Tasty

I'm on fire with these posts. What the heck?

Bad day for me today. Here's the scoop if you are so curious, but realize that it is a link to Livejournal. You should know what to expect. You have been warned.

I have tried out the first half of the FF12 demo. All I can say is this: Vyse and Malak called, Square. They want their games back.

The first thing you'll see is the demo FMV, where you'll discover a land full of air pirates and the evil empire of Arcadia. Now if this isn't a ripoff and stab at Skies of Arcadia I don't know what is. To be fair, the FMV showed some very serious/violent battle scenes which looked rather impressive. It is possible that Square is growing out of the teen angst stage and may have the skills to make a serious dramatic story, but the ripoffs are so abundant that I still don't trust them.

Then we have the combat. Its Knights of the Old Republic with summons everonye. The only difference is that enemies respawn MMO style. I didn't really enjoy the KOTOR system after a while, and I doubt that FF12 won't be winning me over to it.

Perhaps the worse sign for the game is that it just wasn't very interesting. The monsters were generic, as were the party members. FF games have generally done a good job of making each character look (and sometimes play) unique. For example, Tidus is the dude with the water sword. Wakka is the wierdo who fights with a blitzball. Lulu and Yuna look nothing alike. In FF12, we've got three generic looking pirate types with generic swords and bows. There's nothing interesting about them, or the environments they fight in. Whatever heart and soul Final Fantasy may or may not have had, it feels gone here.

This was supposed to be the FF I cared about. The one made by the FF Tactics people, who would take the series and bring it back to its former, pre-playstation glory. But then internal problems began, people jumped ship, and the director went crazy. What was left was given to a man who already tried and failed with the series. The results seem to speak for themselvse. I wanted to see Ivalice, but instead I'll just get a world that just so happens to be named Ivalice. I wanted a new combat system, but instead I'll get one from the "Game of the year" that I didn't even like. At this point, Square isn't even trying anymore. And after playing just two hours of Dragon Quest 8, I almost want the Final Fantasy series to give up the ghost so better, more enjoyable/daring RPG's can have some of the spotlight. But who am I kidding? A PS3 remake of FF VII will guranatee at least 8 more games.

Don't worry though, I won't let Final Fantasy taint this post. Let's finish it up with some awesome sauce.



I'd like to see who'd win....