Final Fantasy XII - first 5 hours
I put in a serious chunk of FFXII time yesterday. This game is probably one of the best produced games I've ever played. The CG animation is top notch, the menus and associated sound effects are very slick and the dialog and voices are great. Even the in-game character models are well animated and expressionate (not wooden feeling). The writing seems decent so far. The graphics are really good considering how old the PS2 hardware is. I think it goes to show that you can make a good looking game even without lots of modern effects. This game has no bump mapping, no HDR, no realtime lighting with shadows and basic shaders. All the nice graphics are done with clever texturing, a good particle system and skilled art direction.
I'm not sure I really like the new combat system. I miss being able to see the characters more close up and in detail as they carry out their attacks - I think this adds a more emotional element. In the new system they are much smaller on screen and zooming doesn't really work how I would like (it ends up putting the camera low to the ground when you zoom in). Also combat feels more like Dungeon Siege which I thought was a rather bland game. Maybe I will like it more as I get deeper into it. They say that the combat system is this way because it was intended to be an online game - I wonder how that would have worked exactly. Would you be able to play through the storyline with your friends? A two player co-op function definately would have been fun, even if it was just letting another person pick up a controller and help issue commands during combat.
A big criticism of the FF games is that you spend as much time watching movies as you do actually playing. While this has some truth to it, I play a game to be entertained and if the movie portions are entertaining then that's fine with me. I think that being able to control the characters makes you identify with them more and makes the movie portions more interesting because you care more about what happens. Likewise, having a good story can make even bland gameplay seem more interesting and emotional.
I'm not sure I really like the new combat system. I miss being able to see the characters more close up and in detail as they carry out their attacks - I think this adds a more emotional element. In the new system they are much smaller on screen and zooming doesn't really work how I would like (it ends up putting the camera low to the ground when you zoom in). Also combat feels more like Dungeon Siege which I thought was a rather bland game. Maybe I will like it more as I get deeper into it. They say that the combat system is this way because it was intended to be an online game - I wonder how that would have worked exactly. Would you be able to play through the storyline with your friends? A two player co-op function definately would have been fun, even if it was just letting another person pick up a controller and help issue commands during combat.
A big criticism of the FF games is that you spend as much time watching movies as you do actually playing. While this has some truth to it, I play a game to be entertained and if the movie portions are entertaining then that's fine with me. I think that being able to control the characters makes you identify with them more and makes the movie portions more interesting because you care more about what happens. Likewise, having a good story can make even bland gameplay seem more interesting and emotional.
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