LogFAQs > #892583306

LurkerFAQs, Active DB, DB1, Database 2 ( 09.16.2017-02.21.2018 ), DB3, DB4, DB5, DB6, DB7, DB8, DB9, DB10, DB11, DB12, Clear

Topic List	Page List: 1
Topic	SHINE's Top 10 Games, Top 5 Unplayed Games and Top 5 Old Games of 2017
ninkendo 12/20/17 4:48:32 PM #30:	TOP 5 OLD GAMES OF 2017 2. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs4-5DxQKXI Final Fantasy XII came out back in 2006. It was one of the handful of games I bought a PS2 for (the main ones being MGS 2/3 and Dragon Quest VIII). It was a vast departure of what people expected from Final Fantasy at the time, dropping a lot of the mechanics for an MMO-style auto attack combat system with "gambits" which essentially allowed you to program every party member on how to fight their battles. I found it to be very innovative and interesting approach to one of my favorite series. What the game lacks in story and characters it makes up for with just the sheer amount of content there is in the game both in the form of quests and character customization. Customization was one of the weak points in the original release however! Every character had a license grid that you used to unlock weapons, gear and skills for your character from points earned in battle. The problem was everyone had the license grid so by the end of the game all 6 of your party memebers were exactly the same. Shortly after the original english releas, Square-Enix put out an International Job Zodiac System version which introduced 12 unique license grids to choose from which allowed your to make your characters unique and fit into defined role which made the game infinitely better. The problem was this enhanced version of the game was only ever released in Japan! The PS4 HD remaster released this year was finally our first chance to play this version in english. They tweaked it even furth by letting you pick 2 classes for character allowing you to use all 12 classes in a single playthrough if you wished. They also added high speed modes so that you can proceed through the game quicker making grinding EXP and LP painless for those who don't like doing that in RPGs. I was reading Jeremy Parish's ranking of the games yesterday and decided I'd share his thoughts on FF12 because he's better at describing why I would like it than I ever will be and reading it brought a tear to my eye. Time has been kind to the divisive 12th chapter of Final Fantasy. This past summer's long-awaited HD remake (The Zodiac Age) helped cement the fact that FF12 was, indeed, a work far ahead of its time one that has become only more relevant and engrossing through the years. A decade ago, FF12's determination to blur the line between single-player and massively multiplayer RPGs made it quite controversial. Its elaborate Gambit system (which allowed players to effectively program the behavior of their party members) struck many as a game design crutch that surrendered the actual process of play to artificial intelligence. Now, however, the prospect of AI-controlled party members in an open-world real-time RPG has become commonplace. Yet nothing that's come after FF12 has matched the flexibility and precision offered by its Gambits. Open-world RPGs continue to struggle to live up to all the things FF12 did right. Even simple little details, like differentiating between passive and aggro monsters on sight by the color of their health icons, don't always make their way into games (including the very recent Xenoblade Chronicles 2). Few open world adventures manage to balance free-form questing with a structured narrative as well as FF12, either; the game allows you to wander wherever you like, even if you end up way out of your depth. But if you know what you're doing, it often simply lets you go about your way, making possible some interesting breaks from the "proper" order of events. FF12 is a game that trusts and respects the player in a way you rarely see, especially in a story driven JRPG. While it may not have the greatest story in the series much of the main cast exists at the periphery of much larger events the vast world and durable game design more than makes up for its shortcomings. --- http://i.imgur.com/LhGP5E6.gif https://card.psnprofiles.com/2/CaptainRockman.png <cite>ninkendo posted [p:892583306] in SHINE's To... [t:76110264]...</cite> <quote>TOP 5 OLD GAMES OF 2017 2. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs4-5DxQKXI Final Fantasy XII came out back in 2006. It was one of the handful of games I bought a PS2 for (the main ones being MGS 2/3 and Dragon Quest VIII). It was a vast departure of what people expected from Final Fantasy at the time, dropping a lot of the mechanics for an MMO-style auto attack combat system with "gambits" which essentially allowed you to program every party member on how to fight their battles. I found it to be very innovative and interesting approach to one of my favorite series. What the game lacks in story and characters it makes up for with just the sheer amount of content there is in the game both in the form of quests and character customization. Customization was one of the weak points in the original release however! Every character had a license grid that you used to unlock weapons, gear and skills for your character from points earned in battle. The problem was everyone had the license grid so by the end of the game all 6 of your party memebers were exactly the same. Shortly after the original english releas, Square-Enix put out an International Job Zodiac System version which introduced 12 unique license grids to choose from which allowed your to make your characters unique and fit into defined role which made the game infinitely better. The problem was this enhanced version of the game was only ever released in Japan! The PS4 HD remaster released this year was finally our first chance to play this version in english. They tweaked it even furth by letting you pick 2 classes for character allowing you to use all 12 classes in a single playthrough if you wished. They also added high speed modes so that you can proceed through the game quicker making grinding EXP and LP painless for those who don't like doing that in RPGs. I was reading Jeremy Parish's ranking of the games yesterday and decided I'd share his thoughts on FF12 because he's better at describing why I would like it than I ever will be and reading it brought a tear to my eye. <quote>Time has been kind to the divisive 12th chapter of Final Fantasy. This past summer's long-awaited HD remake (The Zodiac Age) helped cement the fact that FF12 was, indeed, a work far ahead of its time one that has become only more relevant and engrossing through the years. A decade ago, FF12's determination to blur the line between single-player and massively multiplayer RPGs made it quite controversial. Its elaborate Gambit system (which allowed players to effectively program the behavior of their party members) struck many as a game design crutch that surrendered the actual process of play to artificial intelligence. Now, however, the prospect of AI-controlled party members in an open-world real-time RPG has become commonplace. Yet nothing that's come after FF12 has matched the flexibility and precision offered by its Gambits. Open-world RPGs continue to struggle to live up to all the things FF12 did right. Even simple little details, like differentiating between passive and aggro monsters on sight by the color of their health icons, don't always make their way into games (including the very recent Xenoblade Chronicles 2). Few open world adventures manage to balance free-form questing with a structured narrative as well as FF12, either; the game allows you to wander wherever you like, even if you end up way out of your depth. But if you know what you're doing, it often simply lets you go about your way, making possible some interesting breaks from the "proper" order of events. FF12 is a game that trusts and respects the player in a way you rarely see, especially in a story driven JRPG. While it may not have the greatest story in the series much of the main cast exists at the periphery of much larger events the vast world and durable game design more than makes up for its shortcomings.</quote> --- http://i.imgur.com/LhGP5E6.gif https://card.psnprofiles.com/2/CaptainRockman.png</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Topic List	Page List: 1