cold_spirit
he/him
- AKA
- Alex T
I haven't abandoned this run! Just got a bit sidetracked with the arrival of my PS5 and the holidays. Been chipping away at it again...
Alright, the gambit system. Got some followup thoughts from my brother to share after I sent him my previous post. He thinks one of the reasons the gambit system works great is because you can't completely automate yourself out of the core gameplay. He thinks they provided only 12 gambit slots for this reason.
This lines up with what Takashi Katano, director of The Zodiac Age, had to say about XII's stealing mechanic in an interview. Stealing is notable because there isn't a perfect gambit setup for it.
"As for play improvements, like what you mentioned with the stealing Gambit, we definitely didn't want to make it too convenient. We wanted to keep that element of trial-and-error, that sort of healthy player frustration that makes the game fun."
https://retronauts.com/article/421/...rial-mode-of-final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age
I think this is an interesting game design mentality to have. It's reminiscent of what Katsura Hashino, director of Persona 3, had to say about AI-controlled party members in that game:
"There are a lot of RPGs out there where you can control every aspect of your party members... It’s true that we got some feedback stating that the party system was 'too difficult' to control effectively, but I’ll honestly say that I don’t regret doing what we did with it. I’m glad we stuck to our guns on that one."
Basically both games have frustration intentionally designed into their systems in the hope that players find creative solutions. This is risky, but I looove bold moves.
I find the evolution of game mechanics between FFXII and FFXIII to be fascinating. In FFXIII, the paradigm system is like having 6 perfectly optimized gambit sets each with a specialization (e.g. healing, debuffing, etc) that you switch on-the-fly in battle. They basically automated the player out of the gameplay, like Takashi Katano feared. Instead, the player "macro-manages" the party in FFXIII. Instead of giving characters specific commands you give them behaviors. This allows for visually spectacular battles. I like it! It might sound boring, but fortunately FFXIII is brilliantly balanced, so switching paradigms at the right time is the difference between victory and defeat.
As for the story, FFXII definitely has the least amount of it out of all the "modern FFs". After the midway point the narrative beats become really spaced out. I'm not knocking it, I love gameplay! Though unfortunately, the story starts to do more telling more showing, like with Balthier stating his past to Ashe.
On the flip side, I really enjoyed the scene where Vaan, Penelo, and Basch banter when they first arrive at Archadia. Ashe smiles upon overhearing their conversation. I like to think it's here we can start to see her believe in the people of Dalmasca more than the power of nethicite. Really well done.
Alright, the gambit system. Got some followup thoughts from my brother to share after I sent him my previous post. He thinks one of the reasons the gambit system works great is because you can't completely automate yourself out of the core gameplay. He thinks they provided only 12 gambit slots for this reason.
This lines up with what Takashi Katano, director of The Zodiac Age, had to say about XII's stealing mechanic in an interview. Stealing is notable because there isn't a perfect gambit setup for it.
"As for play improvements, like what you mentioned with the stealing Gambit, we definitely didn't want to make it too convenient. We wanted to keep that element of trial-and-error, that sort of healthy player frustration that makes the game fun."
https://retronauts.com/article/421/...rial-mode-of-final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age
I think this is an interesting game design mentality to have. It's reminiscent of what Katsura Hashino, director of Persona 3, had to say about AI-controlled party members in that game:
"There are a lot of RPGs out there where you can control every aspect of your party members... It’s true that we got some feedback stating that the party system was 'too difficult' to control effectively, but I’ll honestly say that I don’t regret doing what we did with it. I’m glad we stuck to our guns on that one."
Basically both games have frustration intentionally designed into their systems in the hope that players find creative solutions. This is risky, but I looove bold moves.
I find the evolution of game mechanics between FFXII and FFXIII to be fascinating. In FFXIII, the paradigm system is like having 6 perfectly optimized gambit sets each with a specialization (e.g. healing, debuffing, etc) that you switch on-the-fly in battle. They basically automated the player out of the gameplay, like Takashi Katano feared. Instead, the player "macro-manages" the party in FFXIII. Instead of giving characters specific commands you give them behaviors. This allows for visually spectacular battles. I like it! It might sound boring, but fortunately FFXIII is brilliantly balanced, so switching paradigms at the right time is the difference between victory and defeat.
As for the story, FFXII definitely has the least amount of it out of all the "modern FFs". After the midway point the narrative beats become really spaced out. I'm not knocking it, I love gameplay! Though unfortunately, the story starts to do more telling more showing, like with Balthier stating his past to Ashe.
On the flip side, I really enjoyed the scene where Vaan, Penelo, and Basch banter when they first arrive at Archadia. Ashe smiles upon overhearing their conversation. I like to think it's here we can start to see her believe in the people of Dalmasca more than the power of nethicite. Really well done.
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