'>>3471185
>Am I insane for thinking the dialogue/story for this game is extremely good?
That's literally what is most often said about the game, next to the gambit system.';

'>>3471187
I see most people saying that the story sucks.';

'>>3471191
On /v/?';

'>>3471194
Nah, even here.';

'The story is good, the plot sucks and the pacing sucks. The dialogue is mostly good, but completely wasted on irrelevant characters.';

'>>3471185
USE THE CATALOG FATASS >>3459472';

'>>3471204
Well this is basically /v/ lol, shitting on everything';

'>>3471185
Yes dumbass, its an awful game. And why reply to yourself here? >>3471187

You did the same exact thing in the other thread. You can't trick people into liking games, it doesn't work like that.';

'>>3471185
I can't remember the plot whatsoever and the world was nothing special
The dialogue is great Alexander o. Smith stuff with competent VA but it can't really make up for weak bones';

'>>3471212
anon, he made that thread too';

'>>3471191
Probably in reference to the plot and direction, which does shit the bed after Ashe formally joins the party.';

'You're impressed by flowery prose and don't care about actual substance.';

'i like the idea of it but its executed very poorly and most of the cast are just completely irrelevant';

'>>3471185
The story goes to shit once you get past that snowy mountain town.';

'>>3471989
Yes. I look like THIS and I say that.';

'>>3471185
No you aren't king, don't let 12 hating faggots convince you otherwise.';

'Do you guys realize OP is making a bait thread to farm you for opinions for his blog/youtube. It's embarrassing to watch you print money for him, please stop.';

'>>3475579
Really? What is his youtube/blog? So I know not to see them.';

'>>3471185
Whether I like it or not is beside the point, but it's probably one of THE best localizations ever done. Hell, even that English VA became default for Jap-only IZJS edition and you know how much they love their own VA industry.';

'>>3471185
The dialogue, acting and cutscene direction is what makes FF12 standout not just from the franchise but for JRPGs as a genre. Sadly FF12 raised the bar but no game aince then as met it.';

'>>3475582
The voice performances are one major reason I'm interested in playing it, since I've heard it's best in the industry';

'>>3471185
>Am I insane for thinking the dialogue/story for this game is extremely good?

No. You're illiterate. Read some fucking books. Good lord.';

'Extremely Grim thread.';

'As another anon commented on Alexander O. Smith: The English script was fixed in post by him, Rushton & Reeder
The Japanese game is a lot rougher at points where Watanabe shines through more than Shoda but it's still a cut above your usual Nojimbo script or god forbid the stilted mundanity of an Ishikawa script. I'm a snob when it comes to prose in Japanese media and in video games Japanese prose is almost always an afterthought.

While it's not at the top of the list for accuracy enough to stand aside titles like Lost Odyssey or Nier where the source material was strong, it serves as a great example of an English localisation that took liberties with its source and stands comfortably alongside other games that did the same like MGS2.
SE had a very good run on localisation on titles at this time (Rushton & O. Smith being involved with a few) but also some awful misses.
There's autists on /v/ who care enough about localisation to make 30 threads a week and apparently respect the language a lot; but not enough to learn.
They clearly share some DNA with the anon who is triggered by XII's very existence.


>>3475582
>>3475586
>>3471846
Since these posts are mentioning the English VA too, I will add that the direction for Fran was very well done. It was sad that XIII took a step backwards with Vanille & Fang being time Aussies.';

'>>3471185
You are insane for thinking the story is good, but you are right in that the dialogue (EN version at least) is beautifully written.';

'You guys ever think of just going to /vg/? I have no idea why you need so many threads up for the same games, over and over and over again.';

'>>3475601
>SE had a very good run on localisation on titles at this time (Rushton & O. Smith being involved with a few) but also some awful misses.
It's staggering to see translation and localization getting better from 7->8->9. If not for 12, 9 would probably be the best localized one instead.';

'>>3471185
What parts in particular are good?';

'>>3475667
Dialogue and story';

'>>3475678
Post some kind of example, man.
What would be the game's 'oscar clip' so to speak?';

'>>3475686
Hmm';

'>>3471185
It's probably the only JRPG where the English dub is the superior version, but there are other JRPGs and FF titles with great localizations.';

'>>3475686
I don't think OP even really likes the game.';

'>>3475690
Concession accepted then.';

'>>3475686
>>3478896
Play the fucking game and form your opinion';

'>>3475692
>l i t t l e m o n e y
Kino';

'Being the best written Final Fantasy, clearly of a superior breed suckled and reared on the purified milk of old lit et cetera, and the linguistically dramatic sentence structures and obscure phrasing therein, and possessed of a wit both impenetrable and precocious and endearing. Often seen congregating in flocks with others of its ilk, this strain of Fantasies of Finales, with its exceptionally high IQ, and as of yet unrecorded in the camp annals, is hunted on /vrpg/.';

'>>3471185

It's good until literally the very end when someone at SE decided they had to put the usual garbage in there. The entire party stops and has a chat about how they're such good friends.

It's unearned, stupid, and ill-placed.';

'>>3479717
It's really beyond me that the guy they chose to script a Matsuno Final Fantasy was the one responsible for Kingdom Hearts
No idea what they were thinking';

'>>3471217
Not really, its not /v/ without inescapable culture war brain damage and coombrain posts';

'>>3479717
Yeah. FFXII was at its best when it was focused in on politics and the "stewardship of history" with the Occuria, the stones, etc. The basic themes of vengeance and cycles of violence, inheritance, was all FFXII really needed. Some could call it cliche but I thought it was classy and understated, nuanced even in a way Final Fantasy seldom is. It was convincing, and the writing was tight. Maximum effect with few words, poetic and refined.

Then they try to shoe horn in a friendship theme in the last 5%. Bleagh. That was like putting whipped cream on the last bite of a steak. Reeked of insecurity. Completely unnecessary excess in what was otherwise a clean and precise story.';

'>>3471185
It's the best final fantasy game for me. I do love 4 and 7 though as well';

'>>3471185

Enjoy it while it last. The good writing only lasts until the tomb of the dynast king on which you find Belias.';

'>>3480002
>esl posting about when the "good writing" ends
glad I can safely hide this post.';

'>>3471185
I never understood why they didn't hire matsuno for ff16.';

'>>3480119
>why they didn't hire matsuno for ff16.
Because they already had the man who carried Matsuno.';

'>>3475582
The japanese internationational releases usually have english audio. X and KH final mix had english voices too.';

'>>3480128
>Because they already had the man who carried Matsuno.
Who? Definitely not Yoshitpiss';

'>>3471187
You mean other than breeding Fran.';

'>>3471208
>the story is good
>the plot sucks
how does that even work? Unless you have extremely enjoyable characters (not quite the case for FF12 imo) I don't think you can have a good story without at least an alright plot
Like half the party members just feel like they're irrelevant and just along for the ride';

'>>3471185

last great final fantasy';

'>>3471185
I need to replay this game. I played it on ps2 at release, don't remember any of it though. That was almost 20 years ago.';

'>>3471208
the performances are also terrible for something like this. it's not too bad in the few CGI cutscenes you get but having very stoic performances next to unmoving low poly models that don't emote was a very stupid decision. everyone sounds so bored and uninterested most of the time, Vaan and Penelo are the only characters that show changes in emotion with any regularity while everyone else is just stoic and every line is delivered with the same inflection and tone. even Balthier who isn't a flat board like Fran, Ashe or Basch still delivers every one of this lines exactly the same all the time.

say what you will about X or 7R having anime voice acting (i have many criticisms about this from 7R's end) but it's hard to call the performances from the main cast boring or XII has an undub or if it was shipped with only English voices.';

'>>3482195
>but it's hard to call the performances from the main cast boring or unmemorable. one of these days i need to see if XII has an undub or if it was shipped with only English voices.
not sure where the middle of that sentence went';

'>>3481369
nta, but writers usually regard story as the overarching Idea of the thing. The major themes, the lore, the tone, the feel, etc can all be classified as part of the story.

The plot is usually the mechanical moment to moment unfolding of the story. Story is broad strokes, plot is small strokes, working together to form a complete picture. The plot is like the track that carriers you through the story.

They're both essential, but can also make up for each other's lack. If the story is dull, a great plot can make the ride fun up until the point you realize the story had no unifying idea. If the plot is dull, the story can make it seem more interesting because it's loaded with cool details.

I.E, you could say that Dark Souls has a great story because its themes, ideas and overarching lore is internally consistent, fleshed out and unique. On the other hand, it has virtually no plot, and what plot is there is a flimsy excuse.

FFXII is somewhere in between. The story is great, the central idea is compelling and the themes are tightly put together. On the other hand, the plot is fairly mundane. A lot of it just involves "we need to go here now, and to get there, we need to pass through here. Now we need a stone, to get this stone, we need to go here, and to get there, we need to pass through here." It repeats this basic predictable formula over and over instead of building up a sense of tension or energy. It's like a roller coaster that just moves at one speed and never surprises the rider, so the pacing feels bad.

But that's just like, my opinion, man.';

'>>3471979
I'd say it even shits the bed before that but for different reasons.';

'>>3471185
Best voice acting, phenomenal production value, decent story and most importantly better gameplay than anything that game before it, and after it. This game is an anomaly in post squeenix merger era, and its a miracle it even exists. Most of its dev team quit squeenix half way into production and Yasumi Matsuno left after the game released.
If only they gave the FF series to Hiroyuki Ito
Yasumi Matsuno. Instead we got endless Yoshinori Kitase, Motomu Toriyama, and Nomura SLOP.';

'>>3471185
This game released in March of '06, the PS3 launched in November. It got stellar reviews but it didn't sell. Its in the bottom quartile for the series in sales. For comparison X is the second highest selling.';

'I hated it. I think playing the vanilla PS2 version back during the obsessive, completionist phase I first had when playing through my backlog may have been one of the worst mistakes I ever made with vidya. It’s a truly masochistic game to play if you want to 100% it and view all of the “content”. I couldn’t help but laugh when I found out that they implemented a fast-forward feature for the HD re-release.

There are games that don’t respect human concepts of real time, and then there’s vanilla FFXII.';

'>>3484883
The zodiac age on pc is phenomenal.
FF12 plays great on mouse + kb.';

'>>3484888
>The zodiac age on pc is phenomenal.
No its not. I literally just played it and it was one of the worst games I ever played.';

'>>3484883
games like FFXII are trying to teach completionists an important life lesson.
Games are art, art has a message. This message was "be content with what you can get, because to get it all is impossible, insane, and not worth it at all."';

'>>3485565
You may be right about that. I went into it expecting to uncover some inspiring things, but realized the error of my ways instead.

FFXII inadvertently taught me to value my time more.';

'>>3484893
I just played it and it changed my life';