Playing: Final Fantasy 12 IHOPJXZR.

[xyzzysqrl]

Well! I have decided to start up playing Final Fantasy 12 International Zodiac Job System edition. I'm not gonna take EXTENSIVE notes, because this game is like four million hours long, but I'll dash off the occasional note here when I'm playing. I'm also going to be drawing classes from a hat... okay, The Hat.

For those of you unfamiliar with how the International House of Pancakes edition works, no longer is the Job Board one huge all-character-spanning mound of do-everything. Instead it's split into 12 different boards. You get six characters. Thus, you will be missing some skills and such. I genuinely prefer this to the alternative. (For those of you unfamiliar with how vanilla Final Fantasy 12 works... I kinda can't help. You pick skills off a board as you earn experience points.)

Anyway.

Also I cannot hear the main theme of this game without feeling Strong Emotions. That's my childhood there. Sigh.

I kind of love how relentlessly this game jerks you around about who the main character is, at first. Okay, obviously the main character is Lord Rasler, who is a Young Brash Noble who has taken up his family's sword and gone off to war. Except he catches an arrow in the heart during the intro movie. Okay, the main character is the Basch guy who was riding with him, right? Nooo, the character you control is this Reks dude, a teenager who lost most of his family in a plague and who went off to join the Royal Knights. Okay, well, he could wo-- oops, he got knifed in the stomach and died. Your REAL main character is his brother, who is street trash.

Ahaha. From the woof: "The soundtrack was so ominous I had to see what was happening, and you were having the Party menu explained. What's so OMINOUS about the party menu?"

I also like how most history books in the Ivalice world are full of completely insane crap, but the only way to know is by playing the games (OR ACTUALLY LIVING HISTORY). Social commentary!


And yep. Now on to Vaan, who is cleaning rats out of a basement. SOCIAL COM-- wait no this is just a tutorial.

Okay, Vaan may not really be integral to the plot or anything but my opinion of him DOES improve when he casually steals the pelt off a rat which is still alive and trying to bite him.

Hello, Penelo! You... instantly come off as being in Super Big Sister mode.

"Vaan, do you really have to go around stealing money?" "PENELO! Come ON. I can't even afford a goddamn SHIRT. You've been wearing that weird yellow bodysuit since you were like 13! It barely even FITS anymore! We need some money!"

Also Vaan kind of looks like he drew a set of abs on his chest in magic marker. Big ol' six pack. Right on the chest there. Yeah. Lookin'... lookin' good, Vaan. *shifty eyes*

Yadda yadda STUFF. And then Vaan takes his first job: HUNT THIS KILLER TOMATO. SERIOUS. HEROIC. FANTASY. EPIC.

But first, my first random-draw job class... What'll it be!?

VAAN - ARCHER.

Huh. Okay. I have no strong feelings about this. Bows, light armor, interesting support abilities... sure!

Meanwhile, just outside town, a T-rex hunts wolves. THIS IS A SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM.

A treasure chest with 1 gil in it. That's like a dollar. Thanks, game.

I really like that fast-forward button. Suddenly grinding is faster and running is faster and T-REX AAAAAAA *Benny Hill scene*

Well that could've gone much worse. ROGUE TOMATO DEFEATED. He just couldn't... ketchup... to my skill level.

Blah blah Vayne the noble makes a speech. THE MAN is KEEPING US DOWN, because THE MAN is fricking rich and also imperial and everyone in this entire town is poor as hell. His basic gist is "It's been TWO YEARS since the war, we rule you now, get over it. Sure you can hate me, but DEAL WITH IT YO." People are applauding. He is better with words than I am. He's also pulling the "I AM A CITIZEN LIKE YOU" bit. Ich bein ein Rabanasty.

Vaan decides the logical response to hating the imperials and their imperialism is to break into their palace and steal their stupid junky rich stuff. Sure, let's roll with that.

Oh my god, the basic, level 1 arrows are like 100gil each?! What is tha-- oh, they don't expend. One arrow will carry me forever. OKAY. I... for a second there I was like "Nice job, you classed into BEING POOR AS FUCK FOREVER, enjoy your game."

Lots of derping around. Little grinding. Equipping stuff. Then I go and ... wait, what?

Apparently I joined a clan by accident. "Clan Centurio". Does this mean Vaan has to start displaying? [CC]Vaan LFG?

I sort of wish -I- lived in a city with this much variety of life. In a city with so many people packed together and social, getting along. In a city where seven-foot-tall lizardmen in loinclothes hang out on the street. *eye them* ...the bunnygirls are nice too. Also the other lizardmen.

Anyway, Vaan heads off to consult with a wise old informational-nexus person. He has a stone which can open a door into the palace. It needs charging! Vaan heads off to get a Sunstone charger. I dub thee plot.

Lots of sniping hyenas. I can KITE in this game now. Man, that's novel.

Okay. To find the person to talk to about charging up stones, I need to find The Dark Crystal. WTF. That is a DIFFERENT FANTASY EPIC. Okay, wait, no. I have to find someone NEAR a dark crystal. Okay.

Anyway, before I go to bed... I know Penelo's going to join soon (I think?) and I want to roll a class for her before she does... so: PENELO - RED MAGE.

Red Mage is another light-armor class, all about maces, shields, lookin' pimp in a cool hat, and of course CASTING SPELLS. That oughta be a good addition to the party.

Okay. When I wake up I'll probably grind for more money, more equipment, to buy stuff for Penelo before she joins up, and FOR MORE NINJA WARRIOR wait no nevermind.

Comments

[vulpisfoxfire.livejournal.com]

So what you're telling us...is that you wanna Bangaa. :-)
I do have to wonder if you're going to bother with Cactuar Fishing, though. Especially considering that it's about as far as tying a fairy to a line and throwing her in lava as you can get...