Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

[sincere]

Contains some spoilers for early chapters of the game.

Apparently the aegyl are bewinged Nobodies? I was confused because at first they kept talking about how they were incomplete and had no hearts, and then they started talking about how the aegyl lack anima, with no segue or explanation as to what anima is. You can't introduce new terminology like that, are you missing HEARTS or missing ANIMA?

Vaan and Penelo are cute, and so are Vaan and Kytes. And so is Tomaj. Still want Filo to fall off the face of the game. You are eleven years old. No, you can't be as popular with the boys as Fran.

I love how nonchalant Fran is about getting gifts from Tomaj and Kytes, but... what did she mean when she said that when Balthier gave her gifts, it was... 'different'? Balthier is not a cat, I'm pretty sure that he didn't leave dead animals on her doorstep. maladaptive suggested that he used to bring her flowers... naked. Hot.

Tomaj's apparent dedication in wooing Fran is adorable, even if Vaan warns him and Kytes that Balthier is probably not going to be amused. (I bet he will be, though. He's not an insecure fella.) If he really wants a viera chick, though, maybe he should court the Judge of Wings. She's less attached, and if she still had someone to send her flowers maybe she'd stop trying to destroy the world. :(

Must... save Balthier... Fucking Mateus, this battle is taking forever.

Comments

[rei777.livejournal.com]

Yo, I went to EB games to grab FFXII and the guy at the store said it super-sucked. Now, I'm usually trusting of an EB employee opinion. But, I respect your take on things too. How is the gameplay and storyline on XII and is it a good buy? (Use FFVII as your comparison for a good game!)

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

To be honest with you, comparing them is really a very difficult task. They're different in virtually every conceivable way. But I would say that yes, FFXII is absolutely worth buying, just to experience, even if you go back and trade it in when you're done.

First of all, I want to stress how amazingly well-produced FFXII is. The in-game graphics are incredibly detailed and gorgeous; the voice acting is excellent across the board; the music is beautiful. I also happen to think that the characters are well-developed and interesting.

Now, as to your specific questions: as far as gameplay goes, FFXII will take you a while to get used to. It takes everyone a while to get used to. And yes, the criticisms are true, you can just let your characters autobattle if you set your gambits right -- but then those same people often later complain about how difficult the game is. The whole point of the gambit system isn't to make you stop playing, it's to make you stop micro-managing. Once you get used to not having to tell Vaan to hit every single time his turn comes around, you can instead look at the bigger picture -- what enemies need targeting next, who needs a quickie emergency heal, what outside the realm of the "expected" needs to be done. It's extremely different from any other FF combat system and personally I think it's a welcome change. (I wish they'd stuck with it in FF12:RW instead of going for this babied-down tactical system.)

And the storyline is also pretty unique. There's a lot of politics and personal growth in this game, and a lot less of "saving the world from evil". In fact, there's nothing that blatant at any point in this game anywhere. FFXII lives and breathes subtlety. There's zero "canon" pairings and there's zero "love story" vibes (although there are several hinted-at pairings and hinted-at canon, these are so masterful that the entire fandom seems to have been fooled).

I'm not going to lie -- the story actually suffers a little because it can't quite make up its mind whether it wants to be a political monster or a saving-the-world-from-evil monster, and towards the end they just sort of give up on one and swing back towards the other. But I greatly enjoyed the politics, the characterization, and the philosophical issues brought into question. I would probably buy any game that promised me a Balthier and a Fran.

So in short, I know why it isn't some people's cup of tea. Not everyone likes period dialect and subtlety and elegance in their video games. :D But it hit all the right buttons with me. So I recommend giving it a whirl. You can come vent at me if the combat system frustrates you? XD