[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

I'm hoping this game is good. I've been waiting for a good FF game since Tactics (and before that FFVI), however, I'm not anticipating it in any way. I've been let down too many times by Square to let something hype me up anymore.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm sorry, but that Highlander does not exist, just like 4. There is only Highlander and Highlander 3, ergo, you cannot enter any Highlander 2 information on this discussion...



There's nowhere I can't reach.

Would anyone happen to know if there is a way to get the Barheim Key if I sold the Great Serpentskin? I just found out that I need one to be able to do a bunch of hunts and get an Esper there, but I had already finished that mark far earlier in the game, at which point I promptly sold the loot...including the Great Serpentskin.

Looking through the strategy guide was useless, as it seems no other monster gives that item through stealing/poaching/dropping. Of course the strategy guide also didn't show that the Great Serpentskin was a necessary item on its loot chart, so I figured I'd be able to get more later. So now I have a conundrum...do I restart my game fresh, or do I continue on without access to a lot of stuff (being unable to even get into Barheim). Keep in mind, I am almost level 50 with all of my guys (and at around 90 or so hours), so restarting will definately suck...

How ya doing, buddy?

You don't need it as part of the quest for the chick to give you the key? That's good to know. So then I'll only be missing a quest or two at the end of the game and the extra Zodiac Spear. Of course...that's all that I know of yet, heh.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Aardark

About five or six hours, probably.

I just finished it myself. Some comments: the music in this game was terrible (not really, but virtually no songs came even close to IX or X; not even mentioning VII), and I seriously don't know who decided it would be a good idea to let Sakimoto compose it. That man has never created a fun, interesting song in his life. Also, there were obviously some problems with pacing and expanding upon the relationship between the main characters (though it's great that there was no lame romance plot), but everything else was mostly great (dialogue/translation, voice actors, the supporting cast), and technically it was flawless, as far as PS2 goes.

Wierd. I actually loved nearly all the music so far in the game (barring the theme for Lowtown...ugh). It is very FF Tactics-esque. Although it does seem as though there are a lot less "theme" type songs, and more background-style music that is just there to enhance the play rather than stick out in your head.

This game definately felt more like you were just there and the world was unfolding regardless of you, rather than your characters driving the plot single-handedly. I'm unsure yet how much I like it, but it is a nice change of pace.

The voice acting was amazingly well done, although some characters needed a bit more to them. Of course I'm not completely done yet...on my way to the Deadlands, so maybe more gets told from there.

Gameplay wise, I love the near lack of mini-games. It makes the game flow a lot better. I do hate the license board though. It would have been better if it had limited how many license points you could put into the board per character, so that you could make the characters more varied from each other, rather than just enabling all the characters to be able to get everything by accumulating enough points. Or if you wanted to expand upon the license idea, make it so that you have to do something to "earn" a license to use something. I thought it was silly to buy the ability to use this set of armor and then buy another ability to use the next set of armor or weapons ad nauseum. Limit the skill points ala Diablo II for the actual abilities for characters and maybe earn licenses for a set of weapons/armor/magic style etc. Hindsight is 20/20 though...

Quickenings were a bad idea. They should have eliminated them altogether, or make them unchoosable attacks that "might" occur if you are in the critical condition rather than tie them to MP. Summons should have been reworked as well, either making the summons able to level up to grow in power, or change the way they worked (making them an uber-"magic" spell of old).

Gambits were beautifully done. A very well thought out idea that made the game flow well for battles. And you could control how much or how little you wanted them to impact your game.

Overall, I would rate this around my third or fourth favorite FF so far. We'll see as time goes on. Although, I still have no desire for FFXIII yet. Nothing about that game makes me want to play it...

I was speaking idiomatically.