Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

Trust me NED, there's plenty of gameplay. Not all new 'pretty' games are devoid of gameplay. xD

I'm really liking the License system even more. Slaying enemies was never more fun! I think they've finally got a system where you can customize your characters the way you want, but without being incredibly broken. And all the characters start out with initial Licenses that suggest what 'class' they are, and make it easier to build them in the way they were predefined.



--------------------

OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

One of the things that I didn't like about FFX was the voice acting. This was mostly because it was impossible to speed up the cut scenes. Is this still the case in FFXII?

I also have to admit the main character did look like Tidus to me, and it seems like recent designs have been lacking in originality.

Still, despite those two things, I'm really looking forward to this game. It's probably better I don't have my PS2 with me because otherwise I might be tempted to play it, and I don't really have the time for that right now. But if I get the chance to try it I might.

You can skip through the cutscenes by pausing the game and pressing X, like Final Fantasy X-2. In addition, pausing the game and pressing Square will prompt you to return to the title screen.

The Prelude has never been so hauntingly beautiful.

--------------------

OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

I had no idea there even was a collector's edition, there didn't seem to be any at the store I was at and the clerk didn't say anything. Ah well.

I think the voice acting for Fran is pretty good, though it's not like she says much anyway.

--------------------

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

well I bought the gamel I played for about 10 hours yesterday and I have to say it still has not dissapointed, and I still believe everyone should get this game, the new combat system works phenomonaly, the story is enthralling, for those of you whom are graphix whores the graphics are on par with advent children, everything on this game is near perfect or perfect, I highly recomend everyone buy or at least rent it from a place like gamefly so you can keep it as long as you want, all in all best PS2 game ever IMO

I just go this last night...I haven't slept since. I spent three hours just wandering around and exploring Rabanaste, my god this game is so beautiful! It's just like IX to me, a salute to the PS2. I can't wait to get back home and oick it up again. I haven't felt this way about Final Fantasy, or even a game, in a looonnggg time.

--------------------

This is a webcomic and gaming blog where I rant about nonsense. Enjoy.

I was a soldier, now I just play one in video games.

Quote

I haven't felt this way about Final Fantasy, or even a game, in a looonnggg time.

This is exactly how I felt about this masterpiece of a game when I first played it. It looks like Squenix has found theirselves again. So maybe this will mean no more spinoffs or sequels

p.s. - Around 20 hours in. I don't like the way the characters out of party don't get ANY xp like they do in other FFs. Farming atm so I can afford the Golden armor set...and it seems that hammers rape everything damage-wise and make every other weapon seem obsolete (sword and dagger status procs seem to do nothing) ; at least that's what I've gotten from it.

--------------------

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

Quote (Elena99 @ 3rd November 2006 04:43)

I had no idea there even was a collector's edition, there didn't seem to be any at the store I was at and the clerk didn't say anything.  Ah well.

I think the voice acting for Fran is pretty good, though it's not like she says much anyway.

The Collector's Edition game and guide are both GameStop/EB Games exclusive purchases. If you do intend on purchasing them, you'd best hurry as once they run out, they're gone forever. Luckily the GS near where I live had a good stock of everything. But, they aren't really necessary, just nice bonuses. I actually think the cover of the normal game is prettier than the cover of the CE, even though the CE's case itself is pretty.

Fran's VA is...wierd for me. Sometimes she sounds like a little kid. And sometimes she sounds perfect. Meh.

I like "Amalia" 's VA. Balthier's VA seems okay. Even though I really like Vayne, his VA can be painful at times. And Basch's VA is excellent. I guess I just have mixed feelings about the voice acting.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I just cleared the Garamsythe Waterway. I'm about five hours into the game, and I'm now in the dungeon with the mimics. I will have lots of time to play today and on the weekend, so it's time to start the marathon...

Edit: Ah, yeah, this seems right:

Quote

Fran sounds just like Björk.

This post has been edited by Zeromus_X on 3rd November 2006 16:29

--------------------

OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

The Collector's Edition (or at least, mine) came with a tin case that housed the game itself along with a bonus CD of music, artwork and other nifty little easter eggs. It also came with a strategy guide, but I don't particularly want to use it on my first play-through as I don't want to ruin to experience for myself.

Apparently there are some treasure chests at the beginning of the game you aren't supposed to open, for instance the one right outside West-Gate or in front of Old Dalan's place. In return for leaving them alone are supposedly a Spear and Axe as powerful as the "ultimate weapons".

That's another thing I love about this game, weapon variety. It's close to tactics in the way the weapons are designed to be used. Status effects, range and power come into heavy consideration more than usual in this game, especially in those ridiculous boss battles.


--------------------

Okay, but there was a goat!

I've actually considered getting a PS2 lately - between coding ES, mixing drinks, and losing all of my money playing poker with old college buddies (cheating bastards ) I find myself with far more free time than I like to have. The kind I fill up by having deep, one-sided philosophical discussions with my lizard.

So this is on PS2? I might actually pick it up (I honestly never believed I'd be buying another FF but then again, I never quite believed I'd live through Vietnam...) Not having the intar-web means I haven't heard much about it, other than "wtf different battle system fux j00 square u broek our dreams" Liscence system? Gambit system? News to me.

Meh. Probably a little christmas present for myself.

--------------------

"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Yeah, I'm not using the guide either (although I do look back on places I've already completed, but I don't really care about this Zodiac Spear).

I really like the artbook though. Who did you get on the cover of your guide, Dragon_Fire?

--------------------

OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Quote (Zeromus_X @ 3rd November 2006 13:24)

Quote (Elena99 @ 3rd November 2006 04:43)

I had no idea there even was a collector's edition, there didn't seem to be any at the store I was at and the clerk didn't say anything.  Ah well.

I think the voice acting for Fran is pretty good, though it's not like she says much anyway.

The Collector's Edition game and guide are both GameStop/EB Games exclusive purchases. If you do intend on purchasing them, you'd best hurry as once they run out, they're gone forever. Luckily the GS near where I live had a good stock of everything. But, they aren't really necessary, just nice bonuses. I actually think the cover of the normal game is prettier than the cover of the CE, even though the CE's case itself is pretty.

Edit: Ah, yeah, this seems right:

Quote

Fran sounds just like Björk.

Well, that explains it. I went to an indie game store instead of going to EB, which is further away from me. Ah well.


--------------------

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

I bought the game on the first of November and I'm writing a guide as I go along. I swore off the GameFAQs boards since I had a huge spoiler slung in my face within an hour of playing. So far, I'm enjoying the license and gambit systems, and the expansiveness makes Luca seem 8-bit-tiny. Only up to the Barheim Passage, but things are looking good. Two afterthoughts, though:

+ GUNS! Thank you for bringing guns back!
+ Battling will probably be incredibly boring after awhile.

--------------------

It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

To make engagements go faster, set the battle speed to the fastest and if you aren't opposed to it, set the battle mode to active. Then the battles get action-fast and fast-paced.

--------------------

OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

im about level 20 with Vaan, Ashe, and Balthier. I absolutely love this game. Even though I'm not very far in the game I have

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Belias...and let me tell you...demon wall is still hard

i love the license board and most everything else about the game


im in the Henne mines right now. Guns really help, especially with aqua shot because guns ignore defence!!! And the assassin dagger is also helpful for tougher enemies, because, for some reason, it seems to one-hit-kill a lot of things in the Henne Mines. But i keep dieing because 8-10 bats swarm me and i end up using all of my Mp healing and...well...no more summons

Edit

i have the collecter's edition and waklthrough, though i havent touched the bonus disc or walkthrough (except to look at the bonus art book)

This post has been edited by dont chocobos rule? on 4th November 2006 20:58

--------------------

Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

I bought it for my husband for Christmas, but he opened it the day it came out. Now we're both playing it. So far, it looks pretty good. The battle system is a little annoying, not in and of itself, but because it feels like an adventure system but still plays just like a turn-based one. I'm not very far into the story, but what I've seen, I like.

--------------------

Veni, vidi, dormivi.

Quote (Zeromus_X @ 3rd November 2006 15:13)

Yeah, I'm not using the guide either (although I do look back on places I've already completed, but I don't really care about this Zodiac Spear).

I really like the artbook though. Who did you get on the cover of your guide, Dragon_Fire?

I've got Balthier and Fran on the cover of my guide. I'm always tempted to open it, just to make sure I haven't missed anything or forgotten to pick something up that might be important but considering it's a Brady Games guide, they probably would've missed out on it too. I still just can't put this game down, especially with the recent revelations in the plot.

I'm curious as to which characters everyone is more partial to and what build they've geared them towards? Personally, I'm using Fran was my back-row-esque attacker, bows with silence shot arrows. She also doubles as my main magic user for healing and buffs. My main attacker is Basch who I treat as a stereotypical all brawns and little to no magic except for what can't be avoided on the License board. I switch between Ashe as my main black magic user and Vaan as my speedy meat-shield.



--------------------

Okay, but there was a goat!

i use Vaan as an attacker, Ashe as an attacker/healer, Balthier as a long range attacker/healer

everyone i have is very balanced. have a lot of strong equipment, i battle a lot, so i have a lot of Lp, Ashe knows level 1-7 white magic, everyone knows at least Cure, Cura, and Raise, Vaan has 2 quickenings, and Belias. Balthier has 1 quickining. Vaan knows every spell I've bought, as does Ashe. So everyone knows a lot of magic and is (except for Fran, Basch, and Penelo) an excellent fighter. just have to find time between healing and fighting to kill bosses. whose idea was it to have two bosses back to back? Tiamat and Elder Wyrm??? come on people...


my walkthrough has Basch on it

This post has been edited by dont chocobos rule? on 5th November 2006 07:18

--------------------

Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

damn, I was supposed to get this game days ago

now I have been informed that i won't get it for a week

I envy you

I'm not too far in yet...I managed to chain together a 200 plus combo in the Lhusu Mines...Skeletons are great. Right now I'm still trying to keep my level consistent with the storyline, but I don't wanna be underpowered, like when I fought Ghis in the Leviathan. I'm working on the Rocktoise Hunt right now as well as the Elder Wyrm hunt. I am lovin this game, all in all, and have managed to get two quikenings with each character, three in some cases (Basch, Ashe, Vaan) and my avg level is 23.

I didn't get a guide, or any special editon or whatever. I just bought it, stuck it in and started playin. Maybe I'll write my own guide for Gamefaqs or somethin. We'll see.

This post has been edited by Nytecrawla on 6th November 2006 14:50

--------------------

This is a webcomic and gaming blog where I rant about nonsense. Enjoy.

I was a soldier, now I just play one in video games.

I cant wait for this game. I think all the characters look cool, the plot looks like fun and all these good comments can only be good.

Im worried it mght be too hard though. but I cant wait for march anyway!

its only hard if you are underleveled, like me.

--------------------

Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

I'd enjoy seeing your guide if you decided to write it, Nytecrawler.

I'm currently at the

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Tomb of Raithwall, and I just beat the two Demon Walls. They were very difficult, until I got Berserk and got a high Quickening chain. Still, it's great to see that there's a boss called Demon Wall, who can actually flatten me seven times before I prevail. This game provides a decent (and well-needed) challenge.

Farming Bone Fragments ftw.


--------------------

OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Can someone explain how the Quickenings work? I don't think I'm doing them right.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

when I select one, I press R2 repeatedly, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm meant to do. Shuffle R2 is a little confusing.

--------------------

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

Well, even though I haven't played this game and probably won't until christmas, I thought that this article from Gabe of Penny Arcade might convey some things from a diffrent perspective.

It's the post at the bottom

Quote

When I think about playing FFX or IX and I think about the battles that take place between bosses I remember that I was never really in too much danger. When a battle pops up between your party and let’s say some wolves in X you just select attack on all your characters, maybe toss in a fire spell for fun and then watch the wolves bite it. Most of the time you weren’t sweating over what each character should use their turn for because a single miss step could mean game over. Sure you could fuck up and die but you really only had to get serious during boss fights and handful of other tough mobs. Most of the time, it’s just you selecting the same moves over and over, occasionally dropping a healing potion. Well all that FFXII has done is stream line that process. I’m not pushing “X” as much but I’m doing the same things. It was hard for me to get my head around at first because I wanted to believe I was doing more than that but I wasn’t. I wanted to believe that every fight in IX really required strategy but it didn’t. People feel like their being taken out of the driver’s seat, that the car is just on autopilot now. The truth is that you may have been driving the car before but the fucking thing was on rails. You just grind through monsters until you hit a boss and that’s when the combat really gets interesting.

Sounds like there's just as much gameplay as the previous FFs (Excluding the obviously more tactical ones like FFT and FFTA), but there's just less clicking.

--------------------

"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting... fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in." - Frank Yeager (a.k.a. Grey Fox)

Quote (Elena99 @ 6th November 2006 22:50)

Can someone explain how the Quickenings work? I don't think I'm doing them right.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

when I select one, I press R2 repeatedly, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm meant to do. Shuffle R2 is a little confusing.

It's best to use Quickenings with other party members who have at least one of theirs as well, preferably of the same level (let's say 1 or 2 for beginning of the game's sake.) Once selected, you should see your characters names along with a time bar in the lower right-hand section of the screen. In front of each name should be an assigned button. Pressing this button chains the attack with the current one being executed in order to maximize damage. In some cases, no button is revealed in front of the name. In this case, keep tapping R2 until one becomes visible then press it. If only one available character has a quickening, you're less likely to get a button option to chain the attack, just like if you have few Quickenings available to your characters, you'll be chaining less.

Also, if you manage to chain a certain amount of Quickenings, generally at least 5, you get a special attack which is more the equivalent of a Limit-Break for this game which effects the targeted monster as well as anything in close proximity, doubling the damage dealt. These "special" attacks vary based on the characters selected and the number of Chains accomplished.

I hope this helps, I'm not particularly good at explaining things.

--------------------

Okay, but there was a goat!

That's actually probably the best explanation of Quickenings I've heard so far.

Personally, I just keep tapping R2 after everyone runs out of MP bars, and mash buttons in an attempt to get lucky and get another attack.

--------------------

OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Quote (dont chocobos rule? @ 7th November 2006 00:06)

its only hard if you are underleveled, like me.

oh good, i always try to level high, so it shouldnt be too hard

Actually, that helped a lot DF. Now that I understand the quickening system, it's great. I wonder why they don't take the time to explain it anywhere; a quick tut after getting your first quickening would be nice.

Anyway, the game is still excellent, and I highly recommend it.

--------------------

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

I personally love the game, I own every single final fantasy there is, and must say this tops a lot of them. Its almost a tribute to tactics, in the sense that they used Hitoshi Sakimoto for music and used a world baring the same name, creatures and items. Character development is nice and while im not through the game yet, so far its one of my fravoriites.

--------------------

This is my story...

I will never be a memory