[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Yeah, I'd stick with a chip for a few reasons:

1) $140 CDN for the modding is much cheaper than $250 CDN, as any grade 1 student can tell you. Plus it's in my city so no shipping charges and the likes, as well as customs charges if I were to import.

2) Having two PS2s side by side is just weird, especially when friends come over.

"Dude, why do you have two Playstation 2s?"

"One of them is a Japanese one."

"So...why didn't you get a mod chip then?"

>_>

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Wow, that FFXII wiki is shaping up nicely so I guess it's a matter of time until an English speaking player will beat it and hopefully sometime go over the translations and such.

At the same time, I probably won't read that site again as it's bound to have lots of spoilers throughout the dialogue. Herm.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

God damn, I want to see these, but since they contain huge spoilers, I'll have to pass. But it's animated so well too.

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

Here's a little import review courtesy of Gamespy. I check their site once in while and came across this:

Originally Posted by Andrew Alfonso, Gamespy

In this world that we live in, things are constantly changing, but there are always some universal constants. One, a man will always try his hardest not to look back when a stunning woman passes by him. Secondly, someone, somewhere, is falling for the "pull my finger" joke. Thirdly, whenever a new Final Fantasy game is released, citizens of the world rush out as soon as possible to pick it up, and then call in sick for the next three days, just to finish it. Well, the last part is an exaggeration, but it's not that much of a stretch, to be honest.

Yesterday was March 16, 2006, also known as the day that Final Fantasy returned to the land of Japan. Hyped up with a huge marketing campaign and movie trailers dotting every part of Japan, Square Enix and FFXII directors Hiroyuki Ito, Hiroshi Minagawa and Yasumi Matsuno are hoping that the game turns out to be the biggest and best Final Fantasy game ever.

As if they needed to point out how epic this game is going to be, the first half hour of the game neatly sets the course for the rest of the game. The world of Ivalice (yes, the same one from Final Fantasy Tactics) is teeming with life, and not only of the humanoid variety. Viera, Bangaas and Moogles are all present in the world, and they co-exist with the Hume race. The story begins in the small country of Dalmasca, where trouble begins to stir, as the neighboring countries of Archadia and Rosaria are at war. Unlike other Final Fantasy games, where the premise is about saving the world, FFXII's story is based more on politics and government than an actual evil force.

The relationships between friends and foes act as catalysts in the story. Dare I say it? The series has been taken down a path where the humanization of the cast is more evident than in other installments. During the first hour of the game, you'll start in a tutorial explaining battles and exploration in the game. Leading you through the tutorial are Basch, and Lex, a mere underling in the ongoing war. This particular part of the game is also an important part of the story, believe it or not.

The entrancing opening video is complemented by what's possibly the best graphics engine on the PS2. The motion blurring and depth of field effects are used often and with amazing results. What really stands out about this game, compared to other RPGs, is the sheer size of the locations you'll visit. Let's start with the city of Ranbanstre, which is populated by dozens of characters on the screen at once, which is a far cry from the handful of denizens you would've seen in entire worlds. The citizens of Ranbanstre won't stand there lifelessly either; they'll have conversations with each other while you walk around town, and they go about their business as any ordinary person would.

Whoever made the decision to base the game in the world of Ivalice deserves a pat on the back, because the game really benefits from the varied character designs interacting with each other, rather than being segregated into their different tribes. There are little details in the game that you might miss too. Hair realistically sways in the wind, and weapons actually change your characters appearance, much like in other RPGs. It's a nice little touch that may go unnoticed by some, however. If you've played Final Fantasy XI, you'll be right at home with the combat in this game. Rather than being transferred to a separate screen for battles, you'll be able to see enemies scurrying around, which allows you to either fight or avoid them. Step into their line of sight however, and you'll find yourself in the midst of battle quickly. Unlike the Active Time Battles (ATB) of previous installments, FFXII uses the Active Dimension Battle system (ADB), which allows you to position yourself strategically to avoid attacks or deal more damage. For example, you can set one party member away from the battle to pepper the area with arrows, while another character rushes in to use a melee attack. While the traditional commands are still at your disposal (Fight, Item, Magic, Summon), FFXII introduces a new command called Gambit into the fray.

Gambits are pre-determined actions that you can give a character, and at their core are used to help the player better control battles. By first choosing a condition or target (for example, if a character's HP is less than 30 percent), you can then decide on a specific action to perform. One simple Gambit is to have a character use a Potion on any character that is close to death. As you progress in the game, you can purchase more Gambit items that will allow you to fully customize your party. Simply put, the Gambit system has two purposes; first, it allows you to streamline your party so that you don't have to manage every facet of combat. Secondly, it allows gamers who are used to the relatively simple systems of previous Final Fantasy games to ease their way into the game, which is admittedly a little overwhelming to begin with.

Accompanying the Gambit system is a new experience called the License board. If you will, think of this as an evolved version of FFX's Sphere system. Whereas the Sphere system allows you to open up linear paths, the License system gives you a lot of free reign over how you want to improve your character. Each character starts off with two boards to use, and by defeating enemies, you'll earn License Points. You can use these points to unlock more squares on the board, which improve your statistics. The system is a little more difficult to deal with, because the results of each decision are unknown, whereas in FFX, you knew where each path eventually led.

The world of Ivalice has given composer Hitoshi Sakimoto a lot of material to work with, and the man hasn't disappointed his fans. The soundtrack rivals anything that colleague Nobou Uematsu has put out, and not only that, but the voice acting is spot-on. I have to give a lot of kudos to Hiroaki Hirata (Balfear) in particular, as he has put on an excellent performance in this game.

Although the game is not due until November in America, if the import version is any indication, Square Enix has yet another guaranteed million-seller on their hands. Despite the rather tumultuous development of the game (which lead to the departure of director Matsuno), things have turned out well. Look for more updates on the game soon!


Source: http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2.../696759p1.html

I'm really into the Hume vs. Hume conflict that have not been really evident in previous Final Fantasy installments. Most of the time it's a matter of facing some super natural phenomenon like Yu Yevon or an "ultimate bad guy -aka Kefka, Sephiroth, Ultimecia" sort of deal. I'm still not 100% sure what the conflict is in FFXII (don't spoil this for me, you can just give subtle hints), but having a political clash is a nice change of pace as in terms of knowing that the characters are fighting for.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Oh. Okay then. Sigh >_>.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Okay people, I want to make myself ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that I DO NOT WANT FFXII SPOILED FOR ME! Please use spoil tags accordingly. I'm almost scared to read posts here, so please be considerate. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone, since I was merely skimming posts to avoid inadvertant spoilers, but just as a reminder, thank you.

Oh yeah,

LOL @ FFVII:

Aeris dies

Shit, did I spoil FFVII for anyone now?

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Simo

I've been avoiding all the plot spoilers but checking out the various impressions over at GAF which have all been overly positive about the game so far. One thing I'm glad about is how diverse the locations and landscapes sound like which is relief considering most of the screenshots released by Square show mainly nothing but desert plains.

I guess the real time weather effects/change actually managed to stay in the game despite early word of the feature being cut.

I'm wondering if there are any well...snow plains or terrain because I want to know of SquareEnix addresses the issue of characters changing their attire to suit the weather. This bothered me in FFX where Tidus and the gang would wear summer wear for like the Highland plains. As much as I'm hoping for, I doubt it will happen here.

A couple other things is how come, not only in FF games, but pretty much every other RPG game the monsters will ALWAYS team up against YOU; do they have some secret vendetta against your traveling party or something? You'll find the strangest combinations of like a Flim Flan teaming up with like a Bird or something which really don't have much in common, but the only thing on their agenda is to KILL YOU. I think this is why I generally enjoy fighting human like characters (seeing in the first few clips of FFXII) because you know the enemies have a reason to hunt your party down - this time probably because its a political difference in their system that they will wage war against your party. I read somewhere that in FFXII you can actually see monsters fighting other monsters since it's all real time. It'd be a real nice touch if this really did happen.
<Megalith-like>Can any one confirm this.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by CuteChocobo

As for your 2nd question, you mean like monsters interact with others and the enviroment? if so, no, i havent seen anything like that, only non-monsters NPCs interacts non-verbally and do daily things.

Yeah I highly doubted this, but oh well, perhaps it's a thing for future FF games to work on.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Jagged

Yeah, Monsters do fight each other, many other people on various mesage boards have stated this. Some monsters (like some fat rabbit creature) even heal you. Also you can sometimes see other NPC's(like Bangaas) fighting monsters and you can join in.

AHHH!!! That's what I want to hear (read).

Originally Posted by B4-Hunter

You say it so easily but look at it this way. You need to design totaly new clothes for all characters that will be used in certain area. Make in game movies using characters in new clothes plus if there will be CG then you have to create CG image of characters.

It's a lot of work and I think it's useless of you are in snow area for less then few hours from 100 hours game play. Besides RPG heroes are super heroes so they don't need warm clothes =D They don't have time to catch cold they have to save the world!

It's more of just a nice touch of realism, B4. Plus most of the CG would follow a scripted part, so it'd be easy to show that cutscene once of maybe them getting dressed into winter clothes. After that time when you exit to a warmer climate, you could see them changing back to normal clothes. But all other subsequent visits with no CG or cutscenes the characters would just appear in winter clothes in the winter area and the player would logically deduct that they were doing the same thing (ie changing clothes) to get to how they look now. It's not that hard. MGS3 managed to do their cut scenes with Snake in different attire.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Usually The Magic Box has these stats, and they've updated for up to March 20th for the other parts, but the top ten sold list is still back prior to March 16th release date.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'd say higher, traditionally most sales items of public consumable goods are reported lower (as per my business management class in the "sales of luxury/consumables" chapter) since the tracking of each sales isn't reporting due to the closing of shops and setting up of their respective income/Cost of Good Sold/inventory count varies throughout Japan. Plus there's probably lots of smaller retailers around Akiba which probably don't bother reporting their sales to Sony and such.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if actual sales were lower, since most retailers like to inflate their sales numbers to make an impression on the public that this IS the MUST GET product of the season. Yeah, consumer pyschology.

Most amazing jew boots

Which is what Simo is so proud to display in his avatar description ^__^!!

Sup Simo.

Also, what order are the ratings in for Famitsu? Ie. Gameplay, music, controls, visuals etc. I'm curious because this will obviously help me understand reviews better with the Famitsu system of rating.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Raijin

Each rate = one different reviewer.

So I take it that there are 4 regular Japanese reviewers at Famitsu who review? That's actually a pretty neat and more objective way to review, instead of leaning the work load on one individual to take note of all the game's elements. Do these guys have like a "bio" anywhere that I could read? I'm interested in what these guys' bios are.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Regarding the summons:

It's pretty neat that some of these are the bosses from the previous FFs. Also, no Bahamut? Unless the list isn't complete.

I do like the "stapled" Shiva, Ifrit and the gang" and wish that these new summons were added on, but then the more summons might cause the player to lose interest in them quicker since there's more selection, therefore making the newer/older summons trivial and redundant.

Originally Posted by Megalith

If they wanted to be objective, they would have a multi-cultural review board. The Japanese are a hive-mind, and all think alike.

There ARE other reviews and notes from other sources posted in this thread.
I don't think these guys would be exercising group think here. I really don't see where multiculturalism fits into reviewing a game. So a white guy, black guy, hispanic, and Asian all agree that AC04 is good (or in Megalith's terms, "A Game made from God, why lie"). I'd see this the same as four white guys reviewing the same game. So even if these four individuals did rate exactly the same as the next guy, most gamers would also check up on other reviews too from gamerankings, amirite.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Jagged

Spoiler:

Their still in the game as Airships:
http://www.ffxii.us/airships.php

I personally find the new summons refreshing.

Oh I see, that's pretty neat. I guess they might have one for Bahamut.

::Death Star Approaching::

How ya doing, buddy?

As for looking at those FFXII airships:

Spoiler:

Ifrit and Leviathan look most appealing to me. I like how they do look futuristic but still blend into the "medival fantasy" setting so it won't look like the Frederation fleet c/o Star Trek all assuden just jump into WWI technology sorta deal. I do like "futuristic ships" like the capital ships from Xenosaga and other space operas, but these ships are very nicely crafted to suit the game's atmosphere.

How ya doing, buddy?

Interesting. So this time the time clock goes over 99'99"? So far I don't think my other FFs have gone that far, but then again I really don't care about sidequests.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Simo

They don't break down the game like that but rather post their final impressions with each of them reflecting what stood out best. Like I said earlier though, Famitsu's reviews are pretty much worthless because of their review system and how how biased they are to some franchises that they'll rate others harshly. The magazine is so respected and popular however because of their news and exclusives that their reviews are primarily a "go to" source in Japan.

Oh so they DO do group think. How sad. Megalith has spoken the truth.

"ZOMG IT'S FROM SQUARE ENIX SO IT MMMMMMMMMMMMUUUUSSTTT BE MADE FROM GOD SAUCE AND WIN"

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

What reviews did DoC get? Again probably biased but oh well.

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

Originally Posted by Spatula

Interesting. So this time the time clock goes over 99'99"? So far I don't think my other FFs have gone that far, but then again I really don't care about sidequests.

Just to reask my question again, so the FFXII goes past 99 hours? Or I guess the players are just manually keeping track of the hours past the 99'99" mark?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Sure these things look cool, but by god I sure hope they include a skip button. God...WAYYYY too long summon sequence if there won't be a skip option.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Inhert

btw the invocation in those video is just the last thing you see (when you see ashe with a circle on the ground) before that it's just before the fight and when you have killed him (i'm not sure if you really have to fight them) but when you see the crystal thing, it's just when you got not when you summon him.

Oh I see. Yeah I figured it out after watching a few more times. It makes sense now. So it's when they first meet up with a summon, then the long ass cutscene shows.

FELIPE NO

This might have spoiler material, but I don't want to post this in the SPOILER FFXII thread, since I don't want to inadvertantly read some of the spoils there (since spoil tags aren't necessary).

But this is regarding the airship:

FLY AWAY YOU SKY PIRATE ARRRRRRRRRGGHHHH!!!!:

So in FFXII does Vaan and the gang eventually get their own little ship like in most of the other FFs? I mean he "dreamt to be a great sky pirate" or something cheesy like that. But most of all, can you CONTROL your own ship? I hated the navigation system in X where you just said where you wanted to go but didn't have any control. Part of the fun was flying around in your Falcon/Highwind/Ragnarok sorta deal in the previous FF installments.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

VIII was a treat to view the first 5 times. seriously. And it became annoying in fights where a time limit was a factor. Dammit, Odin.

EDIT:

Here's a nice article on Japan's sales of FFXII.

Originally Posted by gamespy

Final Fantasy XII tops Japanese sales charts (PS2)
As expected, Final Fantasy XII debuted on Japanese sales charts at number one.
By GameSpy Staff | March 24, 2006

Square-Enix's highly anticipated Final Fantasy XII dominated Japanese sales charts for the week ending March 19, debuting at number one with 1,764,266 units sold. The figure comes close to matching the 1.8 million first week sales of Final Fantasy X. Final Fantasy XII is set for a North American release in Q4 of this year.

The second highest selling game was Animal Crossing Wild World for the Nintendo DS, with 70,932 sales, and over 2 million total units sold thus far. The sales rankings continue with More DS Brain Training at number 3 with 67,222 sales, English Training DS at number 4 with 39,940 sales, and Prof. Kawashima's Brain Training: How old is your brain? at number 5 with 39,718 sales. In total, the Brain Training series of games have sold nearly four million copies.

With such strong sales in Japan, it will be interesting to see how well the Brain Training series does in the states. The first North American version of the game, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a day will be released on April 17, with Big Brain Academy following up shortly thereafter on June 5.
Japanese Sales Figures - Week Ending March 19

Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - 1.764.266 - (1.764.266)

Animal Crossing : Wild World (NDS) - 70.932 - (2.187.805)

More DS Brain Training (NDS) - 67.222 - (1.571.729)

English Training DS (NDS) - 39.940 - (656.746)

Prof. Kawashima's Brain Training : How old is your brain ? (NDS) - 39.718 - (1.722.597)

Samurai Warriors 2 (PS2) - 25.295 - (498.872)

Mario Kart DS (NDS) - 17.928 - (1.189.109)

Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana (NDS) - 17.574 - (146.700)

Guitar Freaks V and Drum Mania V (PS2) - 17.520 - (17.520)

Keroro Gunso (NDS) - 15.650 - (15.650)

I'm sorta surprised it didn't quite top over X, since I've XII on the number one spot for "most wanted PS2 game in Japan" for the longest time on Magicbox.

It's still good sales though.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Alright, I generally hate these sorts of statistics that pop up all over the place but I mind as well put it here for statistics sakes.

1,760,000 copies sold in 3 days

586,666 copies sold in 24 hours

24,444 copies sold in an hour

407 copies sold in a minute

~7 copies sold every second

Of course these numbers are totally off, but marketers love to put these "averages" out even though they don't mean much.

No stores are open at like 3 AM (maybe the release night in some places like Shibuya and Akiba) to sell 5000 some copies.

There's nowhere I can't reach.