None of the other ones even compare. The dialog was actually awesome by any standards, not just video games standards. Dictionary words in a video game? By god! Well used, and not gratuitous? Astounding. I felt - for the first time with a Final Fantasy - that it didn't suffer from translation, and may even have flourished during the process. Whoever got a hold of that script worked magic.
The problem is:
Average FF plot :: Soap Opera AS FFXII :: Classic Novel
If you're expecting all the stale, trite melodrama of Final Fantasy 1 through 10 (roughly), you're going to be disappointed. You don't have amnesia, you weren't created in a lab, there's no laughably evil madman bent on destroying existence because he's angsty, you do not kill god, you do not watch a vagabond teen fall in love with a beautiful princess (and vice versa), you do not do anything "Final Fantasy Epic". You actually do something new and different for once, and are confined to the delightful boundaries (actually not being sarcastic) of political maneuverings and occupational forces. The kind of shit that we actually see in the world today, and that is far more interesting once you're out of high school.
I'm not suggesting that the plot is classic novel quality, though I am suggesting that standard FF fare is soap opera quality. FFXII's plot isn't super compelling, and it isn't without flaws, and it's not absolutely brilliant or incredibly moving. It is, however, subtle and nuanced without being incomprehensible, and it's relevant and interesting without being a trite rehash of the same shit we've seen for the last twenty years.
I, for one - if you can't tell by now - think it's fucking great, and I hope they do more games like it. I got tired of killing god years ago, thank you very much.
Balthier? I am prepared to say that if you didn't think Balthier was awesome, you have no soul.
Also, Fran's voice is hot as hell.
As for the game, it has flaws, like the gambit system going from useless to far too useful, and the reprehensible "you must buy the strategy guide" stupidity of unlocking that one ultimate weapon. Overall, though, I thought it was pretty great.
I don't know if FF magic has dulled on me, but the storyline for FF 12 was boring as hell.
The problem is:
Average FF plot :: Soap Opera AS FFXII :: Classic Novel
If you're expecting all the stale, trite melodrama of Final Fantasy 1 through 10 (roughly), you're going to be disappointed. You don't have amnesia, you weren't created in a lab, there's no laughably evil madman bent on destroying existence because he's angsty, you do not kill god, you do not watch a vagabond teen fall in love with a beautiful princess (and vice versa), you do not do anything "Final Fantasy Epic". You actually do something new and different for once, and are confined to the delightful boundaries (actually not being sarcastic) of political maneuverings and occupational forces. The kind of shit that we actually see in the world today, and that is far more interesting once you're out of high school.
I'm not suggesting that the plot is classic novel quality, though I am suggesting that standard FF fare is soap opera quality. FFXII's plot isn't super compelling, and it isn't without flaws, and it's not absolutely brilliant or incredibly moving. It is, however, subtle and nuanced without being incomprehensible, and it's relevant and interesting without being a trite rehash of the same shit we've seen for the last twenty years.
I, for one - if you can't tell by now - think it's fucking great, and I hope they do more games like it. I got tired of killing god years ago, thank you very much.
I didn't care for any characters and thats saying something for a FF game. What am I missing here?
Balthier? I am prepared to say that if you didn't think Balthier was awesome, you have no soul.
Also, Fran's voice is hot as hell.
As for the game, it has flaws, like the gambit system going from useless to far too useful, and the reprehensible "you must buy the strategy guide" stupidity of unlocking that one ultimate weapon. Overall, though, I thought it was pretty great.
Balthier and Fran are definitely two of my favorite characters in any medium.
Castle: This is so weird. I dressed up as him for Halloween.
Beckett: Me too.
~When Castle and Beckett met Gene Simmons.
Beckett: Me too.
~When Castle and Beckett met Gene Simmons.
So being a FF fan and never having played FF 12...
- 24/09/2009 10:25:44 PM
796 Views
You're not alone- the characters just didn't click for me, nor did the plot
- 24/09/2009 11:16:11 PM
617 Views
Videogame stories suck the big one, with VERY few exceptions.
- 25/09/2009 12:29:39 AM
631 Views
FF7?!?! You're a nutcase!
- 25/09/2009 01:50:16 AM
589 Views
Fair enough. Maybe I'm proving my own point.
- 26/09/2009 06:46:26 AM
629 Views
I will have to disagree with this...
- 26/09/2009 08:20:46 AM
545 Views
Exactly. When I think story here, I think of the individual stories as well as the whole.
- 26/09/2009 07:13:24 PM
656 Views
Still, it's good for a videogame story.
- 26/09/2009 07:54:01 PM
580 Views
I agree, with caveat.
- 26/09/2009 11:54:25 PM
693 Views
New games do not feature the storytelling prowess of good TV, films, or novels.
- 28/09/2009 01:03:46 AM
607 Views
I disagree. Maybe you're playing the wrong games. *NM*
- 28/09/2009 04:51:48 AM
288 Views
What is the videogame equivalent of The Godfather, The Wire, or Great Expectations? *NM*
- 01/10/2009 03:31:37 AM
310 Views
Ah, I see. *NM*
- 03/10/2009 08:02:28 PM
326 Views
Say what?
- 04/10/2009 02:21:01 PM
549 Views
"Ah, I see" means "You haven't answered because there is no satisfactory answer."
- 05/10/2009 07:06:03 AM
562 Views
So you expect me to reply within two days when it took you three?
- 05/10/2009 10:29:27 PM
508 Views
I've used that escape from a debate I was losing, too. It's a good one 
- 06/10/2009 09:21:31 PM
611 Views
- 06/10/2009 09:21:31 PM
611 Views
And yet so many people claim to play them for their stories...
- 25/09/2009 03:06:44 AM
640 Views
The extras lower peoples' standards, but I DO think it's still the story.
- 25/09/2009 04:34:30 AM
540 Views
That's basically what I meant.
- 25/09/2009 05:05:19 AM
524 Views
Yeah I understand.
- 25/09/2009 05:18:34 AM
606 Views
You are correct. But it sounds like semantics to me, since in practice...
- 25/09/2009 06:00:41 AM
552 Views
I enjoyed 12 more than most of those you mentioned...
- 25/09/2009 12:55:56 AM
537 Views
The grid was fine, but didn't scale well.
- 25/09/2009 04:35:57 AM
544 Views
I'll agree with this point, but I also agree with most of the thoughts of the GP
- 25/09/2009 05:26:18 PM
593 Views
I am glad that at least one person here is with me on this.
- 26/09/2009 05:53:42 AM
569 Views
It's interesting....
- 26/09/2009 06:55:18 PM
595 Views
Final Fantasy XII was the best written FF ever, by far.
- 26/09/2009 05:47:27 AM
616 Views
I agree with this.
- 26/09/2009 08:22:40 AM
602 Views
LOL... FFXII was the best FFXII ever?
- 26/09/2009 03:43:11 PM
565 Views
That was juvenile, TMJ. Also, he said best written FF. *NM*
- 26/09/2009 06:58:12 PM
322 Views
Yes, it was funny on a juvenile level.
- 26/09/2009 07:11:12 PM
564 Views
Some of us --I'd even say MOST of us-- like that, though.
- 26/09/2009 07:20:55 PM
605 Views
Agreed, I want to get into a magical whale's belly and fly through the air ...
- 28/09/2009 05:03:14 AM
803 Views