Platinumed the game...

[eigen-space 6,557]

This game was definitely a departure from the more character-development-centric ideas of other Final Fantasy games and was more kingdom/political-centric. It's actually a fantastic plot if you go into it without expectations that it will follow the same "we'll make you love the characters" formula. And there is character development, just not where you'd expect.... Larsa develops so well throughout the game... probably my favorite NPC development of any game.

There's so much lore, so many intricacies in the story... you actually need to pay attention to dialogue, NPCs, descriptions in the bestiary (which, by the way, will hint at how to get rare monster to appear, create gear, etc).  This game really has so much to offer, and is certainly more for the "leave no stone unturned" trophy hunter than the "I want to amass as many platinums add can in the shortest amount of time" hunter. Though it's not entirely unmanageable to do in a "typical" JRPG time frame if you are good with checklists and optimizing gambits.

 

This being said, it isn't my favorite Final Fantasy by any means. It's definitely middle of the pack on my ranking. But I can appreciate it for what it is.

 

Note-- if you don't like the plot style here, stay away from Type-0. It's the same kind of politics-centric plot.

 

In case you're curious... my rank of FF games for the ones I've played:

 

9 >= 8 > Type-0 > Tactics > 12 > 13-2 >= 13 > 15 (with DLC) > 10-2 > World of > 15 (w/o DLC) > 10 > 7 >= 1

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by eigen-space

[Kiaranseanjay 18]

I just straight up adore this game. There's bound to be some sense of nostalgia affecting that, considering how many hours I played on the original on the PS2, but I genuinely feel like I'm having just as good of a time now, maybe even more-so. The 2x and 4x speed options are easily the best addition. Grinding is much less of a chore now  

I really like the story; it's refreshing to have a more political story in FF. Perhaps more development with the characters would have improve it even more, but it's still great regardless, imo. The sheer amount and variety of side quests is excellent too. In fact, the hunting side quest (not the Phon coast hunt club) is probably one of my favourite side quests in all of the FF series, even considering that I never finished it originally. 
The lore, music, design... everything that builds the world, gets a solid 10/10 from me. 

 

- Side-note: Maybe the rng could be less ridiculous.

[Roxband 11]

I've played FFXII once on the PS2 back in the day and I really didn't like it at that time. Loved the world design and all, but I couldn't bare to keep up.
I got The Zodiac Age as a Christmas gift from my gf in 2018 and holy crap, I'm in love with it. For real.

 

I've finished the story some weeks ago, and now I'm on the hunt for the Platinum Trophy and I'm still having fun. The most annoying thing I had to do was the Mist Walker trophy, and even that was actually pretty quick to do.

 

FFXII and FFVI are my favorite FF's of all time easily. 

[Akechi-no-Yabou 147]

I remember playing the game on PS2 back in 2007. During that time I was totally addicted with Persona 3 and SMT: Nocturne maybe that's why it was not appealing to me and I don't have the memory of completing the game after all.

 

After 12 years I tried giving a shot to PS4 version, but I still can't get myself to enjoy this game

 

No offence to people who likes this game but the story is extremely weak with no character development at all imo. I don't have the slightest motivation to complete the game let alone platting it.

 

Anyways congrats to people that platted this game, but for me it just seems impossible

 

PS: my favorite FF is IX.

[SkyMason 579]

Completely agree about the crappy characters, but the gameplay is top notch tbh. I thought the story was complete ass, especially in the second half, but I had a lot of fun getting the plat and going through all of the hunts/postgame content.

 

edit: lmao, just realised I already posted the same shit in this thread a year ago 😎

Edited April 3, 2019 by SkyMason
pepsi

[starcrunch061 10,904]

On 4/3/2019 at 4:44 PM, SkyMason said:

Completely agree about the crappy characters, but the gameplay is top notch tbh. I thought the story was complete ass, especially in the second half, but I had a lot of fun getting the plat and going through all of the hunts/postgame content.

 

edit: lmao, just realised I already posted the same shit in this thread a year ago 😎

 

LOL. I just re-visited this board as well, after getting the plat in this (finally) last week. And what I said a year ago pretty much stands today.

[DarkAnimaa 164]

On 4/4/2019 at 0:17 AM, Akechi-no-Yabou said:

After 12 years I tried giving a shot to PS4 version, but I still can't get myself to enjoy this game

 

No offence to people who likes this game but the story is extremely weak with no character development at all imo. I don't have the slightest motivation to complete the game let alone platting it.

 

Same here, never finished the ps2 ver although I admit that the level design is pretty, and the hunts makes this game fun, the jobs system in Zodiac Age is probably one of the best things they’ve done to this game.

I still don’t feel a thing for the characters/story sadly and sometimes I almost want to just skip cutscenes but I couldn’t (almost done with the story).

I’m only going for the plat because it’s a Final Fantasy game.

one last thing: delete Vaan.

[Rahman042 36]

once i almost beat it this ff12 on ps2 i just dont like the idea i have to do specific task to summon rare monster back then. Now with internet , guide and stuff managed to get platinum. Also 4x time speed really make yiazmat doable this time around

[DedNeka 67]

Some of the Bestiary rare games are indeed rather irritating, But that's about it honestly.

I personally like the story of 12, The issue is that a lot of the interesting stuff is so spaced out that a lot of people forget half of it. I also like to believe that it's because it's not a typical good vs evil story either. 

As for Seitengrat. lol, It's a super op weapon available pretty early in the game. That thanks to certain people is easily obtainable. Yet it's not even necessary to get. It's a lot less offensive that a myriad of other FF weapon related torments also. (and a lot of the ff trophies are related to them as well)

I guess nostalgia is blinding me a bit i must admit. As i played the original guileless and did most of the stuff in it. 

Like just try to get everything in the Great Crystal without a guide and without x4 speed.. Then you know what hell is. 

[xM4RC05Jx 0]

How the hell im supposed to beat YIAZMAT ? Can someone give me some advice or strategy ? I heard you can use wither, addle, shear and expose ... but i cant use wither and expose in none of the carachters because of the choices I made on the license boards. I lost like 1 hour or more of my time fighting this shit, and the damn thing lost only 5 or 6 of his health bars ... i DIED and now i have to start over, and then i go on the internet and read that YOU CAN LEAVE THE BATTLE AND RESTORE ALL YOUR STATS AND SAVE THE GAME ON THE CRYSTAL.

[BlackTorito 743]

I need to agree with OP, game mechanics end up being full of bullshit the more deep you go into late game. 
 

This is by far, the worst FF I’ve played, I just wanted to end it for good, but trial mode is just more misery added on top of an already frustrating game.

 

Your late game basically is reduced to farm the stupid 10% break techniques to end up being a less painful playthrough and then combine with some reverse and lures here and there, except stupid Zodiark of course. Then you repeat everything again in Trial mode plus 5 stupid Judges that you can’t beat except with Nihopalaoa.

 

To make it worse, the guide does not even tell you that you should go with an 85+ party to trial mode,  I went with a 75-, thinking the game was easier as stated by the guide and almost did not make it on the Judges even with summoning Zeromus, because there is no way you will beat them “fair and straight” with remedies without a higher level party.

 

I don’t get why people say it is superior on game mechanics, they are the worst I’ve ever seen in a FF game and overall, Gambits completely mess up any kind of management, they may be good in paper to farm monsters but just that. You could deactivate them but then you will end up tired of inputting commands and will waste so much time, since the game is heavily focused on repeating commands and artificially making battles longer.

 

Honestly, I would rather recommend to play FF Tactics and Tactics 2, so much better games with a tad lot more of feeling about Ivalice.

 

/Vent off

[Good_Sir_Matt_II 339]

Are the story trophies still glitched?

[Alayaes 469]

This game has a weak story, sort of. It's just not as grand because it mainly plays a small role in a huge fictional universe (Ivalice). The lore and NPCs are actually very interesting, but the game doesn't lend itself well to exposure. This leads to boredom where there really shouldn't have been any. A big missed opportunity if you ask me. I look at it as Star Wars IV: New Hope in RPG format; it helps.

 

The voice acting is very good but the recording is terrible. This makes it sound goofy at times, but the line delivery is great. Especially Balthier.

 

The writing, however, is stellar. This is most likely the only Final Fantasy game that wasn't translated to sound like anime fanfic. Every race has distinct tones, there is no strong Japanese culture poorly translated to the west (eg. gasps, grunts, chokes, etc. Looking at Final Fantasy 7 Remake/Dragon Quest 11...), and the consistency is amazing. Think Vagrant Story and the likes. The two guys who translated/localized FF12 have a very strong resume though. 

 

Final Fantasy 12 just feels different—almost out of place. The battle system was completely foreign and new, the artwork looks like a watercolor painting at times, the writing was like no other Final Fantasy before it (or after it). I enjoyed it for that reason alone.

 

Then came Final Fantasy 13 where the writing and cinematography turned into teenage anime nonsense again, and the series became a lost cause for me. 

[PhyrxianLibrarin 1,225]

I have to admit, I had much fonder memories of this game the first time I played it way back in 2006-ish. The gameplay and gambit system still holds up, but the story... eeesh, after 100%ing it twice now it I still have barely any idea what's going on. I love the style and the world, and the choice to make this a small story about a tiny kingdom within a huge world is definitely a departure from the other "save the world" games they've made in the past.

 

I think the gambit system is a huge improvement over needing to micromanage random encounters through the entire game, although it does make it clear how formulaic most JRPG combat actually is. Omega Mark XII and Zodiark are the only two fights I needed to create custom gambits for, everything else was basically "phoenix down -> cure -> dispel -> attack -> buff".

 

On the other hand, even playing through with 3 Seitengrats isn't a shortcut to an easy victory. You really have to manage your equipment and find ways to stay alive using armor and equipment and gambits, and by the endgame that's way more important than how much damage you do per attack. Party level is almost irrelevant.

 

Pros: License board making every build unique, gambits, Balthier's voice acting, Fran best waifu, actual reasons to care about equipment, writing, no more random combat

Cons: Vaan & Penelo are pointless, confusing story with too many irrelevant characters, RNG determining chest contents

[Alos88 819]

I agree with most of your rankings, except for 7. 7 is shockingly low for what it is.

 

On 18/05/2018 at 9:34 PM, eigen-space said:

 

9 >= 8 > Type-0 > Tactics > 12 > 13-2 >= 13 > 15 (with DLC) > 10-2 > World of > 15 (w/o DLC) > 10 > 7 >= 1

 

I agree with most of your rankings, except for 7. 7 is shockingly low for what it is.

[tpepper1985 223]

This was the only mainline FF game I played as a teenager and didn't finish. (From the PS1-PS2 Era) I didn't like it then, it seems like it wanted to be an MMO with no multiplayer. Even when I went back to it all these years later, that design still immediatly puts me off. The world is mostly massive boring, open enviroments filled with monsters. You see very clearly that this is the same engine used for FF11 & FF14 (The MMOs)

 

So what did I think of it in 2021? It's not very good, my initial impression all those years ago hasn't changed, the Story seems to take a back seat to the sheer number of monsters and empty enviroments. This game's focus is on the combat system and killing thousands of monsters. All I can say is thank god for that 4 x speed, because I would never have had the patience to finish this without it, the game is so slow on speed x 1.

 

I rank it as one of the worst games in the series, along with Type-0. I hated FFXV but I actually think that this is even worse than that. In the past I regarded XIII as the worst game I had played in the series. But the more I explore the games I missed, the more I think I was wrong on that.

Edited February 25, 2021 by tpepper1985