[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Originally Posted by B4-Hunter

Well is it hard to move in options of JAP version? Have anyone found some translation notes for menus or inventory? I'm thinking about downloading it...

I have done the configuration menu translation, if some one posted other menu photos I would be glad to translate them for ya~ :doggy:

I just received the news that my FFXII has shipped and will be arriving either tonight or tomorrow early morning ^ ^ *YAAY*

Jam it back in, in the dark.

"Rolling Demo" before the title screen:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BkWQZhckfK4

Minor spoilers as it quickly shows glimpses of the summons and other monsters but most of all....Sakimoto's rendition of the Final Fantasy "Main Theme".

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I just love that prologue theme...I waaaant.

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

Can anyone actually rip the audio from that and convert it to MP3?

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

That was... :O

By the way, that's a remix of FFIV's Prologue.

I was speaking idiomatically.

That was a nicely executed opening introduction. It retains the Final Fantasy atmosphere by employing the all-too-familiar FFIV Prologue, as Motsy has mentioned, and gave a brief but well done scroll through the major characters and eventually the "summons" as well as monsters, and flowed seemlessly to the main menu screen.

The more I watch it, the more I'm falling in love with how the characters are portrayed in-game rather than with CG. The animations and faces appear very compelling with emotion that I must remember this is still a game.

The CG done for these characters as seen through the multitude of trailers available is quite remarkable, if I may note. Watching the "hope" trailer again, we see the long dark haired warrior, Vayne, give military commands to his troops. In this CG sequence, the way that his face and hair "swing" give off that aura that he is alive. Here's a screencap to focus on what I'm trying to describe:



I would almost go so far as to say that I find these characters more believable than the ones portrayed in Advent Children. This is not to say that Advent Children was not executed with equal aplomb, but the characters in FFXII appear to have a better "connection", or in other words, to seem to be more "alive". What are your thoughts?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Nice description Spatula, I enjoyed reading and can't wait to play this damn game. I should have it soon, very soon.

Can someone post the mp3 rip of the prologue That's my all time favorite final fantasy track.

That review on the last page hyped it up even more for me. I can't wait to play this, who cares if I can't read it !!!

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Spatula

The CG done for these characters as seen through the multitude of trailers available is quite remarkable, if I may note. Watching the "hope" trailer again, we see the long dark haired warrior, Vayne, give military commands to his troops. In this CG sequence, the way that his face and hair "swing" give off that aura that he is alive. Here's a screencap to focus on what I'm trying to describe:



I would almost go so far as to say that I find these characters more believable than the ones portrayed in Advent Children. This is not to say that Advent Children was not executed with equal aplomb, but the characters in FFXII appear to have a better "connection", or in other words, to seem to be more "alive". What are your thoughts?

As good as the CG is, this is Square afterall, I'm more impressed with the in-game cutscenes. The level of detail and the animation are superb and if they are using more of the in-game engine over CG FMV scenes for FFXII then it certainly isn't a bad thing judging from screenshots, the trailers and even CAM recorded videos from the E3 2K4 demo and such.

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

Originally Posted by Andrew Evenstar

Can someone post the mp3 rip of the prologue That's my all time favorite final fantasy track.

You can find it here.

Holy shit, I keep forgetting Metal Gear comes out tomorrow. I'd hate to admit it but I'd rather have this instead. (Okay, I STILL DO want MGS3:S)...

Originally Posted by Simo

As good as the CG is, this is Square afterall,

True, them and their budget to produce something like FF: TSW and FFVII:AC. Squarenix surely has the talent, experience, and most of all, budget to produce top notch CG. A problem I feared was that this would turn into a "DROOL LOOK AT ME CG FEST" and not put much thought into the battle/quest system, instead putting out a "rehashed FFXI", which I have never played yet.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The in-game cutscenes look great, It's almost to the point where I don't care how much CG is used. I love how this game looks.

Spatula I haven't played FFXI either, but just looking at this I know this isn't just FFXI-2. I've heard/read a lot of people saying this will be just like XI, but no way.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Some more first impressions these from Troidal over at Gaming-Age:

Quote:

2 hours into the game, barely scratched the surface...

* The prologue/intro is amazing. The battles are like watching a mix of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Pretty fast paced too. Events happen one after the other, so not many long dialogues.

* Once you are able to move your character, the city feels big enough. There's a lot of people which you can't talk to and just standing there, but it gives you a sense that you're in a city. I like how there is an icon on top of NPCs you can talk to.

* Treasure chests, doors you can enter, anything you can interact with also have an icon. I don't know what other games do this, but I've seen it in Grandia III which I thought was a cool feature. Props to FFXII for using the same feature.

* The license board (to learn spells, equip new weapons/armor, etc) looks overwhelming at first, but like the Materia system in 7 and Sphere board in 10, it looks straightforward once you know how it works. However, I am being careful as to how I should raise my characters - might want a FAQ for this personally ^^;

* Battles feel like KOTOR and FFXI. I haven't figured everything out, but so far seems strightforward. The color of their gauge shows if you are strong enough to beat it, now this is pretty useful. The first DO NOT FIGHT enemy would probably be

Spoiler:

the dinosaur once you go out the city. One hit, bam, you die.

* Not much complains for voice-overs so far...except Panero :-)

Overall so far, it doesn't feel like the traditional Final Fantasy, but I like the atmosphere so far. It's probably apparent with the previews you guys watched, not to sound like a broken record but...I'd say the architecture and mech design feel very much like Star Wars Ep 1-3...with characters coming from Vagrant Story.

Its still a long way, so its a very initial impression. Hope to add more in coming days....

Most amazing jew boots

Quote:

* The prologue/intro is amazing. The battles are like watching a mix of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Pretty fast paced too. Events happen one after the other, so not many long dialogues.

I guess this somewhat elevates my concerns about the 10 minute playthrough posted in this thread that depicted Vaan as just "standing there" getting his ass kicked.

Quote:

color of their gauge shows if you are strong enough to beat it, now this is pretty useful.

This reminds me of those text based "MUD"s where you type in the command of "consider killing or fighting" and the text would either say something descriptive like, "Your experience would enable you to prevail" or something drastic along the lines of, "Do you have a death wish?"

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

More Detailed Impression:

From Gaming-Age

Originally Posted by Srider

Ok, I've played the hell out of it for most of today. Here goes my initial thoughts.

(I'll skip some of the details as to not spoil it for anyone. I'll just touch on the stuff that are already known.)

The game begins with probably the most action packed, visually stimulating intro in any Final Fantasy game. What surprised me even more is how sharp everything looks, maybe it's due to playing on vga display, but the video, the characters, textures, all look really sharp and colorful. Simply from the first few minutes you will be able to notice the amount of work that went into this game. The character models, their faces, their clothing, the texture, everything is overwhelmingly amazing. Right after the intro you go into the game, and immediately you will be introduced to the new splinter cell styled navigation system in FF12, which is basically straight from FF11. You can rotate the camera all around you, it's fast, responsive, and so far I haven't ran into any camera problems at all. The 3rd person camera combined with the fact that every area in the game is connected really conveys the feeling that you are in the world of Final Fantasy. It's a great feeling really, you won't be able to put this game down once you start.

The actual game starts you off as

Spoiler:

Vann in Rabanastre

. The town is full of people, and as Troidal said, the game does an amazing job conveying the sense of a real city. There are areas where it's more crowded than others, which is a nice touch conveying the sense of different parts of the city like the market, the central square, city gates, etc. In many of the areas you will see more than 10 NPC's at once. Amazing feat that Square has done and keeping everything nice and smooth. I will also mention that the sound is equally impressive. Even in the intro, at the first few minutes, you can hears the clanking of sword clashes, the sound of the armor colliding as different characters walk, etc. All crystal sharp, and superbly combine with the animation and the amazing graphics to really give the sense of tangible objects in the game. This game is a treat both in graphics and sound. The only complaints I have about the game's technical merits is the loading and sometimes fairly bland environments. I am being very very picky here, the loading is probably about 2.5 seconds and environment wise, it's not bad at all. I'll clarify what I mean.

The environments are big. The first city spans multiple areas and multiple floors. Imagine sizes close to FF11 cities. The world map is comprised of cities and interconnecting regions. Each region is comprised of several areas. Each area or dungeon being the size of what you saw in the demo. Some of the areas I visited include a

Spoiler:

desert and dry plains

, and they are pretty looking and wide open. The dungeons are basically intersecting hallways and stairs for the most part, and this is where I feel it's a little bland, but it's not a big deal since you will be worrying about the battles anyways.

Here is the good part. I love this new battle system. Gambit takes aways the monotony of mashing attack and otherwise boring fights with lesser enemies. You might think the game is too easy with the AI controlling the characters, and I'll now explain why you are wrong. Each of the areas I've visited so far host a variety of different types of monsters of varying difficulties. Like what Troidal said the

Spoiler:

first world map area you visit contains a freaking dinosaur

. You can not simply run around and just let the AI attack, cause you will aggro too many enemies and make your life much harder. There are also times when the game throws groups of enemies at you, if you don't do a bit of micromanagement or set the Gambit options, you will be pretty confused at all the stuff going on. I'll say it again, Gambit is good, it makes the game more fun rather than taking it away. If you start playing the game and you don't think Gambit is important, wait till you get to the first big boss fight, or just try playing the game in ATB mode. It's very very easy to die if you are not micromanaging.

Character development is very streamlined and I'm sure you all know about licenses now. It really forces you to vary the way you develop each character because of the way it's laid out. I won't go into this since it's been done more than enough times.

Story wise, I'm not in noob land anymore, but there are alot of things going on in the story, and alot of characters. I definitely love the more serious tone and the political intrigue of the plot. Voice acting is superb imo, much better overall compared to FF10. To talk about this further would be more spoilers, so I'll stop here.

To sum it up, this is probably going to end up being my favorite Final Fantasy game. The mmo style gameplay (for a lack of better description) really gives you the sense of being in an open world and the sense of adventure. I do get a star wars vibe from this game

Spoiler:

especially the first time you meet a judge

. I simply can't wait to start playing this again tomorrow.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by CuteChocobo

I have done the configuration menu translation, if some one posted other menu photos I would be glad to translate them for ya~ :doggy:

I just received the news that my FFXII has shipped and will be arriving either tonight or tomorrow early morning ^ ^ *YAAY*

Would be great!! If anyone have any translated things please PM me link =)

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

i fell asleep sorry >_>. But i think most questions got answeared.
Music is FF-ish and FFX music was made without much involvment from Nobou so it's ff standards.

no homo

Intro Movie

http://www.siliconera.com/2006/03/14...opening-video/

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

The intro is absolutely fantastic! wow...

Most amazing jew boots

Ok. That intro was fucking awesome.So well paced and edited, and the music....

I can understand the "Star Wars" comments in the earlier impressions based on the intro though, especially shots like the POV of a pilot in the fighter and the whole scale of the battle. Interesting to see the Nephicite used to create a shield over the entire city.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

So we have Star Fantasy XII =D Dark force will never win!! Can someone give me fast torretn =S? All torrent are try are like 4-5 kbps.

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

^ id say best torrent is http://www.tokyotosho.com/details.php?id=12353

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

Originally Posted by Jagged

Intro Movie

http://www.siliconera.com/2006/03/14...opening-video/

Ah so this is the "full version" as compaired to the one viewed earlier. I see now.

I was speaking idiomatically.

The intro movie is in fact the "new game" video > when playing a new game, there is another video which is totally awsome and about 5 minutes long, the editing and the music is better than the movie you're looking at, it'll probably be uploaded on the net too


i've played the game for about one hour and i think people who loved Final Fantasy Tactics will love FF12... the cutscenes are reminicent of MGS, the way they are filmed and edited, etc...

when whizzing around the city it seems like you really are in a city, there are TONS of people walking around, when you enter a shop it's like saturday afternoon , there are NPC looking at items to buy, the shops look like shops in fact ^^ a bit like shops in the HarryPotter movie

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

FFT rocked man. Loved the gameplay, music, strategy involved etc.

BTW, how are you guys finding the communication of what the characters are saying so far, seeing that you're playing the NTSC-Japan copy. How difficult is it to navigate around talking to people, doing stuff since it's all in Japanese?

FELIPE NO

Okay, major beginning spoilers here :

Spoiler:

Ashe is married that dude she appears to be in love with.

The war begins, the same dude and other important people are talking about it in front of a really fancy digital table > Basch arrives and the dude learns his dad (the king) is probably dead

The dude becomes King of Damalsca

War continues

King Dude of Damalsca dies

Ashe cries, i liked that because i though it was a forced marriage

------

Tutorial, i didn't really get what's going on there, we see Vayne for the first time and he seems to control Basch with a magic spell

------

Now controlling Vaan, killing some rats in the sewers for money i suppose, the little brat with Vaan is really impressed by Vaan skills... for killing rats great :juggler:

and that's only what i understood

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

Originally Posted by Hello_Kitty

Okay, major beginning spoilers here :

Spoiler:

Ashe is married that dude she appears to be in love with.

The war begins, the same dude and other important people are talking about it in front of a really fancy digital table > Basch arrives and the dude learns his dad (the king) is probably dead

The dude becomes King of Damalsca

War continues

King Dude of Damalsca dies

Ashe cries, i liked that because i though it was a forced marriage

------

Tutorial, i didn't really get what's going on there, we see Vayne for the first time and he seems to control Basch with a magic spell

------

Now controlling Vaan, killing some rats in the sewers for money i suppose, the little brat with Vaan is really impressed by Vaan skills... for killing rats great :juggler:

and that's only what i understood

Spoiler (highlight to read):

You didn't mention that in the tutorial, you play as Lex/Rex/whatever, who was Vaan's brother. Then you get killed by Basch. The death scene when it's in first person mode, and weaving in and out of consciousness is incredible. Especially the voice actor still breathing when it's fully black, then dying. Great emotional stuff there.

Jam it back in, in the dark.