FFXII= Letdown

[Garland]

I remember back in the day when every old school FF critic, kind of -hated- X! Now all of the sudden it's a classic? The Wait Time battle system was thought to be a step backwards, and the only other RPG that used the system was the LOTR rpg. Facial emotions were very rusty back then, and the voice overs, albight being the first of its era, were scolded at by the text based fans... I guess time can make something a classic, and XII will soon follow that spectrum, infact it is now. Everyone is ranting about the "Lame" system of XIII, and how XII was superior xD.

As far as graphicks go, XII still was one of the nicest looking games out there, and that's to appreciate Yoshida's wonderful Mediterranean art style. Kingdom Hearts' graphics were all flash, no style, of course if you want hardcore graphic intensity, XII must of had atleast an Hour of FMV footage. XII was a good game, I was a little disapointed when comparing it to other Ivalice titles, it seemed to lack more political coos but it gave it's world a rich culture, and gave sidequests a more believable edge, compared to X.

[napoleon336]

Originally Posted by Vermilion Thanatos

Funny, considering that most FF fans, even if they appreciate the good parts of XII, would rank X as the best PS2 FF. Hell, X consistently ranks up at the top with VII (or with VI and IX if the list were made by FF classicists). X had a few shortcomings, but not nearly as many as XII.

And I hope you only mean second to no other FF game on the PS2 and not every game on the PS2, because even ignoring X (which actually made nearly every "top PS2 games" list, unlike XII), XII doesn't hold a candle to most games on the PS2, the best of which include God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, ICO, Okami, Silent Hill 2, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 2, Resident Evil 4, and even Kingdom Hearts. I'd say all of them would be recommended before XII, because frankly for all the politics and cinematic wonder, XII fell short on making the actual gaming aspect fun.

Final Fantasy X is the best FF of all of em IMO. I never said XII was the best game period. I was implying it doesn't deserve the critisism is gets. I think it's one hell of a game.

The storyline is great. Game play is fun.

Kingdom Hearts is awesome as well.

[smattle]

Originally Posted by napoleon336

Final Fantasy X is the best FF of all of em IMO.

FFX is without a doubt the worst FF from all of FF-FFX.
Anyone claiming different is wrong. Period.

[DuMbAsS]

I don't disrespect your opinion smattle. In fact I agree with it nowadays. X isn't as great as it was first thought of anymore. Kudos to napoleon though for agreeing that XII was pretty good.

[smattle]

The fact that X was so fbad is one of the few reasons I quit gaming ...

Even after countless hours of monster hunting the game just doesn't satisfy you like the ones before....On that note: somewhat mysteriously, as soon as you had 10 of each but one in an area, that last one just wouldn't appear, period.

Anyways...haven't played any FF since that, but I'm 100% sure I wouldn't like any of the ones....

Well I guess XI is a great game if you have no life no friends no family no job no school no fcking no.

But X-2 and XII are just pathetic from what I've seen, read....

[Vermilion Thanatos]

Originally Posted by smattle

The fact that X was so fbad is one of the few reasons I quit gaming ...

Even after countless hours of monster hunting the game just doesn't satisfy you like the ones before....On that note: somewhat mysteriously, as soon as you had 10 of each but one in an area, that last one just wouldn't appear, period.

Anyways...haven't played any FF since that, but I'm 100% sure I wouldn't like any of the ones....

Well I guess XI is a great game if you have no life no friends no family no job no school no fcking no.

But X-2 and XII are just pathetic from what I've seen, read....

Wow, for once I think I agree with you, smattle.

XI is an acceptable MMO by MMO standards, but lacking as a FF title.

XII was pathetic mostly because its characters were two-dimensional, the plot was always elsewhere, and the battle/gambit/leveling/equipment system was the worst in FF history. It had all the signs of an over-rushed game, and although Zodiac apparently fixed the latter problems, it still didn't help the fact that XII's plot was just...slow and dull. And as a personal gripe, although I'm all for more professional scripting, I thought XII's dialogue was too flowery at times.

X-2 revived the job class system--very well, I might add. That's the only good thing I can say about it, because the plot, the characters, the script, everything else just blew. Analyzing it more closely, the core concept of a trio of ass-kicking supergirls going on secret missions was a great idea...until they weighted it down with excessive girliness and made the missions as mundane as physically possible.

I love X. It's not my favorite and I do agree with you that the battle system was--different--and the monster capturing was senselessly annoying and several of the minigames were almost too challenging (in fact, after five years, I finally beat the lightning dodging minigame yesterday. :P), and Tidus could be whiny. But I still think that it had the best leveling system to date. And as I care more about plot and characters than battle systems, I still find it has one of the strongest stories of the FF series (though it could be because I'm a sucker for anti-religious and undead themes), and more importantly gave its characters depth, and I've only seen both in the other classics: VI, IX, and IV. And its art direction is the best in the series. So while as a game I can understand why you'd think it the worst of I-X (though I am glad you appreciate that it's not quite as bad as XII), as a piece of art I consider it to be one of the better FFs. While I am continually frustrated by the battles, to this day I never cease to be amazed by its artistry from a storytelling aspect.


@Garland: I don't know what you're smoking, but Yoshida's "Mediterranean" theme was too subdued, too washed out, too mundane. That, coupled with almost madatorily over-spaced maps that covered a very limited range of terrains almost doomed the game to monotony. Add to that a very unmemorable and schizophrenic score, cookie cutter characters with little plot relevance to call their own, and an endlessly unrewarding battle/leveling/equipment/gambit system, and you're looking at the most boring 40 hours of your life. XII tried so hard to be complex and then didn't follow through and ended up frustrating. So say all you want about the shortcomings of X, but pound for pound, X's battle system was better, X's plot was better, X's characters were better, X's art direction was better, X's music was better, X's everything was better than XII's. XII only had graphics, and even then the animation wasn't great (as evidence by the fact that they tried motion blur and couldn't even do that right and ended up with a weird sort of strobing effect).

And I need to get all of this out because all the stupid Vaan fangirls are spamming Dissidia forums as though he's guaranteed to be added to the American release. Don't even get me started on that waste of space they called the main character...probably XII's biggest fault, which makes X's Tidus VA mistake pale in comparison...

[smattle]

Originally Posted by Vermilion Thanatos

Wow, for once I think I agree with you, smattle.

You ok? Hit your head or something? wtf??? lol

Originally Posted by Vermilion Thanatos

XI is an acceptable MMO by MMO standards, but lacking as a FF title.

Yep.

Originally Posted by Vermilion Thanatos

XII was pathetic mostly because its characters were two-dimensional, the plot was always elsewhere, and the battle/gambit/leveling/equipment system was the worst in FF history. It had all the signs of an over-rushed game, and although Zodiac apparently fixed the latter problems, it still didn't help the fact that XII's plot was just...slow and dull. And as a personal gripe, although I'm all for more professional scripting, I thought XII's dialogue was too flowery at times.

X-2 revived the job class system--very well, I might add. That's the only good thing I can say about it, because the plot, the characters, the script, everything else just blew. Analyzing it more closely, the core concept of a trio of ass-kicking supergirls going on secret missions was a great idea...until they weighted it down with excessive girliness and made the missions as mundane as physically possible.

I love X. It's not my favorite and I do agree with you that the battle system was--different--and the monster capturing was senselessly annoying and several of the minigames were almost too challenging (in fact, after five years, I finally beat the lightning dodging minigame yesterday. :P), and Tidus could be whiny. But I still think that it had the best leveling system to date. And as I care more about plot and characters than battle systems, I still find it has one of the strongest stories of the FF series (though it could be because I'm a sucker for anti-religious and undead themes), and more importantly gave its characters depth, and I've only seen both in the other classics: VI, IX, and IV. And its art direction is the best in the series. So while as a game I can understand why you'd think it the worst of I-X (though I am glad you appreciate that it's not quite as bad as XII), as a piece of art I consider it to be one of the better FFs. While I am continually frustrated by the battles, to this day I never cease to be amazed by its artistry from a storytelling aspect.

I liked the battle system in X...a lot. But then again the Sphereboard is an interesting feature but somewhat fails to do what it's supposed to ...let you decide what way to level your characters. In the end you hardly ever have any real choices since the paths for the main characters Tidus, Auron, Yuna are pretty clear imo.

I can see how you like the story , and think it would have done just great as a movie instead of a game...

[DuMbAsS]

You guys are great.

To each his own I say. Some are intrigued by simple things and others are intrigued by complex things. Metaphorically speaking.

[fullwall]

XII was, I agree, a total letdown. I thought it was supposed to be really good, so I rented it for a few days, and it was terrible.

The opening hours were terrible and boring, and the characters just didn't engage me like the 2D Final Fantasys did. The battle system was just plain awful, and although the licence system was promising, the rest of the game let it down.

[Garland]

XII will grow on people. No doubt when XIII comes out there will be a mass of people saying why it couldn't be like XII.

[smattle]

The mob is never right.

[DuMbAsS]

but they sure can riot to the point where they seem right.

[smattle]

Just hit me up when they do, I'll be there to throw frozen bananas at them and call them cigarettes.

[DuMbAsS]

Last edited by Garland : Yesterday at 10:18 PM. Reason: watch yo' mouth!

Did you say something other than cigarette? Anyways, if it happens you'll be the first to know about it then.

[smattle]

I actually said stoggaf, but apparently that's not allowed in this part of the forum. :/

My sincerest apologies to the overlord. I offer Milk'n'cookies to make up for my rudeness.

[DuMbAsS]

Figures. And I thought he had forsaken the title of overlord for some other king like title.

[smattle]

I think he wanted us to refer to him as the Sungod, but that's not gonna happen...

[DuMbAsS]

Sungod? When did he request this. And besides, nicknames or titles are given to you not the other way around. Which reminds me, I'd like to be a smartass not a dumbass.

[smattle]

Originally Posted by DuMbAsS

Which reminds me, I'd like to be a smartass not a dumbass.

I think we both know that that train is long gone, matter of fact you'r standing at a deserted train station in Esthar where no train will ever pass again. :P

[DuMbAsS]

Says you, I'll just summon up a Doomtrain and ride him out of there just to ram into you.

We've fallen far off topic, so I will post another comment about XII. It was nice that they tried to change the gameplay up a bit, but it apparently didn't work out. I have to say that replayability was also quite dramatically low. The only reason why I've replayed it recently was to achieve pure one hundred percent. And fight Gilgy again. Even though the battle system was kind of broken, that guy is still fun to fight.