Final Fantasy XII

[Super Buu]

So I've been anticipating getting this game for the past few months (it didn't come out in Europe 'til friday ) and so far I'm loving it. I've finally assembled my entire party, and crossed the sandsea. Anyone else played/playing it? I'd love to share team setups (who you've got doing what).

[Bujin]

I really loved the game when I first played it, but it kind of seems like work to play now. <.< They keep throwing me into situations that I don't want to be a part of, where the enemies seem way too difficult. Maybe it's just me. However, I'd probably put this Final Fantasy at third as far as these games go (IX, VII, XII).

As for party set-ups, I use Vaan, Ashe, Penelo, and Fran mostly. Fran is long range with arrows and shit, Vaan is the mage, Penelo is the melee person, and I pretty much only use Ashe for healing.

[Super Buu]

I like how there's actually a point to doing the side-missions, like it's advantageous. The money and item rewards are pretty good, and the exp goes a long way to alleviating the difficulty. In a lot of FF games, you can get better levels and shit, but what's the point? Sin's so easy anyway, you don't even need the celestial weapons.

I've got two teams of three, both of which can stand on their own but aren't clones of each other in terms of roles.

Basch - Tank (Sword and Shield), Majoring in Techniques (Warrior!)
Fran - Healer, Buffer, Ranged Damage Dealer (Bow)
Ashe - Melee Damage (Katana), Offensive Spells (Shammy!)

Vaan - Tank (Dagger and Shield atm), Healer (Pally!)
Balthier - Ranged and Melee Damage Dealer (Guns and Spears/Poles), Majoring in Techniques (Hunter!)
Penelo - All-round Mage

[Saz]

*Sigh* If only PS3 had came out in europe in November as promised, I'd be playing FF12 right now. I guess I could still dust off my PS2, hope it still works and buy FF12, but I don't think I will.

[Captain Silver]

Psh.

I refuse to ever play my PS2 again unless it's guitar hero. Soon I worry about that when it comes out on the 360. =D

But yeah, I'm not gonna bother getting it, unless its being released for the 360. Doubt that'll happen. But yeah. =/

[Burter]

Like Bujin said, it eventually turns into more work then play.

Unless you LOVE the battle system and don't mind playing it for hours (literally) on end, you'll get tired of it

[Kirano]

I've contemplated getting the game many times, but at the back of my mind, I know I'd neglect my studies.

[Super Buu]

We'll see. 20 hours in and I still love it. Same thing happened with Dragon Quest 8, which by all logic I should have hated (very traditional), but sometimes I just get hooked on an RPG.

One of my favourite things about the story is that they don't focus overtly on the 'main' character. Everyone gets their moment in the spotlight. Kinda stealing from the Lost/Heroes template.

[Kirano]

Originally posted by Super Buu
One of my favourite things about the story is that they don't focus overtly on the 'main' character.

For that one basis, I can enjoy a game.

[Dehan]

Or unless you have a gameshark and can get any item you want...friggin lazy cheaters...anyway now that I have the cash and want to actually buy FFX and VII I can't find em.

[Bardock]

I got about halfway/two-thirds through, and then stopped to play Twilight Princess, and haven't picked it up since. The board system is designed so that any character can theoretically be any type you want, whether it be fighter or magic-user. I have all my characters learn everything (I'm almost done with the top half), and just let them go to their natural strengths. For example, even though I can have Ashe be a warrior, as she starts out as one, her magic is too high for her to be ignored in that category. Unfortunately, cool as she is, Fran seems to be the weakest character in both physical prowess and magical aptitude. So I keep her on bows and support, and only have her in my party to level up.

I have to say though, that I'm tired of having wimpy main characters.

[Super Buu]

One thing I'm worried about is reaching the end of the license board at any corner before the game is up, which would mean my characters all kind of sludge together into six very similar hybrids. I'm a firm believer that they should all remain disparate, which is why I've tried to give them all unique 'classes' (though they all have multiple roles, nobody has the exact same combination of roles).

And yeah, I've based a lot of it around stats too, as you can see from up top. Fran is the only character possibly in a 'bad' role (she's a healer, but her magic isn't fantastic). I didn't want to make Ashe a healer too though, otherwise she'd be too similar to what I have Vaan as. S'worked so far, anyway.

When Fran went nuts on the Shiva airship, it was awesome.

[Tapion]

Stupid question alert!

Hey, can someone help me? Either I am REALLY retarded, impatient, or something is wrong.

I just got the game a new days ago, and just started playing last night, I just killed the "rougue tomatto" and I'm just going around killing random monsters now, but I noticed something. I can't open my party menu!

The booklet says just press triangle to open it, but when ever I press triangle it does nothing. Normally I would assume you'd just be unable to use the party menu until you've had a tutorial on it, but I already met some guy who gave me an item and told me to equip it using the party menu, so that makes me think that I SHOULD be able to open my party menu by now.

So, am I just retarded and somehow pressing triangle the wrong way? Do I have to wait for a tutorial, or is something wrong with my controller?

[Super Buu]

Have you tested your triangle button with other games?

[Tapion]

Yeah, just tried it with a different game and triangle works perfectly.

[Metal Koola]

Originally posted by Burter
Like Bujin said, it eventually turns into more work then play.

Unless you LOVE the battle system and don't mind playing it for hours (literally) on end, you'll get tired of it

Yeah, I feel the same way. I'm probably 15 hours in and I just got bored of it. Haven't played in weeks.

Edit- and Tapion, that's just weird.