Oct 23, 2007 11:03
Hi
IT's cool, OK? Basically just like FFTa, which is a childish game for children. It doesn't waste any time throwing you directly into the (lack of) story, which is cool. The lack of a real story kind of sucks. The character's aren't overtly annoying, they seem fairly realistic (but I play in Japanese*). Instead of playing as a goody goody little brat, you play as the one kid in the whole class who was asked to stay at school and help in the library during his summer break, as a punishment for not caring about school. So when he hits the fantasy world, he doesn't really seem to want to go back (in FFTA the main character wants to go home, but on of the other characters who was drawn in with him is trying at all costs to stay in the other world (he controls the judges, actually). It's kind of neat to be playing the opposite roll.).
There are fifty odd classes, which is cool, but you are restricted in your choices for each character based on their race. That's less cool, but only when you compare it to the way things were done in FFT. I remember my Dragoon/Time Mages and want to make them, but I can't because only Lizardmen can be Dragoons, and only Moogles can be Time Mages (or whatever). It's Ivalice, so they need their races, and I think a game should be judged on it's own rather than in comparison to other games that I played when I was less jaded (maybe all games suck, but the games that I played when I was young and happy were cooler for me?). Items in the shop are made from items harvested from enemies, which is actually cool. You always have the option to advance the plot, but you can also just hop around doing quests and making new items, getting new skills, classes, etc... The unfortunate part is that there are a limited number of available quests... so... You run out? And it feels less like you are breaking the system and more like you are being the completionist that they built the game for (the fun of really PLAYING a game, for me, was feeling that I was doing something the designers hadn't considered. You know?).
Combat is Tactics. Slow but cool. How does that work, eh? In Tactics they had big maps with loads of badies, and by the end there was always one guy who kept running further away. In TTA and A2 they use smaller maps, so the battles are still tatical, but just shorter. I guess that's cool. (I miss the really creative level design from tactics, like that cliffside beach, or the mountain pass). The monsters that you fight are Ivalice. Take that to mean what you will.
Oh man, but beautiful game! In my opinion this is the most beautiful game for the DS. I've played a whole bunch of recent games, but this one seriously takes the cake. Tactics games have always been beutiful, though, so I guess that's no surprise. FFCC2 is pretty pretty too.
Yup.
z.
*You remember the end of Lost in Translation? How the guy says something directly into your imagination, and it's the best line in the movie? Yeah, so playing in Japanese must be like that. I figure it's impossible that all translators suck at their job, so it must be that because I am reading in a language that I feel differently, my mind filling in blanks and expanding makes the dialogue more involvmenting. (Involvmentizing?) Like, in FF12 the characters didn't annoy me at all, even Penelo was tolerable. That's because of the distance between the words on the screen and my comprehension brain. I guess.