CHV Lives On

anyone finished this game yet?
i've only put 15 hr of gameplay in it...i'm loosing interest!- Instant Noodle is the way for a healthy balanced meal -

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i've only put 15 hr of gameplay in it...i'm loosing interest!

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Oh nooooes! You'd better grab a screwdriver (righty tighty and all that jazz) before it gets too bad!

its so suprising! because the FF from before, i usually finish it pretty quick! what went wrong in this one? what are ppl's opinion of the game? everywhere else i go to, its always about "good graphics!!" X100000

but nothing about gameplay- Instant Noodle is the way for a healthy balanced meal -

I like it. In fact, I REALLY like the battle system in the game, despite how similar it is to the one FF title that I actually disliked (FFXI).

Okay I didn't want to make a big post about FFXII until after I finished it.. but here are some things about this game that I have noticed, some of which are zagging to my ziggy affections.
1. There is less overall story. Sure the story may be more "complex", and have great potential, but it lacks proper pace and arc LIKE A @#%$. It's like they rushed it, or it changed hands a lot.
2. The dungeons are bigger and longer. And blander. Don't get me wrong, the game is stunning of course. But some things had to be sacrificed in order to allow for real-space encounters. When the game attempts to combine pretty filtering and sprites, without clipping distance much, you see noticeable slow downs. I was spoiled with FFX I guess, the environments were breathtaking so I expected the same and more for FFXII. FYI, Vaan's abs are some kind of genetic mistake.
3. I'm disenchanted with the boss battles, because they lack a lot of "pretty" that RENCs allow for. I haven't seen any special moves that blow my mind, period. Half of "big boss" battles so far are spent trying to get a good camera angle. Hell Wyrm was a complete yawn, because camera controls didn't support its size close up and the thing took damn near 2 hours to kill. Tight walls+camera=watching floor tiles.
4. I'm scared to buy anything in the bizarr, because all of the ingredient stock will be used. How hard would it have been to write some code that told the game to only remove 2 Gems of Pwn from the 50 sold to stock for the 2-pwn-sword, NOT all 50? I mean seriously. Other than that though, the bizarr pwns. I liked the synergizing thingy in FFIX, and its nice to have here.
5. There is no damage break besides quickenings, multi-striking is a rare bird, and the ultimate weapons are not so ultimate. There really isn't anything special about the best weapons besides a bit more ATK, they don't even possess a multi-strike boost or something. Quickening costs all of your SP... which should clear up any questions about why it took over 2 hours to kill one optional boss with 8mil HP. The Top optional boss has 50mil HP. So basically, the rewards for long arduous subquesting are not really that great, and they don't contribute to the super hard optional bosses FF is known for. More work, less satisfaction.
6. I'm almost at the very end, and I still don't feel connected to the characters. Except to Balthier, because he's hot for pixels. Arr baby.
7. Speaking of arr, the cheese of the lexicon and accents is great.. we have thou-ers and dost-ers, pirate slang, region specific slang and swears. Moogles say "oh noes!", and a summon uses an attack called Roxxor.. I laughed at the first, cringed at the second. It can get a bit complex and overdone, like in some instances of old tomes, ancient text, etc, that try to be cryptic.
8. I miss actually flying airships in FF games. Remember ff6, and obtaining bahamut?
9. Admittedly, the gambits system is very nice. It looks like they took the menu style from kingdom hearts and expanded from there. It needs some "do until success" gambits for ally, foe and self for things like steal, syphon, etc.
10. Lastly, there is practically no loading times.. the game plays through seamlessly. I think the only time you wait really is when an FMV is about to play... which there are not many of.
So... wow I didn't mean to babble that much. I started out only wanting to mention 2 things... anyway, I think I'll go finish it. And Yiazmat can go suck a toe, I'm not spending 6+ hours on that @#%$.
Ren, the un-yiatmatted.

ren, i gotta love your replies =)
yeah...he's pretty good looking for pixels
just don't orgasm everytime you see him upclose- Instant Noodle is the way for a healthy balanced meal -

My TV is a tube, and 20-inch, "up close" is impossible on it by today's standards, heh.
You know whats sad.. I've tried to manipulate the camera to get close views of random NPCs in order to examine the textures more closely (they are all so Hyung-Tae Kim-ly painted).. but the engine does this stupid disappearing act with them whenever you get within about three feet. I've had several Charlie Brown moments in my attempts, forever doomed to fail, yet I keep trying... frustrating.
Ren

Balthier is one smooth cat, in a very Han Solo sort of way, but the "hot for pixels" award easily goes to his co-pilot.
Er...
Wait a sec...

...Does that make her Chewbacca?

Either way, I'm still going to have to side with the guy who hangs around the fountain in Rabanastre, who speaks of a desire to "see" and "feel" the Viera...

Um...yeah. Back to the gameplay. I've gotta agree with most of your points, but I'm not really having much of an issue with the negative ones (aside from that camera issue during boss battles). And no load times? What game are you playing? o_0

JIM'S A FURRY!

Maybe I've gone too long without playing a PS2 game.. but loading times seem fast to me.
Or maybe my PS2 is a superhero.
I totally had Fran be the party leader for the better part of the first half.
Ren