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
889 Views
You're not alone- the characters just didn't click for me, nor did the plot
- 24/09/2009 11:16:11 PM
704 Views
Videogame stories suck the big one, with VERY few exceptions.
- 25/09/2009 12:29:39 AM
722 Views
FF7?!?! You're a nutcase!
- 25/09/2009 01:50:16 AM
671 Views
Fair enough. Maybe I'm proving my own point.
- 26/09/2009 06:46:26 AM
719 Views
I will have to disagree with this...
- 26/09/2009 08:20:46 AM
626 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
739 Views
Still, it's good for a videogame story.
- 26/09/2009 07:54:01 PM
659 Views
I agree, with caveat.
- 26/09/2009 11:54:25 PM
766 Views
New games do not feature the storytelling prowess of good TV, films, or novels.
- 28/09/2009 01:03:46 AM
682 Views
I disagree. Maybe you're playing the wrong games. *NM*
- 28/09/2009 04:51:48 AM
328 Views
What is the videogame equivalent of The Godfather, The Wire, or Great Expectations? *NM*
- 01/10/2009 03:31:37 AM
346 Views
Ah, I see. *NM*
- 03/10/2009 08:02:28 PM
364 Views
Say what?
- 04/10/2009 02:21:01 PM
631 Views
"Ah, I see" means "You haven't answered because there is no satisfactory answer."
- 05/10/2009 07:06:03 AM
645 Views
So you expect me to reply within two days when it took you three?
- 05/10/2009 10:29:27 PM
577 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
699 Views
- 06/10/2009 09:21:31 PM
699 Views
And yet so many people claim to play them for their stories...
- 25/09/2009 03:06:44 AM
724 Views
The extras lower peoples' standards, but I DO think it's still the story.
- 25/09/2009 04:34:30 AM
617 Views
That's basically what I meant.
- 25/09/2009 05:05:19 AM
599 Views
Yeah I understand.
- 25/09/2009 05:18:34 AM
680 Views
You are correct. But it sounds like semantics to me, since in practice...
- 25/09/2009 06:00:41 AM
633 Views
I enjoyed 12 more than most of those you mentioned...
- 25/09/2009 12:55:56 AM
618 Views
The grid was fine, but didn't scale well.
- 25/09/2009 04:35:57 AM
617 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
699 Views
I am glad that at least one person here is with me on this.
- 26/09/2009 05:53:42 AM
647 Views
It's interesting....
- 26/09/2009 06:55:18 PM
676 Views
Final Fantasy XII was the best written FF ever, by far.
- 26/09/2009 05:47:27 AM
694 Views
I agree with this.
- 26/09/2009 08:22:40 AM
679 Views
LOL... FFXII was the best FFXII ever?
- 26/09/2009 03:43:11 PM
645 Views
That was juvenile, TMJ. Also, he said best written FF. *NM*
- 26/09/2009 06:58:12 PM
367 Views
Yes, it was funny on a juvenile level.
- 26/09/2009 07:11:12 PM
641 Views
Some of us --I'd even say MOST of us-- like that, though.
- 26/09/2009 07:20:55 PM
685 Views
Agreed, I want to get into a magical whale's belly and fly through the air ...
- 28/09/2009 05:03:14 AM
883 Views