Too Short?

beejay95

beejay95

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I loved playing FFXII but i finished it so quickly, including the extra sidequests and hunts, it was still too short.

I understand that many people love this game, but i want your opinion on the matter of "Is FFXII too short?".

What is your answer?
 
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FFXII is many things, but short is not one of them. For me, the storyline of the game took about 70 hours, and that was without getting stuck or doing any grinding. So if you include all the sidequests too, XII is a ridiculously huge game.
 
I strongly disagree. I also played for 70 hours and still was missing some rare weapons and had a few rare games and hunts left to discover.
 
Definitely not. I'm still working on it and I started... quite a while ago. And I have barely done any sidequests -_- Although it could just be because I don't like this game as much as some other games I have played, so I might be slacking a little >_<
 
Too Short? I still haven't found my way through it once, and that's without even trying the side quests. I think it's too long.

I guess if you're really good at this sort of games it might seem short to you. It didn't to me though.
 
I didn't find it short either. By the time I finished the story, I had clocked about 95 hours. Granted I spent some time doing a few side quests and I left the game running overnight twice when I used the auto-leveling trick with Negalmuur. But even so, I found the actual story to be quite long.
 
I can see where you're coming from. I always felt - if you stuck simply to story progression and didn't stop to do hunts/rare game/weapons/armor, etc, then it can feel like it moves very quickly.

Then again, I think that's often the indication of good game. Much like a really good movie - a 3hr shitfest would seem like it took forever - a 3hr masterpiece goes by in a flash.
 
Obviously it was too short. Everyone has been too short except X. Thats because X sucked. Every time I enjoy a game greatly it feels too short. Just like great movies and books. You are always sad to finish them and wish you hadn't rushed through the first play through. Or at least that's how it goes for me.
 
I think that the plot was long and very in-depth, you know with ashe and.....(don't want to ruin the story for whoever hasen't finished it)
But the game, side-quests, hunts, and other stuff, is very long.
 
i see where most of you are coming from, and i think that to you it might be long, but 70 hours isnt that long is there is 7 hours to play on the weekend, so a few months is a long time, but thats if you try to get the best items ever, i just went through the game and got stocked up when the need became the option, like when i vsed the hell wyrm, i got good stuff, and set gambits and im done, just leave it on over night, you can play without playing without having to wait the time you spent on it..... so it is very long in a way, yet really short in another.... i like to hear your ideas on if the game is too long or too short so please share with me, dont critisise me if you dont agree just state your opinion and i will appreciate you for it :).
 
I finished at 120-ish hours and had done hardly any of the sidequests.
This game is looooooooooooong
and 70 hours is long for a game...although most of my FF save files have been around this area...
 
Well, I did every hunt (including Yiazmat and I also beat Omega Mk. XII), got the best equipment and all of the espers and I clocked in at 180 hours. If you don't do any of the sidequests I can see that it may seem short because that way the story moves at a brisk pace. However, if you're like me and like to explore every inch of the game, the game will be twice as long. Still, 70 hours is still long for any type of game. But the story is very good by video game standards, so it never feels like it drags on.
 
Despite all the hours I have put into this game, I find myself always begging for MORE! I wish the story was a little bit longer to include facts about Vaan and Penelo's parents since Migelo only mentions them once. I also would have liked to see more story between Gabranth and Basch considering the two had such a nasty rivalry going on and I feel as if you never get the full scope of Basch's story in general.

The only characters who had indepth backgrounds were Ashe, Balthier and Fran. I would have liked to see more development regardining Vayne, especially since he was the main villain and all. Remember what they said in the game, Vayne killed off two of his other siblings when they rebelled against the House of Soldior but you never get a chance to know fully what happened.

Just so many plotholes! Like come on, SE! Get on the ball here and actually fill up these plotholes, please.

However, with all the hunts and such...its a pretty long game but the main story suffered greatly from what I call "Zone of the Enders" complex. Meaning that the story line itself was painfully short for a RPG. Especially since it was pretty cool...
 
Personally, i didn't think it was short in the slightest bit. Just the storyline alone should have taken quite a while, and if you did all the side quests etc etc, it should have taken quite a long time...

On my file where i was only concerned about doing some Marks and the storyline, i think i have somewhere around 110 hours put into it, and now working on my completion play through i've put around 40 into it and i'm not even to Archadia yet.
 
I don't think it's too short as much as there is too much nothingness between any two random parts of the storyline. "Oh, we gotta go kill this guy and get this item and bring it back, and HELL YEAH, we did it. Now what?" "We walk about 3 areas with 4+ zones in each to get to the next city." "Anything to do on the way?" "Nope, just walking."

Ninja Edit: Besides, FFI is by far the shortest. 15ish hours depending on how hard you grind. The next shortest is what, 2, 3, 4? Probably not IV from what I've heard. And II and III both seem like 30+ hours or so.

So yes, in my mind, the good thing is that they are getting longer, more detailed, etc.

Ninja Edit V2: I agree with you Thalia. They could have done far more for the main storyline. And you're right about Vaan and Penelo. Hell, I can't even remember why they are a part of the main story at all, except Vaan wanting to be Bathier's apprentice of sorts.
 
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I'd hardly call FFXII short, I easily pumped 120 hours into it, and even then that was without completing it to 100%. The hunts took up a large amount of time as did level grinding in certain places and even then I'd say the cutscenes on the whole were quite long. And a lot happened in between them as well. It certainly wasn't a short game. o_O
 
In comparison, I did the majority of side-quests in Lost Odyssey, and I clocked in at about 65 hours. So 70 hours is phenomenal for the main story.
 
I think the story was pretty long and good, however i must confess that i did not expect the ending to come as it did, but if you take into consideration side missions and so on...you have a lot of gameplay in front of you. It's actually pretty long in my opinion.
 
I loved FFXII, its story line was great but i could say... it would be awesome if it was extra long. Because in the game i enjoyed doing the story line more then training... Killing wolves + other boring monsters >_>
Would of loved to see more on Vaan and the other characters pasts.
 
Thalia said:
Despite all the hours I have put into this game, I find myself always begging for MORE! I wish the story was a little bit longer to include facts about Vaan and Penelo's parents since Migelo only mentions them once. I also would have liked to see more story between Gabranth and Basch considering the two had such a nasty rivalry going on and I feel as if you never get the full scope of Basch's story in general.

The only characters who had indepth backgrounds were Ashe, Balthier and Fran. I would have liked to see more development regardining Vayne, especially since he was the main villain and all. Remember what they said in the game, Vayne killed off two of his other siblings when they rebelled against the House of Soldior but you never get a chance to know fully what happened.

Just so many plotholes! Like come on, SE! Get on the ball here and actually fill up these plotholes, please.

However, with all the hunts and such...its a pretty long game but the main story suffered greatly from what I call "Zone of the Enders" complex. Meaning that the story line itself was painfully short for a RPG. Especially since it was pretty cool...
Click to expand...

I know where you're coming from and I know what you mean. But technically those are not plotholes. A plothole is an inconsistency that clashes with logic. For example, I established in the story I'm writing that if you shoot a werewolf with a silver bullet, it dies. So I go off and write that the werewolf does indeed get shot in the head with a silver bullet but still lives. That is a plot hole. The fact that little was explained about Vaan, Penelo's origins is because the decision to implement them in the game came later in development. Basch was suppose to be the main character of the game. "Fellow Final Fantasy XII character Basch was initially meant to be the main character of the story, but the focus was eventually shifted to Vaan and Penelo when the two characters were created later in development.[1] The development team explained that their previous game, Vagrant Story, which featured a "strong man in his prime" as the protagonist had been unsuccessful and unpopular; the change regarding Final Fantasy XII from a "big and tough" protagonist to a more effeminate one was thus decided after targeting demographics were considered.[1]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaan

The main idea of mentioning Vayne's killing of his two brothers was to establish that he is ruthless in his actions and to set the differences between him and his younger brother Larsa. I would've also liked more screen time of Basch and Gabranth but really the story is more focused on the world rather than the characters and maybe that's for its own good.
The story itself may seem short but really it isn't. Watch all the cutscenes on youtube and time it. As for your argument on Zone of the Enders... I'm not sure how that applies since it was an action game. But you're right, it certainly is cool. Especially The 2nd Runner.
 
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