100% spam

What is this X-2 you speak of? They would never do something to marr a game with such a poetic ending as FFX like make a sequel, in which they totally invalidate the ending of the first game, right?

Of course not. <<;

To be fair, it only invalidates the ending of FFX if you choose to go down that route. If it bothers you that much, it's entirely possible to end it in a satisfying manner without contradicting FFX itself. And it did do alot of good development for Rikku and Yuna, along with introducing some interesting original characters. It was definitely a very different RPG from FFX, and I understand how it's hit or miss, but it has alot of charms I'm fond of myself lol. FFX is probably my favorite FF ever, due to its story and world, but I still enjoyed FFX-2 alot for what it was.

Though FFXII was probably even more polarizing than X-2 ever was, lol. It had alot of merits, but its story kind of fell apart near the end and it had both an unremarkable 'hero' (since Basch and not Vaan was meant to be the hero until late in the game) and a vague motived and contradictory villain. I think Penelo, Fran, Balthier, and Ashe carry most of the party's personality and only two of those four had any backstory whatsoever. But I enjoyed it! Mostly. I think.

And yay for busy thanksgiving week being over and activity being back up lol.

Honestly? I considerer X-2 one of the worst Final Fantasies I have played, together with Tactics Advance. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the main one is exactly the one Sephy gave for not liking the spin-offs of Final Fantasy VII: it is a huge step back from X (which I consider the best FF of the "new generation"). While I agree with Porom that it brings some developments to Rikku and Yuna (though I don't think all of them were good) and I do like some of the new characters, that is about all it brings. The plotline is quite forced and mediocre at best, and the idea I got while playing was "Hey, X was popular, so let's make something random to make more money out of it."

My opinions regarding XII are much more mixed. While the battle system was a huge let down for me, it didn't bother me as much as how much they hurried with the plot (which was very good up to a certain point) towards end-game. In terms of character development, I'm in between. Some of the characters are very, very life-like and deep (Balthier comes to mind) while others are so plain that it is almost in a Mystic Quest level. That is to say, completely plain.

I'll never understand why people consider X-2 to be a random addition, given that they gave alot to previous characters too. Kimahri became Ronso Clan Leader while Wakka and Lulu settled down to have a child. It did alot in expanding Spira past Sin, which I was really grateful for. On top of giving us a world after the final boss, they also gave us the best battle system I've seen in a long time in any Final Fantasy. I'll be the first to admit that the Shuyin and Lenne story could have been better, but at the very least it was a decent story, and even if you can't love the game for that there is so much more with all of the sidequests and sidestories that really help flesh Spira out.

X-2 was fun and I'm proud to admit it, plus it was a fresh take on the job system by far my favorite job system in the FF series.

xD

We have no further comments.

I liked Advent Children for the most part. What I didn't like was Cloud's emotional relapse, and the final fight with Sephiroth -- more specifically, the deus ex machina at the end. Plus Geostigma is kind of a plot hole, but it works all right in the movie.

Actually, as a matter of fact I did, and Paine was in fact my favourite character. And yet I still managed to go through it all without once noticing the colour of her hair, much less her eyes. ><

I'd rather like to see that. : p At any rate Selfy seems determined to blow his cover one way or another. I'm tempted to put the hunt off for a bit, just to see what further odd things he'll do.

My opinions on X-2 are mixed. An interesting thing for me is that I came up with roughly the same plot for a sequel long before the game came out, only in my version it was Seymour reaching back from the grave rather than an evil Tidus. I was therefore rather disappointed with Shuyin for not meeting my expectations.

Yuna, I think that the sidequests may be part of the problem. They're very episodic, and if you're looking for a grand, over-arching plot that doesn't going to sit too well.

I think the main reason I disliked X-2 though is that it just seemed like most of the changes to Spira were for the worse. Zanarkand and the Calm Lands a tourist attraction, Yevon just a political faction, the temples abandoned, the mass emigration of Guado ... and I saw Yuna as having become more selfish and frivolous. Happily some of these elements are remedied in the game, but that there were present at all depressed me.

As a matter of fact I liked the battle system too, but th ebattle system isn't that important to me. Probably one reason I like XII so much -- the battle system in that is tedious, but again that element doesn't concern me.

<<; When do I get my character application approved? I am raring to go on this whole character creation/roleplaying thing. XP

Just had to make sure all the mods looked at it.

It's approved now, BTW.

Ok, now to start playing an unaffiliated Balthier...

Yay for playing Balthier, unaffiliated or otherwise!

Mm... I think the danger of playing unaffiliated right now is just that most of the player characters aren't around wherever it is they start. Once we get out of the clan hall beginnings and out into the world, unaffiliated characters can meet affiliated ones much easier lol. So I think that'll be a role that's alot easier to play with time.

Dootndoo. -sets up Relm's stuff-

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate GIMP?

Oh, I hate GIMP.