Final Fantasy XII (12) first PS2 game I beat

[MrEco]

I beat FFXIII and played enough to take down those giant dinosaur things eventually and just had to grind more for trophies if I wanted to keep going. So I'd say my issues with the game are sound considering I completed nearly all of it, I guess it was one of those cases of not having anything else to play at the time. But can you guys honestly tell me you never once died due to someone being healed instead of the main character? It irked me to no end that I could not edit the order of buffs/debuffs being cast among many other things. Sorry for the shot at the story or whatever, but gameplay wise I stand by my statement and think it was a step backwards in many ways. The flashiness was shallow in the long run.

I admit the game is flawed. I wasn't having fun 100% of the time either. And honestly, if you don't like the combat or the story or whatever then more power to you. Those are legitimate complaints if that's not your kind of thing.

But I just see the exact same kind of complaints pop up whenever XIII is mentioned. Sure, the game could have been more like the older titles. Sure it could have given more control over your party members. Sure it could have tried doing a radically different story that probably would have been easier to understand. But why does it have too?

People shit on that game so much for doing things that are not intrinsically bad design decisions, but are merely different from how the other FF's play. And then enough people do it to the point that they all start acting like it's just a given fact that XIII must be a bad game and only sold well because of pretty graphics and the logo on the box.

And frankly, as someone who really enjoy's XIII AND the older games, it comes across as condescending and just a wee bit insulting.

[CFFJR]

I understand the frustration there, but if its any consolation, I dislike FF13 on its own merits. I don't care at all about how it compares to previous games.

Its not that I don't like it because its different. I don't like it because it annoys the crap out of me. Take it out of the FF series, change nothing but the title, and I tell you with honesty that my stance will be the same.

But, I'm not saying its a fact that its bad either. Its just seriously not for me. People like it, more power to 'em. Have fun, that's what matters.

Noise and I actually discussed this at length back when the game was still fairly new, and we had to agree to disagree. He enjoyed it, I didn't, sometimes for the same reasons. Its just a divisive game.

As for the topic discussion, I cannot contribute, because I still need to play FF12. I'll get to it sooner or later.

Also, to those of you have played FF11, is it still worth getting into at this point? I'd kinda like to give it a whirl.

[isiolia]

Also, to those of you have played FF11, is it still worth getting into at this point? I'd kinda like to give it a whirl.

I've mentioned it before when it's come up, but more or less, FFXI got its "make older content easy to catch up on" adjustments a couple years ago. It's still significantly harder to get going in than more modern MMOs, but it's not nearly as bad as at release. If what you care about is the story content, then nearly all of it is fairly trivial to do at the current level cap solo or duo (though it'd be easier on some jobs than others).

With all the bitching that goes on about more modern FF games, if folks didn't simply dismiss XI for being online, they'd probably find a lot to like in it.

[ZeroAX]

Cracks me up ZeroAX that this was your first time beating a PS2 game, considering this game is freaking long lol. I never finished it because the 10+ hour portions of no story made it drag for me eventually, but I got 50+ some hours in and so overall, I consider it solid. But I agree with bruno about the identity crisis issue. Frankly unless it's brought up specifically, whenever I think of FF this one never really registers in my mind at all. It's case #18329 (which began from FFIX and up) of a game that just simply shouldn't have had the Final Fantasy name tacked on.

. And the only other game I got close to beating was Kingdom Hearts. On the other hand I failed at beating much shorter games cause I lost interest in them.

I think it's impossible to define what a Final Fantasy title is, because of how different they can be from one another. In fact I think that is a major strength for the franchise.

The only reason I said FF XIII is not good is because to me at least, it lacked memorable moments. For me, FF was always about memorable moments. The most important plot points in FF games get stuck in my mind like no game before. I remember the exact circumstances my life was in when I experience the opera scene in FF6 for the first time, the military parade in FF7, the train hijack in FF8 and so on so on.

The only thing I remember from FF13, is that at some point while I was playing, the bars from a balcony on my building broke and fell down (no one got hurt thankfully).

The story makes as much sense as any FF game. The characters are as hit and miss as any FF game (though female Cloud is a bit too unoriginal, but at least we finally don't feel bad about thinking Cloud's a hot she )

But it just didn't have memorable moments for me. I only remember 1 thing well. When in

Pulse I walked into the abandoned city and went through the abandoned houses.

It gave me a very chilling feeling and felt like some really good world building (which didn't go anywhere, but at the time I didn't know that, and I as still looking forward to what was to come).



The only other memorable thing for me, was the fact that Lightning seems to think she's Saber Rider http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKxWl4PcBY4


FF12 on the other hand was a warm and beautiful story for me. There were politics, but the characters also got involed. With the exception of the 2 blank slates of course, but....yeah everyone has bashed on them already, I can't really add anything new.

At least Vaan isn't saying this is his story like Tidus though, right?

[GazongaJoe]

Final Fantasy X was the first Final Fantasy I've beaten and I loved it so my expectations for XII were pretty high. I can't say I didn't like the game nor can I say I really liked it. I honestly thought it was pretty boring and bland at the time so I only got about a quarter of the way through. That being said, since years have passed and I now have a more open mind, I may give it another try to completion before I can really judge it. I thought the gameplay was ok though I like the turn-based battle systems better, and I wasn't really a fan of any of the charecters at all. But again, I'll give it another go when I'm done with Lost Odyssey.

[Xeogred]

Has anyone here played the International version to completion?

[ZeroAX]

Has anyone here played the International version to completion?

I think that wasn't released in Europe . I'd love to try it out.

[Xeogred]

Seems easy enough to find patched with English text and all now. I think even the Japanese release had the English voice acting.

It's also pretty crazy how good this game looks via emulation. I wouldn't be surprised if this game was really meant for the PS3, but they pushed it out faster for the PS2 or something.

[ZeroAX]

Seems easy enough to find patched with English text and all now. I think even the Japanese release had the English voice acting.

It's also pretty crazy how good this game looks via emulation. I wouldn't be surprised if this game was really meant for the PS3, but they pushed it out faster for the PS2 or something.

No it wasn't, but they did start development of FF XIII on the PS2 before moving it to the PS3

[pierrot]

I've had the International version for years, but never really had it in me to play through the game again in that version. Maybe one day. I think it's probably just the emulator/settings you have that make it look that much better, Xeogred. From what I recall, it looks exactly like the US release in terms of graphical quality.