Final Fantasy XII [split topic]

[bgmnts]

Grinding fuck out of the tedious chore that is Final Fantasy XII.

Fascinated by how shit and boring it is. The world is shit, the characters are shit, the mechanics are shit, even the music is shit somehow.

Addicting.

[bgmnts]

He is very cool and sexy with his earrings and vest top, but I accidentally ended up turning him into a spear wielding tank, rather than the musket mounting maverick he's written as, which is quite funny.

The one aspect of the game I do like is the fact that there doesn't seem to be a single protagonist, that is quite interesting and I don't think that has been replicated in any successful RPG or story driven game.

[NoSleep]

Grinding fuck out of the tedious chore that is Final Fantasy XII.

Fascinated by how shit and boring it is. The world is shit, the characters are shit, the mechanics are shit, even the music is shit somehow.

Addicting.

What version of the game? It's not necessarily a grindy game, unless you decide you want to do all the side quests. And there's a couple of places you can go where you can speed up the grinding and looting, like the bridge in the Lhusu Mine (chock full of zombies only), the junction in Henne Mines (with the Flans that fall out of the ceiling and are weak to Fire) and the entrance (via Osmone Plain) to Golmore Jungle (chock full of Coerls or maybe Panthers). In each case there's ways to keep up breaks by leaving the area and cutting through to an area two sections away and coming back, without being killed or killing the wrong type of foes, to amass loads of loot.

If you're playing The Zodiac Age version you can 2x and 4x speed through areas.

Have to disagree about the mechanics (whatever you mean by that; I like the versatility of the Gambit system and the movement and camera operation; one of the least clunky of all games in this respect) and the music is definitely not shit (very reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story which were written by one of the same composers).

[bgmnts]

Have to disagree about the mechanics (whatever you mean by that; I like the versatility of the Gambit system and the movement and camera operation; one of the least clunky of all games in this respect) and the music is definitely not shit (very reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story which were written by one of the same composers).

Yeah the gambit system is mostly what I mean. I can imagine most needs fucking love that shit, letting the game play for itself etc, I just cannot get on with it at all. I've gone through 70 hours manually playing it (one or two gambit on just for basic attacking) and it's much better.

I just don't really like that active battle system thingy, I much prefer turn based RPGs, I get a better sense of strategy from them.

I learnt halfway through the game (after along hiatus so my fault for forgetting tbf) that it's ALL about gear, levels mean very little. So you have to grind to get the hundreds of thousands of gil to keep up to date with armour and weapons or you will get squashed constantly, at least I did.

As for the music, honestly just can't get on with it all, and I don't think it's pure nostalgia putting soundtracks like VIII or IX above it because I actually prefer XIII's soundtrack to XII.

I just find it all a tad dull in comparison with most of the other entries. Can definitely see why someone would love it though as it is unique (haven't played the MMOs though).


But yeah I'm on Zodiac Edition and have been fast forwarding through about 90% of the game once I learnt about that feature after pressing LB by accident!

[NoSleep]

I just don't really like that active battle system thingy, I much prefer turn based RPGs, I get a better sense of strategy from them.

Active battle can be turned off in FFXII just like all previous FFs (turn Battle to "Wait" in Config), so even with the live-looking action, it's strictly following a turn by turn procedure. The essential thing in battle is not to neglect casting Haste on your team (and acquire Haste ASAP) so your individual turns keep coming up faster; got to have at least a couple of Time Mages in your team.

[bgmnts]

Yeah I've always had it on the Wait setting but it's still a bit too MMO for me. I think I fucked up the first third of the game because I didn't enjoy excessively exploring the locations as I found them all a bit dull. Not joking, I only managed to find the Dispel spell 70 hours in. Same with Haste. Didn't get Haste til about 40 hours in or so.

But with a walk through and a shitload of grinding for gil I managed to get to a point where I have smashed everything up to Phoros and smashed all the hunts except the second Gilgamesh battle, which I may never attempt because level 70 is ridiculous!

[NoSleep]

Didn't get Haste til about 40 hours in or so.

Isn't Haste just sitting in a chest in Eruyt Village?

[bgmnts]

It probably is, but then Dispel was sitting right in the Tomb of Raithwell and I missed that, I fucked up. Think I ended up buying Haste but dont know where from. It was quite frustrating as I was smashing through the license board and unlocking all these spells I didn't have!

Think issues for me were the draw distance (sometimes chests wouldn't pop in until relatively close) and the fact they blend into the background so well.

[madhair60]

i love FFXII :(

[bgmnts]

I wonder why!



Disgusting.

Actually I will say in its favour that it's aged the best out of all the ones I've played and I'd still rate it higher than X.

[madhair60]

should clarify: i enjoy the zodiac age version where you can speed up the combat, lol.

and yeah i want to fuck the rabbit, obv

[Glebe]

and yeah i want to fuck the rabbit, obv

[seepage]

A version of Active Time Battle works very well in Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children. Dodging and parrying delay a character's turn, so if you rush a group of enemies unsupported you might be worn down to 0 HP without getting another turn in. Also, there is a 'fire support' skill where if someone shoots, every ally with line of sight to the target gets a free shot. So the trick is to hit the foe who's turn it is next, to push them down the time track. 

[NoSleep]

Yeah I've always had it on the Wait setting but it's still a bit too MMO for me.

Battle Speed can also be adjusted if you want to keep an eye on things and jump in where the Gambit system is not doing it for you. The Gambit system is designed to negate the need for being turn based, allowing you to do a lot of the strategy before you are in the middle of battle, as if the members of your party had discussed what they might do. I wouldn't be surprised if that idea came from Matsuno, as there are AI options available in Final Fantasy Tactics. I think the granddaddy of this idea can be found in Star Ocean: The First Departure on the Famicom (although maybe there's something amongst the Ogre Battle games prior to this; I need to play these).

[Video Game Fan 2000]

i love FFXII :(

me too but ive never actually finished it

even zodiac age

ive never got beyond the bit where you have to find moogles in the forest. i just like the town, the rabbit and cutting edge 'number go up' gameplay