Supposedly Rogue Galaxy did really well in Japan, and plus I love Level 5's previous RPG's, so I'm going to find out for myself.
Final Fantasy 12 - Reviews
- Thread starter London Geezer
- Start date
Supposedly Rogue Galaxy did really well in Japan, and plus I love Level 5's previous RPG's, so I'm going to find out for myself.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Yes to both games.
Game Informer has rated FFXII at 9.25 for the first reviewer, and their "Second Opinion" or whatever reviewer gave the game a 9.5. Their biggest gripe about the game was that it was almost "too open" and that it was sometimes hard to figure out what to do because the game doesn't lead you along enough. Both reviewers absolutely loved the cast and thought they were perhaps the best gathering of characters in a FF game to date. Also they loved the battle system, the CGI was apparently the best they've ever seen, and the monster collection is apparently very varied. They also enjoyed the system of customizing your characters, but one small gripe was that you couldn't see what lay ahead on your upgrade path and thus it could be hard to plan for the future.
Now in my opinion, I love the fact that the game is open enough that it's possible to feel a little "lost" at times. I'd rather get lost occasionally and not know what to do rather than constantly feel like I'm on rails with only one place to go. I'm very much looking forward to playing this game and I've had the Collector's Edition pre-ordered for a while now.
Now in my opinion, I love the fact that the game is open enough that it's possible to feel a little "lost" at times. I'd rather get lost occasionally and not know what to do rather than constantly feel like I'm on rails with only one place to go. I'm very much looking forward to playing this game and I've had the Collector's Edition pre-ordered for a while now.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
I preorderd this today, it'll do fine job keeping me busy until Gears of War arrives. I played about 12 hours of DQ8, but honestly I got more excited about the FF12 demo that came with it!
DQVIII is one of the best RPG's I've ever played... You really need to keep playing it Dr. Evil, trust me it's worth it! The game really starts to pick up a lot around 12-15 hours into it, and I'd have to honestly say that this game was the most fun I've ever had playing a standard RPG. (Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 were also a blast but were action RPG's). The storyline isn't spectacular (but isn't bad either), but the game mechanics, the world, the dungeons, the battle system, the dialogue, and the customization of characters are all spectacular... DQVIII is probably my favorite standard RPG out on the PS2 right now, with FFX, Suikoden III, and Suikoden V right behind it.
I need to get around to playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, beating Xenosaga 2 and 3, and beating DQVIII again because I had so much fun in the game!
By the way, off-topic, but I played Suikoden V a couple months ago, and I just wanted to give the game some praise. It's a return to the roots of the series (plays a lot like the first two), and I really enjoyed the game. I thought the story was good and I really liked the gameplay, and the graphics were definately the best in the series by far.
I need to get around to playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, beating Xenosaga 2 and 3, and beating DQVIII again because I had so much fun in the game!
By the way, off-topic, but I played Suikoden V a couple months ago, and I just wanted to give the game some praise. It's a return to the roots of the series (plays a lot like the first two), and I really enjoyed the game. I thought the story was good and I really liked the gameplay, and the graphics were definately the best in the series by far.
I'll give you the world and the dungeons, but the DQ8 battle system was just horribly bland and uninspired. Also for me, the game was great for the first 15-20 hours, but then the repetitiveness of the battle mechanics got to me. That, combined with the lack of motivation due to the mediocre story and flat characters caused me to stop playing after 30 hours or so.
Anyway, you are completely right about Suikoden 5. It's easily the best entry in the series since 2. The sad thing is, at least 50% of its 108 characters are more developed than the main cast of DQ8! Also, the battle system was very deep, and coupled with the item/magic/formation systems it offered great possibilities. However as with most complex systems it was quite easy to exploit with a bit of thinking. Still, I prefer that to the mind-numbing attack-attack-spell-heal-attack-... scheme of DQ8.
To get back on topic, the 9.25 for FF12 is well deserved.
Anyway, you are completely right about Suikoden 5. It's easily the best entry in the series since 2. The sad thing is, at least 50% of its 108 characters are more developed than the main cast of DQ8! Also, the battle system was very deep, and coupled with the item/magic/formation systems it offered great possibilities. However as with most complex systems it was quite easy to exploit with a bit of thinking. Still, I prefer that to the mind-numbing attack-attack-spell-heal-attack-... scheme of DQ8.
To get back on topic, the 9.25 for FF12 is well deserved.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Well I quess I could give it another try... It's just that... and I'm only talking about the first 12h now. The saving is a bit annoying, you always have to go to the nearest church, it's no biggie and we certainly have seen that before, but it irritates me. Also when one of your character dies in battle it really is a big deal, because you can't resurrect them even after the battle, unless you go to the church again, that causes lot of annoyining and imo unnecessary travelling. The battle system is fine, although I often get a feeling that the enemies cut in line during battle and that is really pissing me off. Some of the voice acting is also a bit on the nasty side, especially the main villain, some of them are good though, the king especially I found to be funny. And I must say that on my 61" tv the 480i picture with tons of shimmering and popupping really does hurt my eyes literally.
Somehow the FF12 demo just felt so smooth and easygoing compared to DQ8, but I don't have anything else to play now, so I quess I'm going to have to go back to it... BTW how long is it approximately?(I should play Jade Empire some day too...)
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PeterT: Well, the battle system certainly does have the potential to get boring in DQVIII but I did a few things which minimized this. First of all, I got everyone but Angelo to have weapons that could hit every single enemy at once, thus making the battles go MUCH faster. Second, I fought metal slimes (of all varieties) for long periods to level up my characters extremely quickly and then used a ton of holy water's to skip over a lot of the annoying random battles while on the overworld map. I also used the tiger-thing to speed up travel whenever possible once I got it. So because of these things, I didn't have to fight a million random battles and I loved how I was able to hit all enemies at once with normal attacks with every single character but Angelo. It's this along with being able to use captured monsters and being able to choose what weapons and skills I wanted to raise that really drew me to the battle system, along with being able to skip most random battles.
Dr. Evil: DQVIII lasted around 50 hours for me, so it's definately a fairly long game. I don't know your views on strategy guides, but I'd highly recommend one for this game because the game is absolutely enormous and it's easy to miss a ton of stuff unless you use one. I honestly think that if I hadn't used one, I would have missed out on at least half of the stuff that I thought made the game great. Also, be sure that you save after you beat the game and then start from that save and beat the game a second time to get the "real ending".
Dr. Evil: DQVIII lasted around 50 hours for me, so it's definately a fairly long game. I don't know your views on strategy guides, but I'd highly recommend one for this game because the game is absolutely enormous and it's easy to miss a ton of stuff unless you use one. I honestly think that if I hadn't used one, I would have missed out on at least half of the stuff that I thought made the game great. Also, be sure that you save after you beat the game and then start from that save and beat the game a second time to get the "real ending".
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How many other games let you level up 'Sex Appeal' and have special abilities like puff-puff?
Jessica rocks!
HAHAHAHA I loved that!!! I ended up leveling 'Sex Appeal' to 100 just to see all the different things in that skill! Also, did you find the purple door in the mountain that let you get a "puff-puff"???? That made me laugh for like 10 minutes straight!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, I actually first read about the Puff-Puff Lounge in a book I found on a shelf somewhere...from that point, I knew I had to find it!
I just went to EB to pay off the rest of my preorder, and upon entering, I was greeted with the most marvelous sight...
The FFXII Official Strategy Guide Collector's Edition!
So yeah, I paid off the game and bought the strategy guide at the same time! Now, I'd just like to say that this thing is MASSIVE. I'm talking college textbook size.
So I bring the book home, and take off the plastic shrinkwrapping.
The first thing I notice is that the pages are protected by a high quality outer shell. Once I open the book, a glorious collection of art is present on the left side of the shell, while the actual strategy guide appears to be located on the right side. Upon opening the right side of the book, I notice that the strategy guide section is 349 pages (!!) and all the pages appear to be packed with maps, pictures, and plenty of info.
I'd highly recommend the Collector's Edition of the strategy guide to anyone who likes FF games. The fact that the book is encased in a nice shell will keep it from getting damaged like most other strategy guides, and the art section (even though I've only had a quick glance) appears to be quite astounding. I'm doing everything I can to keep myself from reading the walkthrough and ruining the game (thankfully Okami should take my attention off the guide until Tuesday). So, just a heads up... the Strategy Guide is out!
Edit: Apparently the art section has pictures of all (or most) of the weapons in the game along with shields as well. Very cool stuff!
The FFXII Official Strategy Guide Collector's Edition!
So yeah, I paid off the game and bought the strategy guide at the same time! Now, I'd just like to say that this thing is MASSIVE. I'm talking college textbook size.
So I bring the book home, and take off the plastic shrinkwrapping.
The first thing I notice is that the pages are protected by a high quality outer shell. Once I open the book, a glorious collection of art is present on the left side of the shell, while the actual strategy guide appears to be located on the right side. Upon opening the right side of the book, I notice that the strategy guide section is 349 pages (!!) and all the pages appear to be packed with maps, pictures, and plenty of info.
I'd highly recommend the Collector's Edition of the strategy guide to anyone who likes FF games. The fact that the book is encased in a nice shell will keep it from getting damaged like most other strategy guides, and the art section (even though I've only had a quick glance) appears to be quite astounding. I'm doing everything I can to keep myself from reading the walkthrough and ruining the game (thankfully Okami should take my attention off the guide until Tuesday). So, just a heads up... the Strategy Guide is out!
Edit: Apparently the art section has pictures of all (or most) of the weapons in the game along with shields as well. Very cool stuff!
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Final Fantasy XII Review
The review is up at IGN : Final Fantasy XII review
Beyond the obvious graphics and sound being amazing, they also stated this, which I'm sure will please a lot of fans and critics :
The review is up at IGN : Final Fantasy XII review
Beyond the obvious graphics and sound being amazing, they also stated this, which I'm sure will please a lot of fans and critics :
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Shark Sandwich
Regular
I keep hearing that the story is a lot more political and more epic than the previous FFs. The descriptions remind me of Final Fantasy Tactics (the real FFT, not Advance).
Huge cast of characters, multiple groups each with their own motivations, individuals with their own hidden agendas, everybody stabbing each other in the back and grabbing for power.
I consider FFT to have the best plot and characters out of any FF game so far. If XII is anything like that, we are all in for a huge treat next week.
Huge cast of characters, multiple groups each with their own motivations, individuals with their own hidden agendas, everybody stabbing each other in the back and grabbing for power.
I consider FFT to have the best plot and characters out of any FF game so far. If XII is anything like that, we are all in for a huge treat next week.
Is the framerate any good? That bothered me with FFX and especially KH.
They say slowdown is a non-factor. So I guess there's no slowdowns, atleast not that much.
Slowdowns are only an issue if you start fast. If you're rendering 5 fps, slowdown isn't likely to bother you
