I-n-j-i-n

How easily can you do a spin-attack maneuver in Wind Waker? I dunno about you, but I could almost never do one without queuing. It was even harder in the Gamecube version of OoT. Aiming for enemies in Wind Waker was also a pain sometimes.. and trying to shoot on horseback in OoT/MM was also very difficult, especially when hunting for Poes. No offense, but saying that "according to some people the wiimote isn't that great sometimes" is kinda silly. And people's expectations of a motion sensing controller might vary.. just a little bit. I would try it before I swore off the Wii version, at any rate. I think it's the whole point that the spin maneuver isn't as easy to pull off. Otherwise it'd be cheap. That's why the designs of the older games were much tighter in that sense. It all corresponded to the movements of the sticks and buttons well. I don't think this is surprising though. Even with the Twilight Princess, I could definitely see Nintendo yet to fully master the new controller. Another criticism I saw coming a mile away was how apparently the game is pretty easy compared to the likes of Majora's Mask or OoT. It seems that all the new Zeldas have a much easier learning curve. I wish the games were as challenging as LttP once was.

According to some reviews, it seems that the Wiimote might actually be a hinderance at some spots and apparently it doesn't allow the finesse that one expects out of a motion sensing controller. And for a Wii to basically play an enhanced Gamecube graphics on it, I would think it would be easier to critique, whether it's fair or not. I think I'll stick to the Gamecube version.

I don't see what's so bad about a launch tactic that has been proven to work with the 360 and PS2. Even the DS and DS Lite had similar problems with demand far exceeding the supply in the first months of their release (at least in Japan). And those had their share of violence and launch hardware issues. Also, even with all the violence, heckling and the intense scrutiny of the launch and its product, negative press is still press. Watch CBSnews.com or any other major media outlet and they're talking about the frenzy over the "hottest holiday present". Because for a fact, there is a frenzy over it, for better or for worse. And come a year after, and virtually all of the hardware concerns should be ironed out. Maybe two years for the internet-inept Japanese developers to get the hang of online services.

I'm really tired of arguing about the specs of PS3 with people who don't know one thing about it. So if anyone wants to read something that is truly relevant and :gasp: unbiased, try reading this: http://dpad.gotfrag.com/portal/story/35372/?spage=1 All in all, both the 360 and PS3 are pretty good machines and yes, they're actually bargains for their hardware (compare something to a high end $2500+ PC). Comparing older systems in PSX and PS2's pricing to a PS3 really isn't fair since the technology is vastly different and their purpose as well. Sony's lousy PR scheme (Nintendo's was pretty silly too, but at least they were sly about it all) aside, I don't think you can deny the technical beef of the PS3. People have often spelt out doomsday for 360 (Dreamcast-lol, etc), the Wii and PS3, but I actually think all three would do pretty well. And if PS3 starts getting the killer ap games, then I don't think it's really impossible for them to become a heavy favorite again. Though I think the 360 won a lot of converts with Microsoft's sly tactics of releasing the system a year early with a hundred games ready before its competitors. Including the constantly impressive online support. But hopefully that will spur the other companies to try and match it.

If they called it the Mind Flayer, they would've been sued by D&D.

Well, yeah. FF8 was like the opposite but with a plot and characters that were a bit too crazy and out there for their own good.

Oxymoron. That's what that comment is. So what about the people who DO want Bluray? What about those who actually want HD content? You can't just use the 'people who don't care' argument. People tend to care about stuff they buy. Duh.

Yeah, awesome for a while. Then people realized how slowly it burned music compared to every new devices that did it much faster. But I hated burning anything onto discs five or six years ago. Always a pain. CDs, mini-dics, it doesn't matter.

To be a realist about it, let's face it. Sony has been crapping on consumers' heads since the Mini-disc and a slew of other electronic problems. Their PSX and PS2 were their saving grace and it just seems that PS3 is really having the typical launch day hiccups, but to a bigger degree and more intense scrutiny since they are the game console company to beat. So this is really nothing new. Though I think it's fairly obvious that Sony is shooting for the Japanese market that will pretty much be guaranteed to invest in a PS3 and the hardcore gamers at the moment. Wait until a few price drops until they can start appealing to the poorer of the lot.

Bad thing. Because FF games have built up that reputation for more than a decade since FF6. Then again, FFXIII (13) will be in the hands of Nomura again, and I have the feeling that he'll probably focus on the character development again. Hopefully it won't be as crazy and weird as the ones in Kingdom Hearts though. And I say this again. When people say that such and such FFXII character is interesting, I only hear about their small witty quips or how they're dressed. That's not true characterization. I know JRPGs aren't supposed to be novels, but if you want an example of a straightforward RPG with great characters, you can try Dragon Quest 8. I am pretty sure that the plot is easily the biggest complaint that a lot of FF fans apparently have with FFXII. Can't complain about the gameplay too much even though the battle system feels so exploitable at times, especially with status effects that work like magic (pun) against even the toughest bosses. But that's typical of Yasumi Matsuno games. Pretty solid game play but with the exploitation factor.

I agree. FF7 was good in its own right, but the hype surrounding it led to all that. What people keep forgetting was how FF7 probably had some of the most involving character-centric moments of its time that made it stand out. Not only because of the flashiness and the theatrical aspects of it. I believe they tried to implement a strategic placement for FFXII, but that idea apparently failed since they couldn't figure out how to implement it. I'm guessing it may be because each battle could take 30 minutes like it was in FFT.

Apparently a bad launch for the people involved, but I think you have to be a hardcore type to get involved with messy launches like those. And a major LOL at the Chinese nationals, pirates and scalpers getting in on the action. They are everywhere nowadays when it comes down to games. Even online.

I'm amazed at your lack of tact when it comes down to having a critical eye. As for Fran, they could have made her Viera segment a bit more involving and lengthier. You are done with that small area then it's all over with. Same with the Nu Mou area. Actually, story segments since FFX has usually been very curt and short. No room to improve? But there's a lot of small design issues like I've pointed out earlier. As for the story, I can see how people can like it the way it is. But it certainly wouldn't hurt if they can take a less beaten road there (so this is about 'ambiguous story' versus 'straightforward' story? Do we even have to start being combative about FFXII too? What's the point?). The gameplay alone is great, but I don't think it's a matter of being 'OMG BEST EVUR' and not being able to top it. Actually, most FF games can be seen in their own merit. I've been to about five forums regarding FFXII and you know what? I keep hearing that line every single time. "overly emotional"? I guess you mean any story that has any emotion at all which automatically relegates them to 'EMO' status. Imagine if FF6 came out nowadays. Everybody would probably jump on it and call it emo since the characters have existential angst and have personal problems. I don't see what's so bad about either type of storytelling. The thing with FFXII's story is that the core story aspect is just thin. It's there, but the characters just drift along with the story in a FF1 style fashion. It's not bad, but it's not engaging to me. And I play the game only for the gameplay and not the plot, which seriously puts me to sleep.

Another great launch article: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6161537.html

It's not whining since it's a genuine opinion I have of the game. Also, FFT, Vagrant Story, FFTA and now, FFXII's backstories are always the same damn thing. It was like that since the Tactics Ogre days where the back story was the most generic medieval political situation one can dream of. Just putting in airships and magic won't make what is otherwise a bland backstory into something worth arguing about. As for FFXII's story, you don't need much of a brain to realize that the entire story is incredibly transparent and nothing is left to the imagination or are ambiguous at all. That's what made a lot of FF games (which is just about all FF games after FF4) into something worth talking about in terms of plot and back story. No such thing with FFXII except for the cute little references in the other similar games in its sub-development team which ultimately means nothing in relevance to the plot. Care to point out just what exactly is whiny about all that? So saying that a plot is bland is "whining", now? I just think it's a matter of fact really. I couldn't care less about most plots in RPGs to begin with. Except FF games recently had a history of emotionally driven, ambiguous plots that actually were worth discussing to a point. Even the Dragonball Z inspired FF9 plot.

Does it even matter if the worlds are connected in any superficial way though? I'm nearly through with the story and the entire backstory is just yawn-inducing. Does RPG backgrounds have to read like a boring textbook in order for it to be "mature"?

I don't know how it came to this, but my Penelo is a physical combo monster now. I once did a 10 hit combo with her. I think I'll make Basch into a pure healer just for the fun of it.

Heavy Armor sets: ups defense and attack power Light armor sets: ups defense and evade Magick armor sets (robes and hats): ups defense and magick power It allows character customization since everyone's license grid is the same. Um, speaking of which, the way they keep those stats in the back end without making it very apparent is a bit flawed as well. Maybe a small tutorial could've helped. They really could use a status screen for when characters level up and even with enemies that are scouted by Libra, you need to manually target them with attack to even see their stats. Lots of small design issues. Not really unexpected when they're trying something new.

Yeah, there's absolutely no reason why there shouldn't be a sort of a two player mode. Other RPGs has done it years ago to great effect. And I'm not sure that the ATB battle system was the bad part. It was certainly the annoying random battles that was. I don't see why they can't incorporate a somewhat traditional ATB system with real time encounters just the same. And as great as FFXII's system is, it could still use a lot of tweaking. They may as well have called it "RPG Battle Manager 2006".

The music is great, but not nearly as melodic as it was for something like FFT. It's somewhat similar to Vagrant Story's music with a lot more ambiance than melody. As for the connections between FFT, Vagrant Story, FFTA and FFXII, I think such connections are superficial at best. FFTA is obviously based on the real world but with the magical book that has a fictional world of Ivalice in it. That obviously can't possibly directly correlate to FFXII's self sustaining world.

That video struck me as incredibly boring. Not such a bad thing that it was, but they didn't show any quirky weapons, possible super movies and etc. It just seemed a bit conservative. And I wonder if they're going to release a new video whenever they complete a new character model.

lol. FFT is semi-canon. It's the same as any non numbered Final Fantasy. More like a spinoff series than anything. Overall, FFXII is probably the best FF game since FF6 and FF7 as far as I'm concerned (though I still had a lot of fun playing FF8, FF9 and even FFX/FFX-2). The game play is really great in FFXII in that you can control a lot of the smallest actions that go on in real time and often, you can just sit back and manage your team instead of slaving over every little action. Though the traditional RPG system isn't bad in itself, I think the change is well done. The production values with the presentation, the music, character models, menu, animation and even the English voice acting is really top notch and there's few things to complain there. My biggest super giant complaint (sarcasm) with FFXII is the story, which just palpably seems to play it safe with a very straightforward story. I'm on my 20th hour or so now, ignoring most miniquests until I'm near the end of the game and nothing about the plot is really up for discussion since there is little if no ambiguity about it. And you know those caricatures of characters in most modern Final Fantasies where the unique quirks of the characters singlehandedly made the games bearable to play? (looking at FF8 and FFX) I sort of miss those types of avant garde characters that made Final Fantasy games stand out in the RPG crowd. Not that the characters in FFXII are bad in any means, but they just don't stand out for themselves amongst the crowd. The story and characters, again, aren't bad. Just.... average if a bit uninspired. For a game that makes me miss Sakaguchi's pacing and Uematsu's melodic themes, FFXII is a really nice and possibly huge step forward. If anything, the game play sets it apart.

I wouldn't put too much faith in the game so that when and if the game is actually very good, I'd be happier for it. I hope that Koji Kondo actually makes some new compositions instead of letting third string musicians compose.

Yeah, it could be. Or it could be because of the reference that has caught like wildfire in /b/ recently. Sorta like the Walker Texas Ranger fad that was actually from the Conan O'Brien show until it became popularized in the internet and YTMND.

Double post extravaganza!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR-El44pZfA Possible 4chan /b/ reference in Phoenix Wright 2. And they thought Something Awful references were hideous. But I like it.