Final Fantasy XII??

[monkeychemist]

So if this has been done before, I am sorry. I searched and did not find any results.

So I finally got around to renting and playing FFXII...and um...I was really excited after watching the opening sequence but after that, it sucks..What is this weak ass passive battle system? It's not really an action game, you just walk up to an enemy, choose to attack, and then after you and the enemy stare at each other for a few seconds they attack each other...um, maybe I need to give it a few more hours of play but man, it's hard (i'm still pretty early into it, maybe a couple of hours).

So my question..does it get more fun, or is it always this passive? It seemed like this game would be more action oriented, but to me it is the opposite.

Jeremy

[Nez]

Battle system gets much more complicated the longer you go into the game. With gambits that program how your guys fight. Then there are the occasions that you didn't program for and have to manually fight. Those moments are the most exciting IMHO.

[p_b]

Unfortunately, it was the battle system that killed the game for me. I can see that some people like it, but it's not my cup of tea at all. I simply felt out-of-control a lot of time, although I know that's not really true.

[heybtbm]

The more gambits you have access to, in addition to the harder enemies, make for some hardcore, challenging, and exciting battles further along in the game. The gambit system is absolute genius...you will find this out as the game progresses. The shear amount of options for you and your team make most esper and boss battles epic. Best FF battle system ever IMO (and I've played them all...multiple times).

Stay with it...the experience is definitely worth it.

[mailman187666]

I loved all the final fantasys but this one was hard for me to get into. I loved FFX so much, after playing that then going to 12, I was kinda let down myself. I was hoping for new twists to the familiar FF battle system, but instead got a single player MMO for the most part. I did like 12 though, i was just hoping for something a little closer to what we all know and love about the series.

[AMG]

Once you get use to the gambits they're extremely convenient. I always controlled the group leader manually, so I was always in the action. The gambits allowed me to concentrate on my own game plan while the rest of the team supplied auto support.

The game is awesome, definitely work staying with.

[monkeychemist]

I simply felt out-of-control a lot of time, although I know that's not really true.

yes, thats how I feel while playing this game


...but instead got a single player MMO for the most part...

That's exactly why I don't like this! FFX was perfect IMO. It was action packed and you could sub in characters for an awesome mix. I grew up with IV and VI, I never thought anything would be better but X played so smoothly I think it is my fav...also, it was the first time characters talked haha.

I am looking forward to XIII but unfortunately the system will be closer to 12s...and I know i'm not gonna like it.

However I will keep playing 12 and see how it goes.

Jeremy

[erehwon]

I liked this game. The gambit system was pretty good. My main complaint with it is that you should have all the gambits available to you from the beginning.

[Nebagram]

I hated the battle system. For starters, unless you're psychotic, you NEED the gambits as opposed to inputting each character's attack manually. You can't flee- well, you can, but the enemies just attack you anyway- and the whole thing just doesn't feel like an FF game. The one improvement I found was the ability to switch to back-up characters once everyone else had fallen. That should have been implemented a LONG time ago. It's just poor when compared to FFX, a real turn-based battle system, which was just absolutely sublime.

Only reason I stuck with 12 tbh was Balthier- best FF character ever? Yes.

[PallarAndersVisa]

fun game, just picked it up again today actually.

[-hellvin-]

I really enjoyed this game but I BADLY cheated. Got the Zodiac spear at mid 20's level. Running into the Necrohol of Nabudis was thrilling and fucking life threatening. I got that spear and got the LIVING HELL out of there. Goblins chasing me all the way. Afterwards everything died in almost one or two hits from the kid using the spear...really easy. Until very, very, very late in the game where using gambits was no longer an option. Then it took ten seconds to set them up and bosses continued to die horrible deaths.

[monkeychemist]

as an update to my thread, I did keep playing and I am now about 5-6 hours into it. It is getting a lot more fun and the battle system is a lot better when you have a party. I still don't like it too much because it fells as though I can set some gambits and go to the bathroom to see my party defeat a boss upon my return...kida looses the fun, but oh well, I can always turn them off. So the game is nice, just had a REALLY slow start.

Thanks for all the replies!

Jeremy

[hezeuschrist]

It took me until the Desert part (where you run into all the Jawa looking bastards) to figure out why the battle system is so god damn genius: no load times. At all. Complete brilliance, and when you strip it down it's just a real-time representation of the ATB from the past 5 games, cept no damn battle screen.

I effing loved it.

[Overbite]

I loved the game and put over 70 hours into it.

What I did was control Basch manually as my "tank" character and support heals. Penelo was doing magic attacks using gambits and Balthier was regular attacks with the occasional status effect curing. If I needed status effects put on enemies or an item used I did it manually.

If you go and set every character up with a gambit then the game plays itself and its boring, so just pick a character as your "main" who you controll and let the others work with gambits.

A lot later in the game you get some "Weakness = (element)" gambits that rock. I stuck every one on Penelo and she would automatically cast whatever spell the enemy was weak against.

Also here is a useful hint for people just starting. Gambits that are for status effects such as Ally = Poisioned or Ally = Berzerk or whatever are useless. All you need is Ally = Any.

Say Basch gets poisioned. I have Balthier set up with Ally = Any -> Esuna so he'll cast Esuna only if a party member gets hit with any type of status effect that esuna can cure. That way you dont need to waste gambit slots doing Ally = Poisioned -> Esuna and Ally = Cursed -> Esuna ect.

[Overbite]

I really enjoyed this game but I BADLY cheated. Got the Zodiac spear at mid 20's level. Running into the Necrohol of Nabudis was thrilling and fucking life threatening. I got that spear and got the LIVING HELL out of there. Goblins chasing me all the way. Afterwards everything died in almost one or two hits from the kid using the spear...really easy. Until very, very, very late in the game where using gambits was no longer an option. Then it took ten seconds to set them up and bosses continued to die horrible deaths.

I kinda did this. I missed the opportunity to get that spear (opened a chest i shouldn't have) but I was able to outfit Basch with a Deathbringer as soon as I could get into the dungeon. Luckily I managed to find the rare mob AND steal it on the first try without getting killed. Made the game easier.

Being totally overleveled for the main story areas made it easy too, but I didn't grind at all. I just did hunts!

[PSXferrari]

I've been playing Final Fantasy since the SNES and love the new battle system. It's tough playing older RPGs now. I've always hated random battles, and the time it takes to get into them, fight, and then for the game to move back to the main screen. Especially on games on CD where there are load times. There are times when you're working on other things in the game and are just not in the mood to constantly get into battles. Entering random battle, flee, repeat. This gets tedious over time when you have to enter aonther screen to go to battle. So the real-time system helps take care of that problem.

And I like the gambit system. I leave my main character without gambits and I control his moves. Then I set up the others to heal people first if needed and then fight if everyone is in good shape. Of course, you can always take control of them if it's necessary, but I like the auto-attack feature because that's what I'm going to do anyways. I've always been a weapon user rather than a magic caster when it comes to RPGs, so this speeds up the process of what I plan to do anyways. If the battles are moving too slow for you, as you mentioned, you can also turn up their speed in the config section.

Now it's certainly no FF6 or 7, but it's one of the better RPGs of late.

[SkiDragon]

I wanted to chime in because I started playing this game about a week ago.

I have to say that I am rather disappointed in it. The battle systems is kind of bad in my opinion, but it has gotten a bit better the more I play. I am actually stuck at the Garuda because it kills me way too fast. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong.

The main problem I think is the storyline. I do not really find it interesting at this point, and it is slow moving. Is it really going to get any better at this point? Other Final Fantasy games were able to hook me much sooner than this one.

[kainemaxwell]

I like the battle system in 12 moe then I did for 10.

[smokehouse]

I’m an old school FF fan, I love turn based RPG’s so naturally, I found X to be next to gaming perfection. There were a few things here and there (Blitz) that were lame but as a whole, amazing title.





FFXII on the other hand….I despise the battle system. I tried and tried but I just can’t get into it. I like turn based titles and this is not it. If others like it that’s fine by me…I just missed the bus on this one I guess.

With X-2 being complete shit, followed by the washed up XI…add to that XII and I think Square is slipping. They need to get back to the basics like they did with IX…VIII was a flop and they realized it…I hope XIII is better.

[ZackyH]

I think one of the big reasons why I liked this one some much is because I've been playing Knights of the Old Republic since that came out. Their battle systems are similar in some ways. I hate that Square will probably eventually go back to turn based but it appears that a large portion of people hated the XII system so I don't know. I'm tired of turn based games. I love the faster pace of KOTOR and FFXII.

[Nick Goracke]

I am actually stuck at the Garuda because it kills me way too fast. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong.

No, this is the end of the game. You're supposed to keep dying. ;)

One of my biggest complaints about RPGs as of late is that they're brain-dead. 100% brain-dead. Same strategy, same "select fight, select fight, select magic, select heal, select fight..." repetitious battles, same slow pace.

I very much agree with the poster who mentioned all of the gambits should be available from the beginning, but once you do amass a fair amount of them, you can actually program SMART characters who make full use of your complete arsenal of spells and abilities. Play any other RPG and tell me how often you use spells like Regen, status-effect spells, or are even required to have your strongest defensive characters tank? FFXII makes these necessary, and because it doesn't force you to use the same menu command each and every time an action is required, much less tedious.

It's a bummer that some people still buy into the illusion that selecting the same commands from a menu over and over = interaction, when this clunky, 25 year old interface is really the biggest limiting factor in RPGs today. I'd like to see more games take the ideas presented in FFXII further, but I don't see any companies other than Square willing to step up to the plate...