Cloud 2007
Blue Mage
Do you think that final fantasy 10s sphere grid was better or final fantasy 12s license board???
What board/grid do you think was better?
- Thread starter Cloud 2007
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OmniscientOnus
Blue Mage
The sphere grid by far. I just don't understand why I needed a license to wear armor or use weapons. That seems like something that, if anything, would be governed by stats, not a license. Also, the board didn't really seem to have enough choices. I know it was fairly large, but with about half of it being taken up by weapons and armor I just felt like I was getting screwed out of skills, stat boosts and magical abilities.
Also, the stat boosts were never as good as I thought it was going to end up being. When I saw the +500hp boost I thought "Oh sweet! Now we're talking. I can't wait to see what else we got!". But instead, I was left with the knowledge that that is about as good as it gets. Things like potion lore seemed basically useless. I never really needed potions after I got the license for cure.
Another thing that bothered me was that the license board essentially made all of your characters clones. You really weren't able to specify one character as a warrior, one as a mage, one as a whatever. The area was just too small and congested. Your mage was sitting not by three squares away from your warrior at times. And then, with the top half seeming so small, you quickly ran into the issue of having to cross a magic boost tile in order to more quickly reach the shield block percentage rate.
Finally, I hated the fact that just about every enemy gave you 1 LP. What was that all about?! It really gave you no real will to battle the stronger enemies in order to move across the board more quickly and therefore give yourself the extra bonus early on. Not that you really needed them with the ease of the game.
The sphere grid on the other hand was enormous. It never used weapons or armor to fill it's spaces. It was pure, unadulterated boosts and skills. It also let you somewhat lead your character into a class of sorts. It was everything that the license board was not.
However, frankly I don't prefer either one. I don't quite think any Final Fantasy has quite gotten this right. The materia system in VII was pretty cool, but sometimes you had to sacrifice weapon strength for materia slots (some people thought that that was cool because it made your classes stand out a bit more, and added an extra umph in the challenge department). The draw system in VIII was worse than the license board. The abilities system in IX was not bad, but often times you had to have useless items equipped for a long time in order to get the abilities you wanted out of them.
The sphere grid in X was decent, but it was just lacking... noticeable game play difference. The boosts were so minute that they pretty much just followed the leveling curve of your characters. You didn't really get one boost, then go into a battle and see yourself doing 100+ extra damage on average or something.
As for the license board in XII, well, it places second to last right next to the draw system.
Also, the stat boosts were never as good as I thought it was going to end up being. When I saw the +500hp boost I thought "Oh sweet! Now we're talking. I can't wait to see what else we got!". But instead, I was left with the knowledge that that is about as good as it gets. Things like potion lore seemed basically useless. I never really needed potions after I got the license for cure.
Another thing that bothered me was that the license board essentially made all of your characters clones. You really weren't able to specify one character as a warrior, one as a mage, one as a whatever. The area was just too small and congested. Your mage was sitting not by three squares away from your warrior at times. And then, with the top half seeming so small, you quickly ran into the issue of having to cross a magic boost tile in order to more quickly reach the shield block percentage rate.
Finally, I hated the fact that just about every enemy gave you 1 LP. What was that all about?! It really gave you no real will to battle the stronger enemies in order to move across the board more quickly and therefore give yourself the extra bonus early on. Not that you really needed them with the ease of the game.
The sphere grid on the other hand was enormous. It never used weapons or armor to fill it's spaces. It was pure, unadulterated boosts and skills. It also let you somewhat lead your character into a class of sorts. It was everything that the license board was not.
However, frankly I don't prefer either one. I don't quite think any Final Fantasy has quite gotten this right. The materia system in VII was pretty cool, but sometimes you had to sacrifice weapon strength for materia slots (some people thought that that was cool because it made your classes stand out a bit more, and added an extra umph in the challenge department). The draw system in VIII was worse than the license board. The abilities system in IX was not bad, but often times you had to have useless items equipped for a long time in order to get the abilities you wanted out of them.
The sphere grid in X was decent, but it was just lacking... noticeable game play difference. The boosts were so minute that they pretty much just followed the leveling curve of your characters. You didn't really get one boost, then go into a battle and see yourself doing 100+ extra damage on average or something.
As for the license board in XII, well, it places second to last right next to the draw system.
D.Kyo
Newbie
Well i feel that final fantasy 10 sphere grid was better alot better than 12 because it was simple very simple lol and 12 sphere gird was stupid well because very body needed license points for every thing
I would have to say the sphere grid. I liked how all the characters started in the same place and you needed special keys to get other character's skills.
im definatly going to have to go with the Sphere Grid in X - it was easier and more fun. all the characters had defined classes and you couldnt really turn them all into clones unless you like super-power levelled later on in the game.
XII's lisence board annoys me at the moment - i hate the fact that every monster only gives out 1LP and i DESPISE the fact that you need lisences for weapons - thats just retarded IMO, and besides - because of the battle system i often find myself forgetting about the lisence board for ages - only when i go there to find i have huge amounts of LP....but nothing useful to buy
- it was annoying that you had to buy useless stuff to get to the good stuff.
XII's lisence board annoys me at the moment - i hate the fact that every monster only gives out 1LP and i DESPISE the fact that you need lisences for weapons - thats just retarded IMO, and besides - because of the battle system i often find myself forgetting about the lisence board for ages - only when i go there to find i have huge amounts of LP....but nothing useful to buy
- it was annoying that you had to buy useless stuff to get to the good stuff.Cloud 2007
Blue Mage
I think that final fantasy 10s sphere grid was better because it took longer to finish and made the life span of the game much longer.
It's obvious what I chose. I despise the Sphere Grid with a passion. Not only was it long winded, it became extremely tedious to use. Say, I want to access a really tough spell - go find such a such sphere. Erm, where? The License Board was smaller to a large extent, which quite happily pleased me, as I didn't have to spend ages trying to unlock things. LP? They were incredibly easy to accumulate. If you train well enough, you can get a large amount. The License Board was fun, and at least you were left wondering what you was going to get next, which it made it more exciting for me. Junction system, the one from IX, are far superior to the very poor, basic materia system in IX, Sphere Grid in X. Even the Dresspheres in X-2, and the Job system from V was better then VII's and X's combined.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2006
- Messages
- 11,628
- Location
- California
- Gil
- 0
- FFXIV
- Mitsuki Calei
- FFXIV Server
- Lamia
- Free Company
- Gaia
I'll have to go with X here. For me, it was more complex and you have a choice of choosing your routes for updating your character's stats. I mean, it's kinda like the same with XII too. You have a way of controlling your character's stats in any way you want. And that's what I like about it, I guess. It's just that with X, I really like the layout better than XII.
B
BustaMo
FFX's Sphere Grid due to the fact that you really are leveling up the stats of your characters and abilities instead of pointless privilages such as "using a Black Belt" or whatever. I love both system,s but I felt that the Sphere Grid focused more on the development of the characters and you could make them 20 times as powerful as they could ever get in FFXII.
Ace_of_5pades
Ex-Soldier
Sphere grid by far.
Here is my primary reason for the preferance of the sphere grid over the license grid.
In the sphere grid everyone has a certain starting place where they have a pre defined role. (Tidus and Auron=damage dealers, Lulu and Yuna=casters). You could stray off and make Yuna a damage dealer by gonig to Auron and Tidus' part of the sphere grid but the game made sure that you knew her role was a caster.
The problem with the license board was that nobody had a predefined role. You could make penelo your damage dealer and basch your caster if you wanted. Aside from stats you had no idea what your character's role was. Also i found many many times where i could buy a new and better weapon but since i didn't have thte license points to learn it i would have to hold off on it.
So yeah. For the sake of the fanboys please ditch that battlesystem in FF12 and the license grid please.
Here is my primary reason for the preferance of the sphere grid over the license grid.
In the sphere grid everyone has a certain starting place where they have a pre defined role. (Tidus and Auron=damage dealers, Lulu and Yuna=casters). You could stray off and make Yuna a damage dealer by gonig to Auron and Tidus' part of the sphere grid but the game made sure that you knew her role was a caster.
The problem with the license board was that nobody had a predefined role. You could make penelo your damage dealer and basch your caster if you wanted. Aside from stats you had no idea what your character's role was. Also i found many many times where i could buy a new and better weapon but since i didn't have thte license points to learn it i would have to hold off on it.
So yeah. For the sake of the fanboys please ditch that battlesystem in FF12 and the license grid please.
The sphere grid based on the fact you get to stong to quick on the license board.
Victor-Falkeheim
Heir-Presumptive
I'm going to have to sort of break with tradition, and say that I didn't mind the License Grid all that much. It was fun, but it was also very tedious trying to earn all of the LP I thought I needed. At least I never ran out of Gil, thanks to all the loot I was acquiring.
Still, I chose the Sphere Grid; I simply enjoyed using this Grid more than the other skill-learning systems (though, I actually can't explain it myself). Most of the Sphere Grid lovers already mentioned what my reasons are:
- defined characterer classes for everyone when they start off
- unless you over-trained (like...ahem...learning Haste and...*), you never got too strong or were too weak throughout the game - I was kind of afraid that I would be underpowered when I was using the License Grid, though I now know better
- only stats and abilities are leveled up, not the ability to actually USE a weapon - I didn't understand that, but then again, I didn't understand earning stats like that with the Sphere Grid at first
- it's both complex and simple at the same time, as you need Key Spheres to unlock some abilities (three or four Level 4s for Ultima!), some of which you had to search for and/or use some lesser-used abilities (like Bribe for some of the more rare stuff)
*(casting it on Kimahri, Wakka, and Tidus, then using Cheer to boost your current party's stats during the fight with Sin's Fin, racking up the AP by Overkilling wave after wave of Sinspawn!!)
In the running of the different systems, I'd have the Sphere Grid as first, the License Grid a close second and...
3) Final Fantasy IX's - Skills from Equipment
4) Final Fantasy X-2 (and maybe V) - Multiple Classes
5) Final Fantasy IV - skills earned at certain levels
6) Final Fantasy VI - Skills from Magicite
7) Final Fantasy VII - Skills from Worn & Leveled-up Materia
8) Final Fantasy VIII - Draw System
Still, I chose the Sphere Grid; I simply enjoyed using this Grid more than the other skill-learning systems (though, I actually can't explain it myself). Most of the Sphere Grid lovers already mentioned what my reasons are:
- defined characterer classes for everyone when they start off
- unless you over-trained (like...ahem...learning Haste and...*), you never got too strong or were too weak throughout the game - I was kind of afraid that I would be underpowered when I was using the License Grid, though I now know better
- only stats and abilities are leveled up, not the ability to actually USE a weapon - I didn't understand that, but then again, I didn't understand earning stats like that with the Sphere Grid at first
- it's both complex and simple at the same time, as you need Key Spheres to unlock some abilities (three or four Level 4s for Ultima!), some of which you had to search for and/or use some lesser-used abilities (like Bribe for some of the more rare stuff)
*(casting it on Kimahri, Wakka, and Tidus, then using Cheer to boost your current party's stats during the fight with Sin's Fin, racking up the AP by Overkilling wave after wave of Sinspawn!!)
In the running of the different systems, I'd have the Sphere Grid as first, the License Grid a close second and...
3) Final Fantasy IX's - Skills from Equipment
4) Final Fantasy X-2 (and maybe V) - Multiple Classes
5) Final Fantasy IV - skills earned at certain levels
6) Final Fantasy VI - Skills from Magicite
7) Final Fantasy VII - Skills from Worn & Leveled-up Materia
8) Final Fantasy VIII - Draw System
Last edited:
I'd have to go with the Sphere Grid in FFX. The License Board in XII was fine, but it didn't allow the characters to become fully fleshed out like the Sphere Gird allowed.
Cloud 2007
Blue Mage
Yeah i thought the sphere grid would have been more popular.
Looks like I am in the minority when I say that I prefer the License Board system. I thought it was good and could have been better. What I thought they could have done was to seperated every character from being the same, but you still have the ability to choose for example your healer. They could have made it that Only 2 people could purchase White Magic blocks. Or only one person could be assigned to a particular weapon. You will still be able to customize who you want that to be etc but also seperating everyone from being identical. Other than that, I still thought it was a good system.
With the Sphere Grid, you could see what was ahead and able to plan, which is a good thing but I thought the License Board was more challenging. Taking your characters in different directions to see what was in that area. If you found something that you really needed with another character, you could easily start building towards it from the closest block rather than in the Sphere Grid having to move from where you last purchased a node. Both where good but I thought the License Board seemed a little more challenging. Think of those people who love to do the challenges like No Junction Challenge, Level 1 Challenge, No Sphere Grid Challenge. This would be one major challenge considering that you would have to stick with the basic weapons, remedies won't heal all status ailments, no magic etc, that would probably be tough to say the least.
With the Sphere Grid, you could see what was ahead and able to plan, which is a good thing but I thought the License Board was more challenging. Taking your characters in different directions to see what was in that area. If you found something that you really needed with another character, you could easily start building towards it from the closest block rather than in the Sphere Grid having to move from where you last purchased a node. Both where good but I thought the License Board seemed a little more challenging. Think of those people who love to do the challenges like No Junction Challenge, Level 1 Challenge, No Sphere Grid Challenge. This would be one major challenge considering that you would have to stick with the basic weapons, remedies won't heal all status ailments, no magic etc, that would probably be tough to say the least.
I still can't stand FFX, but I found the Sphere Grid way more enjoyable than the license board. I didn't hate the license board, but.......I dunno. It just didn't 'wow' me either.
TacticalShadow0
Blue Mage
I thought FFXII's liscense grid was a lot less confusing.... Maybe because I played FFX when I was 9.