Also the traps are a general indicator of how much health the game assumes you can safely risk losing once. But would threaten death upon the second trap without healing in between
Too bad I can't afford to plat that version...So far I play International Zodiac Job System (PS2 version) will makes the game harder thanks to one character only able to get 1 job.
@@eizy1010 you can choose codebreaker to choose your 2nd job. Even can learn all job if you want to. I prefer play IZJS than TZA, because I can play it in my phone. IZJS & TZA only have minor different.
@@fandyramli6067 wait?!! Izajs can be play in phone..is vivo y17 playable??? Codebreaker?? I don't know how to use it....I never use cheat in any game I played in my entire life...but for now things are different..plus Starting this year I able to play ffxii izajs thanks to my lil brother PC..so I use emulator pcsx2 in pc....I'm not good at using cheats on PC.
And It is quite underrated, I wish it's gets more popular after the release of Zodiac age.. I really love this game and my first playthrough was amazing cause you can never know what to expect and some characters are cool
You literally need to equip libra on at least 1 active party member(libra bracelet I think?) The land minds become visible all the time. I think unlocking the libra skill also helps...I forget. You are able to do this super early into the game. Never thought I'd hear a complaint about the world mines. Thought it was made clear that libra and float were basically your permanent friends
You don’t need to equip it. That’s just an extra accessory that lets it be active all the time. It’s a waste of an accessory slot. You can just cast the ability whenever you want with whoever has it. It’s a very early, very common ability
Still it'd be cool to have an option to defuse them or something, no use seeing them if they're blocking a corridor and you need to trigger them anyways to walk through
If you dont acknowledge Vaan and Ashe's dynamic and overarching themes of relinquishing vengeance for the sake of the future and not letting the Ocuria control their fate then idk what to say. Vaan's role in the group is central for a reason. Ashe NEEDS someone to show her what someone else would do in a similar situation. She needs guidance and Vaan shows her its possible to let go of the past and prioritize the lives of her people over pride ego and hatred. She represents a foil to Vayne and how they can control their destinies without the carrots on the sticks dangled in front of them from the Occuria. To reject the one ring(suncryst) rather than foolishly think you can control it like Boromir. Penelo definitely doesn't get enough screen time or interesting dynamics with the group and that sucks but not everyone is a super bombastic character in real life. Orphans atick together and she sticks with Vaan and maybe that's enough. After all theres more to life after war and she is focused on picking up the pieces and making a life which may be what kept vaan from spiraling from loss.
Nah, Vaan and Penelo needed to be condensed into just Penelo, Basch needed to be the central protagonist, and Larsa should've been a permanent character. Rasler should've been who we play as in the intro.
doesnt Vaan talks to ashe and that rabit girl like 5x in whole game? 🤣 story,combat and characters are utter garbage. just like every entry of ff after.
@@Amanofan7777 yeah pretty much. The two characters could have been re-written to make a deeper character. Also like the idea of Larsa as a permanent character. He most likely could have been the one to guide Ashe away from the past as well.
@Amanofan7777 I played this game on release and spent the last 2 weeks getting a 100% file of zodiac age and could not possibly agree more. Originally as a kid I thought penello was a weak character. Totally wrong. The biggest problem with the games story is you can tell the studio was given a hard Directive from management that the protagonist needed to be an effeminate teenage boy (this is literally what actually happened due to some very nonsense reaction to a bad release being interpreted wrong). You can literally feel the studios contempt for Vaan as a character in many scenes in the middle of the game and you can tell so much of the plot got lobotomized simply to make this new character a central focus. So many of the large set pieces are tied together by, excuse my French, shitty plot devices and maguffins (Larsas introduction to the team and literally vaan and Penello being with the team are early examples of obvious plot mega holes). The second biggest problem with the plot is that Ashe is literally Yuna with absolutely none of the personality. Honestly by the end of the playthrough I like her even less than Vaan who is almost tolerable by the end of the game. They both just feel like super watered down bland versions of their counterparts in the previous main title (FFX, Yuna and Tidus respectively) and since Ashe is so critical to the whole plot I'd almost rank her a bigger problem than Vaan. Basche they clearly had no idea what to do with once they added Vaan so he's the most wooden knight liege trope in the entire series. Occasionally there are moments that focus solely on Balthier, or Fran, or Larsa where you can feel the original plot without meddling because it suddenly flows properly for a few minutes. Eryut village or anything between Balthier and Cid being good examples. Delete Vaan, fold whatever parts you need into Penello and Basch. Let Balthier be the leading man. Larsa and even Reddas should be main party members and sooner. Actually cleared deep into as much content as possible early on while Larsa was in my party so I spent much of my playthrough with him main party. Really don't understand why people make beleaguered arguments about how Vaan is critical to the plot. You literally can feel the contempt from the studio for his character. There's very little academic literary merit to the position... Huge shame tho... the game probably has a partially completely beta directors cut that is a lost great final fantasy game.
FF12 is one of the best FF ever made. With Zodiac Age it got to god tier. It is the cool setting in the Tactics Universe, the Battlesystem and just the world.
FF XII is like comfort food meets gaming. Like a banquet of biscuits and gravy and mountain dew. Takes me back to PS2 grinding but on PS4 is looks great.
Final Fantasy XII is my second favorite game of all time, i love basically everything in the game. Talking about the Gambit System, i don't like to use Gambits on the character that's under my control, only the side ones, so i turn Gambits Off and control said specific character manually. Said that, Final Fantasy XII and the Gambit System have ( by far ) the best A.I System i ever seen in a video game my whole life. There's thousands different commands to customize about how your A.I is going to behave and it works pretty much 100%. If you set them to heal you under 50%, they are going to heal you there no matter what unlike other games where you can easily get game over waiting for the A.I to assist you. Since 2006 when i played FFXII for the very first time and another game's A.I fucks my gameplay i always remember how great FFXII A.I works and that's annoying, cuz FFXII has proven that a nearly perfect A.I can be done but no other Studio does that ( not even Square Enix, probably cuz FFXII A.I is extremally complex to replicate ), so we must deal with Stupid A.I in every single game that we play working against you instead helping as it should.
I AGREE WITH EVERY WORD. And my quest of searching for a similar experience has left me unsatisfied so far. You got any suggestions? If not, it's ok.. since your taste in games could be similar to mine, what other great games have you played? Please give me a list not in order..you'd a stranger a favor.
I agree about balthier-vaan relationship. The problem is that square made balthier unnecessarily cool to the point that he's hard to get. The entire party is basically has stiff personality. Just imagine if balthier is more approachable, he can have better conversations with vaan and being skypirate/brother. If ashe talks to vaan more often she can move on earlier and deal with other things. She might express forgiveness to basche and basche will express more loyalty to ashe. Penelo could have developed deeper relationship with vaan and players might ship them. And when the scene about vaan asking Fran's age, it will be funnier than offensive, and the woods will definitely be jealous. At this point the party is well built. Balthier's revelation of being former judge will be more shocking because everyone can feel betrayed. The fight with gabranth will be more intense because we now care about basche. Vaan and penelo will receive less hate because they are Ashe's inspiration of reclaiming rabanastre without using power and revenge. And the list goes on.
Has there been a better one since? I haven't seen any improvements, just gradual decline, where they made it worse for XIII, and then kept tweaking XIII system to make it even worse for future entries
14:07 In order to see the traps, you need an ability called Libra. There's an accessory with the ability attached. There's also a technique you can learn called Libra that completely eliminates this issue. This is my favourite FF game :3
My main party was fran vaan and bathier... so the story worked for me and it felt that vaan got close to them as we fought together constantly.... every other characters story development just felt like a bonus.
That's why i usually used Self-Libra-Gambit, because equipping the accessory would be tedious and a waste of slot. Libra spell doesn't require mp, and the only instance it can mess your battle is some difficult hunt or boss fight. Like instead of healing the party the character decides to cast libra on itself. But overall traps aren't that annoying, there're even some traps that heal you, duh. But they're rare. Anyway on the point of the video, i'm happy that you enjoyed the game. FF12 is definitely my favorite. And it's world is the only world i wished to be isekaied to. The aesthetic of the world and the music is just magical. And i really like that feeling. For me ff12 was more of a road trip than ff15 was. It feels like a journey, and it's amazing. The most critiques i've seen for the game is that it plays itself, or that it's like mmo, or comparison to the Star Wars. I see where those points are coming from, but i don't think that way. The most truthful review i saw from ProJared if i remember correctly. He did a spectacular analysis to break all those critiques, and i was happy to find a person who sees that game in different light than the others. That's why i'm glad that you were able to appreciate the game and talk about your experience with it without making same and same comparisons or complains about the gameplay. That's a big thumbs-up there! I still hope you'll try older ffs, i know, ther're slow, and outdated, but ff9 has one of the best stories, and ff8 has unique atmosphere and one of the most cracked systems of all games (as i've said in previous video, if you know how to deal with junction system, you'll easily cheat the whole game and become op in the first 2-3 hours of the game). Anyway, thanx for the review of ff12!
@@forcommentpurposes yeah, but there's that rare occurrence, when everybody is ok, so the character starts to cast libra, and suddenly everyone are not ok, and you need extra heal, but the character in the process of libra casting animation. These few seconds could lead to someone dying.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. You say you can't see the mines/traps in FF XII? Yes you can! Use the Technik "Libra," or Equip a Bangle. Traps are then revealed. Also, you can float right over them without settong them off. Use the spell "Float."
I love the asthetic, the world, the races, the plot, those comedic scenes with vaan, the fact that there is no techno neon clothes. Everyone has their pupose in the story even vaan, playing their role perfectly and no one is tryng to be edgy unlike certain characters with weather event names. I wish we had this game as the online experience to flash out the world even further. To me this is FINAL FANTASY and I just wish to be in the universe where square enix took this asthetic to make the nova crystalis fabula and subsequent games, but then again Im ok with where it is to me, a gem that no normie can reach.
Final Fantasy XII is the best final fantasy still hands down. Best Music, best monster design, best quest system, best combat, best accessory system, best dungeon design, has the most bosses. Has the best of everything. Likeable characters, and its story is basically Star Wars a New Hope. Classic.
I love this game, it's my second favorite game of the franchise after FFX. My only disappointment was not being able to travel to areas that are in Jagd and Rozzaria.
The stories and characters in ff games are always more than what meets the eye at first glance. The motivations and roles of the characters change or are revealed as the story progresses. Its fair to think these roles are what they initially present, since the game directly feeds you these bits of character info when you meet them. But once tou get into the story, you realize not everything is what it seems. Which is what makes the plot so compelling. Take balthier being a sky pirate. Its just a cover he uses so he can be a revolutionary. Thats why hes always playing the part, openly telling you its all just an act. And when he gets to know other characters, hell at some point say something like "ahh...another leading man.." indicating that they are also playing a role, or denying their true motivations for their actions. With vaan, its more direct, hes also a revolutionary at heart, who wants to assume the role of a pirate. And balthier recognizes that immediately. So he takes him under his wing. With fran, balthier just wants her to be happy, and thats mirrored with each pair, vaan and penelo, basch and asche. Basche initially seems like hes doing it for the kingdom, but his motivations are all selfish and center on revenge and his feelings for Ashe. They only really come together because misery loves company, and i find the dialogue in this ff is better than any other ff game, hands down. The intrigue drives the plot so well.
another good video, personally never having played ff12 i dont have too much to say on this but this video makes me want to try it out a bit more, love the commentary and in-depth analysis on each video
I used to play alot of this game in my playstation 2 when i was younger. I remember there was no such thing as zodiac thingy in the ps2 version. I felt like the Zodiac age version got some things easier. I loved the game especially the different steps you do just to get the secret weapons and bosses that only spawn if you do certain steps, areas and transportations of the map xD. I also loved that one final boss with super huge hp ( took me several hours to take down) from the guild that you can actually leave the fight to take a break and when you come back nothing was lost. Every end of cutscenes, i used to go around visiting the entire map and talk to almost all people because i realized there's this secret people spawning in some areas that can give you something. It was fun because the game often doesn't tell you how or where does this secrets are located, you have to go,like, walk around and taking notes at what people says because sometimes they give alot of hints how to get this and that, how to beat this and that. For me it was fun tbh. It was an adventure. The only thing i haven't finished was beating the last 3 from the 12 summoning monsters.. i used to know where they are located however it was hard for me to take them down. and that was when i was younger. Had a hard time taking down that tiny dragon that spawns black holes and unable to get to Ultima from that giant maze crystal, the more i get closer to the top of the crystal, the harder the mobs get, even at level 99 with secret weapons my ass is already dead. xD
I love pretty much every Final Fantasy game. And yes, I played them all (with the exception of 16 and the 7 remake part 2.) However, there are only 2 that I didn't beat. I put them down and quit because it was miserable playing them. That's 10 part 2 and 13 part 3. I forced myself to finish part 10. I don't understand why everyone loves that game. Anyway, I have yet to start 16 or the 7 remake part 2. I'll get to them soon enough. I just felt that; at the beginning of the video when you said you lost trust in people's opinion after playing part 10, lol. That game is corny to me. I even went back and played it a couple more times to see what the hell I was missing. I guess it's just not my cup of tea, idk..
The game does allow you to input any command for any party member. And I would say the movement during combat gives us 2 very important things that traditional turn based combat does not. It allows you to kite enemies around to bunch them up for AOE attacks, and it allows you to choose your battles. After enjoying FF12, I can't enjoy turn based combat the same way ever again.
Anyone who prefers 15 or 13 over 7 remake or over any great one like ff10. Is either a) a Hajime tabata loyalist. Or b) someone who never got into final fantasy before and 15 set the stage for them Unfortunately as the series gets older, new fans start to dislike older games. Even full on remakes. It's weird.
12 still my favorite. Probably the last FF game where I utilize my brain to set an ideal gambit for every situation, not just button mash everything. Yeah I see you XV and future XVI.
@@critical-thinker666 and if I manage to hold that long meaning my strategy just work and I feel rewarded because everything goes as I planned. Same principles apply for a game like Football Manager and Civilization, you didn't just "watch" them, you watch the fruit of your effort.
@@standheaykic66 its a rpg tho,it shoud be SOLVED by VERY EASY hack. you literaly put atk/heal/ress and that reverse spell which broke whole game and you are done. wheres some challenge and fun in watching your group killing everything without any input? you can literaly afk farm for 10 hours. i wonder why they scrapped this system and it was never used in any game ever. 🤮 (after that ff just become most trash combat game ever and it wasnt so hot before) they just dont have any clue how to make fun combat,so they keep making one button spam shit and ff 12 combat is literaly copy/pasted BOT program for MMOs.
@@critical-thinker666 "you literary put atk/heal/ress"..lol no, in theory that what you do, but in practice, no. Certain area has different type of situation and there's no way for people who went far with the game didn't notice this. You only repeating what the internet telling you for this past 15 years. Also, the FREAKIN MAIN POINT OF FFXII COMBAT IS MEANT TO COPY MMO FEELS OF FFXI, duh. Thank you for telling something we already know, I'm out.
@@standheaykic66 yes,look on any lategame videos where your characters gona 1 shot most enemies... bcs you can literaly keep game on over night and you gona be +50 levels. thats beauty of your AFK gameplay.
XII - Best game in the franchise. The gambit system is the meta. VII Remake - surprisingly good. XIII trilogy - appreciate the story arc, and the attempt to refresh the franchise. Lightning is Waifu. XV - good for a single playthrough. X - first FF game: prefer X-2. All ⬇ FFX - can appreciate, but too outdated - VIII is probably my go to. 9:30 - I don't think this is actually true, but I'll have to replay XII to check. Also - piggybacking off of @DeathGod - libra accessory, set libra and/or float as a gambit on a party member. Float had the added bonus of immunity to Earth-type attacks 'cos floor... End of video comments - differences between original and remaster are: enhanced graphics, autosave (🤷♂), the Zodiac job system (in the western release (at least in the UK) everyone shared the same board, but started in different locations, so basically everyone could learn everything) game speed toggle, new OST, multiple gambit tabs (I recall there only being one set in original) and they also changed the steps required to get certain items; in Raithwall's tomb, if you defeat both deathwalls you no longer receive the Blood sword as a reward, and also in the original if you wanted the strongest weapon in the game (still '%') you basically couldn't open any of those pots/chests you saw lying around the map, as any one of them could've been connected to the Zodiac spear.
Playing 12 before 13, you can see 12's DNA in 13's combat and paradigm systems! Apparently 13 was gonna be an upgraded version of 12, combat wise. But as time went on they had to strip it down. You can see that, easier, if you play 12 right before 13. Like; In 12, you could walk around the combat arena freely. In 13 you can walk around a circle in the general area you stand in. In 12, you can swap which character you control, to manually choose everyone's commands when the Gambits aren't specific enough. In 13, you can only control a preselected character at any time. In 12, you can select an abundance of Gambits and customize them further with specific commands. In 13, you select from a handful of paradigms, which are preset. The only way 13 is better than 12(combat wise) is the animations. You can see that they intended to improve upon 12, but at some point realized the engine couldn't handle it and began stripping features and automating control. Sucks, cuz 12 just needed more bombastic combat animation and a better story and it would've been great! 13 was looking to be that, but failed to in the end.
As a long time fan of FFX it’s a bit disappointing to hear that you didn’t enjoy the gameplay! But that’s just a testament to show nostalgia plays such a big factor for a lot of these older games! However I have to agree with you even as a mega fan you are correct age hasn’t treated FFX very well from a gameplay standpoint but I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the story! I think it’s one of those games that need a true remake treatment in order to see if it’s still capable of appealing to as many as it did back in 2001!
I hear there's rumor that a FFX remake is actually in the works and gonna release in a couple years from now. If so, I think I'll enjoy it significantly more 100%!
As someone who grew up on turn based games I thought and still think that the gambit system was a perfect evolution on the traditional turn based style! For me the blend of setting up and fine tunning gambits whilst still being able imput commands was very well executed not to mention finelly engaging with monster's in real time setting just makes the game flow in a way that hits difrent, after 12 I was pretty excited to see how the combat would look in 13 but boy was it a major let down and a massive step backwards. Back to random battle screen for absolutely no reason other to make it look "traditional" and a combat system that is steeped in limitations undoing everything they nailed about 12.
I once read a post saying "the best FF is the first you ever played". Being I an old fan of this saga, I've read, as you, many people's favourite ones but that comment is the only constant I found in this madness 😅😅😅
Honestly what you/people say about the cast rings true for almost every FF ever made. There is just not enough narrative for all 6 or 6+ characters. It really boils down to how the cast is as individual characters in look and fighting style. I think 12's cast is pretty damn solid in that sense
9:27 "you can only input commands for the party leader" is straight-up false. You can input commands for any of the 3 characters at any given time in battle.
Great video, nice to see another XII lover! Very fair points all around, the good and the bad. The only thing that stood out negatively was the point about the mines, but i see someone else pointed out libra in the comments By the way, were you reading the bestiary entries? They add so much to world building. And you can unlock multiple pages for the creature if you have killed many of that one. The pages don't always pertain to the creature either, you will sometimes get a locale page or mythology, etc. It's honestly one of the most appealing parts of XII to me because the writing style of the pages sucks you into the world
I honestly loved the old drawing of the enimes back in PS2 games but at least in Zodiac age you can see the enimes and bosses and how they look, but the old drawing makes it feel like reading a book
When the game was over (somewhat abruptly), I felt sad because I realized how much I actually enjoyed the game’s uniqueness. I learned to love the gambit system once I really learned how to use it, and I would love another game with a similar system.
And that's why I download mods to replay the game with different licenses boards and jobs and different enemies and also the Hunt quests they are optional and really fun
Great vid and I like how the way you approached this. When are you doing FF XIII? It's one that harbors very different feelings and thoughts within the community. I'm curious if you're interested in a vid about XIII :) Either way, great work.
@vooster oh, my apologies. I did look but I must have somehow missed them even though I already wear glasses lol. I will make sure to have a look at those. Thanks for taking the time to reply. And thx again for vids like this, it is refreshing to watch!
this was one of my favorite entries i bought it twice i loved gambits and this was the best combat system in ff imo too bad they didnt use that dragon age style combat again
Your opening comment about Final Fantasy X.... I bet my house you probably were a baby or not even born when that game released. The reason X gets a pass on being so linear is we went from super mario 64 graphics being the best we had (ff9 if you somehow actually had it at the time to be fair) to FFX. If you werent a gamer in those ancient times you cannot comprehend just how revolutionary and beautiful FFX was. It was a major moment in gaming history. It was the first time we humans ever had graphics this good. The obsession with graphics over gameplay and plot this created plagues AAA gaming et al to this very day. Especially the final fantasy series. FF13 went down this path and it was boring and the graphics were hardly revolutionary at the time even if they were about as pretty as pixels on console could get at release. FFX was literally wizard magic when it came out tho.
The job system is fun in the remaster, however, it was balanced way too easy compared to the original, especially with the addition of the 2nd job. FF9 would be a fun watch btw... Just keep the battle system on active (not wait), speed up combat in the settings, and hold on until you get the speed shoes.. Great story, best equipment system.
Did you checked out the hunts (marks) on this game? It's the best side content in the game, many prefer that over the main story, there are 45 on total and a lot of these would give you a lot of trouble, but the rewards for them are pretty good
I hated Vaan to the point where the only time I used him was to manipulate the rng of the items in the chests by making him punch himself in the face around 50 times. Loved the rest of game and characters though. It took time to grow on me at 1st but it is one of the best entries in Series. I got some views to say on your X video but I'll save them for when I can be arsed to make a comment on the video.
This game is probably the best world building and lore in any final fantasy game. I don’t think anything can beat ivalice.they can literally make more games if they wanted with that region since in 12 we literally only went to 2 regions
When it was released and after loving FFX so much, I couldn't stand this game. Tried it and felt so disappointed. Faat forward 15 years, I decided to give it another go....absolutely loved it - a wonderful game.
14:10 I mean, you only need one bangle ( cheap acessory at the beginning of the game) to see the trap everywhere, or you launch the libra spell when you enter an area. But yes I can understand your point. I had some jumpscare ahah. PS: I still don't understand the how PS2 was able to run this game. Rabanastre city with all the npc. It was a huge upgrade to FFX in my opinion. I was so mindblown. Also I really like all the secret lore that we can read in the bestiary menu. :)
Just found this channel randomly, well done video, I like your style. As for the game, I played this when it came out, and it is entirely and utterly forgettable for me. I couldn't have named 3 characters from this entry, I just couldn't jive with the story (or lack thereof) and felt aimless for a majority of the game.
Hey is this the remastered or regular? Also maybe try FFXIV. The free trail is very generous up to level 60 (Bass game and first expansion), I am not saying beating the story but possibly get to a point to the review game.
@@vooster Keep in mind that the base game is slow, having watched a couple of your videos so far, i think 14 is something you would enjoy if you push through a couple expansions, but you might struggle with base game and maybe even first expansion gameplay before you start really getting to the meat of the game
When i played ff12 for the first time at relase i liked it a lot ....the only Thing when i finished it ...i thought i miss a love Story but its ok not so important. Ff 12 was the last really good ff game for me and for a ps2 game Looks great. I like the vagarant Story look. Then Ff13 i was sooo disapointed.
I was in prison and played 12 while inside completed it maybe 50 times 100% including all the rare beasts. Also the gambit system could be set up wi you can literally fight anything if you set the gambits up right. The end game in this is also one of the best its humongous. There is ao much to do in th3 game
Played this game on release and spent the last 2 weeks getting a 100% file of zodiac age. Some thots on the subject... Originally as a kid I thought penello was a weak character. Totally wrong. The biggest problem with the games story is you can tell the studio was given a hard directive from management that the protagonist needed to be an effeminate teenage boy (this is literally what actually happened due to some very nonsense reaction to a bad release being interpreted wrong). You can literally feel the studios contempt for Vaan as a character in many scenes in the middle of the game and you can tell so much of the plot got lobotomized simply to make this new character a central focus. So many of the large set pieces are tied together by, excuse my French, shitty plot devices and maguffins (Larsas introduction to the team and literally vaan and Penello being with the team are early examples of obvious plot mega holes). The second biggest problem with the plot is that Ashe is literally Yuna with absolutely none of the personality. Honestly by the end of the playthrough I like her even less than Vaan who is almost tolerable by the end of the game. They both just feel like super watered down bland versions of their counterparts in the previous main title (FFX, Yuna and Tidus respectively) and since Ashe is so critical to the whole plot I'd almost rank her a bigger problem than Vaan. Basche they clearly had no idea what to do with once they added Vaan so he's the most wooden knight liege trope in the entire series. Occasionally there are moments that focus solely on Balthier, or Fran, or Larsa where you can feel the original plot without meddling because it suddenly flows properly for a few minutes. Eryut village or anything between Balthier and Cid being good examples. Delete Vaan, fold whatever parts you need into Penello and Basch. Let Balthier be the leading man. Larsa and even Reddas should be main party members and sooner. Actually cleared deep into as much content as possible early on while Larsa was in my party so I spent much of my playthrough with him main party. Really don't understand why people make beleaguered arguments about how Vaan is critical to the plot. You literally can feel the contempt from the studio for his character. There's very little academic literary merit to the position... Huge shame tho... the game probably has a partially completely beta directors cut that is a lost great final fantasy game. Also every time the game explains the plot view narrated text instead of showing us because cutscenes are expensive is massive cringe... just the weakest storytelling possible for a 21st century Square Enix budget game with a 6 year production cycle. (Fwiw, i love the complexity of the gambit system in this game. It laid the foundation for the modern battle systems they use now. I didnt like 13 but i do think ff7remake is the best combat system square has ever had. That comes from well over 2 decades playing these games. ) (Without out the x4 speed in Zodiac age i do think this game would be nearly unplayable these days)
FF7 remake for me is the combat and characters but the whole future ghost that are supposed to represent the old fans saying that's not how it happened in the original game and just the changes in the story wasn't for me.
By the way PC and Nintendo Switch are the best versions of this game because you can change your jobs whenever you want. I heard you can’t do that with the PS4/XBox One.
From a character perspective...it's star wars. Van is luke Skywalker. Balthier is the sky pirate han solo, who of course befriends a beast...fran who is a sexier Chewbacca. Basch is the veteran...obi wan Kenobi. And of course ashe is leia.
EVERYONE SHOULD PLAY THIS just logged 260Hours of gameplay going for 100% very fun dont use guides until you truly need them! some battles take 4 plus hours. Finding hastega Hardest thing in the world
Ah yes, i do enjoy getting lost in a big crystal for 16 hours on the og ps2 version with no speed up or auto save. Seriously though this game is amazing no matter which version you play but yeah hastega is awful to get the first time. Repeat playthroughs are much easier so it felt awesome getting it so fast
@@snuggie1849 facts, and no sadly I had to look it up lol if you did it the first time on PlayStation to definitely salute to you. I don’t think on PlayStation 2 I even made it past ultima never heard about the omega mark II. Like I didn’t get an invisible weapon until the end of the game as well to not ruin it.
@@Nocap69 my total playtime was like 350 hours because my parents didn't want me to go online to look up stuff 4 games. I found so many things in that game that amaze me that i found to this day, like omega and that bhujerba key that falls from the sky onto the phon coast. When i found that i was so mad caused i looked for a literal hundred hours for it. Spent a whole summer playing and honestly im glad i did.
Let's be clear - the hate towards FF7 Remake is because people don't understand what the game is. It has nothing to do with the games quality, which is what bugs me about those criticisms. I too, love 15 for what it is. It's a mess, but it's also fun and emotionally compelling at times. 7 Remake is *ONLY* *DERIDED* because it isn't a "1 to 1 remake like I wanted" to quote so many bitter "fans". Or because they shrunk Tifa's tits, which are still large enough to stand out. It has nothing to do with the writing, the music, or (most importantly in my opinion) the actual combat and moment to moment gameplay. There are a couple of hit or miss moments, but FF7 Remake is objectively well crafted with impeccable care. It's consistent, compelling, and yes it's very different from the original. The original still exists, and can be played on a hell of a lot of platforms. If someone actually suggested to me that 15 was a better game or was better crafted I would laugh in their face.
there is also the problem of unnecessary padding in 7. example is the arm puzzles. the fist time there ok but any repeat playthough there annoying to do. those parts of the rmk are one of the real bad things about it. but yes i agree with you on the hate towards it.
9:28 What?? That’s utterly incorrect. You can input commands for everyone in the party, any time, not just the leader. That’s how the game works. It tells you this. Literally every time you pause to issue a command the first thing you do is pick who you want to do it, then choose from everything that character can do. Hit the buttons. They do things. In this case there are even icons on screen telling you what to hit to switch which character you’re ordering. Gambits are useful but secondary. You can already do everything they do any time you want. I can’t imagine going thru the game without… _knowing you can control the game._ That must’ve been so frustrating.
The combat system of FF 12 kinda reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicle Can you do a review video for xenoblade chronicle ? I know is not a FF Game But in my opinion xenoblade chronicle is still pretty solid JRPG In term of gameplay and story I Will love to hear your opinion about this game
Wait... are you actually a fellow XIII > X chad or was that a meme used as bait to lure me out so you could kill me? Yeah the director of this game stepped out when it was halfway finished. It shows. I've always loved this game, but very rarely will I ever progress past a certain point where the focus seems to evaporate.
To be fair XV is the way it is due to development woes. For a whole year of development early on it had no director, so the devs had to fill their time some other way, then there was a 6 month period a year before release where there wasn't a lead narrative designer as well. So to keep themselves busy they made filler. The game suffered a long 5 year development where half the time the team was left without anyone in charge so they just worked on whatever they thought would be good in the game. So in a lot of ways Final Fantasy XV has more in common with an Elder Scrolls entry or Fable than it does with Final Fantasy.
If only the animations were more bombastic, then 12's combat would be hailed for how great it is! As is, the slow walk up and basic attack animations just further the idea that it's combat is slow and not like FF.
Your homie onto something, the FF7 remake isn't trash, but the combat was underwhelming, and the leveling was so uninspired. You had no options to grind at all, on rails as it were only gaining as much EXP as the story offered you until Wall Market, then you were forced to fight the same mobs at the stadium over and over, they were super weak but gave insane EXP - just a boring set up. Also, level 50 cap made it so you couldn't out level the difficulty, I struggled immensely on the final bosses and Sephiroth on normal. FFXV's combat was far better in my opinion - simply because you could warp strike and actually dodge attacks, i swear they forget to add the ability to dodge in the remake. Granted the main problem with FFXV game was EXP gained from combat, it was so often too low that it disincentivized the main activity in the game. there are very specific ways around it, but there aren't even guides for it because the only ones that (Still) come up are rare coin routes that frankly aren't worth your time anymore, because they removed the most lucrative way to collect them anyway. I actually also love FFXII, third fave after X and XV. Also for the record, I take no offense whatsoever to Vann and Penelo being tag alongs. First of all, they weren't a burden, and secondly it serves as a deconstruction of the main character trope. It also shows that any old person could be a follower or give their life to a cause, and frankly it's perhaps the only thing that someone like Vann would rather be doing anyway, even if they aren't premierly or sqaurely involved or central.
Use Libra, it shows where all the traps are. You do get told this.
OMG yes. That clip was painful to watch
Also the traps are a general indicator of how much health the game assumes you can safely risk losing once. But would threaten death upon the second trap without healing in between
Plus foat in order to avoid them easily
I mean you get an accessory in the first couple of hours which gives you Libra so there's really no excuse lmao
I was meaning the Technick Libra. I think Technicks were under rated
As a completionist I can say, FF12 Zodiac Age is an impressive masterpiece.
Too bad I can't afford to plat that version...So far I play International Zodiac Job System (PS2 version) will makes the game harder thanks to one character only able to get 1 job.
@@eizy1010 you can choose codebreaker to choose your 2nd job. Even can learn all job if you want to.
I prefer play IZJS than TZA, because I can play it in my phone.
IZJS & TZA only have minor different.
@@fandyramli6067 wait?!! Izajs can be play in phone..is vivo y17 playable??? Codebreaker?? I don't know how to use it....I never use cheat in any game I played in my entire life...but for now things are different..plus Starting this year I able to play ffxii izajs thanks to my lil brother PC..so I use emulator pcsx2 in pc....I'm not good at using cheats on PC.
@@eizy1010 I use Helio G88 procie. With decent setting it's playable in my phone. I use aethersx2 emulator.
@@fandyramli6067 wish my phone can use it...what should I do to make it playable in phone? Please tell what I needed to make it works? GB? RAM?
With or without gambits you can tell anyone in the party to make an action and it will supersede any gambit action they are taking
Gambits are awesome you can literally make the game fully play itself usi g the.. ao versatile
This game is magical. Is very big, lots of maps, lots of quests, it is truly one of the most marvelous FF games out there.
And It is quite underrated, I wish it's gets more popular after the release of Zodiac age.. I really love this game and my first playthrough was amazing cause you can never know what to expect and some characters are cool
@@Omega-jg4oqFFXII is my favorite FF. And one of the best games I've ever played.
I've been looking for similar JRPGs ever since.. not much luck.
Yeah.. all final fantasies since have borrowed from it heavily.
You literally need to equip libra on at least 1 active party member(libra bracelet I think?)
The land minds become visible all the time. I think unlocking the libra skill also helps...I forget. You are able to do this super early into the game.
Never thought I'd hear a complaint about the world mines. Thought it was made clear that libra and float were basically your permanent friends
yea I wasn't being very serious about the land mines, but always appreciate some insight.
@@vooster go back and defeat every Mark lol
You don’t need to equip it.
That’s just an extra accessory that lets it be active all the time.
It’s a waste of an accessory slot.
You can just cast the ability whenever you want with whoever has it. It’s a very early, very common ability
to be fair, most of the traps are harmless except a few that sap/petrify that are very annoying
i use libra mostly to se mob's status
Still it'd be cool to have an option to defuse them or something, no use seeing them if they're blocking a corridor and you need to trigger them anyways to walk through
If you dont acknowledge Vaan and Ashe's dynamic and overarching themes of relinquishing vengeance for the sake of the future and not letting the Ocuria control their fate then idk what to say. Vaan's role in the group is central for a reason. Ashe NEEDS someone to show her what someone else would do in a similar situation. She needs guidance and Vaan shows her its possible to let go of the past and prioritize the lives of her people over pride ego and hatred.
She represents a foil to Vayne and how they can control their destinies without the carrots on the sticks dangled in front of them from the Occuria. To reject the one ring(suncryst) rather than foolishly think you can control it like Boromir.
Penelo definitely doesn't get enough screen time or interesting dynamics with the group and that sucks but not everyone is a super bombastic character in real life. Orphans atick together and she sticks with Vaan and maybe that's enough. After all theres more to life after war and she is focused on picking up the pieces and making a life which may be what kept vaan from spiraling from loss.
Nah, Vaan and Penelo needed to be condensed into just Penelo, Basch needed to be the central protagonist, and Larsa should've been a permanent character.
Rasler should've been who we play as in the intro.
doesnt Vaan talks to ashe and that rabit girl like 5x in whole game? 🤣
story,combat and characters are utter garbage. just like every entry of ff after.
@@Amanofan7777 yeah pretty much. The two characters could have been re-written to make a deeper character. Also like the idea of Larsa as a permanent character. He most likely could have been the one to guide Ashe away from the past as well.
@Amanofan7777
I played this game on release and spent the last 2 weeks getting a 100% file of zodiac age and could not possibly agree more.
Originally as a kid I thought penello was a weak character. Totally wrong.
The biggest problem with the games story is you can tell the studio was given a hard Directive from management that the protagonist needed to be an effeminate teenage boy (this is literally what actually happened due to some very nonsense reaction to a bad release being interpreted wrong).
You can literally feel the studios contempt for Vaan as a character in many scenes in the middle of the game and you can tell so much of the plot got lobotomized simply to make this new character a central focus. So many of the large set pieces are tied together by, excuse my French, shitty plot devices and maguffins (Larsas introduction to the team and literally vaan and Penello being with the team are early examples of obvious plot mega holes).
The second biggest problem with the plot is that Ashe is literally Yuna with absolutely none of the personality. Honestly by the end of the playthrough I like her even less than Vaan who is almost tolerable by the end of the game. They both just feel like super watered down bland versions of their counterparts in the previous main title (FFX, Yuna and Tidus respectively) and since Ashe is so critical to the whole plot I'd almost rank her a bigger problem than Vaan.
Basche they clearly had no idea what to do with once they added Vaan so he's the most wooden knight liege trope in the entire series.
Occasionally there are moments that focus solely on Balthier, or Fran, or Larsa where you can feel the original plot without meddling because it suddenly flows properly for a few minutes. Eryut village or anything between Balthier and Cid being good examples.
Delete Vaan, fold whatever parts you need into Penello and Basch. Let Balthier be the leading man. Larsa and even Reddas should be main party members and sooner.
Actually cleared deep into as much content as possible early on while Larsa was in my party so I spent much of my playthrough with him main party.
Really don't understand why people make beleaguered arguments about how Vaan is critical to the plot. You literally can feel the contempt from the studio for his character. There's very little academic literary merit to the position...
Huge shame tho... the game probably has a partially completely beta directors cut that is a lost great final fantasy game.
Penelo is important early and mid-game because she is key to Larsa turning from indifferent to sympathetic
FF12 is one of the best FF ever made. With Zodiac Age it got to god tier. It is the cool setting in the Tactics Universe, the Battlesystem and just the world.
FF XII is like comfort food meets gaming. Like a banquet of biscuits and gravy and mountain dew. Takes me back to PS2 grinding but on PS4 is looks great.
Final Fantasy XII is my second favorite game of all time, i love basically everything in the game.
Talking about the Gambit System, i don't like to use Gambits on the character that's under my control, only the side ones, so i turn Gambits Off and control said specific character manually.
Said that, Final Fantasy XII and the Gambit System have ( by far ) the best A.I System i ever seen in a video game my whole life. There's thousands different commands to customize about how your A.I is going to behave and it works pretty much 100%. If you set them to heal you under 50%, they are going to heal you there no matter what unlike other games where you can easily get game over waiting for the A.I to assist you.
Since 2006 when i played FFXII for the very first time and another game's A.I fucks my gameplay i always remember how great FFXII A.I works and that's annoying, cuz FFXII has proven that a nearly perfect A.I can be done but no other Studio does that ( not even Square Enix, probably cuz FFXII A.I is extremally complex to replicate ), so we must deal with Stupid A.I in every single game that we play working against you instead helping as it should.
I AGREE WITH EVERY WORD.
And my quest of searching for a similar experience has left me unsatisfied so far. You got any suggestions?
If not, it's ok.. since your taste in games could be similar to mine, what other great games have you played? Please give me a list not in order..you'd a stranger a favor.
I agree about balthier-vaan relationship. The problem is that square made balthier unnecessarily cool to the point that he's hard to get. The entire party is basically has stiff personality.
Just imagine if balthier is more approachable, he can have better conversations with vaan and being skypirate/brother. If ashe talks to vaan more often she can move on earlier and deal with other things. She might express forgiveness to basche and basche will express more loyalty to ashe. Penelo could have developed deeper relationship with vaan and players might ship them. And when the scene about vaan asking Fran's age, it will be funnier than offensive, and the woods will definitely be jealous.
At this point the party is well built. Balthier's revelation of being former judge will be more shocking because everyone can feel betrayed. The fight with gabranth will be more intense because we now care about basche. Vaan and penelo will receive less hate because they are Ashe's inspiration of reclaiming rabanastre without using power and revenge. And the list goes on.
Hate me for this but, I think that combat in FF12 is one of the best if not the best combat system in a FF game up to that time.
I agree!
I agree, I played Ff12 the original and the international Zodiac job system and Zodiac age and even with mods
Has there been a better one since? I haven't seen any improvements, just gradual decline, where they made it worse for XIII, and then kept tweaking XIII system to make it even worse for future entries
Just to reiterate. Gambit Libra on one member in play. You’ll see all traps.
14:07 In order to see the traps, you need an ability called Libra. There's an accessory with the ability attached. There's also a technique you can learn called Libra that completely eliminates this issue. This is my favourite FF game :3
My main party was fran vaan and bathier... so the story worked for me and it felt that vaan got close to them as we fought together constantly.... every other characters story development just felt like a bonus.
That's why i usually used Self-Libra-Gambit, because equipping the accessory would be tedious and a waste of slot. Libra spell doesn't require mp, and the only instance it can mess your battle is some difficult hunt or boss fight. Like instead of healing the party the character decides to cast libra on itself. But overall traps aren't that annoying, there're even some traps that heal you, duh. But they're rare.
Anyway on the point of the video, i'm happy that you enjoyed the game. FF12 is definitely my favorite. And it's world is the only world i wished to be isekaied to. The aesthetic of the world and the music is just magical. And i really like that feeling. For me ff12 was more of a road trip than ff15 was. It feels like a journey, and it's amazing.
The most critiques i've seen for the game is that it plays itself, or that it's like mmo, or comparison to the Star Wars. I see where those points are coming from, but i don't think that way. The most truthful review i saw from ProJared if i remember correctly. He did a spectacular analysis to break all those critiques, and i was happy to find a person who sees that game in different light than the others.
That's why i'm glad that you were able to appreciate the game and talk about your experience with it without making same and same comparisons or complains about the gameplay. That's a big thumbs-up there!
I still hope you'll try older ffs, i know, ther're slow, and outdated, but ff9 has one of the best stories, and ff8 has unique atmosphere and one of the most cracked systems of all games (as i've said in previous video, if you know how to deal with junction system, you'll easily cheat the whole game and become op in the first 2-3 hours of the game). Anyway, thanx for the review of ff12!
That's why yout put Libra as the last action in gambit list, either bellow Esuna or Above.
@@forcommentpurposes yeah, but there's that rare occurrence, when everybody is ok, so the character starts to cast libra, and suddenly everyone are not ok, and you need extra heal, but the character in the process of libra casting animation. These few seconds could lead to someone dying.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. You say you can't see the mines/traps in FF XII? Yes you can! Use the Technik "Libra," or Equip a Bangle. Traps are then revealed.
Also, you can float right over them without settong them off. Use the spell "Float."
I love the asthetic, the world, the races, the plot, those comedic scenes with vaan, the fact that there is no techno neon clothes. Everyone has their pupose in the story even vaan, playing their role perfectly and no one is tryng to be edgy unlike certain characters with weather event names. I wish we had this game as the online experience to flash out the world even further. To me this is FINAL FANTASY and I just wish to be in the universe where square enix took this asthetic to make the nova crystalis fabula and subsequent games, but then again Im ok with where it is to me, a gem that no normie can reach.
Libra can help you spot traps stepping on it and boots you can walk over them all together
Genuinely the best and most fantastical FF ever released. It is the peak of the series.
Final Fantasy XII is the best final fantasy still hands down. Best Music, best monster design, best quest system, best combat, best accessory system, best dungeon design, has the most bosses. Has the best of everything.
Likeable characters, and its story is basically Star Wars a New Hope. Classic.
I love this game, it's my second favorite game of the franchise after FFX. My only disappointment was not being able to travel to areas that are in Jagd and Rozzaria.
damn over 7 or 6 ? i’m about to play this game sometime this year while it’s on PS Plus
What areas do you mean exactly? I can travel to whatever I want to go
The stories and characters in ff games are always more than what meets the eye at first glance. The motivations and roles of the characters change or are revealed as the story progresses.
Its fair to think these roles are what they initially present, since the game directly feeds you these bits of character info when you meet them. But once tou get into the story, you realize not everything is what it seems. Which is what makes the plot so compelling.
Take balthier being a sky pirate. Its just a cover he uses so he can be a revolutionary. Thats why hes always playing the part, openly telling you its all just an act. And when he gets to know other characters, hell at some point say something like "ahh...another leading man.." indicating that they are also playing a role, or denying their true motivations for their actions. With vaan, its more direct, hes also a revolutionary at heart, who wants to assume the role of a pirate. And balthier recognizes that immediately. So he takes him under his wing. With fran, balthier just wants her to be happy, and thats mirrored with each pair, vaan and penelo, basch and asche. Basche initially seems like hes doing it for the kingdom, but his motivations are all selfish and center on revenge and his feelings for Ashe. They only really come together because misery loves company, and i find the dialogue in this ff is better than any other ff game, hands down. The intrigue drives the plot so well.
Bro, you should have more subs based on your humor alone. I appreciated it very much. :)
I appreciate you
another good video, personally never having played ff12 i dont have too much to say on this but this video makes me want to try it out a bit more, love the commentary and in-depth analysis on each video
Hi pomu
DO it just logged 260Hours of gameplay going for 100% very fun dont use guides until you truly need them! some battles take 4 plus hours
I used to play alot of this game in my playstation 2 when i was younger. I remember there was no such thing as zodiac thingy in the ps2 version. I felt like the Zodiac age version got some things easier. I loved the game especially the different steps you do just to get the secret weapons and bosses that only spawn if you do certain steps, areas and transportations of the map xD. I also loved that one final boss with super huge hp ( took me several hours to take down) from the guild that you can actually leave the fight to take a break and when you come back nothing was lost. Every end of cutscenes, i used to go around visiting the entire map and talk to almost all people because i realized there's this secret people spawning in some areas that can give you something. It was fun because the game often doesn't tell you how or where does this secrets are located, you have to go,like, walk around and taking notes at what people says because sometimes they give alot of hints how to get this and that, how to beat this and that. For me it was fun tbh. It was an adventure.
The only thing i haven't finished was beating the last 3 from the 12 summoning monsters.. i used to know where they are located however it was hard for me to take them down. and that was when i was younger. Had a hard time taking down that tiny dragon that spawns black holes and unable to get to Ultima from that giant maze crystal, the more i get closer to the top of the crystal, the harder the mobs get, even at level 99 with secret weapons my ass is already dead. xD
I love pretty much every Final Fantasy game. And yes, I played them all (with the exception of 16 and the 7 remake part 2.) However, there are only 2 that I didn't beat. I put them down and quit because it was miserable playing them. That's 10 part 2 and 13 part 3. I forced myself to finish part 10. I don't understand why everyone loves that game. Anyway, I have yet to start 16 or the 7 remake part 2. I'll get to them soon enough. I just felt that; at the beginning of the video when you said you lost trust in people's opinion after playing part 10, lol. That game is corny to me. I even went back and played it a couple more times to see what the hell I was missing. I guess it's just not my cup of tea, idk..
The game does allow you to input any command for any party member. And I would say the movement during combat gives us 2 very important things that traditional turn based combat does not. It allows you to kite enemies around to bunch them up for AOE attacks, and it allows you to choose your battles. After enjoying FF12, I can't enjoy turn based combat the same way ever again.
Anyone who prefers 15 or 13 over 7 remake or over any great one like ff10. Is either a) a Hajime tabata loyalist. Or b) someone who never got into final fantasy before and 15 set the stage for them
Unfortunately as the series gets older, new fans start to dislike older games. Even full on remakes. It's weird.
12 still my favorite. Probably the last FF game where I utilize my brain to set an ideal gambit for every situation, not just button mash everything. Yeah I see you XV and future XVI.
which means that if you have iq around 50 game gona play itself last 10 hours.
@@critical-thinker666 and if I manage to hold that long meaning my strategy just work and I feel rewarded because everything goes as I planned.
Same principles apply for a game like Football Manager and Civilization, you didn't just "watch" them, you watch the fruit of your effort.
@@standheaykic66 its a rpg tho,it shoud be SOLVED by VERY EASY hack.
you literaly put atk/heal/ress and that reverse spell which broke whole game and you are done.
wheres some challenge and fun in watching your group killing everything without any input? you can literaly afk farm for 10 hours.
i wonder why they scrapped this system and it was never used in any game ever. 🤮
(after that ff just become most trash combat game ever and it wasnt so hot before) they just dont have any clue how to make fun combat,so they keep making one button spam shit and ff 12 combat is literaly copy/pasted BOT program for MMOs.
@@critical-thinker666 "you literary put atk/heal/ress"..lol no, in theory that what you do, but in practice, no. Certain area has different type of situation and there's no way for people who went far with the game didn't notice this.
You only repeating what the internet telling you for this past 15 years. Also, the FREAKIN MAIN POINT OF FFXII COMBAT IS MEANT TO COPY MMO FEELS OF FFXI, duh. Thank you for telling something we already know, I'm out.
@@standheaykic66 yes,look on any lategame videos where your characters gona 1 shot most enemies... bcs you can literaly keep game on over night and you gona be +50 levels.
thats beauty of your AFK gameplay.
XII - Best game in the franchise. The gambit system is the meta.
VII Remake - surprisingly good.
XIII trilogy - appreciate the story arc, and the attempt to refresh the franchise. Lightning is Waifu.
XV - good for a single playthrough.
X - first FF game: prefer X-2.
All ⬇ FFX - can appreciate, but too outdated - VIII is probably my go to.
9:30 - I don't think this is actually true, but I'll have to replay XII to check.
Also - piggybacking off of @DeathGod - libra accessory, set libra and/or float as a gambit on a party member.
Float had the added bonus of immunity to Earth-type attacks 'cos floor...
End of video comments - differences between original and remaster are: enhanced graphics, autosave (🤷♂), the Zodiac job system (in the western release (at least in the UK) everyone shared the same board, but started in different locations, so basically everyone could learn everything) game speed toggle, new OST, multiple gambit tabs (I recall there only being one set in original) and they also changed the steps required to get certain items; in Raithwall's tomb, if you defeat both deathwalls you no longer receive the Blood sword as a reward, and also in the original if you wanted the strongest weapon in the game (still '%') you basically couldn't open any of those pots/chests you saw lying around the map, as any one of them could've been connected to the Zodiac spear.
Playing 12 before 13, you can see 12's DNA in 13's combat and paradigm systems!
Apparently 13 was gonna be an upgraded version of 12, combat wise. But as time went on they had to strip it down.
You can see that, easier, if you play 12 right before 13.
Like;
In 12, you could walk around the combat arena freely.
In 13 you can walk around a circle in the general area you stand in.
In 12, you can swap which character you control, to manually choose everyone's commands when the Gambits aren't specific enough.
In 13, you can only control a preselected character at any time.
In 12, you can select an abundance of Gambits and customize them further with specific commands.
In 13, you select from a handful of paradigms, which are preset.
The only way 13 is better than 12(combat wise) is the animations.
You can see that they intended to improve upon 12, but at some point realized the engine couldn't handle it and began stripping features and automating control.
Sucks, cuz 12 just needed more bombastic combat animation and a better story and it would've been great! 13 was looking to be that, but failed to in the end.
As a long time fan of FFX it’s a bit disappointing to hear that you didn’t enjoy the gameplay! But that’s just a testament to show nostalgia plays such a big factor for a lot of these older games! However I have to agree with you even as a mega fan you are correct age hasn’t treated FFX very well from a gameplay standpoint but I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the story! I think it’s one of those games that need a true remake treatment in order to see if it’s still capable of appealing to as many as it did back in 2001!
I hear there's rumor that a FFX remake is actually in the works and gonna release in a couple years from now. If so, I think I'll enjoy it significantly more 100%!
@@vooster 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
As someone who grew up on turn based games I thought and still think that the gambit system was a perfect evolution on the traditional turn based style! For me the blend of setting up and fine tunning gambits whilst still being able imput commands was very well executed not to mention finelly engaging with monster's in real time setting just makes the game flow in a way that hits difrent, after 12 I was pretty excited to see how the combat would look in 13 but boy was it a major let down and a massive step backwards. Back to random battle screen for absolutely no reason other to make it look "traditional" and a combat system that is steeped in limitations undoing everything they nailed about 12.
I once read a post saying "the best FF is the first you ever played". Being I an old fan of this saga, I've read, as you, many people's favourite ones but that comment is the only constant I found in this madness 😅😅😅
Need Libra for the traps brother :) Shame the game doesn't spell that one out.
Good video! Good points!
Honestly what you/people say about the cast rings true for almost every FF ever made. There is just not enough narrative for all 6 or 6+ characters. It really boils down to how the cast is as individual characters in look and fighting style. I think 12's cast is pretty damn solid in that sense
Libra is incredibly important in FF12. Mandatory for the magic traps.
Great video, sir. I hope you figured out that Libra makes those landmines visible. Keep up the great work!
OK I like this video, but does guy not know about the Bangle?
I fell in love with this game after I finished it
9:27 "you can only input commands for the party leader" is straight-up false. You can input commands for any of the 3 characters at any given time in battle.
Great video, nice to see another XII lover! Very fair points all around, the good and the bad. The only thing that stood out negatively was the point about the mines, but i see someone else pointed out libra in the comments
By the way, were you reading the bestiary entries? They add so much to world building. And you can unlock multiple pages for the creature if you have killed many of that one. The pages don't always pertain to the creature either, you will sometimes get a locale page or mythology, etc. It's honestly one of the most appealing parts of XII to me because the writing style of the pages sucks you into the world
I honestly loved the old drawing of the enimes back in PS2 games but at least in Zodiac age you can see the enimes and bosses and how they look, but the old drawing makes it feel like reading a book
When the game was over (somewhat abruptly), I felt sad because I realized how much I actually enjoyed the game’s uniqueness. I learned to love the gambit system once I really learned how to use it, and I would love another game with a similar system.
And that's why I download mods to replay the game with different licenses boards and jobs and different enemies and also the Hunt quests they are optional and really fun
My favorite in the series
Same bruh
just wanna say that i love your soundbites and the way you edit and produce videos, so hilarious! earned a sub (: also, DONT BELIEVE ONDORE'S LIES! xD
One of the most amazing final fantasy series that I never get tired playing all over again...
Great vid and I like how the way you approached this.
When are you doing FF XIII? It's one that harbors very different feelings and thoughts within the community. I'm curious if you're interested in a vid about XIII :)
Either way, great work.
@@rubenvanoppen6578 appreciate the kind words, I have actually covered all 3 of the FFXIII games on this channel already:)
@vooster oh, my apologies.
I did look but I must have somehow missed them even though I already wear glasses lol.
I will make sure to have a look at those. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
And thx again for vids like this, it is refreshing to watch!
thanks for watching!
this was one of my favorite entries i bought it twice i loved gambits and this was the best combat system in ff imo too bad they didnt use that dragon age style combat again
Most addicting gameplay in my opinion in the series
Set up libra to see mines. Or equip a bangle for auto-libra.
Your opening comment about Final Fantasy X....
I bet my house you probably were a baby or not even born when that game released.
The reason X gets a pass on being so linear is we went from super mario 64 graphics being the best we had (ff9 if you somehow actually had it at the time to be fair) to FFX.
If you werent a gamer in those ancient times you cannot comprehend just how revolutionary and beautiful FFX was. It was a major moment in gaming history.
It was the first time we humans ever had graphics this good.
The obsession with graphics over gameplay and plot this created plagues AAA gaming et al to this very day. Especially the final fantasy series.
FF13 went down this path and it was boring and the graphics were hardly revolutionary at the time even if they were about as pretty as pixels on console could get at release.
FFX was literally wizard magic when it came out tho.
The job system is fun in the remaster, however, it was balanced way too easy compared to the original, especially with the addition of the 2nd job.
FF9 would be a fun watch btw... Just keep the battle system on active (not wait), speed up combat in the settings, and hold on until you get the speed shoes.. Great story, best equipment system.
Did you checked out the hunts (marks) on this game? It's the best side content in the game, many prefer that over the main story, there are 45 on total and a lot of these would give you a lot of trouble, but the rewards for them are pretty good
Lol the fact you didnt use libra, a spell you literally basically start with, is your fault, not the games. 😂😂😂
I clicked on this to be triggered about which FFs were good and bad. I am not disappoint. Thanks for the vid.
I hated Vaan to the point where the only time I used him was to manipulate the rng of the items in the chests by making him punch himself in the face around 50 times.
Loved the rest of game and characters though. It took time to grow on me at 1st but it is one of the best entries in Series.
I got some views to say on your X video but I'll save them for when I can be arsed to make a comment on the video.
FF-XII is one of my favorite 👌 it's a fresh take to FF gameplay back then and i have a Solid Playing experience on my PS2 👌
This game is probably the best world building and lore in any final fantasy game. I don’t think anything can beat ivalice.they can literally make more games if they wanted with that region since in 12 we literally only went to 2 regions
When it was released and after loving FFX so much, I couldn't stand this game. Tried it and felt so disappointed.
Faat forward 15 years, I decided to give it another go....absolutely loved it - a wonderful game.
it was like *STAR WARS* to me and sister liked it
14:10 I mean, you only need one bangle ( cheap acessory at the beginning of the game) to see the trap everywhere, or you launch the libra spell when you enter an area. But yes I can understand your point. I had some jumpscare ahah. PS: I still don't understand the how PS2 was able to run this game. Rabanastre city with all the npc. It was a huge upgrade to FFX in my opinion. I was so mindblown. Also I really like all the secret lore that we can read in the bestiary menu. :)
Just found this channel randomly, well done video, I like your style. As for the game, I played this when it came out, and it is entirely and utterly forgettable for me. I couldn't have named 3 characters from this entry, I just couldn't jive with the story (or lack thereof) and felt aimless for a majority of the game.
FF12 slaps, I also freaking love the soundtrack of the citys, they feel so epic.
FF12 was a great game…but its story ended rather abruptly. I was hoping there was more of the story left.
Hey is this the remastered or regular? Also maybe try FFXIV. The free trail is very generous up to level 60 (Bass game and first expansion), I am not saying beating the story but possibly get to a point to the review game.
This is the remastered. I actually didn't know there was a free trial for ff14. Might look into that.
@@vooster Keep in mind that the base game is slow, having watched a couple of your videos so far, i think 14 is something you would enjoy if you push through a couple expansions, but you might struggle with base game and maybe even first expansion gameplay before you start really getting to the meat of the game
@@chriss6297 appreciate the heads-up and your time watching the vids. I'll try not to judge the game too early.
When i played ff12 for the first time at relase i liked it a lot ....the only Thing when i finished it ...i thought i miss a love Story but its ok not so important. Ff 12 was the last really good ff game for me and for a ps2 game Looks great. I like the vagarant Story look. Then Ff13 i was sooo disapointed.
I was in prison and played 12 while inside completed it maybe 50 times 100% including all the rare beasts. Also the gambit system could be set up wi you can literally fight anything if you set the gambits up right. The end game in this is also one of the best its humongous. There is ao much to do in th3 game
Vaan and Penelo where last minute add ins to bring some youth to the cast. It’s super obvious lol and why they seem empty.
I love the three x speed on the remaster. Penalo be boxing everyone at high level.
Played this game on release and spent the last 2 weeks getting a 100% file of zodiac age.
Some thots on the subject...
Originally as a kid I thought penello was a weak character. Totally wrong.
The biggest problem with the games story is you can tell the studio was given a hard directive from management that the protagonist needed to be an effeminate teenage boy (this is literally what actually happened due to some very nonsense reaction to a bad release being interpreted wrong).
You can literally feel the studios contempt for Vaan as a character in many scenes in the middle of the game and you can tell so much of the plot got lobotomized simply to make this new character a central focus. So many of the large set pieces are tied together by, excuse my French, shitty plot devices and maguffins (Larsas introduction to the team and literally vaan and Penello being with the team are early examples of obvious plot mega holes).
The second biggest problem with the plot is that Ashe is literally Yuna with absolutely none of the personality. Honestly by the end of the playthrough I like her even less than Vaan who is almost tolerable by the end of the game. They both just feel like super watered down bland versions of their counterparts in the previous main title (FFX, Yuna and Tidus respectively) and since Ashe is so critical to the whole plot I'd almost rank her a bigger problem than Vaan.
Basche they clearly had no idea what to do with once they added Vaan so he's the most wooden knight liege trope in the entire series.
Occasionally there are moments that focus solely on Balthier, or Fran, or Larsa where you can feel the original plot without meddling because it suddenly flows properly for a few minutes. Eryut village or anything between Balthier and Cid being good examples.
Delete Vaan, fold whatever parts you need into Penello and Basch. Let Balthier be the leading man. Larsa and even Reddas should be main party members and sooner.
Actually cleared deep into as much content as possible early on while Larsa was in my party so I spent much of my playthrough with him main party.
Really don't understand why people make beleaguered arguments about how Vaan is critical to the plot. You literally can feel the contempt from the studio for his character. There's very little academic literary merit to the position...
Huge shame tho... the game probably has a partially completely beta directors cut that is a lost great final fantasy game.
Also every time the game explains the plot view narrated text instead of showing us because cutscenes are expensive is massive cringe... just the weakest storytelling possible for a 21st century Square Enix budget game with a 6 year production cycle.
(Fwiw, i love the complexity of the gambit system in this game. It laid the foundation for the modern battle systems they use now. I didnt like 13 but i do think ff7remake is the best combat system square has ever had. That comes from well over 2 decades playing these games. )
(Without out the x4 speed in Zodiac age i do think this game would be nearly unplayable these days)
FF7 remake for me is the combat and characters but the whole future ghost that are supposed to represent the old fans saying that's not how it happened in the original game and just the changes in the story wasn't for me.
By the way PC and Nintendo Switch are the best versions of this game because you can change your jobs whenever you want.
I heard you can’t do that with the PS4/XBox One.
really great video. i emjoyed getting your thoughts about this game
It took me, no joke, five years to decide if I liked this game or not.
I do, but I have a hard time telling you why :P
“My name’s Rex” 😂😂😂😂
The last great Final Fantasy game, and second to last decent FF in the series I've played(FF VII Remake was what I'd classify as "decent")
It seems you missed something as you are able to input commands to all characters.
From a character perspective...it's star wars. Van is luke Skywalker. Balthier is the sky pirate han solo, who of course befriends a beast...fran who is a sexier Chewbacca. Basch is the veteran...obi wan Kenobi. And of course ashe is leia.
And Gabranth is Darth Vader who has something personal with the protagonist I think, I'm not a huge star wars fan
14:00 I never saw invisible mines, on ps4 the traps have a visual, is it a bug on your version of the game maybe?
Played this game for the first time recently. Really enjoyed the beginning but it got so repetitive after about 25 hours.
EVERYONE SHOULD PLAY THIS just logged 260Hours of gameplay going for 100% very fun dont use guides until you truly need them! some battles take 4 plus hours. Finding hastega Hardest thing in the world
Ah yes, i do enjoy getting lost in a big crystal for 16 hours on the og ps2 version with no speed up or auto save. Seriously though this game is amazing no matter which version you play but yeah hastega is awful to get the first time. Repeat playthroughs are much easier so it felt awesome getting it so fast
@@snuggie1849 facts, and no sadly I had to look it up lol if you did it the first time on PlayStation to definitely salute to you. I don’t think on PlayStation 2 I even made it past ultima never heard about the omega mark II. Like I didn’t get an invisible weapon until the end of the game as well to not ruin it.
@@Nocap69 my total playtime was like 350 hours because my parents didn't want me to go online to look up stuff 4 games. I found so many things in that game that amaze me that i found to this day, like omega and that bhujerba key that falls from the sky onto the phon coast. When i found that i was so mad caused i looked for a literal hundred hours for it. Spent a whole summer playing and honestly im glad i did.
Let's be clear - the hate towards FF7 Remake is because people don't understand what the game is.
It has nothing to do with the games quality, which is what bugs me about those criticisms.
I too, love 15 for what it is. It's a mess, but it's also fun and emotionally compelling at times.
7 Remake is *ONLY* *DERIDED* because it isn't a "1 to 1 remake like I wanted" to quote so many bitter "fans".
Or because they shrunk Tifa's tits, which are still large enough to stand out. It has nothing to do with the writing, the music, or (most importantly in my opinion) the actual combat and moment to moment gameplay. There are a couple of hit or miss moments, but FF7 Remake is objectively well crafted with impeccable care.
It's consistent, compelling, and yes it's very different from the original. The original still exists, and can be played on a hell of a lot of platforms.
If someone actually suggested to me that 15 was a better game or was better crafted I would laugh in their face.
there is also the problem of unnecessary padding in 7. example is the arm puzzles. the fist time there ok but any repeat playthough there annoying to do. those parts of the rmk are one of the real bad things about it. but yes i agree with you on the hate towards it.
9:28
What??
That’s utterly incorrect.
You can input commands for everyone in the party, any time, not just the leader.
That’s how the game works.
It tells you this.
Literally every time you pause to issue a command the first thing you do is pick who you want to do it, then choose from everything that character can do.
Hit the buttons. They do things.
In this case there are even icons on screen telling you what to hit to switch which character you’re ordering.
Gambits are useful but secondary. You can already do everything they do any time you want.
I can’t imagine going thru the game without… _knowing you can control the game._ That must’ve been so frustrating.
Pick a time and place of our fight, because X is my fav
Ff12 is the only one I like for the style of game that it is.
12, 10, 8 those are my favorite
Subbed love the video :) are you looking forward to the new ff coming out next year :O
Yes! Also, appreciate the sub 👍
I want more of it, more of this universe.
The combat system of FF 12 kinda reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicle
Can you do a review video for xenoblade chronicle ?
I know is not a FF Game
But in my opinion xenoblade chronicle is still pretty solid JRPG
In term of gameplay and story
I Will love to hear your opinion about this game
I would, but unfortunately I don't currently own a switch or anything to be able to play Xenoblade :/
Thats because Xenoblades combat system was inspired by 12
Another FF banger, gonna have to savor this one, the only reason I knew this game existed is cause of an anime expo bag I got back in 2017 😂
Appreciate it man, hope you're doing well.
@@vooster Finals are absolutely fucking me up LOL, but im looking to graduate next semester 🙌
Wait... are you actually a fellow XIII > X chad or was that a meme used as bait to lure me out so you could kill me?
Yeah the director of this game stepped out when it was halfway finished. It shows. I've always loved this game, but very rarely will I ever progress past a certain point where the focus seems to evaporate.
No joke there ;)
yes , it is my personal favorite FF , and i like it very much uwu
10 was great, 9 was great, 8 was great
To be fair XV is the way it is due to development woes. For a whole year of development early on it had no director, so the devs had to fill their time some other way, then there was a 6 month period a year before release where there wasn't a lead narrative designer as well. So to keep themselves busy they made filler. The game suffered a long 5 year development where half the time the team was left without anyone in charge so they just worked on whatever they thought would be good in the game. So in a lot of ways Final Fantasy XV has more in common with an Elder Scrolls entry or Fable than it does with Final Fantasy.
12 is my favorite next to 7 then 10
If only the animations were more bombastic, then 12's combat would be hailed for how great it is!
As is, the slow walk up and basic attack animations just further the idea that it's combat is slow and not like FF.
They clearly tryied to transform Vagrant Story in Final Fantasy.
Your homie onto something, the FF7 remake isn't trash, but the combat was underwhelming, and the leveling was so uninspired. You had no options to grind at all, on rails as it were only gaining as much EXP as the story offered you until Wall Market, then you were forced to fight the same mobs at the stadium over and over, they were super weak but gave insane EXP - just a boring set up. Also, level 50 cap made it so you couldn't out level the difficulty, I struggled immensely on the final bosses and Sephiroth on normal. FFXV's combat was far better in my opinion - simply because you could warp strike and actually dodge attacks, i swear they forget to add the ability to dodge in the remake. Granted the main problem with FFXV game was EXP gained from combat, it was so often too low that it disincentivized the main activity in the game. there are very specific ways around it, but there aren't even guides for it because the only ones that (Still) come up are rare coin routes that frankly aren't worth your time anymore, because they removed the most lucrative way to collect them anyway. I actually also love FFXII, third fave after X and XV. Also for the record, I take no offense whatsoever to Vann and Penelo being tag alongs. First of all, they weren't a burden, and secondly it serves as a deconstruction of the main character trope. It also shows that any old person could be a follower or give their life to a cause, and frankly it's perhaps the only thing that someone like Vann would rather be doing anyway, even if they aren't premierly or sqaurely involved or central.
Hey you should play shining force, its a pretty cool game.
Honestly the last game I played from the main series was 10 and after that I feel like it slowly got worse