In Defense of FFXII 146
Next Generation has an article defending many of the somewhat 'controversial' decisions made in the design for the newest chapter in the Final Fantasy series. While it recieved a 40/40 from Famitsu, Final Fantasy XII has recieved some harsh criticisms for straying as far as it has from the Final Fantasy norm. From the article: "With Gambits turned on (and configured with just five minutes of commonsensical thought), battles go at least twenty times more quickly than in any other RPG. At their best, Final Fantasy XII's battles resemble rollicking fights in fantasy movies. The player merely directs his party through an area, freezing the action when he sees fit to make adjustments on the battle plan (stronger enemies appear, et cetera). This alone should be enough to qualify XII as a 'videogame.' The controller's vibration, for example, provides wonderful feedback. Yet players feel betrayed. They say, 'I want to press buttons.' They say, 'I don't want to watch my videogame.'"
Classic RPGs (Score:4, Interesting)
Gambits sound *great* (Score:3, Interesting)
So, I was thinking about the gambit system, and I have come to the conclusion that it sounds great. RPG combat (from what I've seen, and the games I've seen other people play) is not really a battle of brains, but situational timing. And so being able to program how I would play ahead of time, sounds pretty cool.
I wondered how much this would translate to MMO play. I decided it would make for a horrible game, where you just continually ran forwards and hoped your gambits didn't suck. But what if the gambits were perhaps meshed to a trading card battling type thingy? Maybe that's too geeky.
But if you could program a gambit system for World of Warcraft... I think it would be worryingly simple for some classes like the Rogue. This makes me question my whole love of WoW: why do I love something so very... repetitive? Guild chat and stuff is why I keep coming back, so maybe gambits *would* be better, then I could just sit in the chat room and see whether I live or die.
It's an interesting system, and I'll definitely give the game a rental when it arrives, just to see how it all plays out.
Re:Sounds more like a "Role Playing" game (Score:1, Interesting)
While I certainly find the series to be enjoyable, I never get the sense that I have any real control of the character outside of combat and exploration.
As someone currently engrossed in the game... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:As someone currently engrossed in the game... (Score:3, Interesting)
There's just too many variables involved. I can't script my playstyle. I don't see any way this improves the game, and just hope I can do everything manually. If not, I won't be buying it- I played Dragon Warrior 4 where everyone but the main character had an AI controller, and hated it. And it would have been a great game otherwise.
Re:Gambits Are *Awesome* (Score:4, Interesting)