Final Fantasy XII

[Nymph]

This was one of those games that was released later in the PS2s career, and perhaps one of the most underrated FF game ever made. The storyline was solid (could have used a bit of character development though), the art and cutscenes were stunning for its time, but the real beauty of it, to me, was the combat system. The old turn-based elements were scrapped and a new real-time system I absolutely grew to love was implemented. It forced you to think on your feet, and enemies spawned in predetermined places in real time, too. You could still pause combat with the traditional combat menu if you wanted. I also liked the concept of marks to hunt down and kill. The secrets, easter eggs, and side quests were plentiful, too. All in all it was fresh for FF and there should be more games like this made. I heard there was a sequel in the works, but apparently it was scrapped.

Is anyone else a fan or knows any modern games like FFXII? I've been hunting for a while but I couldn't find anything really similar other than, well, the previous FF games.

 

[Clark Wayne]

Definitely a big fan of Final Fantasy XII. In fact its one of my favorite games I've ever played. The scale of world in the game as simply massive. It truly felt like you could really go anywhere. The battle system was also great as it eliminated one of the things I've always disliked about Final Fantasy, random battles. The only downside of the game was that besides a few characters, the majority of the cast was very forgettable and didn't leave hardly any impact on me when I finished the game. I really hope an HD version of the game is released on the PS3 soon.

 

[Nymph]

It is truly one of my all-time favorites, and yes I especially enjoyed the scale of the world but more importantly, the length of the storyline. My only qualm about it I can think of is the fact that the ending isn't very clear; once Vayne is struck down it doesn't feel like you've "won", it simply puts you right back into the game where you last saved. Heck, you can even rebattle him with the exact same cutscenes and conditions, something I found very weird. I suppose they redeemed this with the esper hunts and such for end-game content.

 

[lindbergh]

I agree that Final Fantasy XII was one of the best FF games ever made. It was beautiful. It was huge. It was epic. And it was something that was very unique. It introduced a lot of new elements in the gameplay that deviated from the norm of Final Fantasy. But, despite its greatness, I found myself getting bored at times. It's probably because it tried to imitate the storyline of Star Wars. It was a bit too sci-fi for me. The Old English style of speaking did not help either.