A birilliant set of videos. I actually found teh voice acting to be good, but it sounded poorly recorded. As for the soundtrack I fully agree. I noticed how you hardly used any themes from XII as they simply aren't memorable.
Completely agree with your thoughts on the battle system. I also hated how you had to have a license to equip a weapon. As for the Espers, I hated how they did not use any classic FF one and never used them.
A very good analysis of how Final Fantasy XII was disapointing.
Having a lot of crap to do is pointless if the game itself isn't enjoyable. A game that is shining example of this would be Arc the Lad: End of Darkness. The game provides a few hours of post game content but the main game is so bad that you'll never truly want to play it. The game was obviously designed around its online content, but that doesn't excuse a crappy solo part of the game. And, Final Fantasy XII lacks even online play to fall back on.
@LynnJynh9315 - I've only played two of the games in the series. Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits and Arc the Lad: End of Darkness. Of the two I'd recommend Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. Its a game that sticks more to the JRPG formula of the time and doesn't take a lot of chances. You can get it in the bargain bin of a Game Stop for under $3.
Arc the Lad: End of darkness is so bland that it hurts. The only reason I even finished it was becaue the game is short.
@LynnJynh9315 (Tangent) - Speaking of Working Designs, have you ever played Growlanser Generations? It comes with two games actually, Growlanser II and III.
@lobothesacred3 It was the last set they made before going under. Not played them either & have no immediate plans... why, are recommending them as well?
@LynnJynh9315 (1) - I've only played the second game in the set. It's been a few months since I've last played though. So, I'm getting a bit rusty on the plot and characters in the game. I guess, they don't leave a lot of an impression. Though, I do recall the voice acting as being decent and the combat system being a real-time tactical RPG.
I don't know if I'd recommend it considering it put the game down to go play something else that was far more interesting a few weeks later.
@LynnJynh9315 (2) - Then again I do remember playing Growlanser II while still young as a rental. And, then bothered to hunt it down almost a decade later and even drove to a Game Stop to purchase it that was almost an hour drive from my house.
@lobothesacred3 I'm guity of that. I played Dark Cloud at a cousin's house when it came out and only got around to hunting it down recently. And now that I have it, my PS2 is across the state at my mother's place. Oh well.
@LynnJynh9315 - My brother has a copy of that game. We both still live at our parent's house so I have easy access to it. We also own a copy of the sequel as well.
@LynnJynh9315 - If your still curious, I have recently downloaded the Arc the Lad I, II, Monster Arena, and III onto my PS3. I've finished the first one and can give you my impressions of the game if you want.
@lobothesacred3 Well, I'm interested... but I'll leave that up to you.
I know the history of the project: that they originally intended to release the games separately, but were forced to combine all games Sony deemed "inferior" into a set, so that Working Designs took a hit financially. This, combined with the unforeseen demand for a premium edition Growlanser set, pushed the company into bankruptcy.
@LynnJynh9315 (1) - I'll try my best to highlight the major pros and cons of this game.
Pro 1) The combat system is a grid-based turn-based combat system. In fact, this game is accredited for bringing this style to the forefront and was probably instrumental in the later development of Final Fantasy Tactics.
Con 1) The combat system is rather slow in this game. And, this problem is brought about because of two issues. One your characters can't pass other characters of your party accept by
@LynnJynh9315 (2) - jumping over them. This means your characters will pile up in narrow passageways. The second issue is that some of the enemies won't approach you to engage in combat. This is especially true with the slimes, which move in an erratic and random method of backwards and forwards.
Pro 2) The game looks rather decent for a game that is as aged as it is. The characters look a little pixelated. Though, this can be overlooked.
@LynnJynh9315 (3) - game. In fact, there are probably less then 20 unique enemies. Most of the enemies are merely palette swaps of a previous enemy.
Pro 3) There are a lot of secrets in this game and several side quests.
Con 3) Most of the side quests combat related. A good example of this is the proving ground and the arena.
Con 4) The game is terribly short for a RPG. Clocking in at around 10 hours and ends without much of the story being resolved. The game even ends with a
Pro 4) All of the characters fill unique and bring something to the table. There is one exception to this, but he may have been more useful if I invested some time in developing him.
Con 5) As stated before the game is short. So, the characters lack any sense of development or rounding.
Pro 5) The story lays a foundation for an obvious epic tale to come. And, while I haven't finished the second game. It's start is rather promising.
@LynnJynh9315 (5) - Overall, this game is rather enjoyable considering its age. But, it does have flaws that can creep up on you and make the game less enjoyable to play despite how short it is.
@lobothesacred3 Short length means I can actually get through it! (Still not beat Xenogears) I knew the games were very closely connected and time-restraints forced them to split the first game into Arc the Lad 1 and Arc the Lad 2.
Thanks for the in-depth. Was only expecting a "It's worth playing", but that was great.
@LynnJynh9315 - The sad part is I don't fell that my review was in-depth enough, but I'm not exactly motivated to write out a three page review of the game and provide an extensive in-depth analysis of where the game succeeds and fails. Mainly, because such a review would be all that cared for or looked at. So, I tried to hit the main points and move on. Though, I don't think I touched on the story of the first game at all during my comments.
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A birilliant set of videos. I actually found teh voice acting to be good, but it sounded poorly recorded. As for the soundtrack I fully agree. I noticed how you hardly used any themes from XII as they simply aren't memorable.
Completely agree with your thoughts on the battle system. I also hated how you had to have a license to equip a weapon. As for the Espers, I hated how they did not use any classic FF one and never used them.
A very good analysis of how Final Fantasy XII was disapointing.
Skmasterpiece 1 month ago
Having a lot of crap to do is pointless if the game itself isn't enjoyable. A game that is shining example of this would be Arc the Lad: End of Darkness. The game provides a few hours of post game content but the main game is so bad that you'll never truly want to play it. The game was obviously designed around its online content, but that doesn't excuse a crappy solo part of the game. And, Final Fantasy XII lacks even online play to fall back on.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@lobothesacred3 Haven't played the Arc the Lad games, though I'm a big Working Designs fan. Which Arc the Lad would you recommend?
LynnJynh9315 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 - I've only played two of the games in the series. Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits and Arc the Lad: End of Darkness. Of the two I'd recommend Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. Its a game that sticks more to the JRPG formula of the time and doesn't take a lot of chances. You can get it in the bargain bin of a Game Stop for under $3.
Arc the Lad: End of darkness is so bland that it hurts. The only reason I even finished it was becaue the game is short.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (Tangent) - Speaking of Working Designs, have you ever played Growlanser Generations? It comes with two games actually, Growlanser II and III.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@lobothesacred3 It was the last set they made before going under. Not played them either & have no immediate plans... why, are recommending them as well?
LynnJynh9315 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (1) - I've only played the second game in the set. It's been a few months since I've last played though. So, I'm getting a bit rusty on the plot and characters in the game. I guess, they don't leave a lot of an impression. Though, I do recall the voice acting as being decent and the combat system being a real-time tactical RPG.
I don't know if I'd recommend it considering it put the game down to go play something else that was far more interesting a few weeks later.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (2) - Then again I do remember playing Growlanser II while still young as a rental. And, then bothered to hunt it down almost a decade later and even drove to a Game Stop to purchase it that was almost an hour drive from my house.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@lobothesacred3 I'm guity of that. I played Dark Cloud at a cousin's house when it came out and only got around to hunting it down recently. And now that I have it, my PS2 is across the state at my mother's place. Oh well.
LynnJynh9315 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 - My brother has a copy of that game. We both still live at our parent's house so I have easy access to it. We also own a copy of the sequel as well.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 - If your still curious, I have recently downloaded the Arc the Lad I, II, Monster Arena, and III onto my PS3. I've finished the first one and can give you my impressions of the game if you want.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@lobothesacred3 Well, I'm interested... but I'll leave that up to you.
I know the history of the project: that they originally intended to release the games separately, but were forced to combine all games Sony deemed "inferior" into a set, so that Working Designs took a hit financially. This, combined with the unforeseen demand for a premium edition Growlanser set, pushed the company into bankruptcy.
LynnJynh9315 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (1) - I'll try my best to highlight the major pros and cons of this game.
Pro 1) The combat system is a grid-based turn-based combat system. In fact, this game is accredited for bringing this style to the forefront and was probably instrumental in the later development of Final Fantasy Tactics.
Con 1) The combat system is rather slow in this game. And, this problem is brought about because of two issues. One your characters can't pass other characters of your party accept by
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (2) - jumping over them. This means your characters will pile up in narrow passageways. The second issue is that some of the enemies won't approach you to engage in combat. This is especially true with the slimes, which move in an erratic and random method of backwards and forwards.
Pro 2) The game looks rather decent for a game that is as aged as it is. The characters look a little pixelated. Though, this can be overlooked.
Con 2) There is a serious lack of enemies in this
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (3) - game. In fact, there are probably less then 20 unique enemies. Most of the enemies are merely palette swaps of a previous enemy.
Pro 3) There are a lot of secrets in this game and several side quests.
Con 3) Most of the side quests combat related. A good example of this is the proving ground and the arena.
Con 4) The game is terribly short for a RPG. Clocking in at around 10 hours and ends without much of the story being resolved. The game even ends with a
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (4) - "To be Continued" screen.
Pro 4) All of the characters fill unique and bring something to the table. There is one exception to this, but he may have been more useful if I invested some time in developing him.
Con 5) As stated before the game is short. So, the characters lack any sense of development or rounding.
Pro 5) The story lays a foundation for an obvious epic tale to come. And, while I haven't finished the second game. It's start is rather promising.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 (5) - Overall, this game is rather enjoyable considering its age. But, it does have flaws that can creep up on you and make the game less enjoyable to play despite how short it is.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago
@lobothesacred3 Short length means I can actually get through it! (Still not beat Xenogears) I knew the games were very closely connected and time-restraints forced them to split the first game into Arc the Lad 1 and Arc the Lad 2.
Thanks for the in-depth. Was only expecting a "It's worth playing", but that was great.
LynnJynh9315 3 months ago
@LynnJynh9315 - The sad part is I don't fell that my review was in-depth enough, but I'm not exactly motivated to write out a three page review of the game and provide an extensive in-depth analysis of where the game succeeds and fails. Mainly, because such a review would be all that cared for or looked at. So, I tried to hit the main points and move on. Though, I don't think I touched on the story of the first game at all during my comments.
lobothesacred3 3 months ago