I figure we should start a FFXII thread to prevent a complete threadjack of the Dragon Quest thread.
<a href="http://1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3145629&did=1">Jeremy Parsih</a> has a favorable, borderline fanboy, preview over at 1up.com. <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/11/18">Tycho</a> clearly does not like what he's seen, which has been echoed here as well.
I have not played the demo, but I am on Parish's side of the fence, and have been ever since news of the game came out. I have no problem with a dramatic overhaul of how a Final Fantasy game is played. By now, I've played six Final Fantasy games that all had the same basic gameplay. FFX had the best gameplay of all, but it was still a refinement. The basic gameplay was the same as in FF4 which I played when I was a sophomore in high school (which was many years after it came out). I'm pleased that the creators are finally trying something new. I've becomed tired of playing the same thing over and over.
As Seeker pointed out, many people said "This isn't Final Fantasy" about FF7 because it didn't take place in a typical medieval fantasy setting with dwarves and dragons. I reckognize that there is a point at which you've changed a series enough that it no longer can be thought as being in line with the previous games, but I don't buy that FFXII is at that point. I might disagree after playing the game, but I doubt it. Many long-running series have changed their gameplay over the years and still produced good games (Mariod, Zelda, Metroid, others escape me).
On the other hand, maybe FFXII is different enough from the rest of the series to "not be Final Fantasy." If that's the case, then I think that is inevitable. Hironobu Sakaguchi is no longer the executive producer. Amano is not providing character designs (although his role has been limited ever since FF7). Uematsu is not composing the music. I think that much of what we consider to be Final Fantasy is a result of the direction of Sakaguchi, and without him, it's possible that the end result is not going to be what we expect. I'm okay with that. A series of any kind is the reflection of the people who made it, and now might be the time that Final Fantasy becomes something different because it's being made by different people.
(For the record, I have not played I - III, V and XI.)
<a href="http://1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3145629&did=1">Jeremy Parsih</a> has a favorable, borderline fanboy, preview over at 1up.com. <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/11/18">Tycho</a> clearly does not like what he's seen, which has been echoed here as well.
I have not played the demo, but I am on Parish's side of the fence, and have been ever since news of the game came out. I have no problem with a dramatic overhaul of how a Final Fantasy game is played. By now, I've played six Final Fantasy games that all had the same basic gameplay. FFX had the best gameplay of all, but it was still a refinement. The basic gameplay was the same as in FF4 which I played when I was a sophomore in high school (which was many years after it came out). I'm pleased that the creators are finally trying something new. I've becomed tired of playing the same thing over and over.
As Seeker pointed out, many people said "This isn't Final Fantasy" about FF7 because it didn't take place in a typical medieval fantasy setting with dwarves and dragons. I reckognize that there is a point at which you've changed a series enough that it no longer can be thought as being in line with the previous games, but I don't buy that FFXII is at that point. I might disagree after playing the game, but I doubt it. Many long-running series have changed their gameplay over the years and still produced good games (Mariod, Zelda, Metroid, others escape me).
On the other hand, maybe FFXII is different enough from the rest of the series to "not be Final Fantasy." If that's the case, then I think that is inevitable. Hironobu Sakaguchi is no longer the executive producer. Amano is not providing character designs (although his role has been limited ever since FF7). Uematsu is not composing the music. I think that much of what we consider to be Final Fantasy is a result of the direction of Sakaguchi, and without him, it's possible that the end result is not going to be what we expect. I'm okay with that. A series of any kind is the reflection of the people who made it, and now might be the time that Final Fantasy becomes something different because it's being made by different people.
(For the record, I have not played I - III, V and XI.)