Reviews VideoGame / Final Fantasy XII

All your apostrophes aren't showing as apostrophes. I think you must have used MS Word or something to write this, and it used some kind of "smart apostrophes" or something that aren't compatible with non-MS systems.

While I understand your opinion of it, I've got to say that your blatantly wrong about the recycled music. Every single area within the game has a different theme song, including all the types of plains. (and if you want proof, I'll name them, I have the soundtrack) The only music I would say that is repetitive is the over use of some boss music themes and cut scenes with different versions of the same song.

I'm pretty sure that the Tchita Uplands and the Ridorana Cataract have recycled music, but I can't remember which tracks specifically. The issue for me was that, while the music was atmospheric and complex, it didn't have the gripping melodies Uematsu brought to previous installments, and so everything started to sound the same. The bridging elements in the music - especially the harp-sounding thing - didn't help. I love the soundtrack, but it's really a different kind of deal.

Morven: Thanks, I could've sworn this has shown up okay when I first sent it! *grumble*

76.230.44.244: Like Penguin 4 Senate said, I'm also pretty sure that the Tchita Uplands and the Ridorana Cataract had recycled music. But you might be right, I could have it completely wrong. But like said, the music can sound all the same after a while because it's so damn unmemoriable most of the time.

Gosh.

I have to agree, at first i thought it FFXII was going to be a good case of a The Ishmael protagonist. Also, started to like how Balthier sometimes cut through chit-chat to faster the pace.

Now that i know the characters aren't all that memorable, and that isn't Balthier's guilt. You see the it is going worse when you have your party to acknowledge their Ishmael has nothing to do with Moby Dick.

So, improvements? A LOT!

- Gambits, yay! - Etch-a-class, yeah! - Want your obviously gruff, magic-dumb warrior wield a cherry staff, ribbon and some gay magical vest, buffing with faith then casting Aero causing capped 9999 Damage? Fill the required licenses and call it a day. - Plenty of mini-sidequests, made more attractive since you aren't bothered anymore by random encounters - How about talking with the animals? The cockatrices are more interesting than at least half the party. - Hunts! Marks! Weather! - Overkill monsters walking in newbie areas! (So, you are Lv1 and are having a hard time killing wolfs with your tiny butterknife. Will you attack that oversized, minding his business, not-so-territorial, easily angered Tyranossaurus Rex? If your answer is yes, you deserve each bloodstain in the Game Over screen)

And lots of very interesting improvements. Just kick in the mix an interesting story and great characters.

So, there's it. I only struggled with the game because of the mechanics (yes, game mechanics porn) - the story is interesting but gets stale too often and characters aren't worth even Migelo's advices.

I had more than a hundred hours of gameplay, 80% of it consisted of GTA-style "going anywhere doing whatever i want"

(now i found that is an excellent way of finding espers. Solve a puzzle, find a new path, expect shiny, cool stuff, receive horrible death in the hands of Ex-Death with a permanent, un-dispelable Reflect while raising a Pailing)

I completely agree with you. The gameplay was tedious and lackluster, and the story wasn't interesting enough to make up for that, unlike, say, FFX.

So much hate! I liked the gameplay which eschewed tedium for tactics and the production values of the game are astronomical. I just finished FFXII International: Zodiac Job System which separated the license board into jobs so the characters would be more distinct. The dungeons get a bit tedious, I'll grant you, but I enjoyed the plot all the way through, thanks in no small part to the top-tier writing and voice acting. The music was good (though not Nobuo-good) and the graphics are some of the PS 2's best ever. The scope and scale of the game is tremendous, with dozens of hours of bonus content even after the game is over. I'll remember this as my favorite FF to date.

The fact people can say X's storyline was interesting and call this dull makes me worry about the human race. I'm one of those people who thought 12 was the best in the whole series. (At least story-wise now, XIII has a much better battle system)

I have to say I understand where you're coming from, but I still really, really liked this game. Normally a dull story and flat characters will turn me off from a playing experience, but in this case they were just "there" enough to prop up what I thought was the best part, the open world gameplay. I loved just running around the different environments, and even grinding didn't feel like such a chore when I had all those pretty landscapes to look at. And while the music wasn't catchy, per se, IMO it did a good job of providing good, solid background to whatever you were doing.

I personally hated this game. I played about 10-12 hours before just stopping. The gambit system, combined with the way that the battle system worked, just made any kind of fighting an absolute chore. The license system was also incredibly annoying. It just made leveling up a chore, and that's not even counting the oh-so-fun grinding that's always necessary.

As for the story and characters, I have never so thoroughly and actively not cared about something in my life. The plot twists are contrived, predictable, and the plot itself as a whole is convoluted and boring. The characters are flat, and devoid of any real personality.

The music, as noted in the original review, isn't bad, per say, it's just incredibly unmemorable. I couldn't hum a single melody from it, as opposed to the music from other games, such as VII, VIII, and X. While your opinions may very on the quality of the rest of those games (I personally don't care much for VIII), they had thoroughly memorable music. It's a shame that XII's is so bland, because the music of the FF series is usually the high point.

Agreed on this review. Especially the story and characters. The only character I liked was Balthier, though Vaan and Penelo actually got better in the spin-off games. Still, it's a rule that characters drive the story, not the other way around as it was in this game.

Blunderbuss said, "I don't think I've ever played a game which such flat, boring characters."

I was actually RELIEVED they were so "flat and boring" (aka GROWN-UP). The characters in FF 10 did nothing but annoy me. The protagonists in 12 are legit, which was a welcome change, however short-lived (FF 13's characters were even worse than FF 10's, which I didn't even think was possible).

"I played the entire game praying that the characters would grow beyond their first impressions, but they never gain any depth or character development."

They actually do gain a bit of BOTH, truth be told. But what you and other critics are missing is that this is a plot-driven story, not a character-driven story. And yes, that's 100% fine as it concerns the craft of writing and presentation. Those who read books and understand the finer points of film, etc. recognize this as a legitimate story-telling decision.

"I once described Ashe to my mother - "She's a 'stiff-upper-lip' kind of Princess who's trying to get her kingdom back and she's angry at the Empire." Then I realized that's all she was, a blurb that could easily summarized in one sentence."

That could be almost any protagonist in any Final Fantasy game.

Risetteer said,

"I completely agree with you. The gameplay was tedious and lackluster, and the story wasn't interesting enough to make up for that, unlike, say, FFX."

I couldn't get into the story of FF 10 at all. Because unlike FF 12, 10 WAS supposed to be a character-driven story and I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters because they annoyed me at ever turn! At least the characters in 12 act like grown-ups. And how was the gameplay "tedious and lackluster"? It had the smoothest, fastest, most exciting battles the series had ever seen when it came out. And I was glad they got rid of the mandatory button-mashing which WAS tedious.

Sandwichof Truthiness said,

"XIII has a much better battle system"

How so? To me, an almost complete lack of freedom and customization = bad thing. And then they brought back having to go to an entirely different screen to do battle, and then another in which the game can tell you how well you did. WHY!? FF 13 was awful, in just about every way except graphics.

Mr Mc Doom said,

"The gambit system, combined with the way that the battle system worked, just made any kind of fighting an absolute chore."

See above arguments.

"The license system was also incredibly annoying. It just made leveling up a chore, and that's not even counting the oh-so-fun grinding that's always necessary."

Grinding isn't necessary. I've beaten the game just fine just running through it. Now, maybe if you AVOID battles you won't be strong enough to get anywhere, but that's all on you. And the License Board system was GREAT. I was blown away by the level of freedom and customization I had in developing my characters' stats, skills, equipment, etc. Made it much more fun.

Manwiththe Plan said,

"Still, it's a rule that characters drive the story, not the other way around as it was in this game."

No it isn't. Plot-driven stories are a very real and legitimate method of story-telling. Just ask anyone who reads books or understands film. Gamers need to educate themselves on the craft of writing and presentation before offering their criticism on a game's story.