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FFXII's Japanese Release 90

Posted by Zonk from the spoony-bards-inc dept.
1up has coverage of the Japanese launch for Final Fantasy XII. The much-anticipated and very delayed game began sales yesterday, prompting more pictures of Japanese gamers in line. If you don't mind spoilers, they also have a fairly extensive preview based on the import version of the game. From that article: "FFXII begins with a stunningly gorgeous full-motion video which depicts a royal wedding in Dalmasca, a small kingdom wedged precipitously between the warring nations of Archadia and Rosarria. But the celebrations are cut short as Dalmasca is dragged into the war and the newlywed prince is felled in battle by an arrow, leaving one very bereaved princess to mourn her loss."
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FFXII's Japanese Release More

FFXII's Japanese Release

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  • WARNING: SPOILERS (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16, 2006 @12:07PM (#14933725)
    Androgenous man-girl-thing gets together group of pals, who rid the land of evil. During this he/she manages to find love with another slightly more feminine lady-boy. The last boss is a bitch.

    Also chickens you can ride on and little white cat things.
    • Well at least it's not -exactly- the same as FFX... the last boss in that was a breeze.
      • Aren't most last bosses in RPGs? I find it's the secret side-bosses that are usually the real danger in most games.

        • Re:WARNING: SPOILERS (Score:5, Interesting)

          by EggyToast ( 858951 ) on Thursday March 16, 2006 @12:32PM (#14934034) Homepage
          Of course. You don't want the last boss to be so difficult that most people can't finish the story. It's why lots of games nowadays have "collectathons" that will grant some bonus or extra feature, but isn't necessary for the completion of the main game -- a way to flesh it out for more advanced players.

          Looking back, I actually think it's one of the more unique elements of FF6. The last boss is actually pretty tough. Some of the other fights in the game are hard due to limitations or restrictions, but the 4-in-a-row boss fight took me about 3 tries before I beat it.

          Of course, after I played a bit more I learned some tricks that made it easier (yay life 3) but it's still one of the harder fights in the game.

          • actually I wasn't thinking collectathon as much as side-bosses that aren't needed to finish the game but are there for hardcore players to add difficulty... ruby/emerald weapon in FFVII Ozma in 9 etc. FF does this a lot but other games have also added challenge to games this way. I think its a much better idea than having more Battletoads level difficulty games...damn flying bike things hitting walls and crap. or how about ghosts and goblins...1-2 health at the most and then you die.
            • Yeah, Battletoads! God I love that game, nothing like beating the crap out of the other player only to have yourselves massacered by the boss. I did actually beat the game though, once, by what was most likely a stroke of luck.....
          • Star Ocean III was the best for this. Last boss? Sure, decent. Then you get about 30 optional bosses.

            And then you get near the end of Sphere, and fight all 1 million HP of boss...

            then you get to the END of Sphere and fight Lenneth and her 3 million HP and near-instant kill aoes. Amazing fights.
          • Indeed, the last boss in FF8 wasn't a big deal, but if you wanted to get all the summons and special items, the optional "Atma Weapon" bosses were a real bitch to win against.
          • a way to flesh it out for more advanced players.

            I would perhaps suggest calling them "more dedicated" or "players with longer attention spans" instead of "more advanced.

        • Well, FFVII had Ruby and Emerald Weapon. FFX had the monster breeder who made creatures that were orders of magnitude more powerful than anything you would normally find. FFIV had Bahamut (he was easy if you timed your attacks correctly). Hmm...

          Try Skies of Arcadia for the Game Cube. There's a boss in there that is incredibly powerful compared to the final boss. It's like climing a mountain vs. stepping over an ant hill. I don't think he's in the Dreamcast version, but his minions are. Some treasure h

          • Another game this occurs in is Tales of Symphonia. There's a boss with 100x the HPs of the main boss and he hits 10x harder.

            Was that the possessed guy you fought in the bottom of a dungeon? If so, I agree. He was extremely hard. That game was actually fairly hard compared to a game like FFX. I wiped quite a few times in ToS. I only wiped once in FFX, and it was because I didn't bother to heal before a boss battle.
            • The thing with most RPGs is that they're easy if you spend a lot of time doing random battles and finding the best equipment along the way. By the time you get to the end boss your characters are so tweaked out that he doesn't stand a chance. I know Final Fantasy 8 scaled bosses based on your levels to avoid this, but that was somewhat unpopular with the players from what I can tell.

              On the other hand, there's my old roommate, who played the games for the stories and cutscenes. He was a big Final Fantas
              • Shit, I'm stuck at the same boss as your friend in 10*. I mean, seriously, it takes more than an hour to go through that ice path even when you flee every battle and you face the same three enemy types over and over again. Nothing to see, random encounter every five steps, fuck that.

                *= Unless you're talking about another ice gorge, I mean the one before Zanarkand. With endless talking before you can fight the boss and the boss wiping my party with one combo attack.
                • I remember having a problem with that boss long ago. I think what I ended up doing is casting barriers (the damage shields for magic and physical damage) on my heavy hitters and pinch-hitting like crazy. Also, make sure Rikku stays alive and uses those special potions that heal everyone for 1k (Al Dim potions or something? long, long time ago...). Also, make sure everyone is at or close to their limit breaks or whatever they call it in that game.

                  IIRC, there are multiple targets, and one of them can be d

                  • The problem was at that point his wings attack could kill everyone but the dead guy even at full health, the survivor would end up zombified and the boss's sidepart would cast revive on him (i.e. instakill). Dead in one round. I'd need a couple thousand extra HP to survive that and considering the rate of advancement in that levelling system that'd mean hours upon hours of mindless grind (at least ten or twenty levelups for each character). I'll rather play an MMORPG, at least that doesn't have looooooooooo
                • Yeah, I think that's the spot. Basically, if you don't level up to the point where the Ice patch is a piece of cake, the boss will wipe the floor with you.
          • There's a point where a boss battle moves from "challenging" to "tedous". IMHO, it is when the boss requires you to level up your characters to a super high level, and even then it takes 30+ minutes of just whacking away at his HP bar to finally win.
            • I had numerous boss battles like that in FFX-2. One took me 40 minutes to beat, not because it was hard, I hardly did damage to him with any of my class types, i just had to keep pinging away until he went down. I eventualy just gave up on the game and traded it in. I hate tedium...
              • What's worse is when they add a random "party wipe" button on the boss, so 1/4 of the time he'll just kill you pretty much no matter what. I remember the final boss in Chrono Trigger was like that. Occasionally he'd use his ultimate physical damage attack immediately followed by the ultimate magical damage attack. The mage guys die in the first attack, and the melee guys die in the second. You either had an auto-life on your guys or it's game over.
        • No kidding, in FFX there is a mosnter arena side quest where the player can fight some special beasties (Called "Original Creations") that don't appear in the main quest. After having zero problems in taking out the final boss I decided to give this monster arena a try thinking it was going to be a piece of cake.

          The first battle was rather pathetic. Selecting the first of the special bosses, the battle starts with the boss getting the first turn. WHAM! Tidus goes down in a single hit without being able to

  • I'm gonna go way out on a limb here, folks, but... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Hitto ( 913085 ) on Thursday March 16, 2006 @12:11PM (#14933772)
    I wouldn't be surprised if THIS iteration isn't AGAIN about saving the world, emo / brooding characters, and, of course, plastically perfect female characters who exist solely to bring fanservice to the world.

    I have stopped caring about the story in FF since it's been rehashing the save the world formula, but many many people keep insisting that the scenario is always deep and moving and whatnot.
    What does the /. population think? Scenario? Standard generic fantasy anime fare, if you ask me.

    So please explain why I should buy it. Better graphics? Nice cutscenes? Good music? How about the Gameplay? Is it any fun?
    • OK so there's an enemy, we'll call it 100,000. Then you have to take out your weapon, which I'll call 2,754, and attack the enemy!

      The enemy is now called 97,246. Quick!! Use the magic spell of 22,189!

      The enemy's down to 75,057. Good job! Can you use your bag of tricks to get him down to 0? Tune in to the next episode of Final Fantasy XII to find out!

    • Re:I'm gonna go way out on a limb here, folks, but (Score:5, Insightful)

      by KrisW ( 613034 ) on Thursday March 16, 2006 @12:21PM (#14933900)

      I'm not going to try to explain to you why you should buy it, especially since you don't seem too interested in the first place, but I'll tell you why I will.

      I buy Final Fantasy games for one reason and one reason only - I like that kind of stuff. Even if it is "standard generic fantasy anime fare", hey, that's fine by me. Sometimes when something turns out to be exactly what you expected, it isn't a bad thing.

      The combat system in XII seems like it could be a little wonky, but I thought the same thing about Star Ocean 3 and ended up absolutely loving that game.

      Just my two cents.

    • I do it more for the original and unique worlds they make (FF 6 and 7). But I would agree lately, they have been becoming stagnent.... I played IV and IX one after the other, and let me tell you, the plot twists are practically identical in the two games.
      • Uh, that was the idea. If you recall, IX was advertised as the "end of an era" of FF, as evidenced by their commercials featuring III-VI. The game lifts nearly everything from either IV and VI. That was the plan.

        As for originality, FFIV was probably more original than any of the others. It was the first console RPG with an antihero (albeit remorseful), and had a novel story regarding redemption and the evils of secrets and competition for love. There's a lot of subtext there not really present in the others

    • Re:I'm gonna go way out on a limb here, folks, but (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Decessus ( 835669 ) on Thursday March 16, 2006 @12:30PM (#14934017)
      I have stopped caring about the story in FF since it's been rehashing the save the world formula

      Arn't most games somehow about saving the world, especially most RPG games? Simply saying that Final Fantasy is about saving the world is like saying Moby Dick was just about a whale.
    • Give me some other compelling goal for a fantasy oriented game... Hell, for any game really. I will buy and play this game for the unique 'Final Fantasy' elements I know will be present which I have come to love.
  • So, FINAL does not really mean final? I have often wondered why would there be seven more iterations final. Must be some kind of fantasy.

    • Re:Final... really (Score:4, Informative)

      by jbarlow ( 35149 ) on Thursday March 16, 2006 @01:33PM (#14934697) Homepage
      Ok, so here's where my NES geek cred comes into play.

      The very first Final Fantasy was Square's last game. They were almost broke, and had pretty much exactly enough money to produce one more title. Lo and behold, it boomed! They were immediately able to bring themselves back out of debt and start making new titles. In homage to the title that brought them out of their slump, pretty much every subsequent game has been a "sequel" of the original Final Fantasy, despite huge differences in plot, location, and characters.

      I realise your post was probably just a joke, but hey, I had the info.
      • Huh. I'd always assumed it was a translation screw up. Basically mixing up Final and, for example, Ultimate. Basically words that are synonyms in some cases and not in others.

        "Ultimate Fantasy" has that cheesy console RPG ring to it.
        • Not like Ultimate Fantasy I, II, III, IV, V,... Mystic Quest (oops) would make any more sense. If something is Utimate, then it really shouldn't be 'top'able... ever. Or I'm wrong.

          I hear you on cheesey, though.

    • .... I was always told it was a mistranslation of Ultimate, picked out of the list of thesaurus options because 'Final Fantasy' was more alliterative. Engrish. You know. If that's correct, it's really Ultimate Fantasy, which explains the generic-ness and the lack of connection between plots. :)
    • Yes but you notice, the game isn't called Final, it is called "Final Fantasy".

      This is no more strange than calling some one a fireman. Would you ask, "But does fire not really mean burning? I have often wondered why they are not burning down to the ground."

      So just like firemen are not actually on fire, "Final Fantasy" is not actually the last fantasy. Firemen stop fires, and Final Fantasy is a series that was started with a then ailing Square as their last game.
  • ... that a Final Fantasy game is released in Japan and people are lining up for it? If I recall, this has been the scenario for the last 10 or so Final Fantasy releases, not counting all the GBA remakes and various spinoffs.
  • Does this mean I only have to wait 6 - 12 more months for a US release? I've been playing the FF series for a really long time and have enjoyed each of them and I'm sure this one will be no different from a fun-to-play standpoint. The stories have always been good and made me want to play the game all the way through (tedious level building aside). I liked the grid system in FFX so this updated one will probably a good thing. Overall, pins and needles.
  • Well, I know its redundant, but hey, I still love these games, despite the fact that I know its nothing but a rehash. Call it a guilty pleasure, but I love it. And I think there are LOTS of people that feel the same...

    So who cares. I'm getting in line!

  • Can't wait! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by dannycim ( 442761 )
    I've been playing every iteration of FF since... Since they've been making them and you can bet you sweet patootie I'll be in-line for this one.

    I've also been playing FFXI for over 2 years now and I enjoy the combat system a lot. I makes sense to me that while engaged in combat, attacking is the default action and doesn't require pressing the X button repeatedly. You're left instead with the decisions (Use magic? Defend? Order the other characters? etc... etc...)

    I loved the demo that came with Dragon Ques
    • Considering that the game is actually finished and the only barrier is localization (barring other issues), it's possible. One might even postulate that they've been working on localization concurrently with the Japanese release.

  • The music is awesome. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Audigy ( 552883 ) on Thursday March 16, 2006 @12:34PM (#14934058) Homepage Journal
    I ripped it last night, to PSF2 format. If you don't know what PSF2s are, you should probably research. They're the greatest thing since sliced bread.

    Watch out for the remix of "Clash on the Big Bridge" :) I think it's track 91.

    http://oddigy.com/ [oddigy.com]

    Hurry up and grab it before the Chinese leechers suck down all my bandwidth.

    You're welcome.
    • Why was this marked "Troll"? It's the music to the game! Can't download it now (at work) but it's done by Hitsohi Sakimoto, who composed music for, among other games, Final Fantasy Tactics. It'll probably be great stuff.
      • Someone who doesn't like music downloads? There is a soundtrack album for this game comming out etc. I can see the point to these game rips, but ones for games that have actual soundtrack albums are at the less moral end of the spectrum than rips for games without albums.

        Although Troll is probably the wrong moderation to show this view.

        Grandparent: And linking to Slashdot is goint to help with your bandwidth issues? :-)
    • No idea why this is a "Troll" just DL'd it and it is great.

  • Impression from the demo (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Puhase ( 911920 ) on Thursday March 16, 2006 @12:49PM (#14934223)
    I playhed through both parts of the demo that came with Dragon Quest 8 and although I am skeptical, it will still be fun and that is what matters. I am one of those that enjoyed the menu'ed battle system and lament its loss, but the new system isnt terrible. There are a few holes that I think made it alittle too easy. I found myself "kiting" all the enemies with the ranged class character, (kiting being the process of casting a spell to slow a monsters movement/attack and then running it around as it gets beat down) which made everything but the boss fights very easy. Hopefully they have some nice ranged attack monsters and have removed some the ridiculous effectiveness of Time Magic.

    In summation, the only thing new this time around is the battle system and I find it a fresh experience, although the jury is still out on whether it is "better".

  • If Sony knows what's good... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ELProphet ( 909179 ) <davidsouther@gmail.com> on Thursday March 16, 2006 @01:33PM (#14934687) Homepage
    They will do everything they can to realize the following:

    "One excited fan asked Wada to release a remake of Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation 3, to which Wada responded "We'll consider it." "

    If there is ever a killer app for the PS3, it would be an exclusive FF VII. Right now, I am rather disgusted with Sony, but my love and support for Square-Enix would be enough to overcome that with FF VII. I would go so far as to saying it could rival Halo as a console seller (if done right; though I could still see Sony screwing it up).
    • With FFXI on 360 and more games to come who says FFVII remake wont come to 360?
      • As I mentioned, Sony knowing what's good for them. I also see that as a big possiblility, and in that case... I would buy an xBox 360. I don't know if it's just me, but if it isn't Sony needs to do everything it can to keep Square-Enix (and any other vendor *cough*Rockstar*) on board as exclusive third-party developers.

        But thinking about it more and more, if Sone can keep third party support, the only winner this round will be Nintendo. Yep. Sony will win 1/2 of Japan, MS will win half of US, and everyone e
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • The easy answer to this is that the Final Fantasy Franchise is HUGE in Japan, and until the 360 starts actually selling there, Square won't be in any rush to put what may be their #1 franchise on it.

        As the 360 is currently selling WORSE than the original Xbox in Japan, don't look for this to happen anytime soon.

    • Yep, they're milking FF7 for all it's worth. I think some dev said they'd prever to put the remake on a non-Sony platform. Personally I don't think the remake is needed, after all you can still plop your copy of FF7 into the PS2 and play it. Perhaps they'll give it a handheld remake like they did with 1, 2 and 4 and are doing with 3. After all, the handheld market (especially cellphone games) is expanding in Japan while the home console market is contracting.

  • Where's my NES? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by DesireCampbell ( 923687 )
    Can I choose my class? No? Then I hate it. Back to FF1.

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