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[BocoDragon]

sucks for you dudes. We had FFXII, best FF ever. I sob for the future now.

I loved XII. To death. And yet, it wasn't the fully rounded experiences that the SNES-PS1 FFs were...

XII was the best game ever in some ways, but in other critical areas: story, late-game scenario design, it was undoubtedly flawed. I feel that there has been something 'broken' in every PS2-3 FF...

 

[jeremy1456]

sucks for you dudes. We had FFXII, best FF ever. I sob for the future now.

XII was the best PS2 FF (only if you don't count X-2) but the game itself was so underwhelming. Almost everything; the battle system, story, soundtrack, art style, method of character progression. It's two high points were the exploration it offered and its graphics, and really those only barely bring the game up to average overall.

It's by far the most forgettable game in the series and just doesn't seem to have much of an identity.

 

[Mutagenic]

I'm really surprised by all the love for this game. I thought the environments were extremely bland, the story uninteresting, and the battles SO slow that I refuse to punish myself to continue on past disc 2. Maybe one of these days (since I have it on my PSP), but I doubt it.

 

[Augemitbutter]

XII was very bad and way worse than VIII. at least VIII had good music.

so much money wasted, XII was a missed opportunity.

 

[jeremy1456]

XII was very bad and way worse than VIII. at least VIII had good music.

so much money wasted, XII was a missed opportunity.

Come on... They're both about on par.

 

[Augemitbutter]

Come on... They're both about on par.

i wish they were. XII played itself, it was very hard to die in that game. it makes you feel useless as a player.

 

[BocoDragon]

XII was the best PS2 FF (only if you don't count X-2) but the game itself was so underwhelming. Almost everything; the battle system, story, soundtrack, art style, method of character progression. It's two high points were the exploration it offered and its graphics, and really those only barely bring the game up to average overall.

It's by far the most forgettable game in the series and just doesn't seem to have much of an identity.

So disagree. Soundtrack was amazing. One of the strongest identities in the series.

 

[jeremy1456]

i wish they were. XII played itself, it was very hard to die in that game. it makes you feel useless as a player.

And VIII pretty much rewarded you for running from every enemy encounter.

 

[Augemitbutter]

And VIII pretty much rewarded you for running from every enemy encounter.

heh, i don't want to defend VIII. i played VIII like every other RPG back in the day and didn't know about playing styles that aren't fun. start playing and don't try to exploit and break the game.

So disagree. Soundtrack was amazing. One of the strongest identities in the series.

no battle theme is a big fail. they should've loaded a seperate battle screen just to play battle themes.

 

[dschalter]

So disagree. Soundtrack was amazing. One of the strongest identities in the series.

Much agreed. The soundtrack did suffer from some lame battle music (though 'Battle for Freedom' was amazing and 'Esper Battle' was quite good), some of the background music was unbelievable. Phon Coast, Sochen Cave Palace, the Deadlands, the Pharos, the Necrohol and (best of all) the Paramina Rift all had really awesome bgm, as did a number of the other places (though the Sandsea music felt too Star Wars-ish).

 

[Freshmaker]

FF9 on ds would be awful. DS has trouble making characters look like what they do on FF4 remake. I can only imagine FF9 on ds.

I'll take a 3ds remake of 7-9 instead.

They should look into a sprite 3d hybrid like DQ IX.

That could probably do FF9's terrible art style "justice"

 

[Rahxephon91]

XII is great. That is all.

 

[Randy]

You're not alone :lol

And don't forget Swords of Fury.

 

[Lafiel]

So disagree. Soundtrack was amazing. One of the strongest identities in the series.

Man i remember the soundtrack being one of the most "shit" on aspects of that game. So wrong, i absolutely loved the OST.

 

[Nexus Zero]

One of my favourite games of all time. Recently got stuck on a psn playthrough though, fuckin candles won't turn on.

 

[Rebel Leader]

One of my favourite games of all time. Recently got stuck on a psn playthrough though, fuckin candles won't turn on.

candles?

 

[NIN90]

Best JRPG village ever.

 

[Amir0x]

XII was the best PS2 FF (only if you don't count X-2) but the game itself was so underwhelming. Almost everything; the battle system, story, soundtrack, art style, method of character progression. It's two high points were the exploration it offered and its graphics, and really those only barely bring the game up to average overall.

It's by far the most forgettable game in the series and just doesn't seem to have much of an identity.

Disagree. All Final Fantasy stories suck, so I don't give a shit about that. FFXII's story was pretty much background noise, which is already superior to all the other atrocious FF stories. But to supplement it, it had the best translation and best voice acting of any FF game ever. Hell, arguably any RPG ever. FFXII was the first Final Fantasy to understand the series weakpoints and fix them.

It realized all Final Fantasy random battles are strategy-less bullshit that is relegated to tedious button mashing, a habit that can only be enjoyed by someone with Asperger's Syndrome. The gambits were an elegant way of pre-battle strategizing, which required constantly tinkering for high level play and completely removed the tedium of low level battles, which ended up fast and furious. You could jump in as much or as little as the battle required; for for many, many bosses was often. No random battles. All enemies on screen, no terrible transition screens.

FFXII had the best exploration of any FF game. The best city of any FF game. I personally loved the soundtrack. The art style was infinitely superior to any other recent comparable FF game - LOLOLOLLOOLOLOL FUCK NOMURA - and the character progression was as open ended as I wanted it to be. If I wanted a God-of-all-trades, I could do it. If I didn't, I could focus. I've done both types of playthroughs.

Choice. Feels good man.

 

[zoukka]

Oh the times when Final Fantasy had class, charm and beauty.

Oh and humor.

And not much zippers.

 

[Rolf NB]

I've actually started a proper FF IX playthrough two weeks ago or so. Never finished it, but I really want to do it this time. For the longest time I was saddled with crappy PAL versions with even shittier framerates and the music going off the rails all the time. Thanks to PSN, I can finally play the NTSC version.

It's very charming, well characterized and certainly enjoyable on some level. I just wish it was still faster overall. With all those animations going on it seems to be the norm that a character's ATB bar fills up completely even before the last queued action gets executed. What's up with that?
I've now adopted the strategy of doing only regular attacks and only with the strongest characters (Zidane, Quina, Steiner). Everyone else waits. Speeds things up quite a bit.

Don't know what else I can say that hasn't already been said. I'll beat it this time, promise.

Steiner and Garnet/Dagger.

I've named her Lili. I think that's something from the Euro translation that stuck with me. Dagger is just such a stupid name, ugh.

 

[eXistor]

Yup, definitely up there with the best of the FF's and jrpg's in general.

 

[Ranger X]

And for me this is 10 years since Squaresoft didn't make a really great game. Last FF I loved was this one.
FF9 was superb. I wish there was still some more traditional JRPGs being made like this one. As far as I know, there's only Lost Odyssey this gen right?

 

[Amir0x]

And for me this is 10 years since Squaresoft didn't make a really great game. Last FF I loved was this one.
FF9 was superb. I wish there was still some more traditional JRPGs being made like this one. As far as I know, there's only Lost Odyssey this gen right?

DS has plenty. Can't speak to the quality of them - I'm not fond of the vast majority of them - but traditional jRPGs you will find.

 

[Iadien]

sucks for you dudes. We had FFXII, best FF ever. I sob for the future now.

FF XII's battle system is horrid and I don't enjoy Sakimoto's work either.

FF IX is all around amazing and the soundtrack is one of my favorites for any game.

 

[Korigama]

I also think it was the 1st in the series with visible equipment, which was a thrill at the time for cycling through weaker equipment.

That was something that VII and VIII had as well.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

sucks for you dudes. We had FFXII, best FF ever. I sob for the future now.

FF XII was awesome indeed. I wish they'd do another one like that.

 

[hsukardi]

Disagree. All Final Fantasy stories suck, so I don't give a shit about that. FFXII's story was pretty much background noise, which is already superior to all the other atrocious FF stories. But to supplement it, it had the best translation and best voice acting of any FF game ever. Hell, arguably any RPG ever. FFXII was the first Final Fantasy to understand the series weakpoints and fix them.

It realized all Final Fantasy random battles are strategy-less bullshit that is relegated to tedious button mashing, a habit that can only be enjoyed by someone with Asperger's Syndrome. The gambits were an elegant way of pre-battle strategizing, which required constantly tinkering for high level play and completely removed the tedium of low level battles, which ended up fast and furious. You could jump in as much or as little as the battle required; for for many, many bosses was often. No random battles. All enemies on screen, no terrible transition screens.

FFXII had the best exploration of any FF game. The best city of any FF game. I personally loved the soundtrack. The art style was infinitely superior to any other recent comparable FF game - LOLOLOLLOOLOLOL FUCK NOMURA - and the character progression was as open ended as I wanted it to be. If I wanted a God-of-all-trades, I could do it. If I didn't, I could focus. I've done both types of playthroughs.

Choice. Feels good man.

I approve of this post.

Still, FFXII has a killer weakness for me -- the characters. Nothing drives Final Fantasies more than characters and XII's core cast were boring as fuck. May have something to do with Basch starting out as the protagonist in the initial design and it shifting around later on.

 

[AleeN634]

I remember back in the day I found the party's entrance to Lindblum so awesome. Sure, I can understand it wasn't for everybody but I found the game had a charm that made all the cities come alive. Also, the airship battle CG near the end was too cool for words

 

[Fimbulvetr]

I will NOT tolerate the game calling him by his last name when no other game does.

What about Dagger? I thought you would respect the name she chose on her own, regardless of how dumb it sounds.

It's my 3rd favorite, and I still trust that they'll pull of XV to continue the "last on the console is the best" streak to 5. On the other hand, blowing it will actually make me consider my affection for Square.

What's your second?

i wish they were. XII played itself, it was very hard to die in that game. it makes you feel useless as a player.

1) FF games are usually difficult now?

2) So you're saying that you somehow survived the game only using the initial gambits the game gives you at the beginning? The same gambits that only give one character the first cure spell? You must be a god.

 

[Peff]

What about Dagger? I thought you would respect the name she chose on her own, regardless of how dumb it sounds.

Everybody who is cool chooses Garnet as her fake name anyways.

 

[Pureauthor]

People are hating on the OST? Madness. Madness, I say.

 

[Celine]

Last Final Fantasy I've played.
I regret nothing.

 

[DrForester]

Everybody who is cool chooses Sarah as her fake name anyways.

fixed

 

[JimboJones]

Don't know what else I can say that hasn't already been said. I'll beat it this time, promise.I've named her Lili. I think that's something from the Euro translation that stuck with me. Dagger is just such a stupid name, ugh.

Yep the reasoning for her choosing the name as well was pretty stupid. I just kept Garnet.

 

[Guzim]

My favorite Final Fantasy game, and it has my favorite video game character, Vivi.

 

[H_Prestige]

I approve of this post.

Still, FFXII has a killer weakness for me -- the characters. Nothing drives Final Fantasies more than characters and XII's core cast were boring as fuck. May have something to do with Basch starting out as the protagonist in the initial design and it shifting around later on.

How are Balthier and Basch boring? Balthier especially is easily the best video game character ever conceived.

 

[Amir0x]

Like I always say, the characters and stories in all FF games blow, so it didn't bother me that FFXII continued that fine tradition. I appreciated at least that these characters were well voiced and the translation was so good. And that at least a few of them look like something other than fucking emo teenage Shibuya rejects, with Basch and Balthier in particular being some of the best character design in the series, but again... the fact that the story sucked did not matter to me.

What mattered to me was everything else being done so damn right

 

[DrForester]

How are Balthier and Basch boring? Balthier especially is easily the best video game character ever conceived.

You mean Han Solo?

I loved FFXII (not nearly as much as FFIX, but I woudl put it 2nd on the list of Playstation FF games) but the games story and characters was pretty much Star Wars, except Chewbacca was made into a 7ft tall bunny girl in high heels. Not that that was a bad thing I liked FFXII most because even though I hated Vann and Penello, they were never the main characters.

 

[Amir0x]

and you can switch between all characters and use anyone as your leader both on the field and in battle

isn't that awesome?

Choice is so awesome

 

[DrForester]

and you can switch between all characters and use anyone as your leader both on the field and in battle

isn't that awesome?

Choice is so awesome

I wish I had known that my first time through. I kept Vann in thinking I'd be forced to go Solo with his character at some point. :lol

Ditched first chance I got 2nd playthrough

 

[Regulus Tera]

and you can switch between all characters and use anyone as your leader both on the field and in battle

isn't that awesome?

Choice is so awesome

Careful Amir0x, you'll overwhelm them with all that choice.

 

[H_Prestige]

and you can switch between all characters and use anyone as your leader both on the field and in battle

isn't that awesome?

Choice is so awesome

That was indeed awesome. I took me awhile to get used to the idea that I didn't have to use Vaan.

But it was kind of strange that you had to go back to Vaan whenever you entered a town. They should have just let you stick with whoever your party leader was.

 

[zoukka]

Like I always say, the characters and stories in all FF games blow, so it didn't bother me that FFXII continued that fine tradition. I appreciated at least that these characters were well voiced and the translation was so good. And that at least a few of them look like something other than fucking emo teenage Shibuya rejects, with Basch and Balthier in particular being some of the best character design in the series, but again... the fact that the story sucked did not matter to me.

What does it matter if the translation was good, if the script was shit :lol I actually like the crappy translations, they bring a certain flavour to the game and add charm to it.

 

[Prime crotch]

Like I always say, the characters and stories in all FF games blow, so it didn't bother me that FFXII continued that fine tradition. I appreciated at least that these characters were well voiced and the translation was so good. And that at least a few of them look like something other than fucking emo teenage Shibuya rejects, with Basch and Balthier in particular being some of the best character design in the series, but again... the fact that the story sucked did not matter to me.

But it doesnt suck, what brought it all down was the plotting; of my 100 hours on the Zodiac version only 20 or so are related to the main plot, but the story itself is pretty nice.

Although the biggest issue with FFXII to me is still that little pause when they get their weapons out, just keep your weapons drawn damn it!

 

[Randy]

Like I always say, the characters and stories in all FF games blow, so it didn't bother me that FFXII continued that fine tradition. I appreciated at least that these characters were well voiced and the translation was so good. And that at least a few of them look like something other than fucking emo teenage Shibuya rejects, with Basch and Balthier in particular being some of the best character design in the series, but again... the fact that the story sucked did not matter to me.

What mattered to me was everything else being done so damn right

Never finished other FF's, but I thought the story in FFIX didn't suck. On the contrairy, it was one fluent, long adventure with some interesting twists. Only the "surprise" ending was a bit too much.

 

[Amir0x]

What does it matter if the translation was good, if the script was shit :lol I actually like the crappy translations, they bring a certain flavour to the game and add charm to it.

All Final Fantasy titles have a shit story and a shit script. But at least one Final Fantasy game has an amazing translation with immensely improved writing and incredible voice acting. That is FFXII. That is an improvement from abject shit (all other FF games) to just sorta regular ol' crap (FFXII).

Won't touch your 'crap translations bring flavour' comment.

 

[GhaleonQ]

What about Dagger? I thought you would respect the name she chose on her own, regardless of how dumb it sounds.

BUT HER DAWDLING AND POOR DECISION-MAKING GOT PEOPLE KILLED RARARAR. *really likes Ashelia in Final Fantasy XII*

What's your second?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=18297789&postcount=292

fixed

Truth.

Choice is so awesome

That's more of a dig at XIII, I wager, but I've used a Codebreaker to get Zidane out of the party every playthrough since the 1st.

 

[Amir0x]

That's more of a dig at XIII, I wager, but I've used a Codebreaker to get Zidane out of the party every playthrough since the 1st.

That's so amazing. The game gives you the choice of buying a codebreaker so you can BREAK the fucking game just to have the choice that FFXII is awesome enough to give you from the start.

*bow* FFIX. You've one upped the Game Genie.

FFIX is not a bad game, at least, it wouldn't be if not for the loading/battle slow speed (and of course, like all FF games, it has a shit story), but saying you can use a Codebreaker to do this is not really a plus :lol

 

[Drealmcc0y]

VII-X is probably the greatest run of games ive ever played.

I heavily dislike XII and XIII though.

 

[Nemo]

Me and this game got some straight history.

I bought it when it was 30 bucks, but since I was still some little shit I didn't have any cash. I applied to several places on the market for work, got denied at 5 or 6 of em until one decided I could work there for a day. I remember the guy offering me 50 for a hard day's of work but I insisted he only give me 30 :lol Worked my ass off just to get that game at the end of the day

I still have it in pristine condition lying here. Never damaging or getting rid of it


Also, I renamed Dagger right back to Garnet. Fuck dagger, stupid ass name