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Post by Harry Locke IV on Aug 31, 2009 6:15:42 GMT -5
Is deterring me from getting important things done in my life...
After a suspension of perhaps almost a year now of serious game playing, I happened to pick this baby up for about 6 bucks at the GameStop in downtown Columbus (after the realization that the $300 PS3 and its $60 games was a bit to hefty), and I have been hooked since day one.
I'll update later with more reactions as I stumble through this masterpiece. But the story in this things has really hooked me, although I must admit I'm not as attached to the characters yet as I was to those in Final Fantasy X, but....it's a long game, and there's plenty of time!
More to come!
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Post by thetruth on Sept 1, 2009 1:34:31 GMT -5
You always seem to be picking up things I talk about late as hell man. But I agree, tiz a great game.
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SnowFlake
Beach Thug
Nothin' But Blue Skies Baby
Posts: 27
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Post by SnowFlake on Sept 1, 2009 1:57:08 GMT -5
I <3 Fran!
That's all I have to say about this for now.
(P.S. This is a really good game)
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Post by Harry Locke IV on Sept 1, 2009 4:30:21 GMT -5
You always seem to be picking up things I talk about late as hell man. But I agree, tiz a great game. Well, it's not that I really choose to pick things up late as hell, it's more like I have to put it on the back burner because I have to spend the rest of the 362 days of my life editing together our masterpieces, updating this website, designing stuff for other folks websites/ graphical needs, and maintaining that magna cum laude gpa status. So procreation time is pretty sparse these days. However, I'm finally at the one point where I can somewhat relax for like 3 weeks, so I'm trying to pick up some games and graphic novels before school begins session again. Speaking of which... I still never even got to play Twilight Princess, which is pretty startling for most. Seeing as how when that game was announced I printed out like 13 pages of screen shots and ran around showing people like they were the pictures of my newborn child. Ah....where does the time go... And Snowflake, funny you said, because I was just thinking how awesome an I <3 Fran T-Shirt would be when I was playing this past weekend. But then people would probably think I was referring to the Fran from the Nanny. Not quite the same.... |
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SnowFlake
Beach Thug
Nothin' But Blue Skies Baby
Posts: 27
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Post by SnowFlake on Sept 1, 2009 18:17:05 GMT -5
Speaking of Twilight Princess, I actually beat that game about a month ago, which for me is an amazing feat considering out of all the games I've played I can count the ones I've actually beaten on one hand. It was also a really good game, but I felt it was lacking in certain areas.
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Post by Harry Locke IV on Sept 3, 2009 15:24:14 GMT -5
That's what I heard from other Zelda fantatics as well. Almost as if, after all the work they put into development, it still seemed rushed. But nonetheless, still a great addition to the Legend of Zelda repertoire.
It's next on my list of retro-games to buy and beat, and the closure that I need in my collection to properly send of my Nintendo Gamecube. Contrary to the rest of the gaming community, I loved the little Indigo box that could. Personally, I'm more disappointed in the Wii than I am with the Gamecube. At least it had...you know...real games.
Most of my titles left to get though remain on PS2. I still need to pick up God of War II, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, and Kingdom Hearts II.
Than...I think I'll hop on Ebay and finally justify the $400.00 price tag of my Sega Saturn...11 years later.
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Post by Harry Locke IV on Sept 26, 2009 20:58:20 GMT -5
At a total game clock of 73 hours and some change....IT IS DONE! ;D ;D ;D ;D I just bested Final Fantasy XII after a nice little Saturday afternoon marathon session of gameplay, and I have to say...the game was very awesome indeed. So awesome, that I felt the need to leave a little a ditty here about the +'s and -'s I felt after experiencing this spectacular Playstation 2 title... Oh, and don't worry about spoilers. I won't say anything revealing for those of you who have played, but not completed this rather lengthy adventure. PROS: + The Battle System - Finally, no more f'n random battles and turn-based fighting!!! + Balthier and Fran + Making Fran your main character, and then rotating the camera behind her...and then lowering it  + Sidequests + Voice Acting + Storyline - Political intrigue! + Environments + Graphics - Absolutely incredible for a PS2 game (is there even anything on Wii that looks this good?) CONS: - Storyline - Okay, I know I listed that as a positive too. But I'm just going to come out and say it...I still like Final Fantasy X better than this game. The climax to that game was incredibly memorable, and while FFXII has a better storyline than 95% what's out on the market right now, I still felt a little was lacking in the character development section. I like that the story focused on how all the characters contributed important actions to the story, rather than focusing mainly on one or two character's vendetta missions, and that it was a much more politically based story. But in the end, I still wanted a little more interaction between the main characters. Especially more Balthier and Fran!!!! Also, the dialogue got really confusing towards the end, because they kept referencing way too many secondary characters and kingdoms. Kind of a put off... - Sidequests - Another positive that is a con. I think Square should have limited your freedom on some of these sidequests, because it's very easy to get too involved in some of them at the beginning of the game. By the time you decide to get back to the main storyline, you're left asking "Now what was I really supposed to be doing?". Make no question about it though...this is probably one of the most stuffed Final Fantasy games to date. There are a number of hardcore players who have maxed their game clocks out at 999:99...yes that is in hours and minutes.  - Difficulty - The end of the game was disappointingly easy. I NEVER over level in a RPG game. But I breezed through the final battles without having to substitute a member of my main party or even toss a phoenix down. What the hell is that about? - Music - Nobou...we miss you. CONCLUSION: Really good game, maybe the best 13 bucks I ever spent. It's good to see the series should be in good hands, despite the departure of series creator Sakaguchi. I'm just not sure if they'll ever surpass the material that was done by 'guchi and musical genius Nobou Uematsu. But they're on the right path...I'm really looking forward to Final Fantasy 13 now. Random Thoughts: + Is it just me, or did this game seem much more European than other Final Fantasies? I'm not saying it's bad or anything...it just felt like a noticeable departure from the past. + Here's a pleasant surprise! Nicole Fantl, the voice of Fran, is quite the looker herself:  Now let's just add some bunny ears, a serious tan, and a sweet s& m suit...  |
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SnowFlake
Beach Thug
Nothin' But Blue Skies Baby
Posts: 27
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Post by SnowFlake on Sept 27, 2009 19:02:09 GMT -5
+ Making Fran your main character, and then rotating the camera behind her...and then lowering it I'm so glad I'm not the only person that has done this... Overall I'd agree with your review, although I love that you can get so involved in side quests so early, since I have commitment issues with finishing games, the more I can do without actually completing the storyline the better. I'd also like to hear what you think about the LP system, since I know you loved FFX, and the Sphere Grid and the LP system are similar. |
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Post by Harry Locke IV on Sept 27, 2009 23:41:45 GMT -5
I'd also like to hear what you think about the LP system, since I know you loved FFX, and the Sphere Grid and the LP system are similar. Yeah, truth be told, I was a huge fan of the sphere grid system in FFX. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that the core concept of that system made the jump to FFXII. As a result, for the most part I didn't have any qualms with the LP system, and the learning curve was relatively quick. However, my only gripe with the LP system is that besides individual character stats, it completely destroyed distinguishing abilities between the characters. Any character could learn any move, weapon, armor, spells, so forth and so on. With the only difference being in there respective Quickening moves. While I like that Squeenix decided to give players freedom to do whatever (harking back to FFV with the job/class system), it really makes you complacent with the the 3 characters you regularly use...with no need for anyone else. I think I ended the game with Penelo 10 levels under everyone else. There was no point to use her, except for of course when a few people got knocked off in a boss fight. At least with the sphere system characters had their own set of moves, and unique abilities that gave me an incentive to keep leveling up characters across the board. I also think that this system of letting anybody do anything worked against FFXII's difficulty. When I've got everyone casting super powerful offensive and defensive spells at the same time, as opposed to waiting for one individual to do such moves, you can easily overwhelm the bosses. Unless of course, you're fighting secret bosses and such from the hunts. Some of those things can get nasty no matter how leveled you are... Oh, and another thought. The summons in this game (Espers)...were kind of worthless. I don't like how they were handled at all. I would have almost preferred doing a summon like performing a Quickening chain or something. Because more often than not, me calling a summon in a decisive battle, resulted in me seeing a Game Over screen... |
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