PA weighs in on FFXII demo: prognosis negative

[Joe]

Gabe never gets out exactly why he's running a petition around his neighborhood in the comic, but I've got space to do it here. If I had to say, I'd put it like this: Final Fantasy XII is an insult to a once proud franchise and to the people who have made it so. I think that gets it across.

With the extended delays of the title, I had imagined that the rough trade they received at the hands of almost every person who saw it had sunk in and they had begun to realize the intense shame they'd bring upon themselves by continuing in this direction. That's not what happened. They're Final Goddamn Fantasy, they don't have to worry about larger industry trends toward approachability and away from turn or phase based combat. They create trends, like a massive stellar body distorts local space.

This isn't just slavish devotion to tradition - the fact of the matter is that the system they had works better. It's more explicit regarding game events, and the player has greater control. You don't have to take my word for it - Dragon Quest VIII is awesome, and includes the same demo I played. There are two combat modes, the "Wait" mode being slightly less bad but not what you might call "good." Give it a whirl, the whole thing is trash. If for some reason you do enjoy it - and I've certainly done my best here to lower expectations - then rejoice. You must be the person they're trying to appeal to. It'll feel good for a while, until they determine that mass market annual "footy" titles are where it's at. Then you and I can sit together in a cafe and talk about those good times.

This is quite disturbing, but honestly I'm not surprised. I've yet to be impressed by one of these button-bashing actiony combat systems that seem to be the trend mentioned here and this does nothing to change my assessment.

Anyone else played this demo yet?

[Dalton]

is DQ8 worth it?

[Ghost Rider]

is DQ8 worth it?

Only, and I stress this ONLY if you truly and honestly love that style of gameplay.

Basically it's ultra traditional mixed with the ability to sort customize your character(you can allocate skill points into areas). It does have some monster training for fun and they are decent.

The only problem is the game is truly of the old yet lovable "You the lone warrior, and your three boon companions out on a quest to save the kingdom from the Evil (insert name)."

While I do partially agree that FF towards approachability, I think they are taking way too much into a demo that only demonstrates that combat is more real timed(rather then random battles you'll see monsters before) and that battle is rather out of your hands(You friends can be commanded but if left alone they do their own scthick). It's way too little to base anything except "Combat is different then the rest of them."

Strangely it's not even any more button mashing then regular FF. I can either let them sit there, or I can give them commands like every other FF...the only difference is in active mode the game doesn't wait for me.........like every other active battle FF system.

[Datana]

Anyone else played this demo yet?

I have. In all modes, you usually only have control of your main character (either Vaan or Ashe) -- you can issue direct commands to party members, but usually they'll be busy doing their own thing. Combat takes place on the same map you explore on, kind of similar to Chrono Trigger. "Wait" mode feels like a slightly higher-paced KOTOR (with far more computer AI interference), while "Active" mode feels like a slower-paced Star Ocean 3 (without the separate map/battle scenes and a Kingdom Hearts-esque menu system).

"Wait" is a semi-decent to decent system. Since the gameplay pauses when you call up the menu, you can issue commands to all party members ala KOTOR. The ally AI seems to be significantly more aggressive, however. Of course, their choices actually work rather well most of the time, but this leaves me with a feeling that my own input is extraneous to the outcome.

I didn't much care for "Active." While nearly identical to "Wait" (except that the game doesn't pause when you enter a menu), it feels a bit too MMORPG-ish in execution. Some battles I was half-expecting .hack//-style text boxes to pop up with 1337-speak from my allies.

As for looks, enemies and characters actually look pretty decent, if more in the style of FF11 or FF: Tactics Advance than in the style of FF8-10 (not bad, but not my preferred style of artwork). Levels are another matter, however -- the two maps included have a haphazard, repetitive layout, and the texturing is sometimes painful to look at (note some of the wall textures in the Ashe scenario).

The demo doesn't feel much like a Final Fantasy game at all, apart from things like the spell names (and in that case, only if you were familiar with the Japanese versions). This was, however, only a battle system and map demo, so the rest of the package might correct this.

[Admiral Valdemar]

So is Square-Enix going for a Tales Of Symphonia system now? I liked that system, but it's not FF. Hell, last FF game I got was IX, and I wasn't amazingly impressed with that.

[Dalton]

I liked FFX's battle system, and I also like the game. The story seems crushingly depressing, but that's cool too.

Man I really gotta work through all those RPGs.

[Ghost Rider]

So is Square-Enix going for a Tales Of Symphonia system now? I liked that system, but it's not FF. Hell, last FF game I got was IX, and I wasn't amazingly impressed with that.

Not at all.

Tales had an active sytem where you had a point in battle. Postioning and attacking were much more active and engaging. Attacks in ToS were generated in a number of hits, and attacks were customed to buttons and had a degree of world and choice behind them.

FFXII doesn't even have that active of a system. Okay, your guys are free roaming but they still have the ATB system(Active Time Battle...the bar on the screen that goes to full). And it matters not if they are in the air. If you guy has a slash...he will also do that slash and will only vary between it and a critical hit.

Instead of waiting for you to give them a command, they do their own bit, but still within the restriction of the ATB. The interesting part is magic actually has a point in that it has a radius, in other words, it is so far the only reason anything has any free movement. If an enemy commits a massive group spell you can individually get your partners and yurself a decent distance so it'll only affect one person.

Also there are no real combos, unlike Tales. There were a couple I could pull, but these were more of a combination of attacks that came off the same time, but it didn't increase anything in terms of experience or damage, they were just multiple hits. Also they did not hinder the enemy in any way. If it wanted to attack, it attacked...pounded upon or otherwise, something Tales had also another difference, you could stop an enemy from performing by dogpiling it. Here dogpiling just means you kill it faster, nothing more.

Another interesting bit are the summons, which are a pseudo cross between FFX's and this system. When you summon you expend a great deal of mana and a super powerful character comes forth. Unfortunatly it is only the summoner, the summon and the critters. So it can be both good and bad, depending on your ability to commit to combat. In the demo, your summon was more then capable, but well...we'll see.

[Ghost Rider]

I liked FFX's battle system, and I also like the game. The story seems crushingly depressing, but that's cool too.

Man I really gotta work through all those RPGs.

LOL...ah, well that's what Christmas vacations are about...if you get the time.

Also FFX's story, to not ruin anything has some interesting turns and becomes either far more depressing at the end or more interesting depending on your point of view.

I will admit I did enjoy the ability to pop and move party members as well as the sphere advancing system.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Well, Ghost just elucidated that point good enough. I shall keep my eye on this, or rather, just on Ashe if the game isn't all that good. I do like the idea of being an airship pirate though, and this game being a sequel of sorts to Crystal Chronicles is interesting.

[LordShaithis]

I thought FF jumped the shark after 6. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they started selling poop in a box after that. But 7 and on just didn't hold quite the same magic for me.

[SirNitram]

I thought FF jumped the shark after 6. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they started selling poop in a box after that. But 7 and on just didn't hold quite the same magic for me.

I agree. 6 and Chrono Trigger were more or less perfection. Just remaking them with cutting-edge graphics, no changes to plot or game-mechanics, would shame and scorn any of the PS games.

[Loner]

I thought FF jumped the shark after 6. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they started selling poop in a box after that. But 7 and on just didn't hold quite the same magic for me.

I agree. 6 and Chrono Trigger were more or less perfection. Just remaking them with cutting-edge graphics, no changes to plot or game-mechanics, would shame and scorn any of the PS games.

Square is planning on re-releasing FF4, FF5, and FF6 onto the GBA. And re-doing FF3 with 3D graphics for the DS.

Edit:

Link: Magic Box page with pics of all three FF games for the GBA. It also lists FF4 being released 12-15-05.

Link: Pics of the FF3 remake for the DS.

Though it should be noted that these will be released in Japan. There hasn't been any word of it being ported stateside.

[Vendetta]

FFIV Advance is certainly getting an international release. The rest, I would assume, are also going to.

It's also getting:

Redone sound and music.
Sprites from the Wonderswan Colour version of the game.
A mostly new translation (all the spell and item names are back to their Japanese names).
A new 50 floor dungeon.
Some new events.
The ability to switch characters. (You can take Palom, Porom, Yang, Cid, and Edward into the final dungeon)
Presumably new weapons, armour, and enemies, in that new dungeon.

The dialogue menus also have the character portrait of whoever's speaking in them, like FFII did in Dawn of Souls.

FFIII is being changed up as well, the classes are being rebalanced, presumably so that Scholars and Vikings and such aren't so pointless, and Sages and Ninjas aren't so all-consumingly powerful. It will also be entirely playable with the touchscreen, and may also have some kind of multiplayer capability.

No real information about FFV and FFVI is available yet.

[Joe]

FFIV needs a new translation? I thought the retranslation they did for Chronicles was fantastic (at least in comparison to the barely-readable dreck that was the 1991 translation).

[Ghost Rider]

FFIV needs a new translation? I thought the retranslation they did for Chronicles was fantastic (at least in comparison to the barely-readable dreck that was the 1991 translation).

They are probably using 90% of it, and making who knows what additions.

And FFC did have the corrected names as well, so unsure what is meant by there will be corrected names for the spells.

[Vendetta]

They are probably using 90% of it, and making who knows what additions.

And FFC did have the corrected names as well, so unsure what is meant by there will be corrected names for the spells.

It still had most of them wrong, due to space limits in the menu screens. FFIV Advance has all the spell and item names back to what they should be, Fire, Fira, Firaga, etc. Which is what they've always been in the Japanese versions.

[Ford Prefect]

Well, Ghost just elucidated that point good enough. I shall keep my eye on this, or rather, just on Ashe if the game isn't all that good. I do like the idea of being an airship pirate though, and this game being a sequel of sorts to Crystal Chronicles is interesting.

Isn't it a sequel of sorts to the new Tactics game on Advance? It is set in Ivalice, and it has the Judges. Or so I hear.

[Admiral Valdemar]

It's a sequel to the Crystal Chronicles game, IIRC. Though this isn't that unique given FFX got a sequel and now FFVII has a prequel in the works, and has had a sequel movie and another prequel mobile phone game.

[Joe]

No, Prefect is correct. FFXII is indeed set in the context of the FFTA universe.

[Vendetta]

There is, however, going to be another Crystal Chronicles game, on the DS. No details about it though.