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 Finally got around to this. Needless to say, Blink is a godsend there.
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Jul 14, 2012 16:42
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To be fair though, my copy of the game has been doing strange things. But I'm not sure if it's the game or the system. I first played it on my GBA SP because it was smaller. But all of a sudden the game started rebooting itself in the middle of gameplay. I figured this had to do with the off-brand pelican battery pack I had on my SP, so I moved to the DS lite, and I started having this save problem. However after encountering it, I flew around on the airship for a bit and saved somewhere else. However when it goes on, it won't let me save to any file, or do a quicksave. And I've rebooted my DS, too. Maybe the battery in the cart is hosed? Maybe I saved too many times? (Sometimes I'll hit save twice just to make sure I saved.) I dunno. There goes 30 hours of my life. 
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Jul 14, 2012 17:24
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Sounds more like a battery problem. I don't think you can over-save in Final Fantasy V.
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Jul 14, 2012 18:57
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So FFV's Fork Tower was interesting, considering I have only touched the "Attack" command maybe twice in the whole game. I managed the physical-tower boss when I figured out that !Call worked, and used my chemist to constantly heal the caller. It was a long and intense battle. Then the magic-tower boss went down after maybe 4 turns with my summoner and blue mage (with !Summon). Caught up with my last game though, and I'm in totally new FF territory again!
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Jul 14, 2012 23:57
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I always thought one of the (unintentionally?) clever things Square did in FF7 is quietly drop the jokey tease of shipping crap, and after Aeris bites it you can totally extrapolate whatever you like about either and probably be convincing and have good fuel for your theory. Alternatively, you can totally ignore all of it and it in no way really affects the game. A lot of games throw that in, sure, but as games become more cinematic throwing that in as a genuine plotpoint to something always induces a groan for me, just because you realize how much ~the internet~ is going to obsess over it. In FF8, the relationship thing is one of the major themes in the game according to them and if you didn't like it or didn't buy (Being generous, a lot of people who seemed to like it fell into the Stereotypical Fangirl Reasons(tm) all "shipping" runs on: "I identify with X, and I think Y is a hottie, so I totally support X x Y." I don't think it's a coincidence people who disliked it also disliked Rinoa, since thats basically her only character arc) it it was almost impossible to avoid or disregard it without interfering with the story. Considering how much Square really has no issue pandering to the demographic, it is interesting that past 10 they've yet to really do a romance subplot with the main character anymore, especially since the next games (which were supposed to star an older guy and then a woman) probably wouldn't feel to out of place with them in. keet fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Jul 15, 2012 |
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Jul 15, 2012 17:55
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Well, it's not giving me that save error anymore, hopefully it was a false alarm.penguinmambo posted:Considering how much Square really has no issue pandering to the demographic, it is interesting that past 10 they've yet to really do a romance subplot with the main character anymore, especially since the next games (which were supposed to star an older guy and then a woman) probably wouldn't feel to out of place with them in. An older guy and then a woman? By older guy do you mean Basche from FF12? Because having an older dude as a FF protagonist would be a breath of fresh air. IIRC in FF12, Ashe and Basche were meant to be the main characters, but the execs decided they needed to shoehorn Vaan and Penelo into it. I think it would be nice to have a protagonist that isn't some hormonal teenage boy. Most FF protagonists kinda suck, with Squall and Tidus being the worst. There's not many likable ones. There's Cloud and Zidane. Cecil, Bartz and Terra are fine, but then again, there's not much to them. Same with Vaan. Or basically everyone in FF12.
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Jul 15, 2012 18:30
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11's got some very likable NPC protagonists too. (Prishe!  )Of course, there's also the minor pesky "play a grindy and unbalanced MMO to get at its story" drawback.
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Jul 15, 2012 19:39
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11 is kind of hard to count in that list though, because I'm talking more player characters than supporting NPC characters, although FFXI had exceptionally good characters and writing for a Final Fantasy game. Notably, Prishe, Shantotto, Zeid, Ajido-Marujido, etc. kick rear end. I'd recommend giving it a shot now that they fixed it's big problems like the absurd grind, waiting to find parties, NM camping, level caps, etc. Then again, I guess you can count her, because while you don't actually play as her, she's obviously the main character and you're just kind of another dude along for the ride. Originally, it seemed like they were trying to make Aldo fit into that role, but he was really extremely boring and never caught on. He never really did anything but stand around and talk. Although I often joke that FFXI has the best main character, because said character is a Zelda\Chrono Trigger-style silent protagonist, so therefore there is no teenage angst or awkward romance. Then again, I'm not sure if that's a joke on second thought... it might be the truth. I think supporting characters in FF games often overshadow the main ones. I.E. Locke is so much more interesting than Terra. Same with Edgar, Sabin and Shadow.
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Jul 15, 2012 19:59
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Gammatron 64 posted:Although I often joke that FFXI has the best main character, because said character is a Zelda\Chrono Trigger-style silent protagonist, so therefore there is no teenage angst or awkward romance. Then again, I'm not sure if that's a joke on second thought... it might be the truth. Oh, there's awkward romance everywhere in the game. It's just relegated to gooey, possibly disgusting /tells.
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Jul 15, 2012 20:08
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Even though Terra was who you start as and has some of the more dramatic stuff what with being half-esper, I always felt that FFVI didn't really have a "main" character. It had primary and secondary characters for a few different storylines/relationships.
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Jul 15, 2012 20:15
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So after I bought some BRAND NEW games on Steam, I of course realized I absolutely had to replay FF6, and it's absolutely fantastic. Some parts are a little rocky, and you can see where they had to trim and kinda fudge poo poo to make the localization fit on the cart, but seriously, it's a loving masterpiece. It's gripping and touching and y'know what? There's tons of character development, but it's loving hidden! You have to bring the right ones along to the right parts and you wouldn't have any indication that you should bring them but if you do, they actually have unique lines and poo poo; it does otherwise default to a "(text)" ambiguous speech bubble, but drat. This game is A Thing.
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Jul 15, 2012 20:16
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I know it's been said about a billion times before, but FF6 is great. Honestly, I love FF4 / 5 / 6 / 7 a lot. They're just plain old fun games. A lot of later FF games just... aren't. A lot of them are just a boring chore, and/or overly pretentious \ self-important. I think things started going wrong with FF8. From then on, most of the games took on a more straight-faced serious tone (despite being inherently ridiculous) and became more about giving us fancy visuals than... well, making the games fun. Part of the reason why I like 9 and 11 a lot is that they're really kind of throwbacks to the SNES games in terms of visual style and tone. Those two are notably more comical and cartoony than they are melodramatic. (Although XI is kinda paradoxical in that it will go from silly antics to dark, cynical political stuff at the drop of a hat.) A friend of mine doesn't like FFXII. I told him "You love Tactics, Tactics Advance and FFXI. FFXII is like all of those rolled into one. You should love it." "Yeah, but it's boring." "Well, you got me there." FF12 isn't really that bad of a game. It's not horrible like 13 or 14. But... it's not really that good, either. It's just there, and not really all that fun. Sometimes I think game developers have become so focused on other things, they forget to make their games fun. But luckily we still have games like Saints Row: the Third around where devs remember what fun games are.
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Jul 15, 2012 21:36
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Eh. If the only way to have fun is to play as a sociopath, then I don't particularly want to have fun. It feels to me like developers are so creatively bankrupt that the only way they can think of to creature 'fun' games is to make ones where you're a crazy rear end in a top hat who kills people in cartoonish ways. I miss fun heroic adventure games, which is why I enjoyed the older Final Fantasy games and why I still enjoy Dragon Quest games. I don't get much out of playing King rear end in a top hat and murdering children. I just wish FF games would remember to be lighthearted again. (4 Heroes of Light was pretty great for this tho'.)
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Jul 15, 2012 22:34
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Gammatron 64 posted:I know it's been said about a billion times before, but FF6 is great. Using fun as an argument is faulty because the very word is subjective. I find FFXII, for instance, very fun. Far more fun than FFIV or VI. What I think you mean is lighthearted, not fun. But I'm not even sure about that. ImpAtom posted:Eh. If the only way to have fun is to play as a sociopath, then I don't particularly want to have fun. It feels to me like developers are so creatively bankrupt that the only way they can think of to creature 'fun' games is to make ones where you're a crazy rear end in a top hat who kills people in cartoonish ways. I miss fun heroic adventure games, which is why I enjoyed the older Final Fantasy games and why I still enjoy Dragon Quest games. I don't get much out of playing King rear end in a top hat and murdering children. I just wish FF games would remember to be lighthearted again. (4 Heroes of Light was pretty great for this tho'.) I wouldn't say that having a character who is a sociopath is creatively bankrupt. It is actually the opposite, because a lot of developers these days place emphasis on main character who feel and have feelings and emotions and want to make you cry. On the other hand, you have stuff like Saints Row The Third, where you play as a confident lead who takes no poo poo, and wants everything. gently caress feelings. How is that bankrupt if it is the anti-thesis to modern game character development? Jupiter Jazz fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jul 15, 2012 |
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Jul 15, 2012 23:16
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Himuro posted:I wouldn't say that having a character who is a sociopath is creatively bankrupt. It is actually the opposite, because a lot of developers these days place emphasis on main character who feel and have feelings and emotions and want to make you cry. On the other hand, you have stuff like Saints Row The Third, where you play as a confident lead who takes no poo poo, and wants everything. gently caress feelings. How is that bankrupt if it is the anti-thesis to modern game character development? Because it's lazy. It recognizes that the primary problem with game design is that trying to make a even somewhat reasonable character in a setting where you murder thousands of people without the slightest hesitation or repercussions is to make someone who is pretty much cartoon evil. I don't hold it against Saint's Row because it is honest about it, but I wouldn't want any more games like Saint's Row where they decide that the solution is to just make sociopaths. The problem with modern game development isn't that characters have emotions. It is that they have emotions while murdering the entire population of several third-world countries without the two having an interaction. They is no sense of proper tone. Saint's Row at least has a proper tone and I respect it for that, but I wouldn't want the lesson people take away from it to be "sociopaths are the best protagonists" instead of "make a protagonist who fits your gameplay and gameplay that fits your protagonist." ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Jul 15, 2012 |
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Jul 15, 2012 23:25
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I find XIII/XIII-2 more fun than 4 and I know the FF fanbase would have my head for even thinking that. On another subject about fun things, I am about play though my favorite FF, FF9, for the first time in well over half of a decade, maybe even more. I bought it on PSN two years ago and it's been collecting digital dust, so I feel I should rectify that by actually playing the game. I remember some important stuff, even a few secret things like Hades being hidden in the Kraken's room in Memoria, but unfortunately I'm drawing a blank on a lot of other things. So I'd like it if a few goons would be so kind as to tell me a few things that I should look out for since this game does have a lot of stuff. Also, I never fought Ozma, not once. It's been my biggest desire to beat it.
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Jul 15, 2012 23:29
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ImpAtom, I don't think there's ever been a Final Fantasy game that's sociopathic in the way you describe (the GTA/SR way) and probably never will be. And while the series has seemingly become melodramatic, it was never lighthearted all the time (there was a lot of dark, serious business stuff in 4/6/7; 4 starts with you committing war crimes that weigh heavily on the protagonist) and that levity and sense of adventure still pops up in the new games. 12 and 13-2 both had them, at least. I really think you're just overstating the shift that took place in this series, which is a really common thing among people whose tastes have changed or who have flat out outgrown the content or even the medium. EDIT: And for what it's worth, I absolutely agree about the weird way some games construct their murderous protagonists. GTA4 was loving bizarre. Baku fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Jul 15, 2012 |
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Jul 15, 2012 23:32
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There really wasn't much of a shift in FF's tone, at least, until recently. Even VII and VIII are full of lighthearted comedic moments and when people think of those games, they think of serious business. Now XII and XIII? Those games have different tone up the wazoo. XII isn't melodramatic but it's not overly light in tone, either. Though it can be funny, the serious tone of the story outweighs whatever giggles we have while playing. XIII is weird in that it takes itself entirely too seriously to a fault. I think Final Fantasy X was the last main series FF (no, I am not counting XI or X-2) to have this perfect balance of serious and lighthearted storytelling that I think of when I think of Final Fantasy.
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Jul 15, 2012 23:39
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Zombies' Downfall posted:ImpAtom, I don't think there's ever been a Final Fantasy game that's sociopathic in the way you describe (the GTA/SR way) and probably never will be. And while the series has seemingly become melodramatic, it was never lighthearted all the time (there was a lot of dark, serious business stuff in 4/6/7; 4 starts with you committing war crimes that weigh heavily on the protagonist) and that levity and sense of adventure still pops up in the new games. 12 and 13-2 both had them, at least. I wasn't talking about FF. I was responding to the comment about how "at least developers remember what fun games are, like Saint's Row." I wouldn't want FF to become the kind of "fun" that Saint's Row is, although can respect what SR does. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Jul 15, 2012 |
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Jul 15, 2012 23:40
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ImpAtom posted:I wasn't talking about FF. I was responding to the comment about how "at least developers remember what fun games are, like Saint's Row." Ah okay, I think I crossed wires somewhere between that and the comparison to how stuff like Four Heroes of Light made you feel. FINAL FANTASY IS A VERY SERIOUS SUBJECT
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Jul 15, 2012 23:42
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I don't really want murderous sociopath protagonists in Final Fantasy... I dunno where the hell you extrapolated that from. Am I a sociopath because I like Saints Row? What in the world are you babbling about, dude?  Saints' Row is fun, goofy and doesn't take itself too seriously. I dunno, I just think Final Fantasy takes itself too seriously these days, namely XII and XIII. XII doesn't have a lot of awful melodrama and the story doesn't insult your intelligence, which is an enormous plus, but it isn't all that interesting, either. I guess X tried to be funny, but it kinda failed in that category. X had great gameplay, but characters, dialogue and voice acting were just shameful. FF10 isn't FF8 level dumb, but it approaches it. Playing it makes me feel embarrassed. I think it has to do with perception, too. A lot of people who are obsessed with FF7 but don't remember it very well perceive it as this super serious epic or whatever, but it's actually one of the goofier games in the series. I guess it's because people are fixated on Cloud, Sephiroth and Aeris, but for me, Cid and Barrett stole the show. Granted, I haven't played Dirge of Cerberus or Crisis Core (not terribly interested), but Advent Children was pretty much this, and it was kinda dumb. What I'm saying is, I'm hoping FFXV is another colorful Nintendoish throwback game like FFIX but that's not gonna happen. 
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Jul 16, 2012 00:13
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Gammatron 64 posted:I don't really want murderous sociopath protagonists in Final Fantasy... I dunno where the hell you extrapolated that from. Am I a sociopath because I like Saints Row? What in the world are you babbling about, dude? Well Old Boss was a real nutjob, but SR3 Boss is a bro. The Saints Row games basically went inverse of Final Fantasy where they started out gridmark serious gangsta lyfestyle I'll-stuff-this-chick-into-the-trunk-of-a-car-her-boyfriend-is-about-to-drive-over-in-a-monster-truck and evolved into Saints Row 3.
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Jul 16, 2012 00:25
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I think a little sociopathy in the protagonists would make things a little more interesting.  It be refreshing at least, for them to be called out on murdering everything they come across. Or looting houses. In IX there's a little scene where you can take some gil from this poor old woman's house, and if you take it and come back later, she laments that she can't buy her granddaughter a new dress or shoes or medicine or whatever. Off the top of my head, I can only think of about two games where the game not only encourages you to butcher everyone, but basically states "you're seriously hosed up. What the gently caress is the matter with you?" 
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Jul 16, 2012 00:28
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The White Dragon posted:Well Old Boss was a real nutjob, but SR3 Boss is a bro. The Saints Row games basically went inverse of Final Fantasy where they started out gridmark serious gangsta lyfestyle I'll-stuff-this-chick-into-the-trunk-of-a-car-her-boyfriend-is-about-to-drive-over-in-a-monster-truck and evolved into Saints Row 3. Yeah, not to get this thread wildly off topic, but Saints Row 1 sucks. It's sorta like Street Fighter where you're like "Oh, there's a first one? Didn't know that." To keep it more on topic, I'm not a real big fan of FF1-3, and I don't think they really got going until FF4 where they invented the ATB system and MP. Although the GBA\iOS version of FF1 is pretty good because they added MP and stuff, but for me the original NES version is nearly unplayable.
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Jul 16, 2012 00:30
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Gammatron 64 posted:I don't really want murderous sociopath protagonists in Final Fantasy... I dunno where the hell you extrapolated that from. Am I a sociopath because I like Saints Row? What in the world are you babbling about, dude? Why does it have to be lighthearted exactly? It's possible to be serious and not be poo poo. But it's also possible to be lighthearted and embarrassing. If it's good, it's good, why does the tone matter? I'd say XII is pretty interesting in that Ashe has to destroy the order to take back her throne, and the game gives you enough reasons to doubt her reasons for wanting to claim it. Is it pure selfish privilege wrapped in revenge or is it out of purely for the love of her people? FFXII is great at a lot of tiny, yet large questions like that. Jupiter Jazz fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Jul 16, 2012 |
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Jul 16, 2012 00:39
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Himuro posted:Why does it have to be lighthearted exactly? It's possible to be serious and not be poo poo. But it's also possible to be lighthearted and embarrassing. If it's good, it's good, why does the tone matter? I love XII's story for this reason. I've read convincing arguments that Ashe is the villain of that game.
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Jul 16, 2012 00:55
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Despite buying 100 dollars worth of games in the Steam sale, I'm tempted to go and play FFXII: International after I beat FFV. The older I get, the more it becomes my favorite Final Fantasy, which is funny because the first time I played it I really didn't like it. FFXII is one of those games that just clicks the more you play it, I have no clue why.
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Jul 16, 2012 01:10
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MrAristocrates posted:I love XII's story for this reason. I've read convincing arguments that Ashe is the villain of that game. It depends on whose motives the player agrees with. Or the motives they think the characters have that they agree with. The Occuria, for instance are ancient, otherwordly and knowledgable far beyond humans - however, they are the ones who dictate the path that the races tread. And if they do not like the direction that it appears to be heading, they attempt to cut them off. The Empire, aided by the rogue Occuria, Venat, seek to throw off the shackles of the Occuria, and allow the races to direct their own paths, and guide themselves for right or wrong. The downside is that the Empire wants to rule Ivalice, so it would merely be replacing one set of shackles for another. And in seeking the Occuria's aid in stopping Vayne, Ashe comes very close to doing their bidding, which is to stop the Empire attempting to free themselves from the Occurias' grasp. And had she succeded, then Ivalice's future would still be guided by the Occuria. I really like the story of XII - the issue I have is with the gameplay, and some of the characters.
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Jul 16, 2012 01:11
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Himuro posted:Despite buying 100 dollars worth of games in the Steam sale, I'm tempted to go and play FFXII: International after I beat FFV. The older I get, the more it becomes my favorite Final Fantasy, which is funny because the first time I played it I really didn't like it. FFXII is one of those games that just clicks the more you play it, I have no clue why. See, I'm the exact opposite. First time I played FF12, I was like, "well this ain't bad." Tried it again later, every time I had to go between areas it was such a slog. My perspective on the story started out pretty generously, but now I'm cross with it. Really, it seems to be a theme with every Matsuno game I've played but for his super-old classics like Ogre Battle SNES and FFT. First time I go through it completely, the story feels really fresh and nice. After that, it dulls further and further and I notice things I dislike more and more about his stories. I guess the reason those two stand out as exceptions are because Ogre Battle is really light on the plot contrivance and silly politics and it's more about you savescumming World cards for your first draw on the map and deploying your entire army so you can get like +10 stats for everyone and its story is highly secondary, just like how FFT is about sitting in the corner of the map scowling at Chocobos rather than being about political intrigue. Fur20 fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Jul 16, 2012 |
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Jul 16, 2012 02:55
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MrAristocrates posted:I love XII's story for this reason. I've read convincing arguments that Ashe is the villain of that game. I wouldn't doubt it, she takes fashion tips from Kefka.  I'm actually enjoying FFXII, but good lord are the party member designs/wardrobes an abomination except for Balthier and maybe Basch.
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Jul 16, 2012 06:37
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The White Dragon posted:See, I'm the exact opposite. First time I played FF12, I was like, "well this ain't bad." Tried it again later, every time I had to go between areas it was such a slog. My perspective on the story started out pretty generously, but now I'm cross with it. Considering how little story there is compared to gameplay in 12, I see it much the same way. 12 is all about going from gripping boss fight to boss fight, and tweaking gambits to make your party the most efficient killing machine possible. While I enjoy and appreciate the storyline, it's mostly just an avenue to unlock more of the world and challenging monsters to kill. I just fought Cuchulainn on my 12 IZJS run, and it really reminded me how fun the boss fights can be if you're not overleveled. I brought along Larsa for a fourth member, and I still had to constantly cycle through all 6 party members as they'd get killed or incapacitated, desperately juggling offense and defense, slowly using up my precious 12 Remedies I can't buy yet. So good.
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Jul 16, 2012 07:13
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Schwartzcough posted:Just because you don't agree with people's "poorly though out, nonsensical faults" doesn't mean they aren't a problem. The game is positively bloated with tedious, pointless, and/or irritating sidequests. People praise the battle system, but it often feels like you never actually get in fights because you're always doing stupid bullshit instead. Everything is presented with a thick veneer of Sailor Moon magical girl power, including slow-motions costume changes and sparkle explosions when you select anything from the menu. Most of the game is supposed to be a campy ridiculous romp (which is SO over-the-top that it understandably immediately alienates at least half the people that attempt to play it), except where it's not and suddenly expects the player to take it seriously, resulting in serious mood whiplash. It has horrible pacing and boringly meanders for the first three or so chapters, including the horrible chapter that includes just watching boring commspheres occasionally interspersed with bland NPCs you don't give a poo poo about. Fungah! posted:The game's got flaws, though. That's not really an opinion, it's a statement of fact. The sidequests suck pretty hard by and large and are a big part of the gameplay and you basically need a guide open in front of you to get the good ending and even then it's extremely tedious. Not liking the aesthetic or whatever, that's an opinion, but discounting pretty significant gameplay issues with "that's just like, your opinion, man" is a little disingenuous. Yeah, posts like these only support my earlier point that people just aren't satisfied disliking a game, for some reason (ego?) it has to be legitimately terrible. Doesn't help when these posts are so vague with worthless words like "tedious" "pointless" and "irritating" (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jul 16, 2012 07:19
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I don't see how "tedious" is a worthless word at all. It's subjective, but not worthless.
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Jul 16, 2012 07:50
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Sex_Ferguson posted:I find XIII/XIII-2 more fun than 4 and I know the FF fanbase would have my head for even thinking that. On another subject about fun things, I am about play though my favorite FF, FF9, for the first time in well over half of a decade, maybe even more. I bought it on PSN two years ago and it's been collecting digital dust, so I feel I should rectify that by actually playing the game. I remember some important stuff, even a few secret things like Hades being hidden in the Kraken's room in Memoria, but unfortunately I'm drawing a blank on a lot of other things. So I'd like it if a few goons would be so kind as to tell me a few things that I should look out for since this game does have a lot of stuff. I'm waiting for PS1 games to work on the Vita before I play through FF9 again. There's some useful stuff in here although it's not comprehensive: http://www.beforeiplay.com/index.php?title=Final_Fantasy_9
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Jul 16, 2012 07:53
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Holy poo poo this thing is so full of disinformation that I don't even quote:- When the Moogle tells you not to go up the vine in the Grotto, do not go up the vine. Unless... The ring you get from the contest for letting Freya win absorbs Thunder damage, which is the primary magic spell of the high-level Grand Dragons up there. Taking advantage of this can get your party at the time to ridiculous levels before the end of Disc 1. quote:- Piles of Gil are everywhere you don't think they could be. quote:- The ATE thing is determined by following a fixed path you are currently heading. You can head back to the other path when you are done. quote:- Your equipment with a bonus to stats will eventually make that stat go up one point after a couple levels. It also stacks and goes up a point at fewer levels. Spirit and speed are not that important. You can read more about what this guy is talking about in this mechanics walkthrough, but long story short: - Certain pieces of eqiupment will give you +n to given stats. - When you gain a level, each individual stat will gain "EXP" equal to the number of extra points you have from equipment. - When this "EXP" total reaches 32 or greater, then you get a permanent +1 to that stat. - So like let's say you had some arm equipment that gave you +2 to Strength, if that was your only source of +Strength from your equipment, you'd gain +2 EXP to your Strength every level and you'd gain a permanent +1 increase to your Strength in 16 levels. - As already mentioned, Spirit and Speed cap at 50. Everything else (Magic, Strength, etc.) caps at... either 99 or 100, I can't remember off the top of my head. This includes boosts from equipment, so plan accordingly; no use having 50 Speed if you're gonna have eqiupment that gives you an extra +6 Speed on top of that. quote:- Stealing from bosses is the biggest waste of effort in the game. Just get your special junk later on. Here are some bosses you can SKIP stealing from: Hilgigars (he has a 1/256 slot with a junk item in it; you won't get it for a long time and it teaches a unique spell, but said spell is Jewel, which is THE most useless spell in the game), every encounter with Beatrix, and those worms in Gargant Roo. Everything else? Useful, useful, useful, useful, useful, useful do not listen to this loving guide. quote:- The boss of the ice cave (which requires you to fight it solo despite nominally having a full party) is a bag of dicks and you may need to grind a bit to beat it. The rest of the game is pretty well balanced. Speaking of the Wait Trick, this singular piece of information (if you weren't already aware) is pretty much the most important thing you can know about the battle system. As long as you have the ATB set to Wait, an enemy can't input commands while its own attack animations are playing; this includes enemies like Liliths, Hades, and Ozma, which normally get a free attack every time you yourself input a command so as long as they're casting a spell the animation of which is currently ongoing, you can input commands and they won't get their free turns on account of being unable to act since they're technically currently doing something. You can also normalize the enemies' turn rate by setting the ATB to Wait and bringing up any of the characters' skill menus while you wait for your own party to animate their actions. Your party members' ATBs won't empty (or start filling) until they fully animate the last command you gave them; choose a character to not enter commands for, and bring up one of their menus as soon as one of your party members start to animate their action. Since it's in Wait mode, nobody (including the enemies) will generate ATB points, and you won't be wasting any of your party members' own ATB that would normally have been dropped because it was queueing their actions. Oversight, yes. But it doesn't have to work against your favor as it normally does. Awesome Ghost this ain't me talkin' poo poo about you, you just tryin' to help a goon out. It's just a lovely guide, that's all. Fur20 fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Jul 16, 2012 |
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Jul 16, 2012 08:18
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The White Dragon posted:Awesome Ghost this ain't me talkin' poo poo about you, you just tryin' to help a goon out. It's just a lovely guide, that's all. I didn't write it at all actually! Just remember someone linking that site before and it has a bunch of the games in there. Thanks for the info, I believe that thing is open to editing so you can just copy paste the entire thing there, you obviously know the mechanics of the game much more than whoever did that.
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Jul 16, 2012 10:59
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The White Dragon posted:See, I'm the exact opposite. First time I played FF12, I was like, "well this ain't bad." Tried it again later, every time I had to go between areas it was such a slog. My perspective on the story started out pretty generously, but now I'm cross with it. But FFXII has a gameplay focus and the lack of story are people's biggest problem with XII, so your complaint makes very little sense. It works like FFT in that it's all about exploring, fighting bosses, getting elite loot than telling a political intrigue story. Swartz already nailed this but I figured I should agree highly. If your problem with FFXII is the story and want less, aren't you already playing the right game? The entire middle is almost entirely NOTHING but gameplay.
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Jul 16, 2012 18:39
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Himuro posted:Swartz already nailed this but I figured I should agree highly. If your problem with FFXII is the story and want less, aren't you already playing the right game? The entire middle is almost entirely NOTHING but gameplay. I guess it's because it didn't strike me so much as gameplay as it felt like I was kind of a chore plus just dicking around in large, open maps that I personally found really ugly and dull with little idea as to where my destination was. The other thing is that 12's gameplay is very AI manipulation- and programming-based rather than "ability unlock"/overpower-based, the latter of which I like best and the former of which is pretty much my worst enemy, I hate programming and logic puzzles. Fur20 fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jul 16, 2012 |
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Jul 16, 2012 19:00
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I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about with 12. You do level up and develop your characters, and the license board gives them access to new abilities. I don't see how this is different then any other RPG. And the Gambits are all controlled by you. There's no trick to this. You just make them do whatever you want them to do, and you can make their actions as specific as you'd like. You can just ignore that system and control every action if you want.
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Jul 16, 2012 19:31
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| # ? May 17, 2024 19:42 |
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Your character growth is limited by your progress in FF12. Compare to, say, Star Ocean 2, where you can get to Level 100 and get the best weapons in the game for almost every character very shortly after starting the game, or Ogre Battle where you can make a Princess as early as the second map (and a Lich as early as Diaspola, I think) or FFT where you can make a party of a Time Mage Calculator, a Summoner Meidator, a Knight Samurai, and a Ninja Monk as soon as you meet Algus. FF12 is incredibly restrictive compared to these examples. I bought the entire License Board for everyone by the time I got to the... what's that place, it's rainy sometimes, has the nomads who raise those fat birds? Didn't really change anything because the game restricts you anyway. When it comes to such games, I enjoy breaking the poo poo out of poo poo, not being told when and where I'm allowed to, if at all. Even Vagrant Story, it'd be a fuckin' slog but you could technically make a Wakizashi by the time you get through Mines 1, probably not realistically until you get through the Snowfly Forest but still. poo poo, you can make a fuckin' BEAST of a wooden shield that'll reduce pretty much all incoming damage to like 1 for the rest of the entire game if you put twenty, thirty hours into it once you get to Mines 1. Fur20 fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Jul 16, 2012 |
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Jul 16, 2012 19:57
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