laceblade | Final Fantasy XII thus far

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Final Fantasy XII thus far

I love the Final Fantasy games. VII will probably always remain my favorite, and I'd like to replay it some time soon, perhaps. With each installment, it's nice to explore a new and interesting world, while also seeing familiar elements.

I have yet to see a Biggs, Wedge, or Cid! The chocobos are totally badass in this game, though, and they look real and believable and are the caliber of what I expected in Final Fantasy Tactics, if the game could have had cooler graphics.

Anyway, I'm loving the Ivalice setting of the game, just like I love it in Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. I love the medieval European feel, the knights and castles and armor and honor.

My favorite character is Balthier, hands-down. His English accent and snarky comments make him feel like Spike (of Buffy/Angel) reincarnate. But Balthier has better style than Spike. I love his fresh white shirts, and the fact that he gets upset if they're dirty. I love the way he holds his gun, and the gold trim on his clothing. MOST OF ALL, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM. If Balthier dies, I'm going to be upset.

I find Vaan pretty useless and uninteresting, as far as heroes go. I even like FF8's Squall more than this guy. Luckily, I love everyone around him. I was wary of Penelo, expecting to find her irritating, but I really do like her. Also, surprisingly, I expected to fall head over heels for Ashe and love her like I love FF9's Princess Garnet, but I'm not really feeling the love yet.

I read somewhere online that originally, Basch was going to be the main character, but they decided, as they always do, to go with a younger, impressionable hero. I think it'd be really cool of Square would make the jump and have an older protagonist, or (God forbid!) a female protagonist!

Oh yeah! Usually, I don't like "complicated" menu set-ups, but I kind of dig the licensing system. I love the battle set-up, and how the perspective doesn't change from wandering around to the world map to battles. I like being able to change characters mid-battle, and....yeah, I love everything, except that I seem to constantly be short of money in this game, and it seems hard to find good weapons for everyone (especially guns!).

Still, I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, and hope that the storyline gets even better.

Anyway, I'm about to go into the tomb of Ashe's family, and see what's going on in there.

So far, the best writing definitely goes to the prologue. What balls! Killing the character from whose perspective the gamer is playing? Genius! I didn't see it coming at all.

Also! While doing a Google image search for Balthier (*cough*), I found this website to be vastly interesting! It explores the copious similarities between the Star Wars trilogies and Final Fantasy XII. This thought actually occurred to me when Miguelo was introduced, and I expect will become even stronger as I continue to play.

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Glad to hear you're enjoying FFXII. I seem to remember liking it but not being able to get into it. I think there were just a lot of overwhelming things that made it impossible for me to know what direction to go. So yeah, I didn't make it too far. I figure I might come back to it when I have time. Then again, I still need to get back to 3, 5, and 6.

Wasn't FFX-2 all about female protagonists? I don't really know the story since I couldn't get into the Final Fantasy Barbie concept (change her clothes and her powers change!) but all the playable characters were women so one would have to assume...

Yeah, FFX-2 is about female protagonists, but I haven't played it yet, or even Final Fantasy X. I know, I suck, but I just got the PS2, and XII was more appealing to me aesthetically. Antoine did buy X-2, though, because he thinks the battle system sounds amazing. Since he owns it and not a PS2, I'm certain I'll be playing that game at some point!

We'll see where XII goes. I love it so far, so hopefully I'll make it. Of course, I still need to finish VI (although I almost beat this one!), V, II, and I, buy/play IV, and somehow obtain III.

You should seriously try FFX. It remains my fave of the whole saga (yes, losely beating VII for me). I got FFXII way after and I'm sorta glad I did. Cos FFX is like the jump to another platform, so that's when you see all changes.

I will try X! I'll probably finish XII and Vagrant Story first, though.

That's cool. I just wanted to say I wasn't trying to be devil's advocate or anything. But then I got really sick and couldn't respond! You just got me thinking with your comment and I was wondering if it was really possibly true. I mean, I'm not surprised that it could be the case, it just seemed like there were games with female protagonists. Maybe because there are a lot of strong females in a lot of the games, even though they aren't the lead role? Anyway, I honestly felt that my response of FFX-2 was kind of a cop out, since it's a sequel and not a mainline story. I don't know.

They re-released III for the DS, which is how I've been playing it. I did try playing it a few times in college on an NES emulator with a translator pack, but either there were some issues with the translation, or I just couldn't get into it. I don't remember which. It'd be interesting to try that version again.

Still, so much FF to play. Maybe I'll bring my DS with me on vacation just in case...

X-2 is about female protagonists. The battle system is awesome. Everything else about it is... yeah, Final Fantasy Barbie. The only character whom I didn't actively hate by the end of it was Payne. Also, once you get the Dark Knight and Alchemist classes, there's really no reason to use any of the others.

Creighton and I loved Balthier too. He's just hilarious. The writing for him is fantastic, and I hearted his voice actor. God, though, that makes me sad about Basch. Vaan is so boring and useless, and Basch is awesome. His later plot developments would have been fascinating to see if he was actually the main character.

Cid is coming! In fact, XII has two Cids. Creighton and I don't remember a Biggs or Wedge, though. I don't think those two were in X, either. I think they gave up that tradition, sadly.

FFX still wins, though. By a lot. I mean, the three female characters in that game are by far the strongest and best developed of the cast. That's saying something, because everyone is well-developed. You can change out characters anytime in the battle system too, just like XII, except it's turn-based. And the story....... There's a reason Creighton and I cry every time we replay it. How many video games can make a person cry? Repeatedly? Not many. The beginning of the game may feel light-hearted and simple, but hooooooo boy, it is not.

I'm currently replaying X (it's my annual pilgrimage), but when I'm done I'll gladly lend it to you. I really hope you'll give it a chance.

I do intend to give X another chance! We should probably wait until I finish XII and Vagrant Story, though, to ensure that I don't borrow it for years!

The things you have to say about X are certainly encouraging, and I do intend to play it.

Yay! You're welcome to it any time.

FF games are sexy enough for their beauty and world concepts alone. No one can deny it.

If you think Balthier is badass, you're going to love Cid.

Did you notice all the airships being named after summons?

Yeah, I did! Bwahahha. I am now excited to meet Cid. So far I think people have only talked OF him.

Vaan is completely fucking useless. I hadn't heard that Basch was supposed to be the main and then got swapped out... that actually makes things make a lot more sense. This would've been a perfect game to make Ashe the protagonist though.

Money is scarce all game, unlike past FF games where you were rolling in dough. There's a long stretch in the game where you don't get any gun upgrades. Focus on using the elemental shots, it makes tearing up some fire enemies you face MUCH easier.

My party was Balthier on guns and all magic, Ashe on sword/shield and white/green magic, and Basch on spear/white magic.

I've mostly been using Balthier, Ashe, and Fran, but I keep trying to keep the other people a maximum of only 3 levels behind my main party.

I use whatever weapons I can find/have money for, which at the moment is some kind of spear for Balthier, and two Iron Hammers for Ashe and Fran. Those three aside, Penelo is shockingly my strongest!

Oh, I just gave up on the three party members I wasn't using. I think Fran might've been level 6 or something when I beat the game. Swapping equipment around whenever I moved one in or out of combat was too much of a pain.

Hammers are awesome, especially in the early game. Penelo was kind of useful for a while, until I decided I was bored with her and stopped using her.

The thing that kind of annoyed me about the game was how interchangeable everybody is. They start off with some general inclinations in certain directions, but you don't have to follow those. Their overdrive powers look different, but basically function the same.

My party always has Balthier in the lead. He's awesome.
Are you at Raithwall? Man, that place was a bitch and the boss was so hard for me to beat.
I only play FFXII from time to time, but when I do pick it up, I spend hours (mostly, levelling, lol)

Yeah, I was just about to start Raithwall when I wrote this post (now, I'm in the Viera hometown thingie).

Geez, I thought Ashe was the main chara. Sure, you are forced to look at Vaan's backside all game long but in the cutscenes and plot, Vaan takes a definite backseat to Ashe.

This is not a good thing as half of Ashe's dialogue is made up of gasps and sighs. Damn girl needs to get herself an inhaler (I despise Ashe. Boring and stupid.)

Yeah, the cutscenes definitely favor Ashe, and I agree - I'd like her a lot more if she wasn't so damn serious all the time, or at least not so monotone. She should freak out a bit! I only like her when she's in my party and kicking ass. I also find her costume rather ridiculous, second only to Vaan's.

What, you mean all princesses don't run around trying to save their country in a microskirt? I honestly kind of liked how ice queen she could be. Maybe that's because the last FF game I played before 12 was X-2, which was all about Yuna and Rikku squealing at each other.

Vaan is certainly a useless character, but I would argue that most of FF's protagonists are total tools. I have yet to beat FF XII (I had a problem with getting distracted when I start playing epic games)-- but it's certainly one of my favorites in the series. I also love Final Fantasy VI, VII, and IX. I know many people aren't fans of IX, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Vivi.

Who doesn't like IX? It was great! I love Vivi too. And Steiny. And Freya. Beatrix is pretty badass too. People who don't like IX confuse me almost as much (but not quite) as people who don't like X.

Agreed! How can one not love IX?!

I also love IX! I think it's my third-favorite, after VII and Tactics.

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Final Fantasy XII thus far

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