat itself are just not fun.
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
This games ages like wine for me. And since the Zodiac release its my number one FF ever.

I like the world, characters, narrative and VA and the OST is severely underrated. The gameplay I find excellent. Micromanaging your party, seeing your settings play out as you envisioned. And some manual management inbetween. But you can play it full manual too.

I like how you can opt to AI battle low level trash mob instead of having to constantly mash them manually.

Its however a misconception that this game reviewed medicore. It didn't. I believe Famitsu gave it a 10, and Edge a 9 or 10 as well. But many praised it. It sits on a high average. And this was about the inferior vanilla PS2 edition. Square should've built on this one and not regress so much with the retarded FFXIII.
 

Myths

Member
Came here to just say this as I do always for this game: not surprised at all. It’s top two best FF games period.
 
I played through this recently on the Switch and really enjoyed the port/the game. While I did not like XII particularly when it launched, still have my Ps2 steelbook, going back a few years ago I found that I did like it overall. Maybe that's because I didn't enjoy games that came later and that gave me further perspective, or perhaps I just didn't give it enough of a shake the first time around. Either way, in the end, I like XII.
Same, I also own the original steelbook and never really could get into it and dropped it early on.
But, I know the reason I stopped.
FF12 was in this weird position of being released during a generation move.

Let’s never forget that FF12 and Oblivion released 4 whole days apart.
 
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