Metareview - Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

I still might give this game a try. I've had a bad taste in my mouth about the series since 9. Couldn't get into 9 at all. 10 looked great, but the characters and stories were just plain awful. I played up to about an hour or two from the ending and lost my memory card. I couldn't come up with one reason to replay the game.

I liked the combat system from FF11 and was pretty glad to hear that they introduced it into FF12. Turn based games were starting to get very old.

Also I'm alittle bummed that the game takes at least 6 hours to really pick up. That was the reason I didn't get into KOTOR enough, because it was too damn boring and it took my friend like 10 hours to get a lightsaber.

I'm getting Guitar Hero 2 and Gears of War next week, so most likely it'll be a while before I get the game.

"ohhh look at me, I like old school game, i am so smart, changes are bad, ........"




I used to own this old and small dog. when we moved to NY, it wasn't too happy b/c our apartment was small and stuffs, so it barked every single f-ing second. Eventually it jumped out of the living room window and died.

Small dogs bark the loudest.......

I really don't understand the crazily disparate opinions people have of the Final Fantasy games. People believe some really crazy stuff.

IV and VI were obvious mega-classics that are really incomparable to anything else at the time, and had huge effects on not only RPG genres, but many others. Both different, both had positives and negatives with how they dealt with characters, but if you hate RPGs enough to dislike either, then that's your problem, not the games. They're awesome.

VII was bold, interesting...clunky in a few aspects, but that's to be expected with such a grand attempt at extending the epic tradition in IV/VI. The only FF to be overhyped (I never did understand the full blown deification of Sephiroth/Aerith), but it is still excellent.

VIII was pretty bad. Worth playing, but I had to force myself to keep going at the end.

IX was interesting for a spell, a nice homage with a good story, but the bottom dropped out big time towards the end. Not nearly enough to do, it was like thinking that you're on mile 5 of a fantastic and scenic 10 mile race, only to suddenly trip over the finish line. Always been disappointed.

X is where I have the biggest difference of opinion with most people. I really don't think it gets its due. The story was amazing, by far the most mature of any of the FFs. The graphics were excellent, not just technologically, but in design - the type that holds up even when being outdated (Chronotrigger is a great example of this). The gameplay was excellent, the end-game content rich. The characters were mainly really good - Tidus starts off really annoying, and Rikku is always grating, but it had by far the best interactions, developments...I really can't wrap my mind around those who find much fault at all in it.

I pretend XI never happened - not that I have a problem with the game, but I really wish it was called FF: Online, and not taken a Canonical number. That being said, I love the gameplay in XII thus far, even its MMORPG elements. I think it will be the crowning achievement of the Playstation FFs (almost silly to compare them to the SNES ones, just due to how different they are now. Whole different set of expectations).

"10 looked great, but the characters and stories were just plain awful."

Hm I felt FFX's story was really touching. Tragic, but beautiful...

52: Oh don't worry the license board is nothing like the sphere grid. I hated the sphere gird too. But there's a LOT more freedom with the license board.

There is a certain part of me that enjoys final fantasy 12. While not quite as 'fantastic' as many of the previous FF's, the world seems more developed and.. well... 'real'. I see this as both a positive and a negative, really. I like the feeling of a more mature, realistic world, but it seems to me less striking. To it's credit, the feel of the game is reminiscent of Tactics Ogre, which is one of my favorite games of all time.

But, the battle system... I have played some 12 hours into the game, and I can't deny that I have enjoyed the gameplay a bit. There's something about customizing gambits that appeals to my strategic side, but it really bothers me when I realize that what I am doing is setting the game up to play itsself. Oh, sure, leave the main character on manual, and there is a sense of accomplishment in seeing my strategies work well (and tweaking them when they don't), but it makes the combat feel a little... lifeless... and it's far too cumbersome to manage a party manually. So my role in combat is... customizing AI. It's an interesting system, but I really do miss the turn-based, on-the-fly strategic gameplay.

I think the only time when FF12's gameplay is better than a turn-based system is when the battles are really easy anyways (letting the game mash the 'attack' button for you is better than just mashing the attack button yourself, if that's all that's required to get through the battles). But I think that if the turn-based battles are sufficiently difficult (admittedly, random encounters in FF are usually too easy), then I'd much rather just skip on FF12's battle system.

But, to each his own... As for me, I just hope that this doesn't become the norm.

Well i guess with most people its either love it or hate it. Personally I love it. I am not entirely used to the combat system yet as I havent had a chance to get too far into it, but so far its interesting and I like the change. It can keep you on your toes but it also gives you time to consider your strategy if you dont use the Active system.

For all of you who cant get over the combat system, give it a real try, and anyone not playing it because they played the demo is a total fool.

The graphics are amazing, the storyline seems real and serious so far (unlike Tide in FFX being a baby about his dad the whole time), and I love the way the cities and shops are laid out. Like someone said before its like a one person MMORPG type deal.

In the end, those of you who dont like the new combat system give it a try, otherwise you will probably not be playing any future FF titles either and can stick to PS1 and earlier FFs, not our loss for those who can accept change and recognize innovation.

It really does seem like everyone commenting is playing two different games, doesn't it?

I rented the game and after five hours, I simply couldn't take it anymore and I stopped. And nobody better tell me that five hours isn't a sufficient amount of time for the game to get started, because it sure as hell is.

Overall, I cannot believe the scores it recieved.

hey for all you haters give the game a chance, it like a book you hve to read for a while to get into it, but when it comes to crisp graphic, story line ,and creativity i would give the franhise 9.6 out of 10.

To 39, Maybe you should play it for more than 0 Minutes. It gets interesting when you actually play it.
It seems like as far as the battle system is concerned, you either like it or you hate it. Not much in between. It is just a matter of opinion. From what I have read, a majority of the people have liked the system. It just seems like a welcomed change. 1up.com, gamespot.com, ign.com, gamerankings.com and gamespy.com all gave the game good reviews. They all say it is a tweaked RPG and that is pretty much what it is. Most of those that don't like it are "True Final Fantasy Fans" or don't like RPG. Why play a RPG when you dont like it, and I agree with 22 about being a true fan. I love the game and just wish I had more time to play it. I didn't even need to give it a chance. The graphics hooked me from the beginning and the gameplay just kept getting better and better as I leveled up. My only complaint is I wish I could Allocate their stat points for strength, magic, ect.