Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
I broke free from the clutches of Dark Souls 3 thanks to my friend who encouraged me to play FF12, now remastered for the PS4. I didn't play the original so I'm not sure where I am in the game, but it's a must-play for any RPG fan. It's no surprise that an RPG would steal me away from my goal of achieving max Soul Level in Dark Souls 3. Even as I was playing Until Dawn, for example, I wasn't as engrossed in it so I would take breaks and finish yet another NG cycle of Dark Souls 3.
It takes a couple of hours for me to get used to the game and the battle mechanics, which combines turn-based and real-time combat, and it's an extremely addictive and fun system. It also took time for me to get into the story and characters. However, Final Fantasy XII hits on all the reasons why I love RPGs, such as minimizing/maximizing stats, upgrading weapons and armor, and using strategy. It's extremely gratifying, after leveling up (whether through stats, weapons, or armor), a very difficult area that I encounter the first time, becomes much more manageable and then easy.
The one disappointment of the game is that the remaster doesn't allow you to change your stats, so it's permanent once you chose your job and skills. It would be so easy to include a respec system. I think all RPGs should allow you to change your build so you can experiment and explore. Since I didn't find out until a couple of hours into the game that this is permanent, I then did research into the best builds, which takes away from the immersion of the game, and then restarted the game.
Indeed, one of the ways in which Dark Souls 2 and 3 improved upon the original, is that they allow you to change your stats. I appreciate how they limit how often you can change your character's stats, so you have to respec in thoughtful manner. I think that's preferred over a system that allows you to change your stats completely anytime you want.
Despite this gripe, the amount of customization in FF12 makes it addictive, as there's always something that you can upgrade and improve. I believe part of the reason why I may not love Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3 as much as the other Souls games is that they reduced the amount of variables that you can improve, such as not being able to upgrade armor when I felt like I wanted to increase defense.
So far, I'm absolutely loving my experience with FF12 and it's a truly addictive and obsession-inducing game!
I'm curious if there's any game that stood out for you that allowed you to move out of your video game rut, if you ever felt that way?
The How of Happiness Review
I broke free from the clutches of Dark Souls 3 thanks to my friend who encouraged me to play FF12, now remastered for the PS4. I didn't play the original so I'm not sure where I am in the game, but it's a must-play for any RPG fan. It's no surprise that an RPG would steal me away from my goal of achieving max Soul Level in Dark Souls 3. Even as I was playing Until Dawn, for example, I wasn't as engrossed in it so I would take breaks and finish yet another NG cycle of Dark Souls 3.
It takes a couple of hours for me to get used to the game and the battle mechanics, which combines turn-based and real-time combat, and it's an extremely addictive and fun system. It also took time for me to get into the story and characters. However, Final Fantasy XII hits on all the reasons why I love RPGs, such as minimizing/maximizing stats, upgrading weapons and armor, and using strategy. It's extremely gratifying, after leveling up (whether through stats, weapons, or armor), a very difficult area that I encounter the first time, becomes much more manageable and then easy.
The one disappointment of the game is that the remaster doesn't allow you to change your stats, so it's permanent once you chose your job and skills. It would be so easy to include a respec system. I think all RPGs should allow you to change your build so you can experiment and explore. Since I didn't find out until a couple of hours into the game that this is permanent, I then did research into the best builds, which takes away from the immersion of the game, and then restarted the game.
Indeed, one of the ways in which Dark Souls 2 and 3 improved upon the original, is that they allow you to change your stats. I appreciate how they limit how often you can change your character's stats, so you have to respec in thoughtful manner. I think that's preferred over a system that allows you to change your stats completely anytime you want.
Despite this gripe, the amount of customization in FF12 makes it addictive, as there's always something that you can upgrade and improve. I believe part of the reason why I may not love Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3 as much as the other Souls games is that they reduced the amount of variables that you can improve, such as not being able to upgrade armor when I felt like I wanted to increase defense.
So far, I'm absolutely loving my experience with FF12 and it's a truly addictive and obsession-inducing game!
I'm curious if there's any game that stood out for you that allowed you to move out of your video game rut, if you ever felt that way?
The How of Happiness Review
Final Fantasy a one hell of a unique series, it's amazing they're still going after all this time. I muse say out of all the ones I've played (2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 and 12) Final Fantasy 12 was actually one of my least favorites. Not to bash the game at all, it was amazing and I'd still highly recommend it, it's just the bar is set so high with Final Fantasy that it's tough to make one really stand out given how great the rest of them have been.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel there's ever been a specific time that I've ever tired of games, I don't feel like there's ever been a time where I've felt it difficult to pick up a controller and play. That being said however, there are a lot of games that did re-energise me to play games again, and get me seriously excited for games to come. Undertale, Dark Souls, Borderlands and recently NieR: Automata spring to mind. There are others, but these games are all games that I felt brought something new to the table as far as games were concerned, and every time it's gotten me especially excited for upcoming releases, that look like they've learned from these games.
I don't blame you at all for feeling that way about 12, since 7 was something else, and I can see why 7 brought RPGs to the forefront in the West. I only played 7 of the series, but always read about how 6 and 8 are also at the level of 7, so I really need to play those. I agree 12 is amazing, and the gameplay is oddly fun and addictive. I'll most likely write something about 7 since I'm playing 12 right now.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I was surprised that I actually got tired of gaming after Dark Souls 3, but thanks to Until Dawn and especially FF12 brought me back. I'm now addicted as ever before.
I really need to look into Undertale and Borderlands since you've mentioned how incredible those games are. perhaps Borderlands will be my first FPS? I still have yet to play Nier!
Undertale is difficult to really pin to any genre, the best way I can describe it would be simply as a journey. It is a JRPG at it's very core, but that description simply doesn't do it justice. The game itself is a lot less about gameplay mechanics, and more about the world as a whole, the characters, the overall story. It's also probably the biggest recent game to really utilise the UI as an object in the game, I'd call it revolutionary because it's something we actually haven't seen before. It's very clever, and something that you need to be very creative to pull off, and when all the cogs start turning, it's truely a sight to behold. The game also does a fantastic job of pulling the player character into the gameworld itself, everything right down to the player characters -_- facial expression is perfect for creating an icon and talking to the player on a personal level. While I do feel they taken it almost a little too far, I'd much rather that than them play it safe and don't try anything at all.
ReplyDeleteBorderlands was simply put, perfect games publishing. They finished their first game, it was alright, good in some areas, room for improvement in others, they taken in feedback and went to their developers, and gave them the money to fix it. They gave them money to hire writers to fix the meh story, and introduce better characters. They didn't beat around the bush, they paid a lot of money, to a writer with a great portfolio in games development, and it showed in his work. From there, they turned what was regarded a pretty good game, nothing crazy but enjoyable, into something much greater. (You'll get it cheap on console by the way, you'll very likely find a copy second hand for PS3, or there's the Borderlands Handsome Collection for PS4 also fairly cheap for all 3 borderlands games so far.
This NieR: Automata analysis is coming, albeit slowly. It's kinda difficult to gather my thoughts on the game to be honest, the more you think about it the more discussion creeps up. Great thing, though in both meanings of the word.
I just pre-ordered Undertale, physical copy for the PS4--it really sounds amazing, and a must-play, despite my backlog issues! Should I dare get the Handsome collection even though I can't play FPS?
ReplyDeletePlease take your time re: Nier:Automata review! I still haven't played the game yet, so I can only read your review after I finish the game! It seems that it's very deep from everything I read about it, with the multiple endings. I don't feel like playing such a high-octane action game, yet, though. In fact, after finishing FF12, I'm not sure which game I feel like playing now--so perhaps back to DS3 NG cycles, ugh.
Borderlands is quite friendly to non FPS players, it's a mixture between FPS and RPG genre's, with plenty of tool's to help novices through it. It does a great job of introducing modular difficulty to the game, rather than a simple "Easy, medium, hard" scale, you'll find some characters and character builds will be much better for beginners like yourself, whereas harder builds might do more for a better player, but you might not be able to utilise correctly. If you do play through Borderlands, I'd recommend just starting the game a couple times with different characters, and checking out skill tree's, or looking them up online.
DeleteI caved in and ordered the Handsome collection, and I'm going to play it on normal, because I think with the RPG elements, if I totally flop, I can just grind my way up, like I did with the SoulsBorne series!
DeleteThe difficulty that I have with platformers is that you can't just level up your character and then tank through (b/c you'll just fall into the pit), you have to make that jump, no ifs ands or buts, whereas RPGs allow for you to grind and then you'll be successful. I think the issue I had with FPS, not just with the perspective, is the same concept, that you can't just level up, for instance, as in other shooters such as Uncharted and Gears of War (so I played on Easy).
Perhaps that may be one of the reasons why Borderlands became so successful, along with having spectacular gameplay?
I'm very excited for the game especially as you mentioned that the characters have different builds and skills, which is why I love RPGs so much! Thanks for the recommendations, advice and encouragement!