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So I felt obligated to start this thread when it seemed like no one else was going to. Final Fantasy XII was released yesterday. What are your thoughts on the game? Are you planning to buy it, try it, boycott it? If you have it already and want to talk about it, please be sure to mark your spoilers.

I won't buy it until late December because I won't have the time to play it until then. But this is the first time in awhile that I'll be buying a Final Fantasy game because I'm excited about it and not just out of some feeling of loyalty to the series. So far it seems to have gotten good reviews, with most taking note of the new battle system. Having played the demo, I like the new battle system a lot. Turn-based was great in the era of sprites, but I think its time has come and gone and the new strategy-based system, combined with the realistic graphics, makes for a more engaging experience.

Looking forward to picking this game up in a couple of months.

This post has been edited by MetroidMorphBall on 1st November 2006 20:34

I'm in Con Chat pretty infrequently, but when I popped in today this game was being discussed. From the sound of it, those who have it are loving it.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

The game is amazing. I was also in chat discussing it earlier today w/ Hamedo. Don't wait too long to buy it, you are missing out.

I bought it and am some 12 odd hours into the game. So far the story intrigues me more than many other installments in the series. The gameplay is that of an MMORPG game, from the battle system to the economy of the world.

I could elaborate a great deal but I don't want to ruin it; so if you have any questions let me know.

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" Video Games are bad for you? That's what they said about Rock 'N' Roll. " -- Shigeru Miyamoto

I'm about 5 hours in. I'm a wimp and find it really challenging, but I love it. I'm still not loving the license system, but maybe it'll improve.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

I'll probably be getting it in January... I'll be broke until then

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Do you think we're forever?

I'm looking forward to buying it. It looks like a lotta' fun and the screenshots look cool, too. That and Mortal Kombat Annihilation are on my 'must buy list'.

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"Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!"
Seifer Almasy


"The most important part of the story is the ending."
Secret Window


"Peace is but a shadow of death."
Kuja

I've heard nothing but great things about the game
gambit system sounds, fun in some respects, but non-participant in another. Anyways even If I do decide to buy, I'm still holding out for PS3's release to buy a ps2 first.

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

Everything I hear that is great to everyone else sounds like nothing new or postivley disastrous.

First, battle system. It's nothing more than an offline MMORPG. Then there's this licence system. Sounds like the sphere grid but slightly different. And the fact it's so reliant on references to the past on one hand yet tearing the past apart with the other.

Second, plot. Star Wars with swords I said. I was bloody right. If it turns out the princess is the lead male's brother then that's the end of it all.

Third, characters. They all look like they fit the moulds they made the last batch of characters from. Oh, the male lead? He's a cocky wannabe, let's grab the Tidus and Zidane ones for that... Female lead, grab the princess mould. Hey, let's make it a little different, have the love intrest be the annoying girl for once. And let's make the mangirl a rabbit-thing, not a human, like Freya and Paine! Who else, oh yes, let's have the slightly older but more experienced guy who is a little odd like Auron and Steiner and such...

And on that note, the damn playable character pool is tiny from what I see. In terms of actual apperance, they're not actually Nomura, but look like it to me.

When was this damn game announced? 2002? 2003? Five to Four years before it hits europe. That's too damn long for precisely sweet fanny adams in terms of payoff IMO. All I hear is a game that is what we have seen before and as a result, it only gets so long from me to try and counteract that. When I heard something that annoyed me, I dropped that time. It's down to an hour and fifteen minutes now.

Sorry about the rant, but I'm not happy at this game. I have heard virtually nothing to counteract my concerns over the matter, nor to contradict my assumptions. It does not look like it's anything innovative or bold, and just seems like a cheap recycling of everything that there has been before crammed into as small a space as possible to me, and the only thing that can possibly convince me otherwise needs to arrive on Feburay 27th 2007 or it gets a minimum of only one hour to convince me otherwise. if release date is not within 2 months of that, it's had it. My loss perhaps, but I'm not pressing forth with something that I doubt so much even if I see a million people claim it is the greatest thing ever. If I am wrong, I'll be pleased. But if I am right, I'll be annoyed because I have to take it back. And I didn't even do that with FFX2 or 8. They sit collecting dust somewhere, I didn't sell them on or whatever.

Anyone who CAN counteract what I've been bashing it on, feel free to point this out and tell me why I am wrong and maybe you might even just shut the dumbsday clock off.

This post has been edited by Del S on 1st November 2006 23:09

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Im holding out for Xmas, but i really wnat to play it, for now im sticking with FFX.

You know, Del, when they were showing the opening movie with the battles and such, I was thinking "Ooh, here's one that Del will like." I guess I was wrong.

It'd be an interesting twist of the princess does turn out to be the lead male's brother. But then, it'd be like a Faris in reverse.

This is actually an excellent game. Wait until you get to play it before you judge.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

I'm not too thrilled with it. It's a mediocre game at best, and I'm finding VP2 much more fun than FFXII.

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And don't drive your car off a cliff like I did. Girl, no man is worth 10 points on your license.

FFXII will be the first FF in a very long time that I rent before I buy. Since switching to CD format, they've had too few winners (Tactics and 10) and too many losers (7,8,9, and 10-2) for me to just shell out $50 for it.

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Wasabi Viniagrette: Mix 1/3 C rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp sesame oil, and 2 tsp powdered wasabi. Excellent over cold udon noodles and shiitake mushrooms for a Japanese pasta salad.

I'm enjoying it so far. I'm pretty blown away by the expansiveness of it, the last time the beginning town blew me away with its size was FFIX (which makes it seem like they give special treatment to every three games in the series ). The storyline and atmosphere is well fitting of another adventure in Ivalice, warring nations and political schemes notwithstanding. Hell, I'm only two hours into the game! I like the monster hunts, and I definitely, most definitely enjoy the License Board. It's like the Sphere Grid, but not all crazy and everything. I love it. I may go far as to say I it.

The new battle system is neat, though it gets getting used to. It isn't even really in real time, so I'm not sure why people are all 'omg it's not liek teh final fantasy!!1111111111111one'. Although most people are quite apprehensive before they even play the game, so it isn't so surprising. This game has something for everyone, old school and newer players of the series alike. It's a pleasant treat to be able to equip more than three pieces of equipment again.

The characters are generally enjoyable now (Vayne=<3<3<3), though Vaan's voice actor is really nasal. Still, nothing is worse than James Arnold Taylor.

I could go on and on, but I've paraphrased the same thing in two other message boards and my fingers hurt. It would probably be a good idea to copy/paste this...

Edit: In addition, the 'History of Final Fantasy' featurette in the Collector's Edition bonus DVD was a nice treat. The art book in the CE strategy guide is gorgeous, and the guide itself is almost as big as a phone book. I didn't think I'd see a guide bigger than Kingdom Hearts II's or Star Ocean 3's, though it's not as big as Disgaea 2's of course...

I got Vaan on the cover.

This post has been edited by Zeromus_X on 2nd November 2006 04:34

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The characters are generally enjoyable now (Vayne=heart.gif<3<3<3), though Vaan's voice actor is really nasal. Still, nothing is worse than James Arnold Taylor.

Vayne is a cool character, I'll give you that. I am really enjoying Balthier and his sense of humor more than anything right now...and waiting for Fran's background to unfold.

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" Video Games are bad for you? That's what they said about Rock 'N' Roll. " -- Shigeru Miyamoto

It sucks...PERIOD.

Looking more forward to FFIII on DS.

BTW the way to go is back to Nintendo. FFXII is a joke

Moderator Edit

I'm going to assume you're posting drunk here, since you're not normally this big of a troll. If I'm right, well, get some counseling, I guess. -R51

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 2nd November 2006 12:07

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War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better. - Joshua Chamberlain

U sir R a n00b >:-( - Cactuar

Quote (BGrugby @ 2nd November 2006 05:41)

It sucks...PERIOD.

Looking more forward to FFIII on DS.

BTW the way to go is back to Nintendo. FFXII is a joke

Switch on the irony meters, boys and girls, Judge Del who has thus far been judge and jury is about to ask the executioner:

Why? If you're not joking, why does it suck?

I have actually not passed judgement on it yet, more of a preliminary assessment of it, in that all I see described to me is either bad, or does little to contradict what I have seen.

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

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Sorry about the rant, but I'm not happy at this game. I have heard virtually nothing to counteract my concerns over the matter, nor to contradict my assumptions. It does not look like it's anything innovative or bold, and just seems like a cheap recycling of everything that there has been before crammed into as small a space as possible to me,

Honestly I still don't trust Square either, but that doesn't change the fact I have heard nothing but good things (however it only came out yesterday)

Another reason I'm holding out to the PS3's release is that maybe the gambit system will become tedious and annoying by the end of the game, and from 1st person accounts the license system is dull.

I agree with Del S that is does fall into a cliche mold; The Belthier Character seems to stem from the Kain-Edgar-Cid-Auron branch, and Vaan seems to be based off of Tidus, However since IV (exclude V) square has definitely followed character stereotypes that have been mixed and matched, so it is not necessarily as cliche as previously stated, but they still use the same system of cliches. The Evil Empire theme has been used before in II, IV(Baron), VI(Ghestahl), VII(Shinra), VIII(Galbadia), IX(Alexandria). The Heroes generally take on the rebel theme. And it is constant with slight variation. However each game does it it's own unique aspects I know I have yet to see another evil tree character.

So The point is that even though Square is using Cliches it may not be a bad thing (Except, with the change in squares affiliation and members, guarantees can't really be made).

I'm still giving XII no predetermined opinion (if I have in the past, Oh well).

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

I think Del is more annoyed by the wait than the game. ^^`` Eheh.

It's not fair to judge the game before you've played it, I'm not, and I still have the 83 days to wait that you do.

My friends that have it say it's either ok or good. None so far have said it's crap or exellent. I trust their views. xD

I really am looking forward to getting it though, as I don't play MMORPGs the battle system will be new to me. Still... missing the Christmas release was a bad call by Square here.

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The Arcana are the means by which ALL is revealed.

european gamers will not get FFXII untill march 1st
and even then it will be inferior 50hz with huge black borders on screen like all other european ff games


BUT i'm getting it tommorow thank god for the swap magic system and a local importer i know (once again europe gets a bum deal and an extra £10 to pay for the same game )

You just need a better TV. xD I'll wait. When we waited so long for FFX we ended up with spiffy extras from the Japanese rerelease, mebbe we'll get spiffy extas if they rerelease FFXII before March 1st. =P

Plus I don't wanna damage UK sales so they end up thinking we don't want RPGs any more. @@

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The Arcana are the means by which ALL is revealed.

PAL territories recieve the game on February 24th, though, that late in February it may as well be on March 1st...

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

I dont personall own the game, nor do i know much about it, but from the screen shots i have seen it seems like they are starting to blend the apperince of the charcters now. On of the guys looks strikingly like tidus, and one of the girls is the spitting image of yuna. Do you suppose this is a sign of things to come?

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Don't fear the reaper!
Wonderful system this "Democracy" is no mechanism to break a tie -Dinobot-
It's spelled Raymond Luxray Yatch but it's pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove.
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici
Sic Semper Tyrannis bush.

I don't think any of the characters look like Tidus or Yuna at all. It's just people tripping out that there might actually be similarities between characters from different games. >_>

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

It's hard to make completely new characters each game. Did anyone really expect them to step away from traditional character types?

I think the characters are great, so far. I'm not really sure who you could say the female lead is, actually, it's a little like FF6 in that way. Yes, there are similarities between characters (oh noes), and Vaan does look a tiny bit like Tidus, in the way that blonde, tanned, muscular males look alike, or tall, skinny, brunette males.

I'm assuming that the person who said there's a girl who looks like Yuna was talking about Princess Ashe? Another case of it looking like her in the way that short women with short brown hair look alike. Hey, I guess that means that I look like Yuna, too.

This post has been edited by Elena99 on 2nd November 2006 15:19

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

The character designs are pretty much what I expected from the creators of FF Tactics... They just have that 'look' about them. =P Guess we'll have to wait n' see if that changes in later games. >.>

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The Arcana are the means by which ALL is revealed.

We should all come to expect that NEW FF characters will always resemble some of the other character's personalities from past FFs. Altought I sure would like if this didn't happen all of the time everytime a new FF comes out, I guess we can't avoided, it sorth of reminds me about MTV's Real World, always bringing the same character, different person on each new season. That's what Final Fantasy has become, more than just a new game, is just another season, but I still play them everytime they come out!

This post has been edited by SaffireWeapon on 2nd November 2006 20:11

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

I have not tried this game yet, and I am not looking forward to purchasing it. Usually before I buy a game, I head on to GameFAQs' reviews section for that game and read their point of views and then average them to see if I should get the game or not. I heard that the battle system was not good because you only set up your strategy through Auto Battle, and there is not that much flexibility or fun in this game through the combat system.

I have seen movies and trailers about this game, the graphics are indeed beautifully well done, but I am not going to buy a game if all it matters is graphics and *almost* no gameplay.

It is nice to finally see a female main character in a new FF this time, but that is still not going to make me want to buy the game. I'd rather stick to FF5's and FF6's female main character.

I am loving the fact that they put oldschool FF mobs & words back in the series...like Espers and Magicite. X-Zone is back as well;

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

they brought the boss Demon Wal back and he cast it on me, which sucked.

Chocobos are just like in FFXI too. Having to rent them for a ridiculous amount of Gil.

This post has been edited by w00tah86 on 2nd November 2006 22:54

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" Video Games are bad for you? That's what they said about Rock 'N' Roll. " -- Shigeru Miyamoto

This FFXII thing is going to extreme levels. A teacher of one of my classes canceled this week's lectures in order to pick up a copy and play it. I didn't think it would be *that* good a game, but worth playing nonetheless. So, I picked it up Wednesday afternoon and I haven't stopped playing since. Maybe it just appeals to the little kid in me but this game is too much fun. The battle system is just so easy to get used to and enjoy. The lack of loading times is a nice bonus too. The plot so far has been nothing insanely innovative but it's interesting enough to keep me playing.

My only beef is with the voice acting, to be honest. It seems detached and lacks emotion in areas I felt should've had some "acting" in it. I don't think the voices really match the characters in the cases of Vaan or Balthier.

Other than that, it was well worth the money and the lack of social life for a few days.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

I changed my mind, im going to get it as soon as i am paided back and then go out and get it, my friends got it and said it is awesome and i saw the collectors edition guide which looks cool.