After a bit of trial and tribulation, Final Fantasy XII is now officially on my kill list. There's still some stuff to be done left over (I really wanted to take on the Necrohol and snag the Zodiac Spear) but ultimately, I went ahead and faced the final boss and brought it all home.
I can see why there was some fanboy raging at the final dungeon; it literally was a few screens of tearing through a giant airship and wrecking a few dozen mooks before the final boss. Frankly the penultimate dungeon (the Pharos Lighthouse marathon of terror) served the purpose just fine, while Sky Fortress Bahamut is more of a final battleground stage than a dungeon proper. The final series of boss fights were a total blast, ranging from another Judge Magister battle to watching would-be overlord Vayne go from airbender to the hulk to a creepy awesome meld of man and magitek machinery that would made your average AdMech Magos oil his cogs from the sheer awe of it. A fine bonus was that he was enough of a threat to my pack of badasses that the entire set of matchups had that extra edge of danger going for it. It truly adds some kick to the proceedings.
FF12 actually kept that challenge and sense of danger up very well throughout my playthrough. Modern Final Fantasy has had a hard time of doing that, but here the old spark still burns bright. The whole thing actually did feel like a 8 or 16-bit Final Fantasy game brought to the Playstation 2 era. The monsters and locations just have the whole look and feel, while the combat system is still clearly of the ATB lineage.
What else can I say? FF12 is the first of the main series Final Fantasy games that I've completed in a very long time, and one of only four (if you count Tactics) that I've beaten. Most of the others wound up getting stalled for one reason or another, but this one kept compelling me to come back once I plugged it in and got going. It also stands as one of the longest playthoughs I've ever sunk into an RPG (clocking in at 83 hours of playtime), with maybe Skyrim being anywhere close before I hung it up. This is a worthy game, I can tell you.
In any case, it is time to move forward and start on my backlog of slightly more...obscure...titles. Next up is a bit of classic RPG quesadillia goodness: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. Are you a bad enough dude to become the Dragonmaster and collect all the bromides?
Showing posts with label final fantasy xii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label final fantasy xii. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Sunday, January 1, 2017
The Paths of The Dead
Things have actually gotten a fair bit more interesting in Final Fantasy XII. I finally got to do battle with Dr. Cid, and let me tell you, he's a very refreshing antagonist. He hams it up pretty good, and fighting him is one of the high points thus far for sheer theatrics. Oh, and he can attack you with a Tokamak. That's right, Dr. Cid can smite his foes using a damn plasma bottle, the kind that is/was studied for nuclear fusion reactor research. Wow.
The locations I've traveled to just keep getting more and more interesting, too. The Feywood in particular was pretty fun. It's all spooky and fogged up with magical mist, and holds one the niftiest puzzles I've encountered. It managed to invert the usual 'enticing mirage of death' concept and actually use illusions to point the way you need to go.
The optional zones also have a good deal of merit; they have a tendency to require extra grinding to survive (but it's Final Fantasy, so grinding is tradition anyway), but more than compensate the patient player by giving you all sorts of extra goodies and loot items to play with. I had let myself get a bit too focused on the main quest, and realized the errors of my ways early enough for the earlier, easier optional areas still worthwhile. I'm still not quite up to the task for the lootsplosion that is the Nabreus Deadlands and the Necrohol of Nabudis (home of the glory that is the Zodiac Spear), but it shouldn't be too long now.
Oh, and speaking of extras, some luminous soul at Square came up with one the most unexpectedly awesome ideas I've seen: The Nihopalaoa. It's a high-end accessory that's obtainable after getting a few side hunts done and therefore can be nabbed with little fuss. What is does is invert the effects of curative items when used by the wearer. Sounds like crap, right? Wrong! This wonderful doodad turns your status-curing items into nasty status inflictors. FF12 is that rare RPG where using status effects on enemies is worthwhile and actively encourages, especially against rare monsters and bosses. Using a fully empowered Remedy while wearing this thing will inflict almost every status effect in the game with practically perfect accuracy. It's the most efficient way I've seen to completely shut down major nasties I've seen in a long time, and gives you a shot at even vastly overleveled enemies. I can't say I've seen anything this hilariously mean since FF7's W-Summon/Hades/Knights of the Round/Mime conga-line of death. Just remember to pay attention, or you could wind up frying your own party members, that was totally embarrassing.
Well, it's time to be off again. The Harvest Never Rests!
The locations I've traveled to just keep getting more and more interesting, too. The Feywood in particular was pretty fun. It's all spooky and fogged up with magical mist, and holds one the niftiest puzzles I've encountered. It managed to invert the usual 'enticing mirage of death' concept and actually use illusions to point the way you need to go.
The optional zones also have a good deal of merit; they have a tendency to require extra grinding to survive (but it's Final Fantasy, so grinding is tradition anyway), but more than compensate the patient player by giving you all sorts of extra goodies and loot items to play with. I had let myself get a bit too focused on the main quest, and realized the errors of my ways early enough for the earlier, easier optional areas still worthwhile. I'm still not quite up to the task for the lootsplosion that is the Nabreus Deadlands and the Necrohol of Nabudis (home of the glory that is the Zodiac Spear), but it shouldn't be too long now.
Oh, and speaking of extras, some luminous soul at Square came up with one the most unexpectedly awesome ideas I've seen: The Nihopalaoa. It's a high-end accessory that's obtainable after getting a few side hunts done and therefore can be nabbed with little fuss. What is does is invert the effects of curative items when used by the wearer. Sounds like crap, right? Wrong! This wonderful doodad turns your status-curing items into nasty status inflictors. FF12 is that rare RPG where using status effects on enemies is worthwhile and actively encourages, especially against rare monsters and bosses. Using a fully empowered Remedy while wearing this thing will inflict almost every status effect in the game with practically perfect accuracy. It's the most efficient way I've seen to completely shut down major nasties I've seen in a long time, and gives you a shot at even vastly overleveled enemies. I can't say I've seen anything this hilariously mean since FF7's W-Summon/Hades/Knights of the Round/Mime conga-line of death. Just remember to pay attention, or you could wind up frying your own party members, that was totally embarrassing.
Well, it's time to be off again. The Harvest Never Rests!
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
A Quick Jaunt
Well, I'm still tearing my way through Final Fantasy XII. The difficulty curve is getting a bit more wonky, but overall things are still well in hand. I bumped in an unexpectedly unvoiced cutscene, and it was a shame since it was Balthier-focused and Gideon Emery is really good at the snark.
I also had a squicky bit of comedy come across my way. The gist is that I was rewarded for taking down a nasty undead boss, with a message of thanks because this boss's offal is good eats. That's right; somebody somewhere is cooking up lich poo and enjoying it. So many questions, so much effort to suppress the answers.
Things have heated up, and hopefully I'll wind up with even more places to tear around and plunder the countryside. I've realized that I'm not quite skilled enough to handle some of the extra areas without some serious grinding, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Oh, and Rogue One Mon Calamari look like this game's Toad family of monsters. It's clearly a trap. Regardless, The Harvest Never Rests!
I also had a squicky bit of comedy come across my way. The gist is that I was rewarded for taking down a nasty undead boss, with a message of thanks because this boss's offal is good eats. That's right; somebody somewhere is cooking up lich poo and enjoying it. So many questions, so much effort to suppress the answers.
Things have heated up, and hopefully I'll wind up with even more places to tear around and plunder the countryside. I've realized that I'm not quite skilled enough to handle some of the extra areas without some serious grinding, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Oh, and Rogue One Mon Calamari look like this game's Toad family of monsters. It's clearly a trap. Regardless, The Harvest Never Rests!
Sunday, December 11, 2016
I'm On A Rampage!
Blarargh!
Hail once again to the spambots! It's been a productive day in Final Fantasy XII. I was foolish and forgot about the importance of preparation and paying attention to gear, and boy did I pay for it. Got my ass slowly munched by a giant mutant turtle of doom; then I realized that I had gear on almost everybody that rendered them against the ice spells it was flinging. I finally had to give up and reset. Sure enough, once I actually fiddled with the equipment like a proper nerd, the boss got pwned pretty good. The Harvest not be denied.
I've found myself a bit irritated that elemental weaponry has a tendency to be crap in this game, but things are compensated by having new variants of tradition FF goodies. The Blood Sword was a surprise, going from a crappy Drain spell on a stick to being a +10 Sword of Nasty DoT Ailments. Another surprise is that undead in this game are vulnerable to Poison and Sap (!) which can lead to some hilarity.
I've finally gotten to where the good soundtracks are playing, and now things are ever better. Few things can be compared to tearing about the countryside and wrecking freaks to a kickass tune, especially with all the enhanced loot drops and purloined goodies that my party is now enjoying. Bring me your shinies!
Hail once again to the spambots! It's been a productive day in Final Fantasy XII. I was foolish and forgot about the importance of preparation and paying attention to gear, and boy did I pay for it. Got my ass slowly munched by a giant mutant turtle of doom; then I realized that I had gear on almost everybody that rendered them against the ice spells it was flinging. I finally had to give up and reset. Sure enough, once I actually fiddled with the equipment like a proper nerd, the boss got pwned pretty good. The Harvest not be denied.
I've found myself a bit irritated that elemental weaponry has a tendency to be crap in this game, but things are compensated by having new variants of tradition FF goodies. The Blood Sword was a surprise, going from a crappy Drain spell on a stick to being a +10 Sword of Nasty DoT Ailments. Another surprise is that undead in this game are vulnerable to Poison and Sap (!) which can lead to some hilarity.
I've finally gotten to where the good soundtracks are playing, and now things are ever better. Few things can be compared to tearing about the countryside and wrecking freaks to a kickass tune, especially with all the enhanced loot drops and purloined goodies that my party is now enjoying. Bring me your shinies!
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
They Made Grinding Fun
You know, I've had a copy of Final Fantasy XII for quite some time. I forgot the details of the original provenance; suffice to say that at some point I wound up with one, then traded it to a friend for my old copy of VII back, then somehow got a second copy (both copies were the steelbox Collector's version even), and that second copy has been hiding among my gaming artifacts for years now. I had this notion that somehow XII was too different for me to be much fun, or had some abstruse mechanics that would require some head-on-wall action to take place before I found the secret to enjoying the game properly (post-SNES Square games are bad about that).
I was an idiot. Screw what the nostalgia-drunk fanboys have been braying; this game is frickin' awesome. Most JRPGs just pay homage to the tradition of grinding and farming as a necessary evil. Final Fantasy XII embraces grinding and made it enjoyable.
Yes, there is something of a learning curve, especially if you jump straight in from an 'old school' FF game, but nothing a bit of action RPG experience won't cover. Once I got over the initial hurdles and got my feet wet, things started clicking along pretty well, and now the Harvest has been properly unleashed upon Ivalice. The decision to update the combat to allow free-run and working area-of-effect mechanics, combined with a consistently challenging difficulty curve, adds a layer of strategy and tension to things, giving some much-needed emphasis on risk mitigation and resource management. On top of all that, stepping away from FF's long tradition of constant cash drops in favor of the material hunting/bazaar system gives a sense of purpose to all the random monster-mashing going on.
In most games, I tend to have a fairly impatient "plow through the story" mindset. Here I am actually fiddling around, eschewing direct plot progression and fast-travel in favor of wandering around and collecting all the goodies I can, and it's paid off splendidly so far. I can't claim I've over-leveled, but I feel that my plucky group of adventurers actually have the skillset, power, and experience to waltz in the next Evil Dungeon of Plot Progression and take on The Horrible Denizens That Guard The Important Relic without the distinct impression that I brought a rubber knife to a chainsaw duel. It's a powerful feeling for a gamer.
Oh, and I really like how the 'mine' zones give a whole visual reference to Vagrant Story's Lea Monde. That was a nice touch.
I was an idiot. Screw what the nostalgia-drunk fanboys have been braying; this game is frickin' awesome. Most JRPGs just pay homage to the tradition of grinding and farming as a necessary evil. Final Fantasy XII embraces grinding and made it enjoyable.
Yes, there is something of a learning curve, especially if you jump straight in from an 'old school' FF game, but nothing a bit of action RPG experience won't cover. Once I got over the initial hurdles and got my feet wet, things started clicking along pretty well, and now the Harvest has been properly unleashed upon Ivalice. The decision to update the combat to allow free-run and working area-of-effect mechanics, combined with a consistently challenging difficulty curve, adds a layer of strategy and tension to things, giving some much-needed emphasis on risk mitigation and resource management. On top of all that, stepping away from FF's long tradition of constant cash drops in favor of the material hunting/bazaar system gives a sense of purpose to all the random monster-mashing going on.
In most games, I tend to have a fairly impatient "plow through the story" mindset. Here I am actually fiddling around, eschewing direct plot progression and fast-travel in favor of wandering around and collecting all the goodies I can, and it's paid off splendidly so far. I can't claim I've over-leveled, but I feel that my plucky group of adventurers actually have the skillset, power, and experience to waltz in the next Evil Dungeon of Plot Progression and take on The Horrible Denizens That Guard The Important Relic without the distinct impression that I brought a rubber knife to a chainsaw duel. It's a powerful feeling for a gamer.
Oh, and I really like how the 'mine' zones give a whole visual reference to Vagrant Story's Lea Monde. That was a nice touch.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Mark It!
Well, Final Fantasy XII is letting the fun keep rolling. All sorts of elements are acting like curveballs, even when they're very much not curveballs. I've already sunk so much time into messing around with the hunts and farming for shinies that I keep feeling underpowered from a skills/spells standpoint. It's telling how much fun you can have in a Repeated Prolonged Grindfest and suddenly registering that the big story is hanging out in a corner and you still haven't unlocked the -ra series offensive spells yet.
It's also a refreshing surprise how much world-building and detail has gone into things. The windy trails are actually windy trails, with little switchbacks and gullies and dead ends. The items have wonderful little snippets of information; the equipment lists are about the only thing without any real details, which it kind of a letdown. But all the 'loot' materials have nice little flavor texts, and combined with the bestiary can give you the chance to glean useful information and add to the immersion.
The bazaar system is still a pleasant surprise. I've gotten used to direct, intricate, fiddly crafting systems, with indirect 'ordering' systems having a habit of being too damned obtuse to be fun (Tales of The Abyss is loads of fun, but the trade shop is horrible, as I've stated ad naseum), but this actually a lot of fun. It's rare that I get a feeling of contributing to an actual economy; that all the pelts and magic rocks, and freaky monster parts are actually filtering down to the craftsmen, who make all sorts of useful things for the city's trade, meanwhile offering my team of adventures special deals as a sort of thank you. The whole concept is very refreshing, and goes well with my material hunter mindset.
One more unexpectedly fun thing is the Mark system. Bounty-oriented sidequests can be a tough balancing act, and things can be exacerbated by JRPGs' habit of making things infuriatingly obscure, but so far so good. The idea is simple: Find a job at the bounty board, kill the offending critter, get goodies. There are little details that add to the immersion that I like, for example actually going out and meeting the client to seal the arrangements, and getting little snippets and clues about things. Like the bazaar, it can help make one fell like an actual adventurer getting to do adventurer things while making a positive contribution to things. Gripe all you want about Vaan being a glorified sidekick and not having much plot relevance; he's a perfect fit for all these little missions and errands that the hunts and bazaar revolve around.
Oh, and whoever made undead mooks vulnerable to Sap is freakin' awesome. The Harvest Never Rests!
It's also a refreshing surprise how much world-building and detail has gone into things. The windy trails are actually windy trails, with little switchbacks and gullies and dead ends. The items have wonderful little snippets of information; the equipment lists are about the only thing without any real details, which it kind of a letdown. But all the 'loot' materials have nice little flavor texts, and combined with the bestiary can give you the chance to glean useful information and add to the immersion.
The bazaar system is still a pleasant surprise. I've gotten used to direct, intricate, fiddly crafting systems, with indirect 'ordering' systems having a habit of being too damned obtuse to be fun (Tales of The Abyss is loads of fun, but the trade shop is horrible, as I've stated ad naseum), but this actually a lot of fun. It's rare that I get a feeling of contributing to an actual economy; that all the pelts and magic rocks, and freaky monster parts are actually filtering down to the craftsmen, who make all sorts of useful things for the city's trade, meanwhile offering my team of adventures special deals as a sort of thank you. The whole concept is very refreshing, and goes well with my material hunter mindset.
One more unexpectedly fun thing is the Mark system. Bounty-oriented sidequests can be a tough balancing act, and things can be exacerbated by JRPGs' habit of making things infuriatingly obscure, but so far so good. The idea is simple: Find a job at the bounty board, kill the offending critter, get goodies. There are little details that add to the immersion that I like, for example actually going out and meeting the client to seal the arrangements, and getting little snippets and clues about things. Like the bazaar, it can help make one fell like an actual adventurer getting to do adventurer things while making a positive contribution to things. Gripe all you want about Vaan being a glorified sidekick and not having much plot relevance; he's a perfect fit for all these little missions and errands that the hunts and bazaar revolve around.
Oh, and whoever made undead mooks vulnerable to Sap is freakin' awesome. The Harvest Never Rests!
Monday, November 21, 2016
Final Fantasy: The Harvest Edition
I won't mince words; Tales of Symphonia guttered out pretty quickly. It's clearly not a bad game, in fact I can tell Symphonia is a pretty good game overall. But I just couldn't keep playing; I wound up forcing myself just to play a few hours into the second world, and things flat out fizzled.
Maybe it's because I've been oversaturated with Tales-style story subversion and anti-nihilism (four Tales games in a year). Maybe real life events just got me too bummed out to play something in this pretty-but-grimdark style for a while. I know that this game has something of a victory in store for the heroes (hello Dawn of The New World) but somehow I'm tired of a pretty game populated by jackasses of one stripe or another.
After some traditional dithering, I pulled out something that I've put off for far too long: Final Fantasy XII. I've had a copy (Special Edition, no less) sitting in my stack for half of forever, and damn if putting this one off was a mistake. I fired this sucker up and realized that here is what I've been looking for. The opening cutscene can be pretty much summed up as Star Wars with airships and baroque mooks. I've been given to understand that the dev team for FFXII have disavowed any inspiration by/from Star Wars; the devs are full of crap.
Anyway. This sucker is actually pretty fun. This game follows Final Fantasy's trend of desperately avoiding traditional huge cash drops from monsters, and replaced it with the Loot/Bazaar system. You go out and wreck monsters for goods and materials, then sell them at various shops for you much needed cash. The other side of this is an indirect crafting system; after you sell certain amounts of certain loot items, the Bazaar produces items and equipment for you to buy (often at less than straight shop prices). This must be the system Tales of The Abyss took and horribly mangled.
The story is pretty interesting thus far, as well. I would expect nothing less from Ivalice Alliance and Matsuno himself. It takes the usual "empire shows up and wrecks faces for the evulz" and "plucky heroes take up arms for great justice" concepts and gives them gritty realpolitik overtones. While there are references to older Square games aplenty to go with them, and this is still very much Final Fantasy, there are also subtle hints and allusions to the game that made Ivalice Alliance in the first place: Ogre Battle. The biggest one I've pulled out so far is the main character Basch.
Basch is a heroic, high-ranking retainer that has been found guilty of assassinating his liege-lord and allowing the evil Archadians to take over the place, and executed for his crimes. But wait, not is he not a regicidal fanatic, he is alive and is being held by the baddos! Let me tell you about an early, named character in Ogre Battle. He was a heroic, high-ranking retainer found guilty of assassinating his liege-lord and letting the evil Zeteginians (I probably misspelled that) to take over the place, and executed for his crimes. But wait, he's not a regicidal fanatic, he's being kept captive by the baddos! This guy's name: Ash. Think about that for a bit. Then go play Ogre Battle. That game is plan fun. And so is this one.
Now I must go, and Unleash the Harvest upon Ivalice. Give me your shinies!
Maybe it's because I've been oversaturated with Tales-style story subversion and anti-nihilism (four Tales games in a year). Maybe real life events just got me too bummed out to play something in this pretty-but-grimdark style for a while. I know that this game has something of a victory in store for the heroes (hello Dawn of The New World) but somehow I'm tired of a pretty game populated by jackasses of one stripe or another.
After some traditional dithering, I pulled out something that I've put off for far too long: Final Fantasy XII. I've had a copy (Special Edition, no less) sitting in my stack for half of forever, and damn if putting this one off was a mistake. I fired this sucker up and realized that here is what I've been looking for. The opening cutscene can be pretty much summed up as Star Wars with airships and baroque mooks. I've been given to understand that the dev team for FFXII have disavowed any inspiration by/from Star Wars; the devs are full of crap.
Anyway. This sucker is actually pretty fun. This game follows Final Fantasy's trend of desperately avoiding traditional huge cash drops from monsters, and replaced it with the Loot/Bazaar system. You go out and wreck monsters for goods and materials, then sell them at various shops for you much needed cash. The other side of this is an indirect crafting system; after you sell certain amounts of certain loot items, the Bazaar produces items and equipment for you to buy (often at less than straight shop prices). This must be the system Tales of The Abyss took and horribly mangled.
The story is pretty interesting thus far, as well. I would expect nothing less from Ivalice Alliance and Matsuno himself. It takes the usual "empire shows up and wrecks faces for the evulz" and "plucky heroes take up arms for great justice" concepts and gives them gritty realpolitik overtones. While there are references to older Square games aplenty to go with them, and this is still very much Final Fantasy, there are also subtle hints and allusions to the game that made Ivalice Alliance in the first place: Ogre Battle. The biggest one I've pulled out so far is the main character Basch.
Basch is a heroic, high-ranking retainer that has been found guilty of assassinating his liege-lord and allowing the evil Archadians to take over the place, and executed for his crimes. But wait, not is he not a regicidal fanatic, he is alive and is being held by the baddos! Let me tell you about an early, named character in Ogre Battle. He was a heroic, high-ranking retainer found guilty of assassinating his liege-lord and letting the evil Zeteginians (I probably misspelled that) to take over the place, and executed for his crimes. But wait, he's not a regicidal fanatic, he's being kept captive by the baddos! This guy's name: Ash. Think about that for a bit. Then go play Ogre Battle. That game is plan fun. And so is this one.
Now I must go, and Unleash the Harvest upon Ivalice. Give me your shinies!
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