Final Fantasy XII is an obvious attempt by Square Enix at matching the mystique and grandeur of Star Wars. The air battles have a familiar appeal, and several of the airships look like they could’ve been designed by George Lucas himself. Plus there’s the whole “evil empire” thing. So why am I finding it easier to get sucked into this game than any of the ones since VII? Is it because of the high production value? Is it because, for a change, the characters DON’T look silly? Is it because they completely got rid of random battles? Whatever the reason, the world just feels alive to me. That is if you can ignore the obvious standard RPG trappings. Some downsides? The characters are unbalanced. I gained easy experience points and level ups by constantly challanging monsters twice my level and “quickening” them to death. Anyway. B+
Actually, Star Wars borrows heavily from two sources - Japanese “chambara” (i.e. samurai movies) and Joseph Campbell’s analysis of the “hero myth.”
While perhaps some of the production designs may have been influence, it’s more likely that thematically, they both borrowed from very similar sources.
/As you were 
//Still think the character designs are silly…
Aside from Basch, Gabranth, Vossler, and Balthier, I believe the designs to be Akihiko Yoshida’s least impressive work, but the overall art design of the title is astounding and I would hardly call any of it “silly.” And even Yoshida’s least impressive work is better than numerous other artists’ absolute finest, so I’m not much bothered.
I have upwards of 365 hours clocked into FFXII, and I’m still nowhere near finished with it! o_O Something about it just devours all of my gaming time whenever I pop it in the PS2.
I would very much like to know what it is.I tried playing FF XII and I managed to…for a while.I stopped playing when I had to find the kid from the camp.
It all just feels so dull … the music is repetetive and kind of annoying after a while, the combat is meh and story didn’t grab me in the slightest…
I’ll be giving it a second chance tho so I can say I actually finished a Final Fnatasy game at least once…
I’m in love with the gameplay and I feel as though the world is just so alive, but I can fully understand any complaints about the story. It’s very “soulless” in many ways, which is odd coming from the team behind Vagrant Story, which I consider to have one of the greatest plots in the medium.
In addition, though I like the soundtrack enough (like, not love) I feel that it is a bit too loud. It overpowers the sound design to the point where I can’t really tell if they put effort into the sound design. However, I don’t feel either point detracts too much from the fun I’ve had with the game.
Then again, I haven’t been surprised to find that FFXII is such an aquired taste: Yasumi Matsuno’s titles almost always are. Most hardcore FF fans are despising it because it’s such a departure for the series. I really hardly consider it an entry, but more of an unrelated (and superior) game such as FF Tactics, which just so happens to have “Final Fantasy” in the title. Honestly, I think the title would have been better received on the whole had it not been a “numbered” installment. It wouldn’t eleminate any existing flaws that it has, but it would certainly eliminate numerous kinds of bias.
But again, I guess it’s just an aquired taste. I tend to like all kinds of games that numerous others don’t. Take Legacy of Kain: Defiance, for example. That’s one of the lower-rated games I’ve ever seen on GameRankings, and I give it a 9/10. o_O
It’s Final Fantasy, what do you expect?
Just because I’m a huge LoK fan doesn’t mean I’ll forget you mentioned you liked FFXII 
Well Defiance and the series in general (apart maybe from BO) isn’t a game you would love just because of the gameplay and in the end gameplay is what dictates scores.
welcome to 6 months ago
[quote=“Shadow”]
It’s Final Fantasy, what do you expect?[/quote]
Not much, actually But, I had a few friends who were die-hard anti-FF gamers and they have all said that this is a dramatic return to quality, so I picked it up. Haven’t played it yet, though. Still have 352,246,189 games to play in my queue…
[quote=“Shadow”]
It’s Final Fantasy, what do you expect?[/quote]
Barely. It’s a YAZ game long before it’s a Final Fantasy, and even though I feel Yoshida’s done better (as has Matsuno), his designs are still light years ahead of anything to come out of Square, and most other companies in general. But again, until shown otherwise, I still say his artistic high point was Vagrant Story.
@Gehpnaet: You have a point about Kain, but I’ve generally enjoyed their gameplay. Particularly in SR2, in which it genuinely felt like the puzzles were creative and meaningful. Actually, SR2 was what got me into the series. I played SR1 and BO1 beforehand, and couldn’t really get into either one until after I had finished SR2. But, again, opinions. I owned a magazine in which the reviewer scored BO2 higher than SR2 which is… “interesting.” 
Oh, and to be a bit more “on-topic”, one aspect of FFXII that does irk me a fair bit is its pacing. It’s extremely slow, and though on the whole I don’t mind too much, I generally prefer shorter titles that aren’t filled with unnecessary fluff. In FFXII however, I don’t really notice anything unnecessary… it’s just slow. As such, in spite of my massive hour count, it wasn’t really amassed anywhere close together. I keep picking it up, playing it for large spurts, and then tucking it away to play something else for a month before pulling it back out again. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s YAZ Team’s Vagrant Story, which I’ve beaten at least five times, all in a row, before.
Yeah SR2’s puzzles and their symbolism made the game in a sense.It also was the game that hooked me and it still is my favourite in the series despite Defiance’s combat actually beeing kindda fun.
The characters DON’T look silly?! Is this possible on a Final Fantasy game?! Back to the topic surely the whole evil empire story has been told in stories throughout our history. Hell it even happens in real life, from (to some) the Roman Empire a thousand years ago to the Nazi’s just over 60 years ago. Space battles I’m not sure of though.
[quote=“Gehpnaet”]
It all just feels so dull … the music is repetetive and kind of annoying after a while, the combat is meh and story didn’t grab me in the slightest…[/quote]
The music is good from a musician’s standpoint, but it lacks any sort of enjoyable melody and, as you said, is horribly repetitive.
The combat is pretty cool, honestly a step up from the random turn-based battles, but it lacks the finesse of much better games with a similar battle system… actually, the only game I’m referencing here is Knights of the Old Republic, but that’s because it has the best combat system in any RPG I’ve played.
I’ve been playing FF for awhile now, and my advice is try another one first if you wanna play through it. FF7 is a good start. That game is pretty easy to get through.
FFXII is not the best game in the series to attempt to get through. I bought it maybe three or four weeks ago, haven’t been able to get through it. Too damn boring. I’m maybe ten hours into it, so my feelings are bound to change, but at the moment I’m at that stage where it feels more like a chore to play it than anything else, which is the worst feeling a gamer can have.
Which is why I will probably never finish FFX. Seriously walking through countless paths filled with monsters gets sooooo boring and the storyline is stupid.
Makes you wonder why so many people seem to love this franchise…Maybe the promise of a new FFVI/FFVII…
[quote=“Jimkemon”]
Which is why I will probably never finish FFX. Seriously walking through countless paths filled with monsters gets sooooo boring and the storyline is stupid.[/quote]
Actually, FFX wasn’t that difficult for me to get through, per se, but by the end of it I kept asking myself, “Is it over? What the hell is going on?”
So yes, the story sucks. Sucks ass.
I’ve finished FFXII. I’ve mixed feelings on the subject. I enjoyed it very much, and yet again I feel the need to separate it from comparision to other numbered installments in the FF series. As previously stated, it is a Matsuno Team game long before it is even remotely an FF title, and it shows. I enjoyed the game, but it was not without flaw. The plot itself was competent, but seemed to attempt little beyond that. It was enjoyable, but did little to make me think or feel, and the pacing was really uneven. However, the characters were enjoyable (particularly Reddas, Basch, Gabranth, and Balthier) and the world of Ivalice was incredibly deep and well-realized. Also, the simplicity of the plot was dressed up in superb Alexander O. Smith-localized dialogue, so no complaints from that perspective.
I do feel the need to complain a bit about the ending. Compared to the team’s prior efforts, specifically Vagrant Story, the ending is a bit of a letdown. VS’ ending was phenomenal, in my opinion, but FFXII’s ending suddenly took a shocking tonal shift from the rest of the storyline and finale and went all “oooh, happy ending + sequelage!!!1111!” It wasn’t too corny or anything, just not anything of what it could, and should, have been. Something tells me that this and a couple of other minor issues are due to Matsuno having to leave about mid-way through production.
The fact that my final completion time was 380 hours should tell you that I enjoyed the gameplay, and I also feel the need to mention that I feel FFXII has some of the most fantastic architectural designs of all time. I have had dreams about some of its cities, I enjoy them that much. The only minor complaint is that towards the beginning I did experience that “chore” feeling that some of you are going through, and it does pass. Really, by the time you reach the Stilshrine of Miriam every single aspect of the game’s mechanics has progressed to the point where everything basically starts to “click” and really feel good. Plus, that’s also where the storyline starts ramping up a bit. If you can make it that far, I believe you’ll find yourself enjoying it from there on out. At least, that is from my personal experience with it.
Another minor gameplay flaw is that the game lacks any significant form of replay value. It’s a very fun and immersive game, and it is loaded with insane amounts of depth, but it offers next-to-no incentive for future replays, especially considering the sheer size of the game. Had they added a VS-style New Game +, the problem would be almost instantly corrected, and as such it’s even more unfortunate that they didn’t.
Overall, FFXII is easily the finest entry in the series, and above and beyond the greatest thing to come out of Square Enix since 2000’s Vagrant Story. It also further proves that Matsuno and his team are really the only things that the company has going for it at the present moment. In spite of its flaws, the game proved to be one of the most inventive, deep, enjoyable, and immersive experiences I’ve ever encountered in the genre. 9/10.
[quote=“Abadd”]Actually, Star Wars borrows heavily from two sources - Japanese “chambara” (i.e. samurai movies) and Joseph Campbell’s analysis of the “hero myth.”
[/quote]
You forgot Flash Gorden , the start of each Star Wars film is just like Flash Gordon (tv series) . But you’re spot on Lucas is very open about how Star War used films like Hidden Fortress to help shape the film