Alright, i've spent close to 30 hours in FFXII, and i've reached a scenario where i've stopped caring.
i don't care if the evil empire wins. i don't care if pretty boy Vaan fails in his epic quest to score with Ashe. i don't care if Balthier manages to seduce Fran into a threesome with Penelo.
i just don't care.
Seriously, FFXII got rave reviews from nearly every site and publication. If it is the wunderRPG reviews make it out to be, why the hell am i so disinterested?
It's not like i hate the genre, i've been playing the FF games since VII (like most folks) and i've finished all the single player ones barring FFX-2 which was a glorified Charlie's Angels version of FF.
Why is it that this single iteration of what is arguably the most loved and concurrently, most whored out RPG series ever suck so bad?
VII had a unique, if slightly muddled story, VIII had emo angst and what i believe, was a great premise, IX had flair and old school charm while X was, well, in a league of its own when it came to weaving an intersting tale, not to mention it had the most bad ass character i've seen in an FF game, Auron. In an alternate universe where everyone loves J-RPGs, we'd be cracking Auron jokes rather than Chuck Norris jokes.
So where does all of this leave Famitsu's 40/40 FFXII? Nowhere.
The pacing of the game is drab and slow. Sure it's a tale of political intrigue and other such things but it's cloaked in invisibility with a pathetic structure. What on earth possessed them to bookmark each segment of the plot in the form of "Chapters" is absolutely crazy.
As a long time FF fan it hurts to see a series you've grown up playing mutating into some monstrous whored out piece of garbage. In all there attempts to include new features like the real time battle system and gambits, they've forgotten what's core to the FF experience, an epic saga that holds interest. Not a boring, lackluster tale that kills your interest as well as your appetite for the genre.
If anyone needs me, i'll be playing Persona 3 or Odin Sphere hoping that FFVII: Crisis Core does not suck.
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I've read many FF reviews, all of them praise the game without actually saying what they like about it, its one long handjob to the company and the incredible amazing game they've crafted.
You're not alone, I've beaten every single FF and 12 is one I abandoned, its boring like no other game I've ever played and the battle system takes away to much control, it also punishes for wanting direct control since you go through a bunch of menus to issue individual commands.
Shitty game is shitty.
I'm nearing 30 and know full well that Squares glory days are behind them, FFVI to this day remains the pinnacle of RPG's. and because of that every installment falls short of a classic, VII was good im my books though, as was 9
I think I Still play FF because I know if anyone can make a game as great as VI, its SE. I hold out on that hope and i always will. other might make good RPG's but none can hold a candle a "good" Final Fantasy.
@Rainbowblack
I agree that FF6 is the greatest rpg ever, however I do not agree that squenix is past its prime. Just take a look at FF3 for the DS, its a masterpiece. It's so old school it hurts and I love it. I can't wait until the remake of 4.
I was thinking about this one the other day, and why I gave up on it. I think its the character development system. Instead of having your clearly defined healer, mage, warrior, theif etc, ANYONE could be ANYTHING you wanted them to be.
That sapped the life out of it for me. That and the fact that, unlike X, they didn't tell me how to build the archetype the way that I wanted to. It was pretty much: "Here's a board. pick skills. mix it up. some junk is over there. whatever you want to do kid. I don't care."
The cut scenes and other sections gave the characters plenty of personality, but the lack of battle related archetypes really killed it for me.
And take anything that Famitsu gives to a Final Fantasy game with several grains of salt. Total cock-in-mouth relationship between those two.
They should make another game like X ( X-2 doesn't count because they messed with the combat system) and they should also remake 7
I too love Persona 3 and Odin Sphere but FFXII earns it's stripes in it's execution, attention to detail and yes a refreshing departure from it's past reliance of rehashed by the book stories of yesteryears.
Perhaps you should finish the game in a rainy day before you toss out the "Fail" tag on it. You may have missed much.
Just fucking try it out!
I think the voice acting is weak and most of the main characters are a little drab, but this seems to be a blanket statement about the American translation of Japanese games (I don't speak Japanese and therefore can't say either way about the originals.)
But the game itself is fun enough. I got sick of VIII, IX, and X in all about the same way... I have save files mostly in the 20-30 hour range for those games. I think I don't have the heart for most JPRGs now.
I think it, in Squaresoft tradition, falls under the weight of its modes, grids, charts, boards, gambits, etcetera. Square confuses gaming depth with arbitrary complexity sometimes, and it does nothing for me.
However plenty of people love this stuff. The logic of these things never really clicks for me, so I don't. That's not entirely the game's fault, I'm never really bothered spending the necessary time to learn them.
It does seem if you ignore the gambits, hunts, license board, and all that until you absolutely have to acknowledge them, the game becomes more fun. Faster, anyway. Odd but true.