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Square-Weakix
What started as my bio for this website ended up a tyrannical rant about FF12 sucking so bad.
by Lisa
I rented Final Fantasy III on SNES for a solid year straight without fail from the local video game store down the street every weekend until some douchebag stole it. That's a true story. I think I was eight or nine years old when that game came out, and it will probably remain my favorite game of all time. It's a close tie between that and FF7.
I love the Final Fantasy series, all except FFOnline (because let's face it, it's really just World of Warcraft except impossible to get any Gil unless you fish for fourteen goddamn hours straight) and FF12. I'm sorry, there's nothing anyone can do or say to convince me that either of those games aren't a total waste of time, and just complete garbage. In FF12, those characters were the weakest set of personalities in an FF game, and I couldn't care one way or the other if any of them died a horrible painful death. Total waste of my time, and I'm still angry about it. Sqauresoft, in my opinion, was renowned for the storylines in their RPGS - now they've got this Square-Enix shit going on, and maybe it's just me, or me getting more bitter as I age, which is sad because I'm definitely not old, but I guess people love weak garbage plots nowadays because they're not into the whole "deep thinking" thing. Ugh. The older RPGs read like epic novels. Now I feel like they're sad shells of their former selves.
I mean, what happened to sick sadistic bosses like Sephiroth and Kefka where you really KNEW they were psychos. These games can't even DECIDE on who's the real enemy! It started with FF8 -- Edea was bad, but then there was someone ever BADDER who had no apparent ties to the storyline up until the very end. It's like, the writers sat around the storyboard right before releasing the game and thought, "You know what.. let's throw in another character.. everyone LOVES hot witches, so let's just make an even hotter one that's the real enemy at the end!" And then they all applauded themselves and wrote her in. From then on out, it was the same thing with each game-- FF9, 10, and 12. You always *thought* you knew who was the bad guy then, oops, just kidding, it was this mystical, boring spirit all along who's been controlling them. Weak, and repetative.
The reason I love RPGS is because it's turn based and you get to think about the moves you want to make -- FF12 is a clusterfuck of running into enemies and losing that feel of being able to control your characters. Now they've got a mind of their own. Fuck that, I'm the boss and I'll tell those assholes when I want them to hit something. GARBAGE.
Comments
Ouchies!! If you want a turn-based RPG with a really unique storyline, you should play Persona 3. It was my favorite game of 2007.
I enjoyed FFXII a lot, but I can't say I had the same emotional attachment to the storyline and characters that I did in, well, every other game. Also, it was the first FF final boss that I beat on the first try (except maybe FFI or II, I can't remember). That made me feel ripped off. It's not that I like losing, but the final boss should be ridiculous! However, the many hunts more than made up for that, as they were far more challenging.
Still, I'm hoping FFXIII is more into story and characterization, though I don't think they're bringing turn-based battles back. It's a shame, I love them too.
This is sort of what I've been saying for a while now. I am still campaigning for a return of Japanese gaming glory or for them to just pack it in. I haven't been able to complete a JRPG since the days of PS1. I attempted Blue Dragon, and while I enjoyed the cartoon look, (since I always preferred the SNES graphics over the more realistic FF look) it was just terrible. I think a large part of all of this is that the inclusion of voice acting that happened to come along at the same time and it took away from providing your own tone to the game's dialogue. Usually, it was replaced by something less convincing and more whiney.
For now I'll stick with Oblivion, Mass Effect, and other western made RPG's....and Chrono Trigger, again.
See, I really, really dug Blue Dragon. I loved the battles, it had a nice story, and it was fun to play. A little on the easy side--played kind of like RPG 101 for the first few hours, but then again, it WAS the first RPG a lot of people I know played. I also loved Lost Odyssey, which was made by the same developers but had a more mature look and tone.
what killed FF12 for me is the fact that there are so many missables, and NO clues about them either. This is what I hate in recent RPGs, and especially recent Square ones. They're just excuses to sell Strategy Guides, how are we supposed to know that you SHOULDN'T open a chest, in PLAIN SIGHT, if you want to get later on one of the ultimate weapons of the game???? See, that's NOT good game design, that's just plain stupid!
For me, Final Fantasy XII was the best in the series. FFVI second, FFVII third. So many things rubbed me exactly the right way in XII. I LOVED the exclusion of the horrible, time-worn ATB (which there is no excuse for, not even in other great games like Persona 3, where it's actually done reasonably well). The soundtrack was - and still is - one of the best ever created for a game. The characters were a little flat, I admit, but who can live up to the awesomeness of Balthier? Edgar, perhaps. Possibly Barret. No one else. Voice acting was the best I've heard in a game, save for Kingdom Hearts I and II. The story was not as wonderful as in Final Fantasy Tactics, but I enjoyed the tale of political intrigue (and yes, you could interpret the final boss as a spirit controlling someone, or you could see it as a desperate attempt by man to take control of her own history instead of leaving it to arbitrary gods) and the struggle to find motivation in an endless struggle.
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I think FFXII is a fantastic achievement, and it will probably always remain my favourite of them all. If I could have more games like it (instead of Tetsuya Nomura's strange and horrible dimension of "fashion") I would be happy. Unfortunately, Squeenix will probably refrain from originality from now on, brining us weak crap instead. I am not excited for FFXIII. Nor will I be for XIV.
Nice article, though!
And I meant "bringing", not "brining". Sorry for the typo. :)
I love these stories! It's nice to know that other people feel the same way I do. Good article!
Yeah, it's been a long time since i got into a final fantasy game. I'll admit, I enjoyed X, but yeah, 7 seems like the end of that era. Upon recommendation, I didn't even play 8 and 9.
I may go back though, cause you're right....i DO love hot witches....
I guess you've joined Ian in his fight against the Japans.
i do agree that 12 was a bit hard to get into, though for me i think it was because of the story more so than the combat system. I felt the combat system if anything was very easy to level up with and gave you a nice freedom to level up in a faster manner than previous games. The story though just felt bland and i have to admit it, but a true lack of a main character and a love story to me kind of hurt it, because lets face it, as much as people will deny it, a love story in a final fantasy is what its all about :)