Shiri2007-02-26 07:05:32
QUOTE(Fugisawa @ Feb 26 2007, 06:48 AM) 386147
I like playing games for their story, and in that sense, I've always like watching the people grow along with the story, using their unique abilities together for a common goal. When I end up in a free-form game such as this, I can't help but feel that it didn't have to be these people. That it could've been anybody. While Ashe and her delima is pretty much the focus the story so far... Basch, Balthizar, Fran, Vahn, and Penelo seem like they could all be replaced by random people, Assuming everybody in the world of Ivalice uses a liscense grid. (which is pretty much implied since random NPCs tell you how to use it)
That thought alone keeps me from connecting with the characters more so then other games like Lunar, Growlanser, and Chrono Cross where people had one profession, they stuck to that profession, and they had to learn to get along and pool their individual strengths. As opposed to all the characters having the ability to learn everything, and learning everything, and then pushing others out of the picture. As is the case in FF:XII where I can have six white/black/green/red mage/warrior/thief/gunners and only use the three I like to look at the most. (Unless one dies on me of course)
On a completely unrelated note. Is the PS3's emulation of PS2 games really as crappy as I've heard people claim it to be? That it makes PS2 games look like they were made for the PS1?
That thought alone keeps me from connecting with the characters more so then other games like Lunar, Growlanser, and Chrono Cross where people had one profession, they stuck to that profession, and they had to learn to get along and pool their individual strengths. As opposed to all the characters having the ability to learn everything, and learning everything, and then pushing others out of the picture. As is the case in FF:XII where I can have six white/black/green/red mage/warrior/thief/gunners and only use the three I like to look at the most. (Unless one dies on me of course)
On a completely unrelated note. Is the PS3's emulation of PS2 games really as crappy as I've heard people claim it to be? That it makes PS2 games look like they were made for the PS1?
I do understand what you're saying, and I think the license grid compounds that problem, but I think you're making a mistake by confusing them TOO much. FF7's characters were mechanically all the same, but I felt a LOT more attached to their story than I am to Vaan and crew, because Vaan and crew are really boring even without having the same skills as each other. I seriously don't think that having Vaan with stealing skills and Basch with heavy knight skills and Fran with white mage skills (or whatever) would significantly improve that. I think the getting attached to the characters is much more because of their personality and character design than their skills. These guys are just uninteresting. (except Fran 'cause she's a freakin' leggy rabbit.)
Clise2007-02-26 07:15:43
It seems to me that SquareEnix was more focused on what's the limit they can pull off the PS2 for FFXII rather than the story plot. The graphics are pretty good and the gameplay is unique for a FF style game. However the character development, even Ashe (Wtf happened to Vaan as the main character), was so weak... even after the twist and revealing what the bad guys are up to, the plot was still not strong enough to hook me ... I completed it for the sake of completing another FF :/
Sylphas2007-02-26 07:22:31
Did someone mention Chrono Cross as having decent characters? Wtf are you smoking? I liked the game, but that seriously was all about who looked prettier. Lots of games are like that, but Chrono Cross was the first where I realized I was doing that before I'd even gotten halfway through my first play through.
They way I liked it best so far has been FFT. Each major character basically had their own skillset, which you couldn't teach to anyone else. If you wanted an entirely generic party, you could do that, or you could even make the named characters generic (unless you wanted to be a squire). But even at the end of the game when you have everything, they were each unique. Even with the customization, all of mine did different things (Meliadoul was my lancer, for example, Ramza was my samurai, etc, etc. None of them really overlapped.) And the story managed to carry them all well enough to really back up the gameplay.
So what we need is a full blown FFT2, for the Wii. :-)
They way I liked it best so far has been FFT. Each major character basically had their own skillset, which you couldn't teach to anyone else. If you wanted an entirely generic party, you could do that, or you could even make the named characters generic (unless you wanted to be a squire). But even at the end of the game when you have everything, they were each unique. Even with the customization, all of mine did different things (Meliadoul was my lancer, for example, Ramza was my samurai, etc, etc. None of them really overlapped.) And the story managed to carry them all well enough to really back up the gameplay.
So what we need is a full blown FFT2, for the Wii. :-)
Shiri2007-02-26 07:29:23
QUOTE(Sylphas @ Feb 26 2007, 07:22 AM) 386151
Did someone mention Chrono Cross as having decent characters? Wtf are you smoking? I liked the game, but that seriously was all about who looked prettier. Lots of games are like that, but Chrono Cross was the first where I realized I was doing that before I'd even gotten halfway through my first play through.
They way I liked it best so far has been FFT. Each major character basically had their own skillset, which you couldn't teach to anyone else. If you wanted an entirely generic party, you could do that, or you could even make the named characters generic (unless you wanted to be a squire). But even at the end of the game when you have everything, they were each unique. Even with the customization, all of mine did different things (Meliadoul was my lancer, for example, Ramza was my samurai, etc, etc. None of them really overlapped.) And the story managed to carry them all well enough to really back up the gameplay.
So what we need is a full blown FFT2, for the Wii. :-)
They way I liked it best so far has been FFT. Each major character basically had their own skillset, which you couldn't teach to anyone else. If you wanted an entirely generic party, you could do that, or you could even make the named characters generic (unless you wanted to be a squire). But even at the end of the game when you have everything, they were each unique. Even with the customization, all of mine did different things (Meliadoul was my lancer, for example, Ramza was my samurai, etc, etc. None of them really overlapped.) And the story managed to carry them all well enough to really back up the gameplay.
So what we need is a full blown FFT2, for the Wii. :-)
Or for the PS3, since it's the only console I'm likely to get. And the problem with FFT was that most of the storyline characters were stupidly OP compared to the regulars. It's a bit like Disgaea except that none of them are monsters so you don't miss out on the throw command etc. :/
Sylphas2007-02-26 12:58:13
Well, a decently built generic character with some levels behind him is stupidly OP too; CT 5 Holy anyone? 
Mirk2007-02-26 12:59:35
QUOTE(Sylphas @ Feb 26 2007, 01:22 AM) 386151
So what we need is a full blown FFT2, for the Wii. :-)
It's going to the DS.
Article here.
Unknown2007-02-26 13:49:04
QUOTE(Sylphas @ Feb 26 2007, 01:22 AM) 386151
Did someone mention Chrono Cross as having decent characters? Wtf are you smoking? I liked the game, but that seriously was all about who looked prettier. Lots of games are like that, but Chrono Cross was the first where I realized I was doing that before I'd even gotten halfway through my first play through.
I suppose I was fooled into thinking it was different because I never bothered to change my characters. I always use a party of Serge, Kid, and some random character, (Most times Glen or Poshule) or Lynx, Harly, and somebody else until I got back to Serge. But even then, Serge was the average player, Kid was fast with a notoriously weak defense, and Glen was my power hitter.
And Shiri, I understand all to well about character and plot development. The Suikoden series has 108 characters to choose from, and even though the majority of them all have different capabilities, it also fell down to who I liked to look at the most. (Proven to me as I found I always had a party consisting of one male and five women. Or One male and three women in the case of IV) Yet I still loved the series despite it's huge cast.
While I do have Final Fantasies IV through X-2 and XII. Only four of them held my interest long enough for me to beat them. Those being VIII, X, X-2, and Crystal Chronicals.
VIII and CC only because I found gameshark codes for them. And X-2 only because I wanted to see how Spira Changed... and I suppose Rikku may have had something to do with it as well.
Sylphas2007-02-26 19:10:29
With 40 characters, you basically had the magic guys and the physical guys, and then the random few with totally wonky grids.
DS? Gives me a better reason to pick one up. :-)
So anyway, knowing how some of us feel about the freeform character thing, would FFXII be a good purchase? I've already gotten over not having bought it right away like I did the rest (even X-2); is it a good enough game to overcome my distaste for the character development system? How FF does it feel?
DS? Gives me a better reason to pick one up. :-)
So anyway, knowing how some of us feel about the freeform character thing, would FFXII be a good purchase? I've already gotten over not having bought it right away like I did the rest (even X-2); is it a good enough game to overcome my distaste for the character development system? How FF does it feel?
Unknown2007-02-26 19:35:45
QUOTE(Fugisawa @ Feb 26 2007, 05:49 AM) 386194
I suppose I was fooled into thinking it was different because I never bothered to change my characters. I always use a party of Serge, Kid, and some random character, (Most times Glen or Poshule) or Lynx, Harly, and somebody else until I got back to Serge. But even then, Serge was the average player, Kid was fast with a notoriously weak defense, and Glen was my power hitter.
And Shiri, I understand all to well about character and plot development. The Suikoden series has 108 characters to choose from, and even though the majority of them all have different capabilities, it also fell down to who I liked to look at the most. (Proven to me as I found I always had a party consisting of one male and five women. Or One male and three women in the case of IV) Yet I still loved the series despite it's huge cast.
While I do have Final Fantasies IV through X-2 and XII. Only four of them held my interest long enough for me to beat them. Those being VIII, X, X-2, and Crystal Chronicals.
VIII and CC only because I found gameshark codes for them. And X-2 only because I wanted to see how Spira Changed... and I suppose Rikku may have had something to do with it as well.
And Shiri, I understand all to well about character and plot development. The Suikoden series has 108 characters to choose from, and even though the majority of them all have different capabilities, it also fell down to who I liked to look at the most. (Proven to me as I found I always had a party consisting of one male and five women. Or One male and three women in the case of IV) Yet I still loved the series despite it's huge cast.
While I do have Final Fantasies IV through X-2 and XII. Only four of them held my interest long enough for me to beat them. Those being VIII, X, X-2, and Crystal Chronicals.
VIII and CC only because I found gameshark codes for them. And X-2 only because I wanted to see how Spira Changed... and I suppose Rikku may have had something to do with it as well.
Crystal Chonicles? Are you serious? That game was crap.
Mirk2007-02-26 20:44:08
QUOTE
Crystal Chonicles? Are you serious? That game was crap.
Depends on who you talk to.
Kharaen2007-02-26 22:28:52
Crystal Chronicles was for the Cube, right? It was the reason I sold my Cube and never looked back It sucked SOOOOOOO badly.
I'd buy FFXII because it is fun. It sucks there's no New Game+ feature, but there's a lot of other stuff to keep you busy (like finding out how to get the grimoires, collecting all the figures for your airship, hunting all the marks, getting rare game trophies, finding Espers, et cetera.) One area even changes landscape every so often in the game.
The game is also relatively challenging (which is a difference, considering all the other RPGs on the market...only BoF:Dragon Quarter is tougher, in my opinion.) The graphics are great, and you can find yourself wasting a lot of time just exploring the beautiful landscapes.
My vote is buy it, you won't be able to finish it if you just rent. You could probably find used copies by now, too, so the game would be cheaper (I found a Collector's Edition version in Microplay just the other day when I was checking up to see if they had any Wii's in.)
It sucked SOOOOOOO badly.I'd buy FFXII because it is fun. It sucks there's no New Game+ feature, but there's a lot of other stuff to keep you busy (like finding out how to get the grimoires, collecting all the figures for your airship, hunting all the marks, getting rare game trophies, finding Espers, et cetera.) One area even changes landscape every so often in the game.
The game is also relatively challenging (which is a difference, considering all the other RPGs on the market...only BoF:Dragon Quarter is tougher, in my opinion.) The graphics are great, and you can find yourself wasting a lot of time just exploring the beautiful landscapes.
My vote is buy it, you won't be able to finish it if you just rent. You could probably find used copies by now, too, so the game would be cheaper (I found a Collector's Edition version in Microplay just the other day when I was checking up to see if they had any Wii's in.)
