Final Fantasy 12 - PS2 (part 2)

Traveling through the lush Tchita Uplands I noticed some new leopard-like monsters, the yellow Coeurls. These guys roamed in packs and pack quite a punch with their speed and magic. They give up about 1800 experience points each, but what you can nab from them changes the game. They dropped Embroidered Tippets.

These accessories double your EXP. Yes, that's what you need to get ahead in Final Fantasy games. For FF12, only those who are in battle will get EXP, but for LP even those who are not active will gain. I stole three of the Tippets and equipped them to each of my active members and then have those who aren't in my party equip Golden Amulets, so those who are in battle get double EXP and those who aren't get double LP. From there on, I jumped from level 42 to 50.

I'm still playing FF12 even though the PSN is finally up, I figure I'm too invested in the journey now. Can't let Vaan and his cohorts down. So after the Feywood and the magic city of Giruvegan, I arrived at the Port of Balfonheim. The bald skypirate Reddas joined me there. With the NPC, I decided to rack up on some more Hunts. I geared up, bought new magicks, and got ready for a string of boss battles. It also helped that at Balfonheim you could purchase teleport stones.

I quickly finished up all the Rank V hunts with little difficulty. Here's the deal: offensive Magick and Espers don't mean much in this game. At least in this stage of the game. What does matter is enhancements and emfeeblements. Keep your buffs up and dispel the ones off your enemy and you're going to be just fine. I usually equip Basch and Vaan with katanas, although it is not as strong as a spear or axe the multi-hits make them deadly. Then you buff them up protect, haste, and berserk. That's about it, I have one healer and two guys slashing away. That plan worked up until, well I started taking on the Rank VII Hunts. The fight with Gilgamesh was one that went sour.

I got killed by Gilgamesh not because I was level 52. This was not because I was low in level, but instead because he used Level 2 Sleep, Level 3 Confuse, and Level 4 blind. That totally made it hard for my guys to fight him. After a horrible Game Over screen, I learned my mistake. I leveled up to 53, a prime number. The rest is history. I did love the many swords that Gilgamesh had. I was trying to figure out the swords myself, then I learned that hey, some guys already did. He welds (1) Cloud Strife's Buster Sword, (2) Squall Leonhart's Revolver blade, (3) Tidus's Brotherhood, (4) Odin's Zantetsuken, (5) Zidane Tribal's Orichalcum, (6) Sir Erdrick's Wyrmhero Blade, and the (7) Tournesol. For more details about Gilgamesh, check this wiki out.

After that battle, I acquired the Masamune and the full set of Genji Armor, which I stole from Gilgamesh. I also got the Zodiac spear from the Necrohol of Nabudis. From here, I think I'm going to return to the story as I've swayed from it for so long.

Lastly, I started to notice a lot of references to previous games in FF12. The names of weapons. the names of airships, and even characters. Yeah, they're all from previous games. Here's another wiki that compiled the allusions of FF12:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XII/Allusions

Enjoy.

Final Fantasy 12 - PS2 (part 1)

Well, we all heard about the security breech on the Playstation Network of the past few weeks. Some guy hacked in, got access to about 80,000 credit cards, and now Sony's in a big mess. After a few days of trying to repair the network, they just said it wouldn't work, and are going to create a new one from scratch. Yeah, it seems like a Matrix movie plot, but no, it's real and a lot of people are upset. I think you can finally play multi-player games on it now, but I actually I was more worried about my trophies. A bit frustrated with it all, I just went back to Final Fantasy 12. Good ol PS2 gaming.

The thing about Final Fantasy 12 is that I never completed everything in that game. For the avid player, that's what FF games are about - you play it through once to get the feel about it, but you play it again to sweep up the nooks and crannies. The first time I finished it, I spent about 60 hours and made it past the boss with no problem. This was 2005? Bush was still in office. I remember not enjoying it much, but something rushed me. Then again, how can you tell someone you didn't like the game if you spent 60 hours on it? It's getting to the dessert portion of the meal and then telling your mate that, "well, this place kind of sucked". No, I like 12, and I like it a lot more this second time through.

So what did I miss? Pretty much everything. I didn't have the Zod spear; I didn't get the Genji gear; I finished the game with like four Espers. I finished about 20 Hunts, just to get by. It's interesting how little you have to do to complete a Final Fantasy game. I wish they remade this game for the PS3 and put in trophy pack. Hell, I wish they did that for every previous Final Fantasy game.

So starting over. Was it hard? Not really. Playing the game again was a bit odd for the eyes, as I had to go back to 480i, standard definition gaming. But I got used to it about three hours in. One thing that changed was that I got the Brady Guidebook this time, and well, I'm playing it as a cheater. Is it really cheating if you still have to DO the tasks? Sure I have access to maps, boss weaknesses, and just the general feel of the future, but I still had to play the game. Do I still die? Well, rarely. I think I got the game-over screen once. I took the wrong turn in the Fey Wood when my party had no reason to be there. Anyway, back to the game.

I really like this game. Sure it's the most different of the Final Fantasy series by far. It's engine and battle system is ported over from Final Fantasy 11, and the world of Ivalice is quite different from Spira or Gaea. So what's great about it? The characters and story. That's for another post. Right now, I'm 62 hours in, and walking through the city of Giruvegan.

Dragon Quest 6 - Realms of Revelation (NDS)

Originally released in 1995 to the Super Famicon in Japan, this chapter of the Dragon Quest series rarely made it to United States - until now that is. I picked up the new release last month and started playing it when I got home. It was the last chapter in the "Zenithian" trilogy (4,5, and 6) because they all feature the castles in the sky. I had to redo it because I don't even remember if I finished the game the first time around.

The game revolves around three characters: the hero, Carver the muscle man, and Milly the witch. They embarked on a journey to defeat the great evil of the land, Murdaw. But the fight was not much of a battle. They get their bodies separated in twos and sent into another world, the dream world. With their memories altered, they have to find their other selves and each other, and thats when then adventure begins.

The game wasn't that much different from DQ9, even though this game was released more recently, the style is noticeably older. All the modern finishes went to DQ9. I missed being able to view the characters equipment in the menus. Naturally the game doesn't have the mixing pot neither. What it does have, and a lot, were monster encounters. You get so used to seeing monsters on the screen and dodging them after DQ9. In DQ6 every five steps you'd be accosted to another quick battle. It gets pretty annoying when you're trying to complete a quest instead of out there just grinding for levels.

But the game's story was really good. I'm about 3/4ths through and I found it intriguing. It's the ultimate adventure of "finding oneself". The hero had to go through the real world and the dream world to re-unite with his other self. A lot of talking with townsfolk ensues, but for now I'm enjoying the ride. The nostalgia is definitely a treat.