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.