It's true, that was a good thing about Final Fantasy XII -- but for some reason, every game set in Ivalice has more that turns me off than on.
Final Fantasy Tactics had a beautiful tragic story, but the play was all battle system.
I always got the impression that there was some sort of 'trick' to the battle system in Vagrant Story, but whatever it was I never figured it out. That, and the improbable clothing (though I did like Sydney's gauntlet-arms). Eventually I just gave up.
Final Fantasy XII had potential, entertaining characters, solid system, but an underwhelming story coupled with a lot of crappy gimmicks, like padding out battles by making the defense of certain monsters inverse to their hit points--eventually, again, I just gave up and traded the game in.
It's not that I want a game to be easy, it's just that I want challenges to be cerebral. A game engine that's the equivalent of opening a walnut with your fingernails does nothing for me.
Xenosaga 3 left me going 'WTF' at the insane combination/implementation of certain philosophies (that and, the end battle is insanely difficult, unless you've completed a sidequest not even related to the story - then it could not get any easier, and Rogue Galaxy was good -- until you hit the point where somebody chopped off the end of the story and wrote a rush-job final chapter. Like, things that had happened/been said previously not making any SENSE in light of the final chapter.
Even ones I like, a lot - Final Fantasy IV and VI - have their weak spots. FFIV is just plain old, and VI gave up on an actual story as soon as you found the Falcon.
To this day, the best RPG I've ever played is probably Chrono Cross. It had some silly elements (mostly the ridiculous characters you picked up along the way) but that's alright -- the story was heartbreaking enough.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-09-08 10:39 pm (UTC)Final Fantasy Tactics had a beautiful tragic story, but the play was all battle system.
I always got the impression that there was some sort of 'trick' to the battle system in Vagrant Story, but whatever it was I never figured it out. That, and the improbable clothing (though I did like Sydney's gauntlet-arms). Eventually I just gave up.
Final Fantasy XII had potential, entertaining characters, solid system, but an underwhelming story coupled with a lot of crappy gimmicks, like padding out battles by making the defense of certain monsters inverse to their hit points--eventually, again, I just gave up and traded the game in.
It's not that I want a game to be easy, it's just that I want challenges to be cerebral. A game engine that's the equivalent of opening a walnut with your fingernails does nothing for me.
Xenosaga 3 left me going 'WTF' at the insane combination/implementation of certain philosophies (that and, the end battle is insanely difficult, unless you've completed a sidequest not even related to the story - then it could not get any easier, and Rogue Galaxy was good -- until you hit the point where somebody chopped off the end of the story and wrote a rush-job final chapter. Like, things that had happened/been said previously not making any SENSE in light of the final chapter.
Even ones I like, a lot - Final Fantasy IV and VI - have their weak spots. FFIV is just plain old, and VI gave up on an actual story as soon as you found the Falcon.
To this day, the best RPG I've ever played is probably Chrono Cross. It had some silly elements (mostly the ridiculous characters you picked up along the way) but that's alright -- the story was heartbreaking enough.