Like Proper Kidnappers.

[rionaleonhart]

I seem to be replaying every Final Fantasy game I own in an attempt to distract myself from the fact that Final Fantasy Type-0 is finally coming out in the West, finally, after three and a half years, and I can't play it because I don't have a PS4. Today I'm talking about Final Fantasy XII!


I've never really been able to grasp the plot of Final Fantasy XII - I often feel I'm just drifting from place to place, not really knowing what our goal is - and I've always sort of assumed that the plot is just incomprehensible. It's only now, on my third playthrough, that I realise the thing that kicks everything off - 'Ashe wants to depose Vayne, but first needs proof that she's the heir to the throne if she wants to be accepted as ruler afterwards' - is actually perfectly straightforward. I've just missed vast swathes of the plot on account of only paying attention to Balthier. There are significant cutscenes I have absolutely no memory of.

Balthier, I love you, but you have severely impaired my understanding of this game.

Ashe, in all her anger and pride, has caught my attention this time around in a way she didn't on my previous playthroughs. Which is good, because Ashe is at the centre of the plot, so paying attention to her should actually help me understand this game, unlike some charming but distracting characters I could mention.


More than any other game in the series, Final Fantasy XII creates a sense of a huge, real, intricate world. There are always multiple routes to take. There are optional areas all over the place. You cover a huge amount of ground, but you're always aware that the huge expanse you've crossed is only a small part of the world; there's so much out there you never see.

It works extremely well, but I wonder whether it's part of the reason I always feel slightly detached from this game. The areas are so vast and complicated that I never bother to learn my way around; I'm always checking the map. Drop me into the world of Final Fantasy VIII, and I'll be able to find my way to the nearest hotel (unless you're an arsehole and drop me in Centra or the ocean). I, er, won't be able to check myself in, because I'm not a SeeD and I have no gil, but I'll be able to get there.

Ivalice is vast and beautiful, but I only ever feel like a tourist there; I've never really come to know it. In Spira or the unnamed world of Final Fantasy VIII, I'm at home.

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

Although I also didn't really have a firm grasp on the world of FFXIII, either.

I agree with you on that; my intense love for the characters and the concepts helped to anchor me to that game, but I don't know the world. It's curious that XII and XIII have somehow managed to develop the same problem through completely different approaches. You can't know Ivalice because there's just too much of it; you could wander around for hours and barely scratch the surface. You can't know Cocoon because the game drives you relentlessly onwards through areas you'll never revisit. XIII's pacing is great, particularly compared to XII, but it is quite sad that there's no sense of exploration.

If you do replay them, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

(EDIT: I'm extremely relieved, incidentally, to hear that someone else has no idea what the plot of this game is.)

[pete_thomas]

If I may be so bold as to intrude slightly on just one statement for the both of you (and please, forgive me if I am imposing):

Although I also didn't really have a firm grasp on the world of FFXIII, either.

It took me a long while to figure out that FFXIII didn't do something that most other Final Fantasy games have done since day one: it didn't spoon feed you the lore of the world. The focus of the game was on the character development, and the immediate plot at hand, but if you wanted to know anything extracurricular, so to speak, you had to go into the menu, open up that vast codec that was CONSTANTLY being filled with stuff as you played, and read. Read everything and anything that came your way.

I was incredibly lost all the same in XIII as I played. Fal'cie? L'cie? Pulse? Focus? Gran Pulse? What was all of this foreign terminology, and how did it all play in? That was my whole thought process until about Chapter 11. It seemed that when the game stopped being incredibly linear (which I don't mind, but just feels different), I then took the time to explore more of the game, which included that reference material. It was then I sat back, and truly appreciated all that XIII had to offer.

I hope this helps, should either of you choose to replay it again. :) It really is a glorious game in all of the best ways.

[rionaleonhart]

I probably should read the whole codec one day! I very diligently kept up with it at the start of the game, but before long I fell horribly behind.

One thing I really liked about Final Fantasy XIII-2 was the rewards you got for completing sidequests: Fragments, which contained little snippets of backstory and worldbuilding. You also got experience points, which were nice, but it was much more exciting to check a Fragment and discover some information about what the characters from the previous game had been up to, or some history about the places you'd visited, or, in one memorable instance, a lengthy poem about sheep.

[squeemu]

Thread jacks are always welcome! :)

I have an inherent dislike for that kind of ...world development, I guess I'll call it. Because the world itself is as much a character in the Final Fantasy series as the characters themselves, and often really shape how I feel about the game.

I personally really value stories where I learn the shape and feel of the world organically, where I uncover its secrets as I explore. I want the information to come from different sources, and I want to feel like what I'm done is somehow connected to that, or that the information I'm getting somehow matters to the characters I'm playing. Games that offer that information in the form of scrolls or text usually don't hit that button for me. (Mostly I just end up being cranky because I'm playing a video game! Not reading a book, dangit! Also because I hate reading longer texts on my TV, it makes my eyes hurt.) But, like. I get that a lot of people do find that really rewarding, and I can understand that. It just doesn't do it for me.

So, uh, yes. I'm absolutely certain that you're right and I would've got a lot more out of FFXIII had I actually bothered to read all the back story, but, uh. I rather crankily ignored it instead and suspect I will do that again on the next playthrough. :(

HAVING SAID THAT, I do vaguely remember thebaconfat reading bits of it out loud to me via the Internet that contained awesome backstory, so I probably did miss out on a lot. SIGH.

[pete_thomas]

Because the world itself is as much a character in the Final Fantasy series as the characters themselves

This. This right here. Oh man. I couldn't have said it better myself. I can really, really appreciate and respect that.

I'm right there with you. As I said, it took me 11 of the 13 chapters to finally sit down and read through all of it (oh, and there was so much...). It's certainly not my preferred way either, but I know without it, I would have been far less immersed in the game, and increasingly far less invested. I mean up until that point I was saying, "I get HOW they all got together, but WHY are they all together?" The individual stories were fleshed out so well, but I was missing the bigger picture, so to speak.

I wonder if there's a codec or something available for mobile platforms (or maybe someone took the time to post it all online?) to make it easier for you? I can totally be on board with the eye strain and the like, and get why that would also add to the reluctance of wanting to read through them, so maybe we can find you a better alternative? If I can find something, I'll send it your way!