Final Fantasy XII Demo.
The FFXI Playable Demo is available with a purchase of "Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King".
Have any of you played it yet? What are your opinions on it? I personally think it has the potentional to be one of the best FF games to date. But that's just me.
Here is a good overview/review of the game that I agree with completely, IMHO:
Quote:
nope. I'm not a PS2 or FF fanboy. I have my share of FFs and PS2 games I hate. But I know what I love.
intro demo starts with the trailer many have seen before. But it's 2x crisper and better looking than even those so-called high definition videos online.
But watching it on TV makes it all the more meaningful and cool (especially with a big screen).
title screen I really love the Judges being in the title screen. it's really hot. cool music too (which carries on over to the area select screen)
Area select screen
as you know, Phon Coast is playable in Wait Mode using Penelo, Basch and Vaan.
while the Stilshrine of Miriam is played in Active Mode using Fran, Balthier and Ashe.
Phon Coast
very huge and open beach area. of course there are these line of dots here and there. that prevent you from exploring the terrain beyond what the demo offers.
in fact, in my experience there are 3 of these borders in this demo: behind the starting point, beyond an elevated area, and a cave.
There also appears to be an island with treasure on it. while the demo lets you get almost knee deep in the water, the island is inaccessible for now.
I'm telling you, despite these borders, the world feels HUGE! Being a FF11 veteran I can sense the scale of this whole area just by seeing the terrain beyond the border.
Also it's wonderful this world looks so beautiful and feels so alive. BIRDS are flying in the sky. the CLOUDS actually move. the sun above (yay! you can see the whole sky and the sun anytime) has a great solar flare effect.
The level design, even with what 'little' (little? ha!) there is to see in the demo, is really phenomenol.
I mean, it's a beach, and it kinda feels like home, that's how much I like it.
The demo looks AND feels VERY POLISHED. I mean, I found nothing wrong with it. the controls are perfect, the visuals and animations are top notch, the menu interface is clear and welcoming. Everything is looking fantastic and in working order. If this is how the final game plays, then I'm all for it.
Characters
Seened them online, and now this is the real thing!!! They are so detailed and look awesome!! They animate really well too!!! I checked their walking, running, casting, attacking, item using animations, etc. Extremely polished.
I know little about them and loving them already!
It's a fine touch to finally see visible equipped weapons on them. I doubt the same will happen with armor but their default costumes fit them nicely.
VAAN is cool. it's funny how these characters become so likable after you use them. Vaan got the one handed sword + shield arsenal. He may not be of noble blood like Ramza or trained in the killing arts like Ashley Riot, but Vaan sure got potential. Well he does have a girlfriend. How many heroes start off with one?
BASCH is awesome. He's so badass and wields a two-handed sword like a pro.
He's one heck of a war machine.
PENELO is sweet!! it's so cute when she runs. in the demo she's equipped with a Bow and unlimited arrows but Im sure the final version will give ranged weapons ammo limitations to balance their advantages. Yeah I like making Penelo the leader, but it's more fun just having them take turns being the leader. You can assign commands to anyone no matter who is the leader anyways.
STATUS
Okay as you've seen, the status list has their name, HP, and MP.
The yellow "diamond" left of their name is the "G" GAMBIT icon. This shows if their Gambit mode is turned on or off. They won't take actions by themselves if it's off (which means after every action you would have to assign them a new action.)
in most cases it's best to leave it on since the a.i. is very very cool, although Basch sure loves using those Thunder, Fire and Blizzard spells. lol.
Basch: "Die! That's it!!! Diiiieee!!!! ahahahaha!" *electrocutes Pirahna*
Mandy: *hides*
but even if someone is about to do an action you rather not having them use, you can cancel their action by assigning them another action.
(or turn off their Gambit and control them directly. the final version will let us fully customize what actions our characters may do when Gambit handles most of their actions, so it's cool).
Action Time Bar (ATB basically)
to the left of each character's status, is the yellowish gauge that appears when people are doing an action or engaging an enemy.
When a character is assigned or assign themselves an action, their bar starts to fill up, when it's full they execute their action, then the bar fills up again with a new action if their Gambit is ON, otherwise you have to assign them a new action to fill their bar again (even if your leader's Gambit is on, you often have to assign them a new action anyway, unless they are doing something like attacking).
It's not hard to figure out the conditions of when the Gambits will decide a new action for them,
but like say if you have someone attack an enemy, they will normally keep attacking until that enemy is killed. if there is more than one enemy in the area, the a.i. does target it but it's sometimes faster if you command them yourselves to target that new enemy immediately after the 1st one falls.
These gauges help inform you what each character is doing. above the bar is a word that describes what they are doing ("Attack", "Cure", etc.)
tip: (it helps to keep an eye on these bars. if you notice someone's bar is not filling up and don't have a action title above the bar, you should give them an action to do something than just sit there during battle).
(as you can see, there is PLENTY of party management and player involvement. so it's not like you push a button and watch the show. while you can do that, it leads to sloppy encounters and extra resources to heal them back up.
A good player is actively assigning each character commands, positioning, checking character and enemy status, making use of spells and items, etc. etc. )
one thing I love about the action gauges is that the gauges fill up fast. 2x faster than standard past FF ATB gauges. although the gauge is a bit longer. so it's like 1.5 times faster. but the time period between actions are shorter than say, FF11.
of course certain types of actions require more time than others, but after playing all the past FF games, FF12 feels like everyone is born with Haste embedded into their souls (thankfully they don't have that silly rapid animation motion though, lol. j/k they are not in Haste mode but it's great the bar fills faster than before.
CONTROLS
*Left analog stick: move
*Right analog stick: turn camera, tilt camera angle and zoom
*X, square: open Command Menu, Select/Confirm
*Circle: cancel, close menu
*R2 (hold): Fleeing mode. this aborts everyone's commands so they all follow the leader. This helps run away from enemies.
*d-pad: (not in command menu) up,down= change Leader.
left, right= change Target.
*d-pad (in command menu): up/down= highlight commands
left/right= choose different character's command window (this is used to command non-leader members without having to make them the leader.)
COMMAND MENU WINDOW
Everyone got:
ATTACK (I sooo love how the melee characters now and then strike two to FOUR times in a row!!!!! its just great when they do that.
MAGIC (catergories include, white, black, time and green)
SUMMON (Vaan got the esper, Hashmal. seems earth-type.)
GAMBIT (Turn ON or OFF for that character)
ITEMS (see list of items. everyone shares from same supply).
TIP: If you notice on the top left corner of the Command Window, is a cute, noseless chibi version of that character. This instantly helps you identify who's Command Menu you currently have selected. =) The other way is to look to the right and see which name is highlighted. =P
*The command menu is basically like past FF games. You control the actions of all characters with these menu windows.
In Wait Mode everything freezes when you open this menu. but in Active Mode you can move freely with analog stick while choosing commands with the d-pad.
lets check out what the character's have for magic in this demo:
TARGETING, no random battles, free movement
Really awesome. there's no lock-on but it doesnt really need it. With the totally convenient ability to move freely during battle, battles are more flexible and exciting than ever before. well...that is...they werent exciting at all before.
but that's another story. (+ NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS!!! WOOHOO!! After about 11 offline games with random encounters [counting ffx-2]) it sure is refreshing they followed Chrono Trigger and FF11's example. )
the targeting system is fluid and precise. you could even target an enemy offscreen if they are within range. This leads to maximum targetting effiency, ESPECIALLY WITH THE TARGET DATA system! when you target an enemy, their info pops up on the top left. level, name, HP, weakness. it's great.
maybe we'll need a special Gambit for this. but even if it's available throughout the whole game, it's a pretty comfy feature.
ARCS
those beams of light that come out of heroes and enemies help show you who's targeting who for their upcoming action. blue are friendly, green are healing, and red are enemy targeting.
MAP
the radar does it's job showing the direction you're facing, monster locations, etc. very nice and neat and not distracting at all. though Im sure we can switch it off in the final version.
Aggro, Threat level
the heroes have blue gauges above their heads. enemies have a range of yellow/green, and red gauges above them. enemies with green/yellow gauges will more likely never attack you unless you attack them first.
the red bar enemies will come after you on sight. some have greater scan range than others. the headless have the largest range I know. they can detect you over 10 feet away.
enemies can link and team up against you. (like Bombs in the next area).
you can also team up with monsters to fight other monsters. (take the cute innocent Mandys. the Slippers hate them and attack them.
the Mandy's fight back but could use your help to win the battle. just don't...target a Mandy by accident. >>; )
MAGIC
(Name, MP requirement)
*VAAN
>White Magic: Cure 6, Blindna 6
>Black Magic: Fire 6, Thunder 6, Blizzard 6, Water 12, Aero 14, Fira 16,
Thundara 16, Blizzara 16
>Green Magic: Protect 6, Shell 6
*BASCH
>Black Magic: Water 12, Aero 14, Fira 16, Thundara 16, Blizzara 16
>Time Magic: Slow 6, Immobilize 8
*PENELO
>White Magic: Cure 6, Cura 16, Life 22, Blindna 6, Stona 12, Silena 6, Poisona 6, HOLY 44
>Time Magic: Slow, Immobilize 8
>>>>Favorite magic in this area, HOLY. it just looks so awesome and extremely damaging. this is not a cutscene, it's actually blasting the enemy in real time! I really love the fire, lightning and ice effects too. well the magic looks great but Holy was like WHOA!
magic spells naturally have their range, especially when it's spells that target more than 1.
Take Cura for example. When you select Cura in Penelo's list, a green ring will expand from Penelo's position, detailing how close her partners need to be in order to receive healing as well. they can move about while the spell is being casted, as long as they are within the ring.
SUMMONS/Espers
Vaan got Hasmal and Ashe got Belias. you need full MP to summon. (your MP is full when the MP gauge glows orange/yellow).
Doing so will have a awesome cutscene make the esper make their entrance.
When a esper is summoned:
1. the summoner's two partners are replaced by the esper.
2. the esper have their super badass music play (unless you are fighting a boss, then the boss music is played instead). the colors in the game become more reddish and a bit dark. seems apocalyptic. multiply that by their theme music (and limit break) and it just feels so freaking awesome!
3. espers use a unique attack:
Hasmal uses Roxxor
Belias uses Pain Flare
4. espers can heal (Belias used an X-Potion on Ashe once)
5. espers have a time limit shown by these circles. if their HP runs out or their time limit runs out, they vanish and your partners return.
SUMMON LIMIT BREAK!
I'll Just call their super attacks as limit breaks for now. =p
the conditions for them to do it is that they need to be targeting an enemy as their time is about to expire.
if they are targeting a living enemy when their time is up, they'll prepare their all powerful super ultimate limit break attack. (from my experience this is how it works. just out of nervousness, I target an engage the enemy around the time their time is just about up, to help influence them into targeting something)
If the conditions are right, a pretty long and truly breathtaking cutscene takes place. Words can't describe completely what it's like but:
Hashmal's ultimate is called : Gaia's Wrath
Belias's ultimate is called: Hellfire
Hashmal's is like the ultimate uppercut.
and Belias's is like an inferno.
once those super attacks are over, the esper is gone and your partners return. what's interesting is that if you manage to get max MP again, you can summon them again. but I havent checked yet if you can summon them again if their HP ran out last time. or if they did a ultimate finisher last time (the only time I summoned twice in one playthrough was when I screwed up and Hasmal didnt do his ultimate cause there were no enemies around/targeted at the moment.)
Phon Coast monsters
OH YES AND BEFORE ANYONE WHO DIDNT KNOW IS WONDERING. YES MONSTERS RESPAWN IN THE DEMO!!! This is sweet cause this means you can take as much time as you like in both areas without running out of things to bash.
*Mandragora (the cute innocent wittle turnip things. They have returned from FF11!!!!!!! At last we can feast our eyes on their glorious live prescence without having to pay 12+ a month to do so. They still do that cute flapping dance too. )
*Slepnir (the 'thunder horses', as I call them. They hate Mandys so me hate Slepnirs, a.k.a. slippers =P )
*Pirahna (flying fish.)
*Seeq (the pig people)
*Headless (large warrior enemies)
*Water Wyrd (this is a very rare enemy in this demo. but not that rare. you are bound to always run into at least 1, unless... you just didnt see one.)
it seems to be the strongest enemy in the demo too. it's around lv. 26 with 1724 HP. weak vs. lightning. it's magic attack took a large chunk off of one character.
**ROCKEATER (BOSS)
a T-rex type. huge, powerful, durable. of course your characters are quite leveled. oh yeah you can level up in the demo. (havent noticed if anything changed though.) and using a summon is too easy to win in the boss battles in this demo. well its pretty easy anyways but at least without a esper stealing the show, your party can have a pretty lengthy and involving battle.
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Stilshrine of Miriam
This is a dungeon and it's a really cool dungeon. the only border in this demo is the one behind the starting point. looks like its much bigger in the final version. I really liek this dungeon. it has a huge high ceiling. it's spaceous. great detail and statues and staircases and mazey alternate routes and treasure here and there.
The monsters respawn here like in the previous area. you know it took 5 playthroughs before I realized I could view the location of the Adamantoise from across the starting point area!!! LMAO!! XD lol. okay okay I admit it I was admiring Ashe's fine figure and her walking and running animations are so divine. (well I was examining Penelo's fine figure too and I didnt miss anything. okay. maybe cause she isn't wearing a skirt like Ashe but still. ya know?) well yeah all of their details and animations are great!
Active Mode is lots of fun!!! Yeah it's basically FF11 style but much speedier and more action packed. of course not as much action as, say, a Dynasty Warriors game but FF12's battle system is even more fun than that. it's hard to fully explain why, it's just a perfect balance of tradition and revolution. ^____^
CHARACTERS
ASHE. Yep. it's true they are better looking in person. she wields a two handed sword in the demo. fights really brutal like Basch. I call her the 4-hit wondergirl sometimes.
BALTHIER. He's so cool, he convinced me guns in a FF game are okay in light doses. Seriously, he's just the charismatic type.
FRAN. Oh yeah. Finally a gal that proves ladies dont need to be stick wielding magic *****s to be combat worthy. She crushes foes just as good as Ashe does. well, Fran is using a staff in fact, while doing as much damage as a sword does. White Mage my ass. lol.
MAGIC
ASHE
>white magic: Cure 6, Blindna 6
>black magic: fire 6, thunder 6, blizzard 6, water 12, aero 14, fira 16,
thundara 16, blizzara 16, FLARE 48
>green magic: Protect, Shell
BALTHIER
>black magic: water 12, aero 14, fira 16, thundara 16, blizzara 16, FLARE 48
>time magic: slow 6, immobilize
FRAN
>white magic: cure 6, cura 16, life 22, blinda 6, stona 12, silena 6, poisona 6
>time magic: slow 6, immobilize 8
>>>>>favorite spell from this group: FLARE!!!! My gosh it looks awesome! and of course very damaging. my favorite Flare special effect before was FF8's. but this takes the cake.
the enemies here are:
*Bomb (classic suicidal enemies. you gotta see them live and boiling.)
*Headless (they sure are scary)
*Sleipnir (haha. they were driven back my the Mandy's into this cold dungeon. j/k)
*Gazer (they seem to be able to teleport. floating monster enemies)
*Admantoise (MINIBOSS) it seems to have a really cool reflective shell.
*RING WYRM (BOSS) one of the coolest dragons ever.
yeah we seen fire dragons and gas dragons, but a Dragon with these wicked looking rings is really kickass. Ever since I played Vagrant Story I knew FF12 would have sweet monster designs.
other
I don't feel the final game will be mission based. there are no hints towards that. the Congradulations! is something the team did in the past in Vagrant Story each time you beat a boss.
and the objectives things in the demo was just to help beginners know how to complete each area in the demo. the tasks involved were things not uncommon in all RPGs. finding key items, beating tough enemies to get those items or requirements to fight yet an even bigger threat. etc. etc.
but anyways even if there was a 1% chance the final game is mission based, at least it isnt gonna be along the lines of handing out balloons =P
battle tips
even in Active Mode, it helps to command the others to engage the enemy first before your leader. usually the a.i. takes a second longer to initilize their actions after your leader has engaged the enemy. this is especially important if you want a certain character to 'tank'.
who strikes/gets spotted first depends who you want the enemy to focus on. Naturally Penelo and Balthier are better off in the distance and the others up front.
be sure to move them accordingly.
**the enemy might switch targets but it's less likely to switch so far.
if you are good enough you can have characters attack more than 1 enemy at once if there is 2 or more that engage our heroes. the game already provides the info you need to stay informed of every status, action, position and situation.
**items are used faster than healing spells. use those in case of a real emergency. or have two heal at once. use attack items like Dragon Fangs for multiple enemies. there are Ethers and Hi-Ethers in the demo. but they are very rare and so far I only found them in Phon Coast.
**There are so many ways to play.
handicap enemies by slowing them down.
power-up your characters with protect and shell to reduce damage intake.
try out the summon ultimate attacks.
use different characters and play a different role in the team.
etc. etc.
2nd trailer
saw it online but yeah on DVD is much smoother and better looking.
This game will no doubt win the hearts of many, like the previous ones.
oh yeah I knew I was forgetting to mention one of the thousands of things.
Mandy: thank me for reminding silly fzero
fzero: ahem anyways ^^;
SOUND/MUSIC
it's phenomenol. even since Vagrant Story I knew these people were the masters of making weapons sound sharp, heavy and awesome, spells sound crackling and fwooshing and kablaming good! footsteps, enemy sounds, impacts, menu chimes, etc. etc. SUPERB!!!!!!!
the music itself is adrenaline pumping. especially Phon Coast!!!!! whoohooo!!!! this great music makes me even more enthustiastic about the whole experience!!!
trailers music 10/10
demo title screen/area select music 10/10
the Phon Coast theme 10/10
the Stilshrine theme 10/10
Boss theme 10/10
Summon/Esper theme 10/10
hope the rest of the tracks are this awesome while staying true to the theme of the world and the FFT/VS music style. "
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As for the rest of you...?
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11-21-2005, 12:16 PM
