My Final Fantasy XII Journal

[steeze]

There's no greater feeling of joy walking into the Damascus Estersands midgame to flex on that big T-Rex that was too strong to beat at the beginning of the game. I think it ends up being a bounty at one point. Can't remember the name. All I remember was the first bounty Rogue Tomato because I found the name pleasant.

[ScottyMcGee]

The one bounty I'm currently stuck on is this dragon thing near the Tomb of Raithwall. I haven't actually tried it again in a while. I'll get back to it when I feel more confident about all my characters' stats.

[ScottyMcGee]

Updates:

2Mar19

-So now we gotta find the Garif people in the Ozmone Plain who can use the magicite.

-Is this trek through the Ozmone Plain going to take forever? Like, did I just overcome the Demon Wall just to suffer another hurdle?

-Oh no, actually, this is quite fun.

-*insert traveling montage here with big band music like in Emperor's New Groove*

-Hey I found a cave - OH GOD NO EVERYONE HERE IS TOO POWERFUL RUN AWAY

-**** THAT PLACE

-Also that place had a cavern where the map suddenly went all staticy. That freaked me out.

-Okay found the Garif people. I guarantee you 100% the plot twist is that they don't know how to use the magicite.

-I told you.

-Oh look Larsa/Lamont is back. Just literally walked into the frame like "Hey guys". Cool. Offers a peace treaty. Now we gotta go find a person to do the peace treaty thing.

3Mar19
-WEEELCOME TO THE JUNGLEEEE

-Oh Christ almighty - MARLBOROS. Every FF player's worst nightmare.

-Actually, they're not that bad at all to fight in this game. They're small this time and actually. . .dare I say it. . kind of. . .cute?

-I basically grinded for hours here because I really wanted to level up Penelo and Basch. Now they're up to speed around the 20's.

1Apr19
-THE LAND OF THE PLAYBOY BUNNIES (a.k.a. Fran's people)

-The Playboy Bunny people are basically wood elves. Yeah. Tolkien's wood elves. They hate humans and seclude themselves in the woods.

-All of them say they have nothing to say to a human but isn't that saying something? If they really had nothing to say they would just. . .not speak at all.

-Okay, it's actually HUME in this game, not HUMAN. I hate that though.

-So now we have to find. . .ANOTHER person. . .someone Fran knew, in order to open the way through the jungle. Something. I think. I kind of zoned out because of a phone call. We gotta find another Playboy Bunny called Mjrn. Sounds like something you say when you're having a stroke.

[steeze]

That jungle was b-holes. Those wolf things were fairly annoying to deal with. Had to grind for a while.

[ScottyMcGee]

Oh hey, guess what guys and gals?

I AM ALMOST DONE WITH THE GAME.


Took me long enough.

Let's see how I've been doing:

1 June 19

-I almost forgot what I had to do. Oh yes, I have to go to the Henne Mines. I have to ride a chocobo to get there.

-Oof! This place is a bitch. Almost died but pulled through!

-I thought Mjrn would be older. Like a lot older. They way they talked about Mjrn made me assume she was an elder.

-Random thought - Chris Hemsworth would be your go-to casting for Basch if this were ever a movie.

-Oh no what's this ******** boss now?

3 June 19
Grinding. Grinding. More grinding. Killed Wyvern Lord finally (one of the hunts)

4 Jun 19
Guess what? More grinding. More hunts. Killed Croakodile.

-Reached the mountain - Bur-Olmice or something. Oh wait I get it. They call it "Bur" because mountains are cold and make you go "Brrrrrr!"

-Who the hell is this Benicio del Toro guy?

Look at him. Seriously. Tell me Benicio del Toro WOULDN'T be this guy in a movie:


His name is Al-Cid. So I guess that's this game's Cid?

-Al-Cid's voice actor threw every accent into his character. One moment he sounds Spanish, then Italian, then Russian. It's so strange hearing.

-They're talking about dreams and it's reminding me of Final Fantasy X. . .

-Even the head old priest guy is like "My dream too fades into day." That's totally echoing Final Fantasy X.

-Al-Cid has some hot girl following him everywhere and she doesn't say a word. Totally not his concubine or anything. . .

-Now we gotta do another thing.

-Oh ****. No guest this time? I thought Benicio del Toro would be my guest. He'd be a cool guest.

-This temple place is a bitch. Somehow made it by just having Basch being the only party member alive and fleeing across every room.

-Lots of progress today!

18 Apr 20 and 19 Apr 20
-Took a while to get back into the game.

-Stilshrine of Miriam. I had to look at a walkthrough here for the first time. I'd like to complain to the manager, please. The map didn't convey that there were two floors, and that I was on a lower level. I totally misunderstood that. But I'm still complaining to the manager.

-Wow. This boss was easy.

-Mateus is a second boss. Mateus is supposed to be easy but only if you have an accessory that blocks Sleep. I didn't have one. So I had to run all the way out to find a merchant just to buy an accessory that blocks Sleep.

-MOOOOOOOOOOGLES!

-Played through a lot today, w00t!

20 Apr 20 to 22 Apr 20
-Sochen Palace has these cute boss monsters.

-Ahriman is a dick.

-Achades! Ohhhhh there's an awful shot of the city where you can tell the game is so dated. The graphics in the city background are so awful in this brief cutscene.

-I have to get these things called chops and it's just me talking to people in the city back and forth in order to get these chops. It's so dumb. This is the most insipid thing I've had to do in this game.

-I don't HAVE to get all these chops but at this point it's go big or go home, amiright? Let's get ALL the chops and talk to EVERY goddamn person in the city! Chop-chop!

-I really feel like the protag of this game should have been Balthier instead of Vaan. He has so much more going on as a character.

-Jules is a cool side-character, in an amusing way. I think he should have had a voice actor.

-Happy Novelist NPC has a DONK (Sorry. I go to horny jail now.)

-Draklor Lab is annoying. I'm getting Vietnam flashbacks of wandering around the Leviathan. This place is pretty unforgiving.

-**** THIS PLACE

-Wait so there's Al-Cid but now another Cid? Al-Cid was WAAAAY cooler, man. He should have been this game's "true" Cid.

-Oh looks like I have to grind again and do hunts.

-WAIT YOU CAN JUST BUY TELEPORT STONES IN AIRSHIPS? HOW DID I NOT REALIZE THIS BEFORE????????

-Sidequest - Delivering Ann's letter to her sisters on the airships. Because I have absolutely nothing else to do right now.

-Okay so why do people use airships if they could use teleport stones? Why do the protags have to travel on foot when they can, canonically, use teleport stones?

Unknown Date

-There's this NPC at Balfonheim Port that is EVERYWHERE and it's REALLY annoying. "Reddas Freeman". How many identical twins you got, son? It's seriously taking me out of this place. Everywhere I look he's there.

-So I did a lot with the Feywood and whatever. I had to look at a walkthrough again in order to open the door to Gurvegan that said something about "Gigas" opening the door. I kept wondering what that was and apparently it's just Belias, the first Esper you get in the game. Oh. Why the hell didn't you just say "Belias"?

-Giruvegan is hard. Mom, please pick me up. I'm scared.

2 Aug 20
-I GRINDED THE **** OUT OF TODAY

-I grinded so hard that I plowed through Gurvegan AND its boss like they were nothing.

-I'm in the Giant Crystal and there are these switches named after the Zodiac signs---OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH IS THAT WHY THEY CALL IT THE ZODIAC AGE??

-I just realized I'm very close to the end of the game. Got another Esper. Met the Occuria. These divine beings who influence history. Okay. But like. Why not just rule over us directly instead of telling humans to do the thing and then getting mad when they don't do the thing?

3 Aug 20
-Balthier alluded to his possible demise, telling Vaan to take care of his airship the Strahl if something goes wrong. Oh god. Don't die, Balthier. You're the single coolest person in this game.

[CaptHayfever]

Yeah, the Great Crystal is about 80% of the way through the game.

And remember, "I'm-a Captain Basch fon Ronsenberg of Dalmasca, don't listen to Ondore's lies!"

[X-3]

Not at even Pharos yet? Well, see you next year.

[ScottyMcGee]

WHOOOO

4 Aug 20
Holy ****. I plowed through Pharos in a single day. Not a single game over. I take it Pharos was notorious for being the most difficult part of the game? They don't allow you to leave at some points, and if you do, you have to climb through all the trials again. I took it all in one shot. I thought it would be tedious but I plowed through all the trials and bosses like they were nothing. If anything, it got a little boring after a while just walking and killing things, so I took a break. The only one to give me some slight trouble was the first boss, Pandemonium. At one point, he was immune to everything. All attacks. All magic. All technicks.

My girlfriend then stopped by and watched me and said, "What if you heal him?" and I threw a small potion at him to see what would happen AND WHADDYA KNOW? It hurt him! Then his immunity disappeared and I finished him off. W00t! That's why I love her.

Yesterday and today were kind of muddled since I was playing through midnight last night and also today. I didn't have work because of tropical storm Isaias. Took the free time to finally get through this game.

Pharos really gives a Final Fantasy III vibe from the Crystal Tower. I just realized too that the "Guest" feature in this game is reminiscent of Final Fantasy II, which also had "guest" characters.

So obvi a lot of **** goes down in Pharos. In case you care about spoilers for a game this old, I'll put tags:

Spoiler.

Cid's motives was confusing at first to be honest, but that's to be expected in a game like this. Every RPG like this has a character who is like "Mwahaha I am bad but you did the thing I wanted you to do because I'm not really bad but I'm just seeking my own gain but also because I hate the oppressive status quo and want to tear it down".

You know. For a moment I almost forgot who Gabranth was. I know Basch has an evil twin brother, but in an earlier cutscene (which I also mentioned in an earlier post) I actually thought the face model for Gabranth looked like Balthier more than Basch, so I got really confused. Eh. White people.

Reddas dies because of course, also because he's the only black guy.

Al-Cid makes a brief return in a cutscene and I gasped because it was a pleasant surprise and I really wanted him in my team but alas, he had to leave again. Goddammit. I want Benicio del Toro on my team.

Next time I play, it's on to the grand finale - The Sky Fortress Bahamut.

[CaptHayfever]

It's not so much about it being difficult as about it being LONG, including a crapton of puzzles & 7 bosses (8 if you count Famfrit separately from Cid), the last 2 (or 3) of which are right in a row.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[ScottyMcGee]

5 Aug 20


I FINALLY FINISHED THE GAME.

Sky Fortress Bahamut was totally not what I expected. I expected another Pharos-like mutileveled monstrosity. At the beginning I thought I was going to be screwed because a literal dozen guards swarmed me and kept killing me. I just fled and found an elevator and next thing I know I'm in the final series of boss fights.

-Gosh. We beat up Gabranth like a thousand times and he still gets up and ends up helping us.

-Vayne turns into a buff weightlifter for his second form and it's the most awkward looking character model ever. He looks like he's wearing a muscle suit. I kept thinking many of his big attacks would definitely KO me, but they didn't. Am I on easy mode or something? I do have Vaan and Asche at levels 52 and 51, and Fran and Balthier at 47 and 49 respectively. I didn't care to use Basch and Penelo much throughout the game. Heck, I rarely ever had to use espers!

-No joke - Gabranth glitched during 80% of the fight with Vayne's second form. He literally just stood there at the edge of the battlefield, and also nothing attacked him. It reached the point where I said aloud, "Hey man, you gonna help out or something? Because that would be nice if you did." So I really managed most of the fight with 3 characters.

-Third form. Come on. There has to be a third form.

-Third form is some Sephiroth ripoff. Yawn.

-Once again, I kept thinking I'd get a game over but I managed to get by. there was a moment in the fight where, for about two whole minutes or so, I had to keep healing and reviving characters. I somehow got the rhythm going again of the fight and ended up FINALLY beating the game.

-FINAL CUTSCENE. The funny thing is that I had listened to this game's soundtrack ages before, so I was already familiar with the final cutscene's score. Now I finally get to see the scene that accompanies the music.

-I like how Balthier and Fran tell Vaan and Penelo to pilot the ship "just like we showed you." There were never any scenes of them teaching the kids how to fly. For God's sake, the airship was undergoing repairs for most of the game. That's the thing about this story, which I will get to more in depth in my thread where I finish every Final Fantasy game. I have a lot to say about the story, namely how it couldn't seem to decide who the main character is. It's different from Final Fantasy VI in that VI actually fleshed out its characters. But not here. I really think this story should have been about Balthier and Fran, or even Asche.

UH-OH. BIG SPOILER.

Spoiler.

NOOOOO! Balthier and Fran "die"?! Okay, but then they immediately imply that they survived after all. And I kind of hate it. They pulled off a Tidus like in X/X-2. Their deaths would make so much sense from a narrative perspective. Balthier and Fran pass on their skills, knowledge, and roles to Vaan and Penelo. To reveal that they actually survived ruins that emotional weight. And also why would they disappear for one whole year if they survived the crash? Just like with X, they couldn't commit to major character deaths.

-The end credits is actually really cool with the music and the artwork. They show Al-Cid and a bunch of what looks like school girls and that's very questionable. Very. Goddammit, Square.

Total number of "days" played this game: 24 (give or take, since there was a 4 year hiatus where I lost track exactly)

I will be posting my more in depth review in my thread here.

[CaptHayfever]

If you cast Berserk on Gabranth, he goes to town on Vayne's 2nd-form swords. (And if you cast Berserk on Basch alone, then both he AND Gabranth will wail on the swords.)

Beating the game around level 50 is not unusual at all. Completing the hunts below level 99 is almost unheard of.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[ScottyMcGee]

I figured Level 50 was prooooobably the norm for this game to end at? I've noticed since Final Fantasy X onward, the final bosses have been. . .meh. In earlier games, I always died at least once or twice or maybe had to go around and level up a couple more times before facing the final boss again.

[steeze]

I honestly attribute final fantasy deaths in general to younger more ignorant strategies as a kid. Seems like RPGs keep getting easier.

[ScottyMcGee]

^Definitely.

It took me forever to finish Final Fantasy X but that's because it was my first Final Fantasy game and really one of my first RPGs in general (SMRPG was my first). The older I get, the more I realize that these RPGs I played weren't really THAT hard; I just didn't develop the necessary experience yet to strategize.

[steeze]

I think it's starting to feel like "that time," where enough time has passed since XV that I'm starting to get antsy for a new installment. Man would it be cool if they brought it back to it's roots. I'd even go for a remake of any of the earlier titles.

[ScottyMcGee]

EDIT:

OOOOPS.

POSTED IN THE WRONG THREAD SORRYNOTSORRY

It's so late while I was writing my FFXV review that I thought this was the right thread.