Favorites & Worsts Discussion

May 22, 2007, 4:42 AM

Rules

1.) Put some thought into your posts, a.k.a. no spamming. Try not to post things like, "BALTHIER IS MY FAVORITE LOLOLOLZ" or "THE JUDGES RULZ CUZ THEY HAV SORDS!1 HAHAHA" and last but not least no, "BASHE'S CLOTHES R STOOPID". You have to give reasons why you like or dislike these things.

2.) Stay on topic. I don't mind if there are actually long drawn out discussions people get into about favorites, and why someone likes a certain character/cutscene/weapon/relationship or not etc....but don't go off on totally un-related tangents.

3.) DON'T FLAME. SRSLY, There's nothing dumber than someone flaming another member because they don't feel the same way about a certain character/cutscene/weapon/relationship. STFU, It's only their opinion. DEAL WITH IT.

If you don't follow these rules, I'll just kill you %D *skips off*

Note: This thread isn't just for your favorite characters, it's for your likes and dislikes about everything in FFXII. This is an extension of the Favorites & Worsts thread. That way you can list every single thing you disliked/liked about it, so everyone can read it, then you can come over here and elaborate more on certain things if you choose to do so.

May 22, 2007, 7:53 PM

The characters were so undeveloped. They're backrounds and why they were on the journey with them. Not Ashe or Basch, they had a purpose, Vaan had a bit of a purpose, but it was nothing to much more than revenge.

Although, Baltheir was my favorite just because his voice was amazing lmao.

May 22, 2007, 8:12 PM

Man this is kinda hard without a pre-made page to go by.

Well here goes...

Favorite towns...
Rabinastre,- I like this place because of the size and the way it was realistic. The NpC's to the alleys and just the whole place make you feel like your really in a big city. Unlike Midgar or other citys in previous FF titles where it was basically one square after the other this place was broke up into little curvy roadways with an underground as well as a top for the "better half ". I alos like the way after time would go on you would come back to the stores to find new items readily avalible.

Henne Mines- Very good dungeon feel. When I got here I remember thinking ALRIGHT time to kick some butt!!. I also enjoyed coming back time and time again for leveling up and hunts...Though I did meet my demise more than once in this place it was still fun.

Favorite Weapons...

Dragon Whisker- THE best spear IMO. I like the way it looked, how powerfull it was and the name of it is even cool. When I got it I gave it to Basch and it just looked like it belonged.

Bows- All of Frans bows where great. They kept her in the back of the fight and safe, while at the same time inflicting damage. Plus Fran looked cool carrying one. I also liked to use the bow for flying creatures, especially when magiks where not effective or out of MP. If it wasn't for the bows I would have been unable to kill some of those flying creatures.

Favorite Characters-

Balthier- He was awesome sky pirate with a cocky attitude and traveled the word with Fran.. How cool is that. Plus his affliation with the judges and all other people of power gave me even more repect for him.

Fran- She is from a very cool race of people centered around nature. To me thats cool. She had such a cool voice, I just loved her accent. Plus she and Balthier played major parts in the whole story. As Balthiers companion it seemed as if they could do most anything.

Battle System- I loved the battle system. Forget you haters!! I love something new and refreshing. You have to expect change and if you don't well stop playing the new games. The fact I can choose to confront something or walk to evade it is awesome. Also the wait time while deciding what to do and the ability to even look around while in battle is freakin sweet.

I hated...
The license board- I found it to be a very useless time consuming tool that was like spending experience points just to use weapons or equip magics that should be a given once leveled up or obtained.

Vaans outfit- I've said it before and don't mind saying it again Vaan looked like a freakin volleyball player reject. What the heck SE was thinking putting such a lame outfit on a "main" or "main use" character. He almost looked... well **thinks of nice way to say it** non-male like. And I do realize that alot of Japaneses male characters look feminine but usually they dress like total bad asses.

Ashe- I hate her with a passion.....explained here--ashe

OK I'm out of time I will be back to work on this later.........

May 22, 2007, 8:31 PM

I have already posted what I thought but may aswell post it in the proper thread.

Likes:
Voice acting - Mostly Balthier, Basch and Fran. I particularly didn't like Vaan's voice over and everytime he spoke I literally cringed but overall the voice acting was great and a much improvement from FFX. Despite me not being the biggest fan of FFXII, I did very much like the characters above. Especially Balthier. Suprisingly enough he is one of my favourite FF characters.

License Board - There is room for improvement but they did have the right idea and I enjoyed it more than FFX's Sphere Grid. 'Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System' has revamped the License Board having 12 unique boards each corresponding to a Zodiac sign and job as to FFXII's 1 License Board that was able to make every character the same. That is what I think the License Board should have been like in the first place.

Dislikes:
Vaan - He is there for no apparent reason and he is "supposed" to be the main character. As Vaan said himself "I'm just along for the ride" says it all. Penelo also has no reason to be there and I guess is just going along since Vaan is. 2 pointless characters.

Battle System - I prefer turn based but I don't think the Battle System worked really well. Having the computer controlling your characters is not fun for me (and if anyone is prepared to say "if you want turn based, all you need to do is put it on 'wait'" then don't bother because I have had it on 'wait' since the beginning of the game and their is hardly any difference. Gambits don't work aswell. You pick what you want as your most priority but I have found that in sometimes in a battle that I might prefer to use Curaga over Esuna but there could be a point during the boss fight when it could be sensible to use Esuna over Curaga but because Curaga is already the higher priority he would use it. I've had this happen and it can be a real kick in the balls. Thats why I prefer 1 or 2 gambits and do everything manually.

The story - It was just dull. Wasn't interested in it much. By the time I had to go to Archades I was getting bored of the game. I also felt that the game wasn't very long compared to others (but on this occasion it probably was for the better) but time was taking up from travelling far distance.

World Map! - Again no World Map and I don't expect there to be anymore but it doesn't feel good going to the aerodrome and picking out your location. I like being able to go in my airship (especially FFVI, Highwind kicked ass!).

Final Fantasy XII Tactics? - Yes, obviously I feel like this game is more FFT rather than just an FF game. After reading about FFXII:RW and seeing screenshots, that seems to be even more like tactics and I feel that both games would have suited the Tactics name rather than part of the main series.

Mist attacks - Quickenings and Espers I found useless and I wouldn't be suprised if others didn't. Quickenings can be decent if you get a good chain but draining all your MP with the risk that you might not is not worth it. I only used them if I was fighting an easy boss who had slightly low HP and I just want the fight over with but otherwise, I wouldn't use them. Only used Espers twice. Once was against the Tiamat which Belias done absolutely nothing and the second time when you have to use Belias get to Giruvegan. Also, I didn't like the new summons. I liked it when various types of summons would be recycled or maybe a couple of new ones aswell as the ones like Ifrit and Shiva always making an appearence.

This game in general feels more like an Final Fantasy Tactics game rather than an Final Fantasy game. It would have probably have been more suited to the Tactics series than the main series.

That's my likes and dislikes.

May 23, 2007, 8:21 AM

Favourites..

1. The NPC's - eveywhere you found NPC's, you found a different group of personalities, making people far more interesting to talk to.

2. The Judges - Intimidating, dressed so very appropriately to strike fear into the hearts of everyone who would dare go against them. They all had different personalities too, with great VA to much too.

3. Characters in general - Characters underdeveloped? Seems a favourite thing to be saying now with no explanation. Everyone's goals/personalities needed no change/development, as they were already firmly set out. Ashe however, eventually learned the importance of working with her new friends, and Vaan learnt to understand that Basch was not his enemy, and that a revenge attack against Gabranth would not solve anything, bring him peace..or bring his brother back.

4. Gambits - to be honest, I never really used them, but I found them useful for certain boss fights.

5. License Board - Very easy to use, and quite fun to use also. Much more fun then the License Grid which seemed to last forever.

6. Battles - Ho boy, one of the most awesome things to come out of FFXII. No longer was I bothered by pointless breaking screens and coming up against 4 monsters when I was going somewhere. I could take on monsters if I wanted to, and I could run away. Rare monster hunting made things a lot more fun too.

7. Storyline + Character backgrounds - I had no problem with this whatsoever. No longer did have to sit through hours and hours of pointless dribble from some previous games that made me thinjk - ugh, am I watching a movie or playing a game?

8. Cutscenes + FMV's - Cutscenes were certainly an improvement, but I felt some cutscenes, despite being beautifully executed, could be FMV's.

9. Hunts! - This immediately scored a huge hit with me, as I loved the hunts before from FFTA.

10. Exploration - Yes, we didn't get to go round in airship, but what's better - exploring the lands, or just taking an easy cheap route? Exploring the lands for me. I liked how some areas contained tough monsters, and how you find certain areas without knowing.

11. Teleport Crystals - Boy did these come in handy if I couldn't walk from one place to another!

12. Loot - Finally, some decent economy system in an FF game. If you collected plenty of loot, you would not be skint. Learn to appreciate this games economy please.

13. Chaining - great way of levelling up easy, as well as scoring a good amount of loot.

Dislikes..

1. Balthier and Ashe - Balthier, come off as some know it all smug git, who thought he was like a "God". He never came across as a leading man whatsoever to me, as I really disliked his attitude. Ashe, the urge to just scream out and say "STOP GIVING VAAN GRIEF" really got to me. Despite her being "nice" sometimes, she was very rude.

..That's pretty much everything for now.

June 3, 2007, 12:41 AM

I liked...

1. The architecture...it was very different, very down to earth in Rabanastre and then in Archades there was the obvious difference but the mediterranean feel was there and I really liked it. I'm a building buff ^^;.

2. The Characters-Wow, so many and so much to them. Just two scenes with the judges showed you a great amount and a great personality that you could really unidentify, unfortunately they weren't in depth enough for someone like me to really find out what their true motives were. And I think that to make them out more as humans and less of executioners (With Gabranth, Drace and Zargabaath's exception since, they show large anounts of morals and ethics enough for us to know) that a lot of people would show a great deal more compassion for them. I could go into a long winded explanation but I'll save it lol. Apart from the judges, all the characters stood out to me, not stereotypes, well, not most of them, Vaan and Penelo perhaps, Ashe had a bit of a mouth on her, I like Balthier because of his sarcasm, Fran just needed to talk more. Basch was a bit flat to me at some points.

3. Costume designs- I'm a rabid costume fan, so this was probably the biggest appeal to me in the entire game. I have some smiles and frowns for some particular costumes but I think Balthier's was one that I really liked. Penelo's, simple in design, was a big appeal to me as well, I think it made her look very firm standing and less flimsy. Can't say much for Fran, but I like her shoes. Basch makes me cry...I'm sorry babe but wearing a potholder under your shirt is so last summer. The Judges' armor made me flip, with the exception of Zargabaath, I do not like his armor at all. The red is a complete clash and sticks out like a sore thumb. My favorite colour is red but it looks ghastly on his armor. Drace's helmet I have a bit of an issue with simply because it looks like a giant pair of steel ovaries.

4. Voice Acting- WOW. When playing FFX, I had lost just about all hope when I heard Tidus for the first time, and FFX-2 didn't help, however XII has redeemed itself in the best ways possible. Balthier's voice is very slick, he reminds me of a smooth talker. Fran had an interesting accent which made up for her flat acting...everyone else was 'nyeh'. I disliked Larsa's voice because he sounded like a girl..and looked like a girl but that's beside the point. I think they could have picked someone better for Vayne, he just didn't deliver. I think, imo, the best voices were, in this order, Judge Ghis, Dr.Cid, Judge Drace, Judge Bergan, Balthier.
They obviously, well, imo, went all out on the enemies except Vayne, Dr.Cid had so much personality, and Bergan gave me chills.

5. The Espers-I liked the Espers because they were something new. I like the other FF summons but these were fresh, new, original and pretty kewl lookin to boot. Their music is on my iPod, and I love the designs sprouted from the Zodiac signs, well most of them. Zodiarc looks...odd. Belias is my favorite, I'm an aries and so is he ^^. The only thing was that I had to do a few double takes to really 'see' them, but perhaps that's a good thing?

What I disliked-

1. Some of the storyline- Now I didn't have a big problem with most of the storyline but a few parts, usually involving character development irked me. The synopsis is good, I think SE made a good choice in perhaps taking out a mainstream romance, sometimes there are bigger things at work. But I felt like a few characters could've gotten a bit more developed, the Judges, Penelo, and Vaan. Penelo I think could've had a bit more of a history and Vaan was a bit flat.

That's about it really, I love FFXII and I really only had problems with a minor character issues. Other than that, I had a fun time.

June 3, 2007, 2:58 AM

I'll just post about the characters then add more content about the in game experience and so on.

Characters:

Vaan:
The Bad: Must I say that his role was somehow unnecessary? Seriously the whole plot, like many (including myself) have said countless times, could go smothly and without changes if Vaan weren't there. His role was not that important as Balthier's or Fran's.

His characteristics are quite simplistic, he was almost like a Tidus Clone (without the annoying attitude) to me. Yes he had many pros and contras but still he was a weak leading character, if we can call him a lead character that is. I much liked when the story began with his brother Reks since he was a soldier and had an important role (werll actually he was quite simple too but at least he was a soldier.....does that counts?)

As I played I saw Vaan as a kid who just tagged along because he was caught in the wrong place at wrong moment, much like Tidus who only followed Auron through all the game even though he did had an important role and the story was linked greatly to him.

Yes, Reks was murdered by Gabranth but still nothing happened, he was a casualty of war.

Now the Good:

I can be quite contradictory here but I have to admit that not all about Vaan was bad. He did had his important, though they were horribly short, parts in which he could play an important role. During the game I had the hope of finding a connection between Vaan's visions of Rasler and his slight resemblance to him (like some people say they have...O_o) but soon discovered that it wasn't that significant after all.

Vaan had many things that Tidus' lacked, but still he didn't had the importance of a leading character nor the significant influence in the main storyline. His attitude represented two kinds of people the average teen and those who lost their family to war.

In FFXII you can see the mixture of this two attitude and experiences merging into Vaan. Sometimes you see him acting normally living his life like everyone, and then there are times in which his memories and the deep hatred he felt against those he thought were responsible for his brother's death.

A much better work could have been done with Vaan, and this game could have a sequel you know since I never saw the Rozarian Empire.....<.< and was looking forward to join them....

Balthier: The FF version of James Bond with a Brithis accent and cool attitude. Sure Balthier stole the hearts of many fan girls and is among the top guys of FF due to his role in FFXII. From the very moment this character enter the scene you could see him taking the lead of the group (even though the others tought the opposite).

Much of his role was greatly related with the main storyline for he is the son of one of the bad guys; Dr Cid . He was also an archadian judge but decided to become a sky pirate taking a fierce viera warrior as his tech assistant, side kick and trusty friend. Both of them (Vaan and Balthier) reminded me a lot to Tidus and Auron somehow....

The Bad: Yes this character had his bad moments when he would actually never shut up about taking every decision around here even though that in the end no cared if he considered himself the leading man.

His actions were quite hilarious and it seems that this guy was somehow like an "Auron" and Vaan was like a "Tidus". Throughout the game we see Balthier trying to teach Vaan the way of the Sky Pirate, even though their first encounter wasn't that "friendly".

He was actually the guy who thinks himself as a "ladies man", trying to play cool and enchant women with his "James Bond" attitude.

In general: something better could have been done with Ashe, and Penelo. Ashe was, well....how should I say? simple?. Penelo was fine, she was a great character who suffered the same problem of Vaan, lack of role importance. Both Vaan and Penelo were great characters that could have been given a bigger role in FFXII instead of just tagging along with the rest of the group and getting dragged all the way to the end.

Judges: The judges were completly great in general. Judge Ghis had an important role that could have been even greater and his attitude gace you the impression of a villain yet with the tone of a calmed man, not a psyco like Sephiroth, Ultimecia, Seifer, Kadaj and his retarded twins (lol gad to say that, sorry), etc.

Their voice acting was great, the dialogues were good and had the great importance that gave the game the perfect touch of a dramatic atmosphere. I really loved the escene in which Judge Drace aims her sword against Vayne and says:

"Vayne Solidor! As Judge Magister and upholder of the law I hereby place you under arrest!!!"

Totally great and made me think, "wow, what's next?!"

Then if you finished or at least are far enough in the game know what happened after that.

Both Bergan and Zecth were great judges even though we never have a chance to see Zecht with his judge armor....too bad....

Gabranth was somehow like the betrayer, the evil twin, somehow an antagonist to Basch yet he redeemed himself somewhere near the end and decided to put things right. His role was highly important as we see him doing most of Vayne's dirty work. He was the youngest of the judges (if I am correct) and was well respected by each of them, and also was trusted by Emperor Gramis Solidor himself who placed his own son, Larsa, under Gabrant's care.

In general, even though all the judges were cool something better could have been done with them, as we see little of Judge Zargabaath and sure his armor was cool as well as the airship Alexander.

Vayne: One of the best villains of all times (though someone better could have been picked for his voice acting). Not only murdered part of his family (in fact one of his brothers if I remember well) but he took the control of the whole Archadian Empire after his father's murder. His appearance and cold hearted and inteligent attitude made him a memorable character, and his dialogue and many cut scenes during the Final Battle were great.

The Game:

Honestly? Quite easy and simple. In fact the whole point not seeing much difference between the amount of Licence Poinst earned from enemy to enemy killed the whole idea of killing stronger enemies to LV Up. Seriously in this game the LV is not that important. You can actually beat the game with a really low level as long as you have; a) Strong Equipment, B)Lots of License Points and abilities unlocked, and C) Lots of Gil.

There was no point in leveling up in the game if you could just get the same amount of Licence Points from a weak enemy or a powerful LV 60 Big Bomb. The Bosses don't give experience at all so they just play the role of being like obstacles to be conquered in order to beat the game.

Sure, you can unlock many things by completing the Missions and Side Quests, you can even trigger the even of the reconstruction of Bur-Omisace by completing some hunts, but still the whole game would turn arround:
-Player goes here and gets mission details.
-Players goes there and kills the monster.
-Player Gets money
-Player unlocks almost like ten new missions after believeing he/she completed them all

Battle System: Good and fast as I expected but reminded me a lot to KH still it had part of the esence which difers a FF game from regular RPGs.

Difficulty: Moderately Hard. Good for new comers, easy for expert FF players, and a pain in the @$$ for those who are playing RPGs for the first times. Actually, I don't think this game is that hard to understant if you know how to follow instructions and have two copies of saved game file just in case you make an horrible mistake and want to go back somewhere near the beginning or a few chapters before the current one you are playing without starting the whole game again

Want to replay: Me? No...as for my self I have different saved files of those important parts of the game if by any reason I ever want to see them again, but play the game all over again? all those hunts? Nah....

Graphics: Cool and here I admit they did a good job

Towns: Awesome, I love Archadia, it's my favorite

still I wanted to see Rozaria Kingdom (empire someone correct me here since I can't remember well

)......

Transportation: The Strahl is quite useful even though you have to go almost more than half of the game on foot. No World Map walks like FF VIII. In FFXII you can walk for hours while fighting monsters and making sure you are going in the right direction and still make the question: "Are we THERE yet?"

Yes you could pay for an airship to travel between towns you have already visited but since you can't do that to move to towns you haven' visited yet, I find it quite useless and used it only once. Also, why pay if you can use your own airship, the Strahl? (after you get it of course)

I think I'll just leve it here XD....I wrote enough I guess....

June 17, 2007, 12:15 AM

I completely forgot about this but there is one more thing I like about this game (). I liked the fact that moogles had a bigger role than some of the previous games. FFVII, FFVIII and FFX didn't really feature moogles. (I know they did make appearances but not very much). FFIX had lots of moogles and played a large roll in sidequests so I thought it was good to see moogles come back into FF more as a race unlike say FFVII when it was in some arcade game or FFX it being a doll. I like to see moogles being more involved in the game so I thought it was great to see them come back as more of a race.