FFXII - Worth Getting?

its a good game with the new battle system and the good graphics and the characters to the new battle system is cool u dont have to do anything just sit there and watch
 
A totally YES!!!

I admit that the turn based style battle systems are better. But the real time battle system in this game is awesome as well.
I liked the characters, but I admit that they didn't have enogh background story and were quite linear.
I very liked the plot. It wasn't about characters development (like most plots are), but rather focused more on adventures and politics.
I very enjoyed the Hunting system as well.
It is probably the best FF I have played so far (not sure though, a tight battle with FFX)
 
At the beginning of the game is pretty dull but it gets more interesting later in the game. The graphics are good, the new battle system is great and it's better now you can avoid enemies easier.
 
Ok, so this Final Fantasy was my favorite of the ones I have played, which I suppose isn't really saying much considering I have only played I,II,III,IV,VII,X,XII and Revenant Wings and only beaten I,II and III. All the same, it was my favorite. Why?

Characters / Plot
While my all-time favorite FF character to date is Auron from FFX, I have to say that I feel the characters in FXII were all really cool. None of them annoyed me, except Penelo when she was using her mist power Evanescense. I felt like all of them contributed, and were pretty realistic people. They felt more human and all of them could be incredibly useful in battle, which is something I feel the other games was lacking. In each game I had played prior to playing FFXII, there was always one or two characters that I found to be essentially useless (like Wakka) or who I just didn't care about but had to have on my team (like Lulu and Aeris and Tifa and well, pretty much every female character FF has ever created.) Why? Because their female characters I usually find to be absurd, or extremely obnoxious (like Rikku.) It was really great to see them make a real female character (i.e. Ashe) and a main character who wasn't as insanely irritating as Tidus (i.e. Vaan.) Also, the driving plot wasn't some cliche love story or all about saving a cheerleader-princess, because Lady Ashe was almost stronger than Basch - at least on my team. Basically, I found the charaters very refreshing, though comfortably Final Fantasy-ish, in their absurd but awesome clothing and ridiculously designed features that for some reason we love (like Fran's bunny ears.)

Battle / Setting - Graphics
Oh my God. If only every FF game was designed this way. If they want me to spend endless hours powering up and training my characters, they better make it flow better and seem easier than having to wander around some ugly place with horrible design and shitty graphics as I wait for some dramatic crashing-whoosh noise to explode out my TV speakers and the dramatic (albeit cherished) sound of battle music to start playing so that I might spend the next ten minutes going back and forth with some monster that is going to give me hardly any experience points. I really loathe the battle systems of the previous games, so I haven't been able to beat them (except I-III once released on te Gameboy.) Honestly, I could spend days wandering around and leveling up in just about any of the gorgeous settings created for FFXII. Sometimes I forget I don't live in Ivalice myself. I thought the world was very consuming, and was thrilled to see the FF team push the PS2 to it's limits. If only everyone else would have stuck with it a little longer.

While none of the characters are going to be on the top FF character list, except maybe Ashe for being the most amazing female FF character I've ever known, the plot was not the best, though it is my favorite, and the espers were really lame (what happened to Shiva and Ifrit?), and this is not going to be the most popular game in the FF series, I do think it is the best they have ever made. Overall, I thought everything was fantastic, which is why FFXII will be my favorite game (second only to the Jak and Daxter I,II,III and X), probably just until the next one. Although to be honest, I am not looking forward to FFXIII.
 
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second favorite in the series. I had 168 hours in it. Only missed 3 things from the trophy room, 1 was the exploring maps 100%, some insane move by Fran and the other I cannot recall.
 
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contrary to most peoples thoughts on the game i actually really enjoyed it, there was a huge amount of detail and an extraordinarily vast world to explore. i did like the changes to the battling system which i was even surprised about myself. however i will admit, as far as the characters are concerned, they were poor in comparison to the other final fantasys, except for the judges, i would have liked to have known more about them and for them to be more involved. so i would say yes, this game is definitely worth getting
 
While I would not believe in everything you hear, I do offer advice about this game. If you are looking for a pretty in depth story line, this only touches the surface compared to most others of the series.

Now I'm not excluding it completely, since I believe the gameplay is the best so far, I think if you are really a big FF fan and have gradually worked your way up to FFXII you might find it a little lacking in the story development. Either way though, I suggest it, since it is a FF title.
 
I'm sure you can pick up a copy of XII for $20 or less. Definitely worth. Tons of content for hours.
 
I would say this game is worth getting if you are into collecting FF games but in terms of gameplay its not something I would recommend.
 
XII is MORE than worth it. Its the best FF game OF ALL TIME. (with VII and IX closly behind) The graphics are good the story is exellent, the voice acting is way better then X's.Its just.......the best. THe Chuck norris of FF!!!
 
Well it's a matter of preference really, I can obviously only tell you what I feel. So let me break it down bit by game component bit. ^_^

Setting

Okay, you can tell right off the bat that the staff took a great amount of time researching up on different Middle-Eastern locales and the like. Middle-Eastern culture is what inspired the very foundation of Rabanastre and Bhujerba even down to the native tongue of the inhabitants which borrows some linguistic elements from Sanskrit (try to pick out the greetings the shopkeepers in Bhujerba will throw your way each time you come in to see what I mean).

But beyond that there's just detail, detail, detail. From the grand larger-than-life feel of Archadia with its mix between futuristic and just plain well grand as I said, to the twisting labyrinthine structure that is the Garamsythe Waterway, you'll get an aesthetic feast for the eyes playing this game. The beautiful advantage of the open-view almost sandbox style of wandering around is that you get to take all of these in while choosing to 'Flee' from enemies. (SCORE: 9.5/10)

Music

Sure vivid details for the backdrop of a new area is nice (Mist-saturated Necrohol of Nabudis anyone?) but the music is what hits it home. Honestly compared to say FFX's OST or of course FFVII and even FFVIII, the music of XII isn't what I would call memorable. I didn't just stop in class to hear the beginnings of the epic 'Boss Theme' in my head but it was nice. The music fits to the locale of the game. For instance, when you step into the oh-so woodsy Salikwood, you feel like you're in a tranquil and yet dangerous place. The music can fool you and make you feel deceptively calm when there's a gigantic Mantis just ready to saw you into bits, ahem but the overall look of the environment is calm (pretty canopy, filtered sunlight, cute lost moogle, it works).

SCORE: 8.5/10

Story/Plot line

This story is much more politically driven than many of the recent FF installments up to date 'cause let's see . . .

FFX - love story / religious conflict
FFIX - apocalyptic / pseudo-political conflict
FFVIII - LOVE story / weird time-altering magical sorceress of DOOM!!111 conflict
FFVII - post-apocalyptic / terr-er resistance group vs greedy ass conglomerate

You get the idea. So this story is politically driven and it's complex. So you have tons of dialogue and so you have some cut scenes to visually drive that. Vaan is your omniscient character, you see everything through his eyes, including the true main players: Ashe, Balthier, and hell even Basch (actually especially Basch). Betrayal, murder, more murder, some more betrayal, greed, corruption, politics, war, it's all there . . . in fantastic Vagrant Story-esque glory.

SCORE: 10/10

Characters

Vaan, Fran, Penelo, Balthier, Ashe . . . these are all of our main players. They're all colorful, they all have tragic pasts, left something behind, sacrificed a big 'ol slice of themselves, and decided (most of 'em anyway) to go and save the world. YAY! Honestly Vaan and Penelo are just side characters, particularly Penelo. Balthier, Ashe, and Basch were truly established in terms of their personas. Ashe is headstrong, Basch is sensitive surprisingly and very loyal, Balthier is troubled by the demons of his . . . erm past but won't outwardly show it so instead he tries to act all Don Lothario-esque and haughty (and he wins because he actually succeeds in doing so).

The characters are admittedly charming and you might just, depending on how you are, develop a bond with them. I sort of did (mostly with Balthier). Even the side characters: Reddas, Larsa, and Vossler (especially him *drools* ^_^) have distinctive personalities though since they're just guests, they're role is to say their important piece after battling with you up to a certain point and then bowing out.

SCORE: 8.5/10

So anyway that all said, if you like betrayal, sadness, drama, murder, politics, politics, and hey more politics . . . if you like a very liberating skill system (sorry, I didn't go into the License Board system but there's info for that here if you're interested: http://www.ffinsider.net/final-fantasy-12/license-board.php), free-roaming, wide open maps, NO random encounters, and professionally done translations with (in my honest opinion) superb voice acting, then this game is for you.

If you don't, then that's cool too. There's plenty of great RPGs out there to choose from *coughs* Fire Emblem and Tales of Series . . . *cough*
 
really ?

oh well...

I've been embroiled in controversies abou this game for a long time.

Much to my chagrin.

I've come to hate it..as much for those controveries as for the game's....inadequacies.

It doesn't measure up as an FF game.

Should you get it ?
Yes.But just don't expect it to be epic.

It's long and boring, the character development is lacking.It was designed more like a MMO than a standard rpg.The designer had an alleged breakdown and left Square before the game was completed so it has a lot of holes in it.In my opinion.

I didn't enjoy it.In fact I never completed it.
But good luck to you.
 
This game is one of the best things that have the Final Fantasy logo on them. The battle system has changed, but overall this is a very retro game, with armor, weapons and abilities returning to their old aquisition method.

Monsters roam freely through the land, each with their own pattern of movements. They often fight alongside or against one another, and generally stick with members of their genus. Pretty cool feature.

The soundtrack is excelent, just as goosd as the previous titles, with the bonus of eliminating the annoying music shift at the begining of every battle present in older entries. The game reuses a lot of ambient soundtrack for story sequences though, which is disappointing.

The story this time focuses more on politcs, scenario and actual plot than character development the older entries was known for. A very good change, I believe.
 
I thought this game was fun.The battle system is diffrent to to other ff games so if you dont like the change of ff battle system you might not like this game( Personilly i liked the new battle system). I only have one proplem with this game...........THE FREAKING CHARACTHERS!!!!!!!:ohshit:. Balhtier is cool (except his voice is gay) and Vaan is so annoying:x3:, he is the worst ff charater ever....:cry:
 
Short one-liners people, please avoid them for they can be easily expanded. This is a post count thread and I expect the posts to reflect that. Any further ones may be deleted without warning, please bear that in mind.
 
Great Game. Bad Final Fantasy for me. I need a good story that keeps me motivated through long hours of level grinding and progressing through miserable dungeons. I think in XII they tried to make the world 'feel big' and I think they accomplished this, but for me the areas felt too bland and boring and if it wasn't a final fantasy game I think I would of gave up on it.
 
I think FFXII is worth buying. I personally did not like the story at all and Vaan the main character was a bore but the rest of the characters and the actual game play was a lot of fun. I think it's the most fun game play out of any other final fantasy game once you work out how to use the gambits and stuff.

If only the story wasn't a political mess.
 
The beauty of FFXII is how massive it is. Rabanastre (the first town you are in) is as big as some games. Seriously, I've played this game MANY times over and I still can't remember how to navigate this town. You can carry this idea into almost every area of the game, the environments are really expansive and exploring is really the focus in this game. This is the only Final Fantasy game where I could actually forget what I was doing. The story isn't that driving and I found more enjoyment branching off and exploring, trying to get into the Zertinan Caverns early, finding extra Espers (which really suck sadly, but there are a LOT of extra ones), going on hunts and racking the Chain Gauge through the roof. After all of that I would forget where I was actually supposed to go to progress the story. I have at least 20 + save games spanning probably over 400 hours on this one - I would say that FFXII is a must have. It is very different from other Final Fantasy's though, I don't mean different like, "Oh the battle system is a little changed up, and the characters are different." - I mean this game is dramatically different from any other Final Fantasy. The stereotypical characters are almost all gone, except unfortunately for the annoying one, Vann I'm looking at YOU. The battle system is like NO other Final Fantasy - and it is the closest thing to a Non-Linear Final Fantasy. I think this game has excellent replay value, (check out some 1,1,2,2,3 Level challenges) and for the PS2 there is no game that looks better.
 
I think its worth buying. For starters it doesnt have the random battles that the other FF's have, the game really tries to do something different. The gambit system is fun once you learn how to use it. Also the plot is slightly different than other FF's so its worth a look at. The only complaints I have for this game are lack of character depth, and slow pacing.
 
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