Final Fantasy XII

Anyone else get it?  

I picked up the collector\'s edition (a tin case, it\'s beautiful), and logged almost two hours on it already.  The opening FMV is amazing, gave me goosebumps.  The in-game graphics are equally as impressive, so much that at times I can\'t believe I\'m playing a PS2 game.  The battle engine is okay, I\'m still getting used to it, and I\'m a little lost on the license system, but I\'m looking forward to figuring it all out.

From the graphics I had been thinking this was a PS3 launch game until a little while ago.  Now that I\'ve played it, I can\'t believe how much they have been able to push from the aging PS2 system.  

I\'ll be playing this nonstop for a few weeks at least.

I can\'t believe how much they have been able to push from the aging PS2 system

No kidding.  The textures are beyond anything I\'ve seen on the PS2 (and I\'m tempted to say Xbox and GC as well).  The artistry is consistently jaw-dropping, the voice overs are very high quality (surprising to me after how bad FFX was), and the scene direction is gripping...I really, really like it.

So far, I believe the reviewers who gave it perfect ratings.  I\'ll be spending quite a bit time with this as well, like until Rogue Galaxy releases in February.

[GmanJoe]

damn you two.

I was hoping you\'d say it was crap so i wouldn\'t want to buy it.

[Cerberus]

it\'s crap, don\'t buy it.

there you go G....

only joking, no idea what it\'s like, last FF game I bought, was FFX, my interest in the series somewhat petered out after that.

Got it and all I can say is wow.  Best Final Fantasy since VII

you guys are gonna make me go spend some money i cant really afford to spend on this...damn it!!!!

maybe just trade in 3-4 games and a few dvds...lol

I love EVERYTHING so far about this game with one (minor) exception.  They\'ve set it up so the camera rotates left when you move the stick right and right when you move left, it\'s very counter-intuitive compared with every other camera control I\'ve ever used and I\'m still messing it up after hours of play.

But the battle system is easy to use, and very smooth (looks a bit like the \'new\' styles of combat, you choose fight, and it goes through it\'s own complex motions and actions, little input).  Chaining to get loot is awesome (kill same enemies multiple times for better loot and drops).  The dialog from \'random\' NPCs (as in, optional dialogue) is detailed, with lots of useful info mixed into it.  The story is \'dark\' and \'mature\' which is something I really missed in FFIX and X2.  

It seems like you don\'t have as much a \'main\' character this time, more about the whole group and you play everyone a bit.  Not my favorite thing (I love making an uber main), but it seems to work really well.

I didn\'t get the \'special edition\' for a couple reasons though.  First is price, it\'s literally 50% more than the regular version here (after tax), and that seems outrageous for the box (the other stuff will hit the net soon enough).  Second, as cool as tin-box collector sets are, I\'ve learned from ones like Akira that they just don\'t fit on any of my DVD shelves

Would this be fun for someone who never played FF?

You guys make it sound pretty tempting, but I wouldn\'t be able to finish it before Wii I bet!

Would this be fun for someone who never played FF?

You guys make it sound pretty tempting, but I wouldn\'t be able to finish it before Wii I bet!

Don\'t worry if you haven\'t played a Final Fantasy before; XII was meant to be a reinvention of the series and I\'d say Square accomplished that.  It feels different- better.  If you like RPGs, FFXII just might be the best one available of this generation.  The production values are sky high and it comes through in every facet of the game.  
 
Expect to spend no less than 40 hours with it if past Final Fantasy games are anything to go by.

I\'m dying inside because I sold my PS2 assuming I was going to get a PS3. That didn\'t fall through and now I can\'t play the new Final Fantasy... ARGH

The silver PS2 just got price-dropped to 129, I believe, if you are not getting a PS3 for a while.  

Loving this game though.  I\'m about 6 hours into it now, and starting to get the camera-rotation thing down ok.  Of course, when I finally go back to any other game, I\'ll be all messed up after this, but meh.  

40 hours, I would say is conservative, but it depends on your style of play.  If you play through the main story line, you are looking at 30-40 hours.  If you play through some of the optional side stuff (and there\'s lots), you will probably be more like 50-80 hours.  If you are a \'complete all\' type player, then past final fantasies have yielded up 100-200 hours of gameplay to finish everything (some people love that style of play, ie me, and some hate it).  If you played GT4 and your completion was <60%, expect 30-40 hours.  60-85% expect 50-80 hours.  Completion >85% expect lots and lots of hours.

I can also say that with the exception of stairs (which the PS2 has never been able to do well), the graphics in this game are incredible throughout.  The amount of detail put into everything is great... even the bestiary is great.  The creatures have whimsical, poetical write-ups which actually contain some good info, and when you kill a certain number of a type of creature you get a second page, and a \'sage tip\' with some advanced info for the game.

camera rotation bothers me, but i will get used to it.

about 5 hours into it and it\'s only getting better.  very exciting.  

get the collectors edition... the case is worth it.


so far i would rate it as the 2nd best FF... but things can change.

I didn\'t even know it was coming out.  Wow, I\'m out of the loop.  Looks like I might need to bring my PS2 back from columbus and dust it off.

[clips]

last tru rpg i played was shadow hearts....good game but i couldn\'t finish it...maybe i\'ll give this a try,..because the only rpg that i\'ve ever truly liked was ff7...i also liked parasite eve...but i think square should have just made that a survival horror game...meh i never picked up ffX which i heard was great as well,...i\'ll probably end up gettin\' this...i\'m waay overdue for a ff game anyway,...reviews all over the net are givin\' this joint perfect scores, so i guess if you\'re into rpg\'s you really can\'t lose with this one...