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Square Enix Officially Unveils Final Fantasy XII
squareamp writes "According to 1UP's in-person report from the Tokyo unveiling, Square Enix has officially taken the wraps off of the latest Final Fantasy game - Final Fantasy XII. There are new images available of our main characters: Vaan (1), Vaan (2), Ashe (1), Ashe (2) - who are both described as Humes (taking a page from the race system of Final Fantasy XI: Online)." 1UP's coverage of the event also reveals "there won't be any branching-path system in place", possibly making the game more freeform, which could be "a large (and welcome) step away from the very linear scenario design of past Final Fantasies." The creators also indicated the game is 70 percent done, and is currently "due to be released in Japan in summer 2004."
Is Vann supposed to be a member of Glay or of L'arc~en~ciel?
Van looks like he's twelve. And Ashe doesn't know what a skirt supposed to be. And if I hear one more time that this is going to be "the most revolutionary Final Fantasy ever!" while being shown the same cookies from the same mold, I'm going to kill something.
"What is Internet Explorer 7? Are you saying we can't access the normal internet?" - I love tech support. Really.
If you don't like the type of game past Final Fantasy games have been, then please don't pretend that you can say anything objective about them. There is nothing wrong with a linear story line. Many of us enjoy that type of game. If you don't then go play one of the millions of other games out there that don't, and end up being massive slash fests instead.
/me dons asbestos clothing....
Also, in a preemptive response to the inevitable "Final Fantasy games invented the need for a strategy guide" comments: Shut up! Just because you're too dumb to figure out how to do things in the game without the guide, or you're too lazy to take notes while you play so you can actually remember the important details and figure things out on your own doesn't mean the strategy guide is *required*.
It amazes me that people think like this and then wonder why the adventure genre dried up.
(Thanks be to Tycho for the link.)
Am I the only one who interpreted "no branching path system in place" as "extremely linear gameplay with one ending".
The way I see it, a branching path system involves different results to your actions... something I don't recall any FF game having.
It just seems to me that they're trying to pretty up the same old game using new-fangled wording.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
www.ff12.com (Flash site)
The images linked in the submission are taken from the Characters section.
That may be the point. A lot of RPGs start out with you just being relatively normal people - why should you look like a spiky-headed huge-muscled freak when you're supposed to just be a normal kid?
I like the fact that they look like real, normal people. It makes them fit the role a lot better.
Could be a trick of the light, though. Or something.
Square Enix? Shouldn't you see an andrologist for that?
I miss the open party system of the first few NES FF games and the Gameboy FF legend series.
Me too. I remember going through the first FF multiple times with different party combinations. Getting to the point where they transformed to "master" status was a big motivator, too.
That is one thing about later FF games, where they played out sort of like a Disney adventure. Character A starts out, meets Character B on the road between Town A and Town B, they team up and eventually meet Character C in Cave D, etc., they fight stuff and defeat a witch or something. Actually, it is exactly like the Wizard of Oz, only done by Square.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
why should you look like a spiky-headed huge-muscled freak when you're supposed to just be a normal kid?
I like the fact that they look like real, normal people. It makes them fit the role a lot better.
Generally, most of the games don't make any reference to the characters' ages. On the other hand, the only thing that prevents all of the characters from being fairly androgenous is the fact that they tend to make the female characters look like 12 year old girls with the breasts of a 16-18 year old. The males just look like 10-12 year old girls.
On the other hand, the games are Japanese, and the characters may more accurately reflect older (mid to late teen) Japanese people than Americans.
Of course, all of the ideas of them looking like normal people go out the window when you have characters like Cloud (FF7) carrying (and using) swords bigger than they are, in both width and height.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
... they played out sort of like a Disney adventure.
umm, or maybe just any epic or pseudo-epic type story. I mean, when you take things down to the lowest level, almost every fantasy type story is the exact same story, and maybe that's just what I like about the Final Fantasy games- they all retell what's basically the same story in a different way, and sometimes that story even seems a little bit like your own story...
Tidus dead? No, but not because he is reincarnated as Vaan. Rather, because there is a sequel to FFX. FFX-2 came out today as a matter of fact. Also if you want to be a chocobo so badly, in more than just a minigame. There are actually chocobo based games. Also FF Tactics lets you play as chocobos.
Trust Your Technolust
Final Fantasy is not the right series for those who want to "be" the main character. They throw you into the lives of other characters. Sounds to me like you would prefer games that let you "create" your character by customizing their look and what not.
Trust Your Technolust
Try FF Tactic on the PS. You can get chocobos in your party and either fight with them individually or ride them in battle. I would hardly say the item you get from breeding and racing chocobos was worthless...I think you should go back and try again:P
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I haven't been a huge fan of the PSX/2 Final Fantasy incarnations, but I can't believe the attitude (pervading this comments) that this one is going to be like all the previous games; I think there's a lot of hope for innovation. People working on the game (and who exactly escapes me at the moment) have said that people won't know this is Final Fantasy and the fact that a lot of staff from FFTA is working on this game is a good sign. Also, as mentioned on FFXII is supposed tot take place in Ivalice, the same place as FFTA. There is a huge opportunity for this being a very different FF game, despite the conjecture here that says otherwise.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
Man, Square-Enix does it again. They've taken the male hero model and turned it on it's head by having two young ladies take the spotlight and save the world.
Damn Square-Enix, you just don't know when to stop innovating, do you?
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
HAHAHAHAHAHA.... ...take notes...
hahahhaha
whew...thats was a good one.
FUNK!
"In keeping with the general "new" approach to the franchise, longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu will only be involved in creating the key theme song this time. The rest of the music will be composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who worked with Matsuno on (say it with us) Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics."
Say WHAT?
Uematsu's works have always been some of my favorite, and I'm a video game music freak. I can prove it, I even donated to GamingFM... The removal of Uematsu is, IMHO, a bad thing, because his works have always been so stellar.
FFVII to be ported to my console...
So... thats what for the USA? Spring 2005 shortly before the announcement of FFXII-2?
In some cases, I would concur - there -are- games which do not need a strategy guide in order to be played and enjoyed. However, there are some things in the Final Fantasy series which are damn near impossible to figure out without one - I'd refer specifically to Final Fantasy VII as the trendsetter for this. I played the game through, and not once do I recall ever hearing in game about how to find the absurdly over-powered Knights of the Round materia.
My second point of contention would be that some people - myself included - play games as escapism from the real world. I'm a philosophy major in his third year at college - do you honestly think I want to have to take notes while I try playing through Final Fantasy X?
I think the main thing here is that we've played FF7 five years ago, and we expect something a little more 'adult' (not dirty, just more grown up) than these 'new' games looks to be.
So, they don't appeal to us as much as the old ones did, necessarily because we're inching away from the target audience year by year...
Txurlo
Everyone's having a pretty good time bashing Vaan for looking really excessively girly, and bashing FF12 for that. And yeah, he does look pretty bad, but if you remember the concept art for FF6 (or FF3 US), generally considered one of the best of the series, Locke was pretty girly looking. And Zidane from FF9 just looked stupid, but that ended up being a great game too.
I guess my point is that you can't make judgments about the game based on some poor character designs.
I think he's commenting on the fact that the "male" character looks like an 11 year old girl. The female looks like an 11 year old girl too, she just has the boobs of an 18 year old.
If whales learn how to use weapons we're all screwed!
seems like square is pandering to yaoi fans. yech.
I like the fact that they look like real, normal people. It makes them fit the role a lot better.
Er, do "real, normal people" dress like that where you come from?