Board 8 > Save My Favorite Final Fantasy Characters XXV: Day 32 [smfffc]

(+) Yeah! (+)

XII is a great game, always has been. It's not been super successful as of late, I feel especially in the lefty years now but probably even Leon's. Balthier's never really captured the lightning in a bottle he did in the year he managed to win in the game's debut, but Ashe has always been pretty consistent and Dr. Cid was a perennial force in this contest, once upon a time.

I just hate the battle system and Vaan.

I played XII for the first time in the week leading into XIII's release

I came out of XII modestly satisfied, but then utterly disappointed and frustrated with XIII

XII, XIII, XV are all fun but flawed 7-8/10 games that prevent them from being great

XII has some interesting themes but the cast is stuck between excellent (Ashe and Balthier), alright (Basch and Penelo) and bad (Vaan and Fran). The world doesnt really feel realized either, felt unfinished more than even XV

XIII looks beautiful, even now but has a very forgettable plot

XV actually has fun goofy combat and its fun to warp around but at the halfway point the theme and game feels different, very Twilight Princess syndrome

XII is a weird situation where you have 5 really good characters trapped in a mediocre game.

Balthier and Ashe are great because they rebel against the plot and undermine Vaan's status as the "protagonist" at every opportunity.

XII's problem is that the game itself is too internally serious, and there's just this brown and gray and beige color scheme that saps the energy from caring about it. The playable cast is mediocre; even the ones I like (Balthier and Fran and Penelo) are diet versions of better characters from better games. Ashe and Basch are extraordinarily generic "strong princess" and "strong bodyguard" characters, and Vaan is a stupid and pointless audience insert. It's just such a forgettable game for something called Final FANTASY.

I think I might appreciate XII's story more if I played it now, more intently than I did as a teen probably rushing through in build-up to something else

as it stands plot just blew right past me and I haven't played it since that first time

Maniac64 posted...

Weirdly that makes me want to save Ashe and Balthier despite having played only a few hours of 12.

Well we're heading to the danger territory for XII based on leftyera history, so every save would count.

-Last year: elims in 57th and 53rd place
-Two years ago: 60th, 56th and 54th
-Three years (contest XXII): one of its strongest overall showings but elims in 54th, 51st and 50th
-Contest XXI: best XII placement was Vayne in 63rd place, big oof
-Rounding it out with contest XX, elims in 59th, 57th and 54th

Top 6 XII finishes in leftyera (aka the game's six top 50 finishes)

(6) Vayne - XXII - 50th
(5) Ashe - XXIV - 42nd
(4) Penelo - XXII - 38th
(3) Ba'Gamnan - XXII - 26th
(2) Ashe - XX - 18th
(1) Ktjn - XXIII - 7th

and as a sidenote, best placement stats in leftyera for remaining characters besides the aforementioned Ashe 18th and Ktjn 7th:

Fran: 59th (though this is her first contest back since 100th place in contest XXI)
Balthier: 54th
Basch: 51st

didn't realize the previous topic bumped, so reposting here @MartinFF7

GuessMyUserName posted...

btw martin name a character for me to use my h3 on tomorrow

not like mog needs it anymore so may's well make up for my oopsie

yeah I guess we really are bumping the wrong topic here, it's all FF12's fault...

Don't worry about it, everything worked out!! But if your (and my) favourite FF13 character is still lingering near the end that could be a good save target...!

wow I missed a Ba'Gamnan run huh

You missed the era of charon and Genny pushing niche characters every year (there were some fun runs there!)

MartinFF7 posted...

You missed the era of charon and Genny pushing niche characters every year (there were some fun runs there!)

I mean they're pushing Shuyin I think he hasn't missed anything yet

Well he missed 18th place Braska, that one was great.

I don't think the primary antagonist of a mainline game can be considered niche...!

LeonhartFour posted...

I don't think the primary antagonist of a mainline game can be considered niche...!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/6/7/AAeYFbAAEppf.jpg

Barthandelus isn't niche either!

There's a difference between niche and "nobody cares about them"

until I see him come up in dffoo he's niche

he'll probably get in before rikku

MartinFF7 posted...

You missed the era of charon and Genny pushing niche characters every year (there were some fun runs there!)

This is as opposed to everyone else that pushes niche characters every year?

I think the difference is you guys were just successful. Haters gonna hate

I dunno, I've never felt very successful with most of the runs. Probably because the ones that do best are Genny's ideas instead of mine (Braska, Ba'Gamnan). I think the best one I've probably backed was Baralai and that was ages ago now. It doesn't help that my favorite character would never survive without my support, so I tend to never fully commit to this stuff beyond a certain point.

realizing I got Layle in striking distance of the Top 20 this year oh mans

Ba'Gamnan top tier tho 10/10 would save again

if my 3rd save wasn't always clogged with keeping other niches afloat like Mira & now mogoo (Mira with the help of Luis_Sera, mogoo with TomNook)

v_charon posted...

I dunno, I've never felt very successful with most of the runs. Probably because the ones that do best are Genny's ideas instead of mine (Braska, Ba'Gamnan). I think the best one I've probably backed was Baralai and that was ages ago now. It doesn't help that my favorite character would never survive without my support, so I tend to never fully commit to this stuff beyond a certain point.

From the outside looking in you and genny come off as a wombo combo

I don't pretend to know which one of you is the brain trust behind pushes outside of your top favorites!

v_charon posted...

This is as opposed to everyone else that pushes niche characters every year?

I didn't mean any disrespect from that if that's how you read it, since I started participating in XX I have the two of you connected in my mind with some good runs from unconventional characters, not to mention the herculean Seymour efforts. Only admiration from me!!

Niche is not an insult

Niche is perfectly fine. Niche just means you're going to be working harder for less reliable results.

Not every character is Vivi.

MartinFF7 posted...

Well we're heading to the danger territory for XII based on leftyera history, so every save would count.

I mean even moving them up my priority list they would still be behind most of FFX, Red 13, and Barret. And FFX hasn't been rushing to being safe lately.

So I wouldn't expect anything from me unless it's a situation like last round where I was able to throw Vanille a save late.

note to self cindy

https://i.imgur.com/Tr25Jul.gif