[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

People can totally wait, I certainly haven't died yet from not playing The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess or Metroid Prime 3 - and both games belong to my favorite franchises ever, easily ranking above any FF I've ever played.

Twilight Princess is one of the most tediously boring RPGs in the franchise. The "new car shine" wears off after about 10 hours into the game after you realize that combat in the game is a total crock since all the "optional advanced combat techniques" you learn throughout the game mean nothing because they're all unnecessary for beating anything (and most of them are so tricky to execute that you end up taking more damage/time than you would if you'd just waded in and button-mashed). It does have some redeeming features, but the game itself is so... milquetoast. If it weren't for Midna, your bitingly sarcastic sidekick, I'd have fallen asleep playing the game.

Metroid Prime 3, on the other hand, is a very nice addition to the franchise. A worthy successor to Metroid Prime 1 (let's try and forget that Echoes was ever released), and unlike so very many Wii games (Twilight Princess comes to mind...), the motion controls actually make a lot of sense.

I'd rank FF12 above Twilight Princess, but below Metroid Prime 3 Corruption as far as enjoyability goes. FF12 needed a stronger storyline, and it needed to lose that stupid license board.


Icemage

[Balfree]

Yea. I still love FF, but the "OMG A NEW GAME GOT RELEASED I MUST HAVE IT NOW" rush died quite a while ago.

Next Gen consoles? Not even planning on getting one... I'll probably eventually get a Wii and a PS3 but probably not before the next consoles are announced.

[Mhurron]

Originally Posted by Balfree

Yea. I still love FF, but the "OMG A NEW GAME GOT RELEASED I MUST HAVE IT NOW" rush died quite a while ago.

That's about where I am.

8h into FFXII. I have a lot of other crap to do.

FFTA is the only one I really never got into, and unfortunately there are a lot of things in FFXII that are like TA which is detracting from enjoying the game.

[Malacite]

Originally Posted by Icemage

FF12 needed a stronger storyline, and it needed to lose that stupid license board.


Icemage

QFT. Was I the only one who was horribly disappointed by the end? (Or rather halfway through really. I forced myself to finish the game despite my hatred of it)

FF 12 Spoilers + Rant

Honestly what the fuck. Vaan is the single worst character I have ever seen. You do not make a "main character" (let's face it, Ashelia was the real star) who gets completely fazed out with absolutely no impact on the story very early into the game. At least Tidus actually fucking mattered to X's story.

I'd go as far as saying Balthier was the only really good character, and possibly Larsa. Ashe would have been a lot cooler if she'd let herself be taken in by her feelings of revenge. Just once, let the hero of the story go nuts SE please. DO something different for a change. Balthier was comic relief, and Larsa was just plain cool I thought. Vain was actually quite respectable up until he (predictably) became the very thing he sought to destroy. Oh yeah, and evil twin brother for Basch? L.A.M.E.


Then there was the license board. What the hell. I want an explanation for that shite. The sphere grid was a much better system, and now SE's making this "international" version (which like with X, will probably never see the light of day outside Japan) that uses the Zodiac Job system where you choose 1 job for each character. Was anyone else as shocked as I was at the 2 handed Ninja swords? What happened to dual-wield? And why is Jump in the game but only usable by the enemy? (DRG is 1 of the Zodiac jobs though!)


And the grand finale? (Aside from that piss poor ending) The Zodiac Spear. Good job square. Make the best item in the game impossible to figure out and ridiculously easy to screw up the quest early in the game for anyone without the strategy guide. Now I bought the guide with the game, but I personally refused to use it unless I absolutely positively needed it, which was maybe 3 times tops. When I read about the Zodiac spear quest... words can not describe how pissed I am at SE these days.



Lord knows I love them and their games, but some times they do such stupid shit I have to wonder why do I even bother.

[Feba]

Malacite...

Malacite: you're missing the ENTIRE point of Vaan. He's not SUPPOSED to be the main character. Neither is Ashe, although she could be from our perspective, the main character is Vayne. If you look at it, everything points to the rebellion as being the bad guys. The 'bad guys' are doing it with great intentions in their hearts, they're treating people fairly well. Ashe only wants her kingdom back out of selfishness. If anything, it's a tragedy, with Vayne as the main character.

I agree that the characters could've used some work to make them more memorable, with the exception of Balthier, but that's because the story is actually fairly realistic. My only major gripe was everything between the two Cid fights. Seriously, it made no fucking sense.

PARTY: Oh, hey Cid said he went off to a big magicite thingy. Let's go to one of them too."
PARTY: Ok, we're finally here. Let's just wait."
Ashe: Omigawd, it's my husband's ghost! I must followz it!
PARTY: Goddamn noob...
Ashe: AUGH A BIG MONSTER
PARTY: THANKS FOR AGGROING THAT, BITCHFACE
*Party kills big monster*
PARTY: Well, that's dead. Let's go deeper inside!
Player: Didn't you just say we would wait at the entranc--
PARTY: SHUT THE FUCK UP.
*party ventures through a cool place*
*incredibly fucking random cutscene where you're like teleported to the sky or some shit.*
PARTY: Ok, we got a sword! Let's go back
Player: Weren't you supposed to wait here to catch Cid?
PARTY: SHUT THE FUCK UP

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the tower climb, much as everyone I've talked to hated it, I really enjoyed it. But the storyline from Draklor until the fight at the top was completely nonsensical.

On the Zodiac spear, first of all I'm pretty sure there's an alternate method to acquire it. Secondly, even if it weren't, what's your point? If the strategy guide didn't have the info (which I'll admit SE probably included to help move guides), it would've been a mystery for a very long time why some people got a spear and others didn't. Ridiculously hard to get treasure is nothing new to FF. It's supposed to be a lucky thing, not a skill thing.

[Taskmage]

I forced myself to finish the game despite my hatred of it

To echo what Feba said, maybe the title of this thread should be "why do you love to torture yourself?" You said it yourself, games are for fun. Why would you force yourself to play a game you don't enjoy?

Personally, the only part of FFXII I didn't like was the excessively random nature of some of the marks and rare game. In a single player game I don't think there's any reason to simulate the experience of camping Fafhogg. But you know what? Like 100 hours in when all that was left was crap I didn't want to do, I stopped playing. I didn't force myself to slug through every last morsel of content and curse SE for making me do it. In such a huge game, everyone's going to be able to find some aspect they don't particularly enjoy. I just accept that those things are for other people and leave them out of my game experience.

[Mhurron]

My biggest gripe with XII is that it is set up to try and be a single player XI complete with party members you don't control. I much prefer X battle system or anything before that really for a single player game.

[Feba]

Mhurron: you can always play no-gambits. In fact, I'd do it myself if I wasn't a lazy asshole that loved the hell out of gambits.


Honestly, I wish FFXI had gambits sometimes.

Although I have to say, FFXII has two gigantic benefits over other single player FFs imo: no more fucking random battles or long-ass cutscenes before you even start fighting. There's no reason I should see cracks spread out like my TV shattered, have the pieces fly away, and then gradually fade into my character standing in a field (that only looks VAGUELY LIKE WHERE I ACTUALLY AM STANDING), and then FINALLY get to the fighting, repeated EVERY MINUTE OR TWO. It's freakin' ridiculous. The other being that escaping is actually LOGICAL, and not based completely on luck, but rather how good you are at running the fuck away.

[DakAttack]

Originally Posted by Feba

Although I have to say, FFXII has two gigantic benefits over other single player FFs imo: no more fucking random battles or long-ass cutscenes before you even start fighting. There's no reason I should see cracks spread out like my TV shattered, have the pieces fly away, and then gradually fade into my character standing in a field (that only looks VAGUELY LIKE WHERE I ACTUALLY AM STANDING), and then FINALLY get to the fighting, repeated EVERY MINUTE OR TWO. It's freakin' ridiculous. The other being that escaping is actually LOGICAL, and not based completely on luck, but rather how good you are at running the fuck away.

GOD I LOVE THAT

FFXI should have random battles like that for old times' sake. Imagine running through West Ronfaure at level five, your screen explodes, and you're standing outside of the outpost getting cold crushed by Jaggedy-Ear'd Jack as the guards stand there and not give a damn.

[Balfree]

FFXII's battle system should have...

Formations. I'd like to have someone on the backline not getting hit by aoe spells, FOR ONCE. Sure i can just switch to the character and do it myself but it'd be nice if we could order a team mate to stay back and heal or nuke, AND STAY there.

Freedom of movement is nice but im not really in love with it. I have this boss battle you see, and by simply running my MP gauge will rise. So what do I do? I tell 2 guys to hit the boss, while i run around with the third character, and heal them appropriatly, but i dont stop running ever because i'd like to keep the ethers for later on. This gets old fast, and its silly.

Upon finding an enemy, the guys could just stand in place and fight the mob like oldstyle FF titles, i dont need complete freedom to move around, its not required.

Sure i could tweak gambits to fix most of my problems, but i dont very much enjoy programming the game, i'd like to play it.

This totally became about FFXII, but thats OK, i can derail threads, im a mod!

Actually im just joking. This is still about SE's ability to screw things up.

[Mhurron]

Originally Posted by Feba

Mhurron: you can always play no-gambits. In fact, I'd do it myself if I wasn't a lazy asshole that loved the hell out of gambits.

I know, but as the game was designed to be played with them it doesn't quite work.

I prefer the random battle type battlefield. I liked the way Chrono Cross did it.

[Feba]

but it'd be nice if we could order a team mate to stay back and heal or nuke, AND STAY there.

you can. it's called a bow.

[Balfree]

My spellcasters usually use staves or rods.

And Fran still gets hit by AOE spells even if she wields a bow.

[Feba]

my setup was always Basch, Ashe, and Penelo.

Ashe and Penelo for the eyecandy because the characters don't really matter for the stats in 12, and Basch so people wouldn't ask why I'm playing chicks.

[nickofearth]

weird. FF9 actually got me into the Final Fantasy series and RPGs as a whole. :3