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    zontan's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

    [January 26, 2008 02:47:24 AM]
    GAMEPLAY
    Alright, story things have happened. Yay. We're now off to get a Dawn Shard. I'm not sure what a Dawn Shard is, but apparently it can prove Princess Ashe is Princess Ashe. Technically Princess Ashe is supposed to be cooped up with the Marquis, nice and safe, but in another totally NOT cliched move, she decides to go wandering off on her own. Actually, she decides to try to steal Balthier's ship. So we end up tagging along. Well, technically we kidnapped her. That's the official story, anyway.

    And now I'm in a rather annoying area that has a save and restoration point at the very beginning, and then far too many battles afterward. People keep getting KOed. And then I run out of Pheonix Downs. And then they get Silenced, so they can't cast Cure. And I run out of Silence fixer-uppers and it NEVER WEARS OFF! Argh! So I have to go all the way back to the beginning! And all the enemies respawn! So I have to do it all over! Gah!

    Sigh. I feel like I'm probably going to be doing a whole lot of this. Consider it training, since I don't think I'm as a high a level as I'm supposed to be. Judging by the fact that the guest I got is four levels higher and utterly pwns everything. Sigh.

    My peoples die far too easily. I suppose that's to be expected in a game where death isn't even close to permanent, what with Pheonix Downs and full-restore save points, but it's still annoying. Especially when Pheonix Downs are expensive and the save points are far away.

    So I'm kind of frustrated at this point. But I'll keep playing. I'm sure I'll beat it eventually.

    DESIGN
    I like the new and innovative design things in FFXII. The License and Gambit system are new and original and interesting, and fiddling with them and deciding what to get and what to tell my party to do is a new mechanic that I've never done before. It makes for interesting new choices and new strategies, which makes me think and helps keep the game interesting, which I approve of.

    Unfortunately, there are limits to the Gambit system (especially since I have to buy all the Gambit targets before I can use them, and I have yet to find the 'Foe with lowest HP' target, which annoys me), and sometimes the AI has a bad habit of randomly switching targets, or attacking one foe until he's almost dead and then ignoring him completely, which is when I have to step in and say, 'No, you stupid moron, kill the almost dead guy before attacking the full HP one!' Also, you can't control the actions of the guest character at all, and sometimes he'll go and do something stupid and get himself killed.

    On the whole, though, I like the design. It turns what might have just been 'another Final Fantasy game' into something that's new that hasn't been done before.

    Also included in design, I suppose, is the narrative feel of the game, a classic of the FF series. It probably isn't a good thing for everyone, but I like it. The cutscenes help tell the story very well, even if you can't control what happens in them. It's a classic example of railroading, but I don't really mind, if it helps the game tell an actual story. Some other people might, but then, they shouldn't play FF games.

    Alright, I think that's it for this GameLog. Time for me to go to bed.
    add a comment Add comment
    [January 25, 2008 10:21:42 PM]
    SUMMARY
    FFXII is a fantasy adventure-RPG set in a fantasy world whose name I have forgotten, but mostly in the country of Dalmasca, which has been conquered by the Empire (because that isn't cliched at all). You play first as Vaan, a young thief from Dalmasca's capital, an orphan with dreams of being a sky pirate. Soon you are joined by five other party members (which is probably the maximum, judging by the amount of space in the menu and save screen). There's Balthier and Fran, who are actual sky pirates with rather large prices on their heads, Penelo, Vaan's childhood friend, Basch, a supposed traitor, and Ashe, the unrecognized princess of Dalmasca. None of which is cliched. AT ALL. It's only the 12th Final Fantasy, so clearly they must have made up all-new ideas, right?

    Anyway, your little group is off to save the world. Or at least your part of it. There's a whole lot of political intrigue and backstabbing and all that lovely stuff, most of which I don't fully understand. And I really don't have that much idea of where the game will go, which is pretty typical of a game this massive. But I'll certainly stick around for the ride.

    GAMEPLAY
    Though the plot may be cliched, Final Fantasy excels, as always, in its storytelling. It had loads of beautiful cutscenes that seem to pop up every five minutes, and voice acting. Yay voice acting. In the game itself, during those times that you are in control, all you really have to do is run around and fight things, but loads of games have gotten away with that. There are occasionally other things to do (like one section where you have to run around spreading rumors to get the attention of the people in charge), but for the most part what you're doing is battling the wide array of monsters the world throws at you. Not to mention Imperial Guards, bounty hunters, and Sand People. Unless Star Wars trademarked that, in which case they're called something else.

    But the fighting is certainly new and interesting. Unlike the traditional Final Fantasy style of turn-based battles, FFXII does its battles in real time. It's still feels turn-based, because all you do is select an action, wait for the bar to fill up (how fast it does so depends on the speed of the character), and then the character will do whatever it is you told them to do. But really, you don't have to tell the characters anything at all. You can use Gambits. Instead of resorting to AI, you can give each character a list of commands paired with conditions for when to do them. Once you get enough Gambit slots, your characters can perform very intricate strategies without you ever having to tell them to do anything.

    Another new thing is Licenses and License Points. You get LP (License Points) whenever you kill monsters, and you use them to unlock everything. Armor proficiencies, weapon proficiencies, item proficiences, magic, techniques, new Gambit slots, HP bonuses, MP bonuses, extra damage, new abilities, everything. Each character has a sort of map of abilities, and they start with a few, and you can buy any ability that's next to an unlocked ability. And when you buy it, the ones next to it unlock. Thus, every single character is completely customizeable and all of them can do pretty much everything.

    With an intricate, interesting story, and the previously mentioned cutscenes, playing a Final Fantasy game makes you feel like you're in a book. Which is just what they're going for. It rather limits what the player actually gets to do, but if you like games that tell great stories, Final Fantasy is the best one out there. So sit back and watch.
    add a comment Add comment
     
    Status

    zontan's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

    Current Status: Playing

    GameLog started on: Friday 18 January, 2008

    Opinion
    zontan's opinion and rating for this game

    Pretty good, on the whole. Not quite as good as I had been led to believe, unfortunately.

    Rating (out of 5):starstarstarstar

    Related Links

    See zontan's page

    See info on Final Fantasy XII

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