RPGWW

OH! There's that old disc. I don't know HOW it didn't get too scratched after being tossed in with clothes all that time. Probably because it was back to back with Sly 2. Lucky bastard...

There. Back in your case, where you belong... my... this Collector's version looks really cool...

*taps case*

Should I take up the cause again? I was stuck on that stupidass mandragora boss fight in the cave...

It's really hard for me to get into RPGs these days, but for some reason, I spent a good part of 2008 with FFXII, ended up plugging over 100 hours into it, and loved every second. Couldn't explain the plot to you for the life of me, but the gameplay and battles hit my sweet spot for some reason.

Never been a big fan. The gambit system was an interesting experiment, but the main character is completely unlikeable in any way, and the game takes place in a whimsical world full of fantastic creatures, and yet with one exception, your party consists entirely of humans. Even including the random temporary party members. What the fuck is that?

Plus it reminded me way too much of MMOs.

I have to side with BW on this; the choice to have Vaan as a main character was idiotic, he's as bland as a wet paperbag, and the plot is just stupidly... stupid. I never liked Ivalice except for the cool races, and when you can't even have a friggin' moogle in your party...

The Judges were cool though!

And you have to love the random level-seventyhojillion enemies placed among the level twelve fields.

Ah, I used personal continuity for Vaan. Like the man said, Balthier was the "leading man" for me, with Basch as a badass old guy second. Vaan was the equivalent of Gau from VI... there, useful, but not necessary. He was kind of an example of Japan's disconnect with American culture... he breaks five man band conventions. ANYONE from America would have made him a sidekick to Balthier... Oh well. Still up in the air, folks...

I had a lot of fun with it, until I ran into one of the various "Fuck you" bosses the game has to offer. I fought it, lost, ran off and ground out ten more levels, came back, and died repeatedly to it some more. Then I quit. Fucking shit, fuck you and the horse you rode in on Squenix.

Why don't you play something that doesn't suck, like Skies of Arcadia or Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, or any of the Shadow Hearts games?

I hear Star Ocean 2 is good this time of year.

Would anyone like my address, so they can send me these wonderful titles I don't own?

We can do that. You should download ePSXe, though, as it is a high-quality Playstation emulator--essential in these days when memory cards from that era are starting to cease in their functionability. Of course, we don't want you getting ISOs of these disks, but we could send you the game disks and then you can keep and use them for their full, legal amount of time before sending them back so we can use them again and still be totally awesome legit. And no, you did not just see me wink, nor did I nudge you.

FFXII I actually bought something like two months ago. I played...halfway through? I think? I was enjoying it, but then I stopped playing and don't really know if I care about finishing. I concur with the assessment that Balthier is awesome, but the awesomeness would've been less apparent if he were the main character--Vaan exists to make Balthier look even better. The license board would've been much cooler if it weren't honestly most sensible to just have everyone learn damn near everything.

I've been digging around in the free/abandonware scene a lot lately in search of games to play in my spare time. If you have not played it, you should consider Star Control II. Or, if you're into something a little more tactically-oriented, consider UFO: Alien Invasion, a free port of X-COM. Depending on who you ask, there's no better time-waster/killer than Nethack.

You can also download Apprentice and get your ass kicked by me at Magic.

Or you can take any of the suggestions made to you earlier.

To BW:

I've tried getting into Skies of Arcadia numerous times, but the sloggingly slow pace of combat proves just too much for me to bear. I can't see how anyone can sit through that - there are random encounters like every three seconds! And the battles aren't hard, they're just tedious and time-consuming. What am I doing wrong?

It's true, they are all those things. Unfortunate, but true. Ya just gotta live with it, really. Or have someone else play it in front of you, so that you can have the narrative but not have to deal with the tedium.

Actually, I've not tried to play SoA recently. It's possible that if I tried to play it today I would have a hard time since I've been spoiled on traditional RPGs by Paper Mario and Shadow Hearts, which actually make the effort to make combat entertaining. That game's encounter rate was definitely irritatingly high, and combat may have been a little slow but I'm not sure I would describe it as a "slog." That may be the rose-tinted shades kicking in. But I stuck with it for the unique and engaging setting, equally engaging characters, sweet-ass ship combat and the incredible sense of exploration. And the plot was entertaining, even if it was full of anime/JRPG standards. Although I don't remember it as well as these other things, so maybe I will have to play it again at some point. For like... a third time. But I played it in a time in my life where I had a lot more disposable free time, so who knows what would happen now.

I think this is one of those games where you can make an argument for the distinction between plot and writing, because the character interaction is great, even when the overarching storyline itself feels very familiar.

You might try FAQ-ing to see what other people have done to speed up combat. That is by far the biggest complaint about the game among fans and detractors alike.

Really, SoA is the only console RPG to share Legend of Legaia's distinction as having combat that has, on more than one occasion, seen me fall asleep mid-battle. It's not that it's not pretty, or well-balanced, or interesting--it is all of these things! But it is so goddamned slow. Why is there no auto-fight option.

Loved FF12. I'm going through it now. Fran is so wonderful and, perhaps I have some semblance of a forgiving nature, I don't find Vaan completely dislikeable. I find him realistic, as distasteful as that might be.

I find the story artistic and well written.The artwork is nice and I, since I now work in a tech department, can appreciate on a whole nother level the gambit system but I've always been found of the more active fighting style.

If there's something I don't like it's the license system. I do like how everyone has a fair chance to fill any role but I don't like how some of the things are laid out and how undoing a bought license is non-existent. Mainly, I admit, I don't like this because it offers too many choices in my opinion and I find I'm more decisive when my options are limited or clearly constrained. It's a personal thing.

I look forward to FF13, especially if it's anything like 12.

P.S. Balthier (Baflear) is one piece of hot pirate ass.