Final Fantasy XII --- Making it Difficult

Lucas10101

From reviews I have read on the internet people have claimed that FFXII is difficult enough especially due to the new Active Dimension System. However as an experienced FF player I would rather start this game with a handicap, but not a huge impossible one, or not too easy, or not one that hinders the game usage too much...but to add a certain challenge. As it's a new gameplay style, I was wondering what types of handicap could I use for these purposes.

I should be getting the game tomorrow or Friday and wondering how long does it last, I think a reasonably good FF should be between 100-200 hours including side-quests, gameplay and maxing out the characters at the end, with the special bosses, is it true that a Boss called Yazmat is 50 Million HP? Also, does the game contain break-limit damage like above 9999 like FFX? Hope so.

Obviously there have been a few criticisms regarding storyline and character development...irrespective of this, I prefer to battle system towards the end rather than the storyline as I just forget bout it anyway towards the end as I max out characters and beat the "impossible" bosses.

Cheers for any replies.

Retr0gamer

Well I found the game was quite challenging the way I played it but no where near impossible. I never level up in FF games because i tend to find it ruins the harder bosses since there is no strategy involved (anyone power levelling in FFX missed out on an awful lot in that game). I basically ran through the game as normal but got into every fight I could while exploring ever nook and cranny of every area, although I wouldn't take on any of the high level elementals and would run from an area if the enemy levels were too high. This only happens in the optional areas you return to later or areas you just shouldn't be at that point. I levelled all characters in my party evenly. A good tip is on the ability boards head straight for the quickenings since they add an extra bar of magic to the character which is important for healing. The game was quite tedious because you had to wait around a lot to get your magic points up to heal but the boss battles were very challenging and I had to us every sneaky Final Fantasy tactic I'd learned up to that point. All the bosses while tough were manageable other than the last boss which required the bubble spell since he was a big leap in difficulty.

The game is much longer than other FF games. I spent a good 80 hours on it without doing very many of the sidequests. Didn't really like the game at all though, not a patch on the older ones.

bohsman

Picked the game up second hand in gamestop for €15. Cant add much to Retrogamers post, the games certainly not as good as the older final fantasys but a huge improvement on X2 which isnt difficult

animaX

Yeah, retrogamer pretty much said it all. The main game itself is not too hard, its the side quests that are challenging. Basically you can do freelance work to earn money and items by killing certain enemies for people. They become near impossible towards the end (ie Yazmat)

SquareEnix seem to be doing that alot with their games now: make the main game easy enough so that everyone can play, make the side-quests difficult to satisfy the hardcore fans. They do the same with FF7 Crisis core

Lucas10101

I presume that yes Yazmat does have 50 million HP...therefore I take it that you can break limit above 9999 damage?

Retr0gamer

Well he is kind of weird in that he has multiple health bars, if you get rid of one and run away that health bar won't regenerate, not sure about breaking the 9999 limit really couldn't have been bothered finding out.

carbonkid

It was one of the more longer games, mostly cause of all the extra non liner scenery to explore. If you wanna handicap just do as Retr0gamer does, dont actively level up when theres no need and level up each of your characters evenly. Took me a couple of the FF games to realise this was a more enjoyable way of playing.

As far as storyline, i know everyones bitching about it been a direct star wars rip off, be nice if it was more original but i think it makes up for it in lushness of design. The teleport transitions are amazing...even the little detail like the footprints in the sand and all the characters are so well designed. The only major fall back is Vaan, been the character you play would be nice if we got to know his feelings and moods more personnelly, like Tidus or Cloud.

...and battle system...probably best of the lot if you divide your party into jobs (warrior,white mage, black mage etc), at the beginning anyway. ^^

sd123

I bought XII ages ago, but was too busy with college to ever play. Played it for the first time last night, and I have to say, (as a die hard FF fan) it's quite disappointing. The battle system is awful imo, completely takes away what I've loved and expected from Final Fantasy.

Despite this, I will play for a while at least, although I find it boring. Maybe I'll come to like it, but I doubt it alot.

seraphimvc

the balance system of gameplay is always a seal of quality under Squaresoft (eg if you never escape from random battle ,use the right item/magic/equipment ,you can run through the whole game no problem)but getting bad since FFX - i dont know is there any way to beat those dark aeons without leveling up...

main story line,final boss etc wont need you to spend time on leveling ,sidequests do - that is the wonder of the FF series.strongest equipment/magic/hidden bosses in sidequests make you spending 100+ hours on them.same goes to FFXII,but you are freely to do lots of side quests at the early stage of the game - your level/equipment/magic get boosted by these sidequests,making you very easy on the main story lines.

In fact ,the amounts of side quests are too many ,boring me at some point(needless to say that the Yazmat/crazy maze to get to Omega etc)and most importantly with the weak story/characters made me dislike the game >_< if ye are a online game fan,love running around places to kill monsters level up etc (without the quality/creativity of WoW),this game is your good online game on TV without montly pay...

*at 60+ level or something,so far as i can remember i have spent at least 6/7 hours on Yazmat,with less than 1/4 HP left...couldnt finish it and never will...i dont get the point really*

Kiith

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Well I found the game was quite challenging the way I played it but no where near impossible. I never level up in FF games because i tend to find it ruins the harder bosses since there is no strategy involved (anyone power levelling in FFX missed out on an awful lot in that game). I basically ran through the game as normal but got into every fight I could while exploring ever nook and cranny of every area, although I wouldn't take on any of the high level elementals and would run from an area if the enemy levels were too high. This only happens in the optional areas you return to later or areas you just shouldn't be at that point. I levelled all characters in my party evenly. A good tip is on the ability boards head straight for the quickenings since they add an extra bar of magic to the character which is important for healing. The game was quite tedious because you had to wait around a lot to get your magic points up to heal but the boss battles were very challenging and I had to us every sneaky Final Fantasy tactic I'd learned up to that point. All the bosses while tough were manageable other than the last boss which required the bubble spell since he was a big leap in difficulty.

The game is much longer than other FF games. I spent a good 80 hours on it without doing very many of the sidequests. Didn't really like the game at all though, not a patch on the older ones.

Jeez, i thought you had gone the entire post without saying that you didnt like the game. But i should have known better

I found some of the bosses really hard when i played it, as i had a way-off balance party. I always had my main group levelled really high, then the others just trailing behind. Same with this one.

Retr0gamer

seraphimvc wrote: »

the balance system of gameplay is always a seal of quality under Squaresoft (eg if you never escape from random battle ,use the right item/magic/equipment ,you can run through the whole game no problem)but getting bad since FFX - i dont know is there any way to beat those dark aeons without leveling up...

The Dark Aeons were only added in the european release of the game and the international edition in japan. The main game was extremely balanced, some of the bosses were very challenging but beatable if you didn't level excessively. The only exception was the massive jump in difficulty for the last boss.

Those Dark Aeons really spoiled the european version of the game. It was impossible to do many of the sidequests because dark aeons would be blocking the path you needed to get through.

seraphimvc

exactly.that's the price of adding in more elements in the game,the balance of the game will inevitably gone off abit,especially those dark aoens do block lots of the path.

the first time i played is the original version(NTSC ,bought from US :Dcant wait for the EU release...jesus...),no problem at all even easily beating the omega...then the final boss stage made me went back to level up - learned not to depend on summons lol normally you dont need any extra powerful magic/equipment finish a FF,the final boss is beatable with the right strategy (perfect example like how they do in FF6,brilliant!!) you may go through few GameOver of course.Speaking of that,i think i gameover alot in FFXII...not so proud of that as i rarely die in any RPG lol

well,because they are not happy with the 'normal' version of FFXII we got,square released a improved version of FFXII (in japan only as i can remember)

CodeMonkey

seraphimvc wrote: »

exactly.that's the price of adding in more elements in the game,the balance of the game will inevitably gone off abit,especially those dark aoens do block lots of the path.

I thought the dark aeons were added to make it more challenging for the hardcore japanese players. They put that in the EU version as a bonus since it was delayed for so bloody long. I didn't mind the dark aoens cause yojimbo can one shot them.

noodler

Despite its beauty, and scale and honestly its better gameplay (for me) I think what really lets FF12 down is its story and characters (bar Balthier and Basch and maybe Cid)

Wanted to see Rozarria too...

ChocolateSauce

I found it was by far the most difficult FF. Every single boss was a struggle to for survival. Each one had me frantically using potions et al, and more often than not I'd win just as I could endure no longer. Of particular mention were Vossler, Gilgamesh, Elder Wyrm and Mateus.

Of course this all mere opinion. Of course I could have effed of and levelled up for a while, but I've never had to do that in any previous FFs, so why this one? You should be strong enough to beat every boss that comes your way on the first attempt. Also the fact it was my first time contributed. I'm now on my 5th play and even when I run from 50% of fights, I still have no trouble with the bosses.

Gilgamesh is still hard as hell though!

Machismo Fan

After about a year and a quarter and 78 hours of gameplay, I finally finished it. It really is a boring game, as I think over it there is very little lightheartednesss in the game. Its basically all serious from start to finish and that makes it a little more tedious to get through.

noodler

I really hope you mean including every hunt, the gameplay is better than previous FFs for me. Hunts are arguably the best mini game thingy sicne blitzball which I loved.

Cina

Such gripe on XII. It's a wonderful game, with a fantastic battle system. I think my final playtime once I beat Yiazmat and Omega and all that was well over 100 hours, and it was some of the best gaming fun I've had in years.
I'll admit the battle system does start off quite slow and tedious, but as the game progresses and if you make sure not to power level too much, it gets absolutely fantastic, very tactical and very challenging.
The story-line is nothing on VII or X in fairness, but it's still good fun, and characters like Balthier make it even better.

XII is a great game, why such negativity?

noodler

I stopped playing last xmas before the massive hunts. I'll try get back into it. It is a great game, gamplay wise , graphics etc (wasn't a massive fan of the music though...anyone think it was great?)

Its just the story and characters. Fran, Ash, Vaan, Penelo are all crap. If it wasn't for Basch and Balthier......

But the story, no real emotional moments. It felt so rushed. Some of the cinematic sequences were brilliant as was the role of the judges but they could have had a better premise. You never got to really see things from the Rozarrian side either.

BY THEY WAY: All FF fans check out this vid: Hilarious
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/kung-fu-grip/131-The-Final-Final-Fantasy

Epic Tissue

I stopped playing FFXII only after about ~20 hours of gameplay. Gotta get back to it!

Nanaki

Up to about 35-40 hours of gameplay, imo it's one of the best so far.
I think the battle system is great, the license board works well.
Love the idea of a bestiary so easily accessible.
The hunts are fun, useful when you want to get away from the storyline.
Ashe and Vaan get extremely irritating tbh, the former in particular >_O
Thought it was different with the general style of language they used, makes it that tiny bit more interesting.

The boss battles *are* difficult, but hey, a challenge is good!

Spoiler, possibly, but a Q for someone who's completed the game:

If you return to Raithwall's tomb a while after, you can enter the first hall (of the destroyer) and defeat the Demon Wall again. Then, if you walk up to where it started, there's a blue thingy on the wall. You touch it and get a hidden pathway, but it's just really a big (square shaped) circle, there's nothing there except a different foe. Is that the point? Or am I missing something?

noodler

Hey there,

yes I do believe that you fight a new boss battle there somewhere and you get to keep the boss in the form of an Esper. I can't remember which one but that was the point of going back alright

elekid

Machismo Fan wrote: »

as I think over it there is very little lightheartednesss in the game. Its basically all serious from start to finish and that makes it a little more tedious to get through.

noodler wrote:

But the story, no real emotional moments. It felt so rushed.

Couldn't agree more with these statements, I loved the game for it's gameplay but felt very let down by the story and characters (or more accurately, the lack of these things).

On the other hand I felt that Revenant Wings had much better characters and story, with a lot of lightheartedness, but unfortunately the gameplay wasn't great.

I don't think either FFXII game gets the balance right but I still enjoyed them both

Nanaki

noodler wrote: »

Hey there,

yes I do believe that you fight a new boss battle there somewhere and you get to keep the boss in the form of an Esper. I can't remember which one but that was the point of going back alright

oh, okay thanks, I'll check it later!

Flashweaver

Nanaki wrote: »

If you return to Raithwall's tomb a while after, you can enter the first hall (of the destroyer) and defeat the Demon Wall again. Then, if you walk up to where it started, there's a blue thingy on the wall. You touch it and get a hidden pathway, but it's just really a big (square shaped) circle, there's nothing there except a different foe. Is that the point? Or am I missing something?

Yes your missing something! There's very little in Raithwall's tomb to return to later in the game except the odd rare monster. You're supposed to kill the first demon wall on your first time in the tomb. then if you explore the new area for a while you'll find a chest. Save and collect. If you're lucky you'll get the Demonsbane, an exceptionally powerful sword for that part of the game. But if you come back later it wont have been worth the effort. Well it's not really worth it anyway because as soon as you escape the leviathan you can score the Zodiak spear and several Deathstrikes (or something like that I dont remember their actual name). These are powerful enough to use right up until the end of the game or until you come across some legendary equipment.