The only loot items (that you are able to sell) I've found any use for are the Teleportation stones and Gysahl greens. Items that are of actual use to you tends to go under Key Items.

I've played for about an hour and the only real problem that I've noticed is: Those goddamn jaggies make my eyes hurt. Some aliasing would be nice.

The widescreen support they added for the US version is hot as hell though. I was afraid it would be Vert-, but it's actually Hor+. Not during cutscenes, as those are in a small window at the top of the screen, so it's not fully anamorphic, but the rest of the game is pretty amazing like this.

This opening city is pretty amazing too. I can't believe this is running on the PS2! I can't wait to see what Square can pump out of the PS3 (Or, more of FFXIII in action, I suppose.)

Anyway, back to playing for now!

Isn't aliasing what causes the jaggies? I think you mean anti-aliasing.

I've also played for about an hour and my only gripe so far is the camera's inverted horizontal movement. I got so used to left being left and right being right by playing Halo 2 that I'm having a hard time getting used to the "normal" camera control that FF12 employs. Everything else has been great so far.

I haven't really noticed any jaggies. Maybe you need to set the filter on.

Speaking of which, what exactly is the shake option for? The only time I saw a camera shake effect (at least I think I saw it) was in the beginning when . I wonder why it's default set to Off?

I watched the History of FF portion of the bonus disc, and it was pretty well done. While I'm not a fan of the dramatic deep voice many game retrospectives use, it was fun watching the entire series summarized in order (I especially like how he keeps track of Cid's roles in each game as well as the first appearance of a certain keynote in the series, although he failed to mention that the Moogles first appeared in FFIII, as we could clearly see). Some things worth noting though;

1. Strange how they don't use any footage from the DS FFIII. You'd think it would make for a good promotional material, but they don't even acknowledge its existence (NA release is listed as N/A).

2. Go figure, Summons first appeared in FFIII. I always figured Rydia started the trend, but I guess not. :( Also, the original logo is hideous. What the hell was that?

3. "See-sul"? Nuh uh, son. His name is dorky enough as is, I'm sticking to "Se-sul".

4. FFV: "You can travel in Airships, ships, and Y-Burns"

Are you freaking kidding me? Ha ha ha ha.

5. I don't recall the Empire in FFVI being called the "Gestahl Empire" (after the emperor). I remember "The Empire" and "Vector".

6. "Bahamoot, Neo Bahamoot, and Bahamoot Zero"

No, no, and no. Bad touch.

7. They just couldn't resist promoting the Compilation of FFVII. Too bad they don't show anything at all for Crisis Core (and it seems they're still intent on bringing BC over).

8. FFVIII is the only one that didn't play the prelude. Then again, I don't remember if it even played in the game or not.

9. Yes, they used my pronounciation for Zidane!

10. I wonder which version of FFXI they used for the footage, because it was sharper looking than the PS2 version. Also, I chuckled when they said installation of the game was "simple".

11. Glad they didn't show much of FFXII. I would've been pissed if anything was given away (like Cid's role).

12. Dammit, I got all excited when they mentioned FFXIII. I thought they were going to show a hi res version of the E3 trailer. :(

I'm also glad the art gallery is comprehensive. I should be able to find a good avatar in there.

Dude, I basically pissed my pants laughing to that DEEP BASSY VOICE.

lol Y-burns.

There are jaggies, you can really see them on an HDTV. You get used to them, but they are definitely there. Filter barely does anything.
You've never heard the name Cecil pronounced See-sul? It can go either way, I'm just not sure of the original kana.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dict.asp?Word=wyvern
WHY-vern. Long I sound.
In FFXII, Bahamut is pronounced Bahamoot.
The only time they play it in the game is during the final credits. I wish they could have played that part, but it's right at the very end and it might have stuck out as too orchestral. Or they might have just forgotten that it was there. It's also in the game over theme, if I recall correctly.

The screen filter is only for televisions with text flickering issues. Most televisions don't really need it on, and it doesn't smooth any jaggies, it just makes the screen slightly blurrier. I prefer a sharp vivid picture over some butter lens effect anyday; Flicker filter is not anti-aliasing, lol.

Anyway, I was pretty much dead set on disliking this game after hearing all the whining from the pirating scumbags (hey, don't feel bad, I pirate too!) but after playing the game for ten hours I really can't see where they were coming from. This game is all kinds of awesome. This, VP2 and Tales of Abyss all turned out to be 'oh so satisfying' on so many levels. This year is most definitely an excellent one for gaming.

(Still have portrait of ruin, ff3 and Zelda:TP to look forward to, too.)

COMMAND TO THE EMPIRE IN PARTICULAR.

It was the Empire Gesthalt, to be exact, I believe. But they lost it in the translation. It's in the PSX one.

The one we know and love is セシル, or "se-sul."

バハムート = bahamuuto = bahamoot

Oh, and yeah, that faggot who "designed" Vaan's "sixpack" should be shot.

Agg I should have paid more attention to buffing up my characters. I'm currently going throught the area with the Mimics which requires you to keep the power on.

Ohh well I will probably start all over anyways because I didn't do to much exploring in the beginning anyways.

But yeah I have no idea why some people are saying the storyline is boring or dry as of yet.

Bah I'm having trouble getting used to the gambit system. I even have all the characters up to this point. I have a couple quick questions though if anyone is interested in answering them. If I'm sticking Fran with a bow and want to her to be a healer/support character through the hole game should I go with light or magic armor?

I gave everyone swords/hammers, +attack...i hardly used any magic,the only magic you really need is cure ,cura etc...and the Heal gambit = peace of cake ^^

Yeah, that's what I meant.

That control issue is bugging the hell out of me, too. Would it have killed them to put the option to invert that from what they are using?

Yeah what the fuck is up with that shit. It's both a bad case of what appears to be a blotched sun tanning session, anorexiatic behaviours, and some sort of skin disease that just makes me look anywhere else. Gross.

Also, I'm quite pleased with how much control you can have over the gambit system. I've got quite a few of the Ally < 40 all the way up to 80% conditions, as well as a few others. I'm really liking this game thus far. I'm about 12 hours into it, with 60k steps, and just returned from the Barhiem Tunnel into Rabanastre.

Agreed. I was worried that I wouldn't like the battle system, given of how Valkyrie Profile 2 needed you to be constantly watching out for how you want to engage each battle, and VP2's battle system was very engaging and didn't bore one bit, where as I was fearing about this whole "OH THE GAME PLAYS ITSELF" syndrome would take any thinking out of it. My fears have been releaved, as the gambit system is also very fun and customizable. LOL ATTACK ALLIES WITH FIRE!

People. You're still in the beginning 1/3 of the game. I thought this was God's gift to gaming back at that point.

Wait for the middle+near end when there's no story for long periods of time and the novelty of the battle system runs down and you're stuck in the worst, most bland dungeons ever fighting 2 or 3 enemies over and over again.

But then it all gets better in the ending. That's where all the character development in the ENTIRE game occurs, and it's at least satisfying.

I wouldn't worry too much about the gambit system. Just have one character being the "healing slave" and, well, the others just attack the leader's target. At least that's my setup and it's been working great so far.

it seems IGN made an article about FFXII, but you need membership..i"m really curious. The Title is

"Final Fantasy XII: A Deeper Look
Look past the production values and hype and this is what you'll see.
By Craig Beridon"

HAH! IGN... I'd be surprised if they could look past things like "production values", especially for a place that worships the ground uppon which Microsoft's built on and thinks that Halo is the most original thing ever.

However it would be interesting either way. For if they do fumble up the article like they do with everything else it should make a commical read, lol.

*This post has not been spell checked*

I guess I'm just used to jaggies in general on the PS2.

I have heard it that way, and while neither name is very manly, Se-sul is the lesser of two evils, so I use that.

Damn, really? I always pronounced it as wivern (like quiver). Please don't tell me Rydia is actually Rye-dia (instead of Rid-iya, which is much cuter). I'll freaking hurl if it's true.

I honestly don't think I can get used to this one. I've used Baha-mutt for years, and it just sounds cooler.

I'm reading in PA that the voice compression I complained about before is the result of certain receivers not displaying Pro Logic II correctly. The issues they reported are more extreme, though, such as a more filtered voice, as well as voices being too loud or too low. The compression I mentioned is only minor, but they said that setting it to stereo makes things crystal clear. Guess I'll check it out, but I prefer Pro Logic surround.

EDIT: I changed my Receiver from Pro Logic Movie to Pro Logic Music, and it definetely lowered the compression rate of the voices. Sounds much clearer now.

I was also amused how the History feature made special mention of fans' undying (and continiously perplexing) love for Gilgamesh.

And yes, I concur that the Opera House (FFVI) is the single greatest moment in the entire series.

What's wrong with Microsoft again?

And honestly, you need spell check to spell "upon"?

Seems like it's the in-game modeler at fault since Yoshida's designs has Vaan's sixpack looking nothing like that. Likewise with the CG Event model.

I left my game last night after just arriving at...


I'm beginning to think that maybe I should of stayed in Rabanastre a little more given I heard some talk of a minigame but I guess I can always come back later. I'm liking the battle system alot more now that I've got more Gambits and Licenses. Heck I even managed to get Basch's first Mist Quickening.

The one thing I don't like is the random treasure chests where the items can vary from being a few gil to a rare weapon all in the same chest at different visits or attempts. I also hear that opening some chests at select locations will also stop you from obtaining a rare powerful weapon later on in the game which I pray isn't true as I've already opened the chests in question...:eyebrow:

Well I had pre-ordered the game (With collector's case), but I can't actually GET it (Pick it up) until my paycheck. Any advice upon starting up the game, for those who have gotten somewhat into it (or hell, beaten it already for you importers)?

Also since I haven't been following the thread, how is the voice acting? It sounded good in the trailers, but that only had CG parts for the majority, which are going to be of high quality.

@ Soldier: I actually always pronounced Rydia in my head as "R+high-Dee-Uh", with R+High rhyming with Die, but Ri-Dya sounds better since you mention it (Haven't seen it written out pronounced like that before).

I've always pronounced them as Ba+ha+Mutt and Rid-dia as long as I can remember, and I'm not about to change that now. Same with how I pronounce Chocobo (Cho+ko+bo with hard c, not Choke+a+bo)I also think Squall's last name should be pronounced as Léonhart, and not Leonhart. It sounds better than attached to his first name.

@Dark Nation: the voice acting is very good, one of the best I've ever heard from a video/PC game. Rivals the LucasArts games, in my opinion, and that's very high praise coming from me. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Its true, I'm pretty sure its the Zodiac Spear. I have no idea why they would include this, probably to sell more guides. I honestly hate games that don't allow you to backtrack should you miss something, one chest mistakenly open (open a chest? you could make that mistake...) and you can no longer receive the game's most powerful spear.