Final Fantasy XII

[Cat Rage Room]

True, but in such situations, you can do a sort of "forced Job Class" thing.

That's ass, reasoning explained above.

Also, XII International solves that, by creating twelve different License Boards based on Job Classes, and each character chooses one and only one to use for the entire game. It honestly sounds like a cool system, but as with all their "Final Mix" games, it will likely never see an English release.

Yeah, I heard about this and it would pretty much leave me completely satisfied. Sadly, I may never play it.

 

[Strangelove]

This thread is making me want to finish off FFXII International, where do give characters specific jobs and everyone isn't the same

I don't particularly mind being able to make all there characters the same, although I can see the complaint against FFXII's system as you can sometimes forced to make the characters the same to get to the better licenses. It's been a long time since I played the original FFXII, so I don't remember how easy it was to avoid certain licenses.

 

[ForceStealer]

I also thought making the License board blank was a terrible design choice, it didn't allow for planning at all. The Sphere Grid, in addition to giving you a pretty clear path that you didn't have to follow, you could see all the spheres, so you could actually plan out where you wanted your characters to go.

In FFXII, things are kind of in regions but you stumble around blindly more or less. You basically sacrifice the strategy of one character so you know some of the tiles for your other characters' sake.

I ended up just printing out a nice color-coded PDF of the whole license board so I could plan, but I shouldn't have to do that, especially since it makes me feel like I'm cheating anyway.

Now I await a "you're doing it wrong" post

 

[Tetsujin]

I'm pretty sure the developers actually expected players to use guides for the game and the license board...

 

[Russell]

FF12 wasn't bad. It wasn't STELLAR in all aspects, either. It was in some, but the battle system...ugh.

Let me elaborate. I don't mind not having ATB. In fact, I loved the direction they took regarding that. The Gambit system wasn't bad either. It's just that I abhor systems where the characters more or less can, or have the easily available opportunity to end up all the same, and with the License Board and the minuscule difference in stats from character to character, FF12 had it in spades. I dislike systems where any character can do anything and you can switch roles at the drop of a hat.

My favorite system is a mix of character customization and uniqueness, such as FFV, FFIV, FFT, or FF9, where in some of those cases, you CAN make all of the characters the same or switch roles, but not without having to put in the time and effort (or suffer tactical consequences). Character growth and customization is more organic and meticulous, rather than YOU WERE JUST A HEALER BUT NOW YOU'RE FIRING THUNDAGA SPELLS PEW PEW

That's my biggest beef with FF12.

I agree with this and add that I thought Vann & Penelo’s place in the story seemed forced after a while.
It seemed to me that after Penelo is rescued from the mine that she and Vann should have been dropped off back home & Basch should have become the main protagonist. I also found Ashe so stuck up I was hoping that she die in the end.

 

[Madame Mayor]

FFXII was one of those games that I just played and didn't focus very much on the positives or negatives. To me, it was just a all around fun experience. I liked how it was really different, how the team was formed and stayed together until the end. I don't think I'll ever play it again, but that's like most RPGs to me.

 

[Max Payne]

I loved FF12 solely for the adventuring tbh. I got addicted to hunting, collecting loot, and all around character building.

I MADE my own classes.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Notorious M.O.G.

If you don't like that Gambit system, then just go get the Zodiac Job Class International Edition and then you can be pigeonholed in whatever job class you want.

 

[Max Payne]

Notorious M.O.G.

If you don't like that Gambit system, then just go get the Zodiac Job Class International Edition and then you can be pigeonholed in whatever job class you want.

I still think it is immensely retarded that they never released that in the U.S or UK.

 

[Super Mario]

I love the hunting of FFXII. especially the dragon and dinosaur bounties. But some places are just plain difficult in the beginning. Horrifying to be outmatched! D:

 

[Max Payne]

Another thing I loved was just exploring the environments. I fucking loved the art direction and design of the world.

 

[Frostwave]

Giza Plains during the Rains. I remember just standing there rotating the camera. The sky looked amazing.

 

[Dark and Divine]

One thing i really enjoyed in XII was the fact that if you had to travel from one town to another, it really felt like, er... you were travelling from one town to another.

Instead of "walk some meters in that direction in that direction and you're there", we had "go to that area, then cross it to that other area, turn right to that forest, cross it and turn left to get there".

In FFXII, you had the feeling that you're really travelling throughout the world.

I thought that it was a nice touch and it contributed to the game's atmosphere.

 

[Max Payne]

One thing i really enjoyed in XII was the fact that if you had to travel from one town to another, it really felt like, er... you were travelling from one town to another.

Instead of "walk some meters in that direction in that direction and you're there", we had "go to that area, then cross it to that other area, turn right to that forest, cross it and turn left to get there".

In FFXII, you had the feeling that you're really travelling throughout the world.

I thought that it was a nice touch and it contributed to the game's atmosphere.

YES. ADVENTURE!

 

[Russell]

Giza Plains during the Rains. I remember just standing there rotating the camera. The sky looked amazing.

I did that. I also spent alot of time wondering around the Phon Coast because of how beautiful it looked.

 

[Madame Mayor]

I still think it is immensely retarded that they never released that in the U.S or UK.

Agrees. When I first heard about that I was so excited.

Another thing I loved was just exploring the environments. I fucking loved the art direction and design of the world.

Also, this.

I'd walk long distances as opposed to taking the faster route. Can't say that about very many RPGs.

 

[Dark and Divine]

Another thing that was incredible in XII was the level of detail in the characters' designs.

And the Judgemasters' armours were amazing, but i was kinda disappointed that, with the exception of Gabranth and Ghis, the others didin't have much of a role in the story.

And the way

Spoiler

Drace lost her life was kinda cheap, not by Gabranth's stabbing, but more to the way she was weakened after the other one (what was his name again?) threw her aside.

She was a Judge Magister. She probably rose to her position by her military feats, wich should include fighting with several monsters and such.

How can she be so weakened after that attack, to the point of not being able to get up?

 

[Max Payne]

That irritated me mostly because it was a character with such a flagrant and meticulous design that to waste it like that is just fucking wrong.

 

[Dark and Divine]

That irritated me mostly because it was a character with such a flagrant and meticulous design that to waste it like that is just fucking wrong.

Exactly!

Though I wonder if the Judges besides Gabranth and Ghis were meant to have a greater role in the plot, but got cutted off in the final version of the game.

Out of curiosity, in FFXII international, theres's a battle were the player fights all five Judges.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Notorious M.O.G.

If you don't like that Gambit system, then just go get the Zodiac Job Class International Edition and then you can be pigeonholed in whatever job class you want.

Yeah, but I don't speak Japanese, so I'm boned.

I liked how it was really different, how the team was formed and stayed together until the end.

Ugh. That's one thing I DIDN'T like. It just seemed like the party was just a loose gathering of people with like goals instead of an actual team. Very few party members had any sort of chemistry or camaraderie with each other. Compared to the friendships, brotherhood, and chemistry that the FFX cast had for each other, FF12's party 'connection' was very lacking. The characters themselves were kinda flat too, except for the very awesome exception of Balthier.

 

[Makoeyes987]

FFXII's characters were more realistic, that's why, to be honest.

And actually the Zodiac Job Class System version is in english. Dialogue, at least. And everything else is pretty obvious since it's laid out exactly like the US version. Anything else could be easily understood with a gamefaqs guide.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

More 'realistic'? Maybe, that's one way of putting it. I mean I've had similar situations happen in real life (not FANTASTICAL ADVENTURES, but a group of unlikely people getting together for a common goal), and the interactions were more interesting than what was displayed in FF12. In fact, realistic interaction can be more dynamic and interesting than what fiction can tell. FF12 didn't give me that impression.

Regardless, realism means little to me if it isn't interesting.

And actually the Zodiac Job Class System version is in english. Dialogue, at least. And everything else is pretty obvious since it's laid out exactly like the US version. Anything else could be easily understood with a gamefaqs guide.

Maybe, if I ever muster up the effort.

 

[ForceStealer]

And actually the Zodiac Job Class System version is in english. Dialogue, at least. And everything else is pretty obvious since it's laid out exactly like the US version. Anything else could be easily understood with a gamefaqs guide.

While that's true, you can't just say then "Well if you wanna have pigeonholed classes, all you need to do is the play the international version" when its significantly more daunting and meticulous to navigate Japanese menus.

I also think it was really dumb that never got released here. But really, even labeling in advance the license board would have been a vast improvement, I think.

The adventuring was cool, the cities in FFXII felt more like cities than any other in the series. (Lindblum and Midgar were the only others that came close, I think). The voice acting was great, the production values were through the roof.
I didn't enjoy the leveling system, and the psuedo-realtime/turn-based hybrid combat just came off as frustrating to me, though I admit it clicked MUCH better on my second attempt through the game. And I preferred the adventuring in Oblivion a bit more (from purely a travelling perspective, not the scaled levelling of oblivion. As Mako has said, its cool in XII how there are simply enemies that will annhiliate you from the get-go.) And the characters, realistic as they may or may not be simply did not grab me with the exception of Balthier, who is awesome. He was largely the reason I continued playing that game, and my reason for restarting after quitting for awhile.
But, especially in the context of Ivalice, I don't think XII's story can hold a candle to Tactics. That had all the political intrigue and also had me sincerely caring about Ramza.

 

[Max Payne]

I don't get why people keep saying it, but FFXII is not realtime, at all.

If anything it's a different version of the active turn based battle.

 

[Arianna]

Here's a biggie - has anyone attempted to and succeeded in gaining and then finishing off the level 99 red chocobo in the Ozmone Plain - Haulo Green? If you have, please - tell me how you spawned it and how long it took you.

I'm petrifying all the chocobos in the area, after killing off the first six when I first entered the area. Nothing yet, and I've been at it about three hours, round about. I keep hoping that the program will have mercy on me and give me one ... soon?!

I don't get why people keep saying it, but FFXII is not realtime, at all.

If anything it's a different version of the active turn based battle.

I'm not in a position to debate you, but could you please explain this more? I would - if I had to guess which one - choose 'real time'...