Maybe. Maybe, indeed. But one thing it is not… is as good as Final Fantasy XII!
Ate you for real right now?
He is! He made a good case for it in another thread. Enough to make me put that game on my wishlist.
Plus FF XIII-2 doesn’t have MMO-style combat like FFXII, surely, so that makes it better by default, doesn’t it? :-P
What? FFXII’s combat isn’t MMO like at all.
It’s real time combat, where attacks are firing off at regular intervals. You’ve got a person trying to tank, another person trying to nuke, another trying to heal the tank, etc. It felt very much the same to me at the time, since I had just stopped playing Dark Age of Camelot when I originally played FF XII. The only difference is that you’re controlling all the characters, not just one of the characters, and you’re using their little AI scripts to help you do it.
Except the actions aren’t in real time - the entire game pauses when you issue an order to someone via the menu, there aren’t any shortcuts or “cooldowns” on menu actions (every character has a speed stat and after they perform an action another action can’t be performed until their action bar is ready), and there isn’t “tanking” in that sense. Everyohne’s taking damage in a fight, and many characters can be set to heal up other characters, everyone has to be dealing damage, and everyone has to be survivable. Characters have jobs, sure, but that’s also how DnD works. I mean, I think I see where you are coming from, but really it’s closer to something like Dragon Age Origins than an MMO. I suspect having just played a lot of an MMO you saw parallels, but it’s really an entirely different animal. And then you have the gambits, which really blow things open.
I don’t see the distinction between these two that you’re making. After you do something, you have to wait until your action bar is ready again. How is that different from cooldowns?
And characters also have multiple roles in MMOs. And Dragon Age: Origins combat is quite MMO-like as well, I agree. :)
I mean to say, in an MMO you have a tool bar full of actions. In real time, you pop one, then the next, then another, then go back and do another one, and repeat in your “cylcle” of abilities doing some skills while others cool down. In FF12 actions don’t have cool downs, if an enemy is weak to fire you cast fire until he’s dead or your out of MP, just like a traditional Final Fantasy game. The character himself has just what you might call a “global cooldown” if you prefer the MMO parlance, but it’s not really called that. You just don’t cast Fire as “fast as you can click it” or something. And that cooldown is based on skills and stats of the character, like if they have Quickness II or are equipped with lighter armor.
Dragon Age combat was pretty MMO like in that the actions had cooldowns, too.
It’s just another variation on the Active Time Battle system that Final Fantasy has been using since 2. Which is to say it is a turn based game, just with variable turn lengths, influenced by character speed stats and chosen actions. But actions are definitely in discreet turn chunks if you choose to play it that way.
I can kinda see where @Rock8man is coming from, but ultimately I’m with @Scotch_Lufkin on this one. It’s basically a turn based RPG combat system with some light positional elements. Which elevated the game for me.
I disagree that most FF games (FFX aside) are turn-based, but FFXII is definitely just a variant on the traditional FF systems where you can automate a lot of it and position matters.
Game Informer’s newest issue has what is so far a glowing review for FFXII, giving it a 9 and a “Gameinformer Gold” mark.
Sending you a bill for $50.
Any word on Pro features, or high frame rates? :)
Heh.
I don’t know a lot about the Pro version per se, except they did confirm it would have 4K resolution. Since I thought Horizon at 4K was smooth, I would expect this would run really buttery even at 4K. Just a guess though.
Often these older games are locked at 30 though, and I’m sure the cutscenes will remain so. But it would be nice if the game ran at 60.
Yes I am. FF XIII-2 is fantastic and the fact that many people wouldn’t even consider playing it after XIII makes me sad. It takes all the good things from XIII and makes them better. It’s easily the best FF game I’ve played, but I haven’t played many yet - only X, XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns (yet unfinished), and the first hour on VI and VIII. Also Type-0 HD, but since that one is a spin-off of sorts, I’m not sure it counts.
I’m telling you, best in the series. Amazing soundtrack too.
Maybe if the encounter rate was turned down by 80%.
It’s happening!
Also, I found out (for those curious) that when a character unlocks an Esper or a Quickening, it unlocks on both of that characters boards. So, if you unlock Shemhazai for your Black Mage/Red Mage you will have access to both Mirror Mail & Steel Mask as well as Esuna &Cleanse.
I finished XII in its original incarnation and loved it, and have been hoping for a NA Zodiac job system release ever since. And here it is! Mine arrives Tuesday.
In the meantime, does anyone know whether this version reprises the untouchable chest bullshit for the Zodiac Spear that was present in the original? That was a bit much, even if I was warned about it beforehand.
I literally just read that isn’t a thing anymore.