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jzulli's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
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| [January 19, 2007 06:33:55 PM]
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I've played another hour or so of FFXII. I've just gotten out of the castle confines and I've been sent on a mission to hunt down some tomato creature. I like this feature of hunting enemies because it's a good way for you to learn the areas of the game and the battle system, as well as earn some experience and money. I like the design of getting the player out there and doing something. What I don't like are the long tutorials of the game explaining to me (in great detail) the inner-most functions of the combat system and abilities, etc. I would rather the game let you find out on your own how you are supposed to accomplish things.
The thing that I think works the best for the game, and also the worst, is that it is so gigantic (which I love) but at the same time, confusing to navigate around the city. This could be easily fixed by rendering the world seamlessly (like in Shadow of the Colossus or Jak and Daxter) or having the map be able to pop up instantly when you push the Select button. Unfortunately, neither of these are the case and I find myself wandering around for far too long when I really just want to get into a battle that is necessary to further the storyline.
I also feel the storyline is a bit over the top, but I guess this is a staple of the genre and series. Overall I am not enjoying the game too much but there are definitely good things about it.
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| [January 19, 2007 06:29:18 PM]
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I borrowed FFXII from the library and popped it into my roommate's PS2. It took seemingly an hour to just finally get control of the character. This was acceptable, as the intro was pretty neat and technically impressive. At the same time, I thought that this game emits this extremely intense aura of excess, kind of like the 80's. Regardless, once I finally got control of the character, I was able to move around with little hindrance. Here are the things that I found that I liked about the game so far:
The controls are easy enough. Very simple.
The combat system is very MMORPG'ish, meaning that you just pick a command and move around and it does the attacking for you. It's real-time which is neat, although I admit this game does not really feel like a "Final Fantasy" game to me yet. But at the same time, it's good that it branches off from its previous incarnations.
The real-time cutscenes are very impressive in terms of their ability to convey emotion and storyline. SquareEnix has made a reputation for engrossing storylines and video game engines, and I suppose this game is no exception; everything feels top-notch when it comes to storyline execution. It tells its story through cutscenes that you cannot control (however, a nice addition is that you can skip any real-time cutscene by pausing and selecting "O", which is really quite helpful if you're eager to get the game progressing sooner) and occasionally these cutscenes are pre-rendered. However, I find myself enjoying the non-pre-rendered cutscenes more because everything else just feels so polished and not at all indicative of the PS2 hardware. Call me a realist but I have a hard time watching a movie half of the time and a video game the other half (which is what the Final Fantasy series is known for at the Final Fantasy VII mark and onward).
The things I don't like:
The battle system is new and fresh from its counterparts but at the same time, not very engaging to me. I suppose it has to do with the lack of options at this point. But this is not to the game's detriment (yet) because I am so early on in the game. I assume later on I will gain more abilities and attacks, etc.
The game is massive and sometimes I feel it's a bit hard to move around effectively. The map in the game can be accessed at any time but there is a significant lag so I tend to wander around because I hate having to wait 3 seconds for the map to appear (and while you're waiting for the map to appear, you are rendered incapable of moving or doing anything.)
Overall, though, this game feels like it is an incredibly enormous game. It's kind of intimidating actually. But that is not necessarily a bad thing; it really depends on what kind of a gamer you are. Personally I just want the meat and bones of the game; that is, I want to follow its linear path to the end. Maybe along the way I'll get an ultimate weapon or two, but there are just simply not enough hours in the day to be a completionist. More on the game later.
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jzulli's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 18 January, 2007
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