A possibly new FF question?

[Zaladane]

Well once again Final Fantasy rears its ugly head.

We've all been privy to and unfortunate for us retros to see an abundance of crappy FF threads. Such as "what's your favorite FF game duh. Or even favorite character, so on and so on and so on and well erm right. How about this.....

It's something I like to call free reign. The point where you can generally (and finally) choose your own characters and direction without that damn story interupting. Ya know what I mean. For example in one of the highly touted such as FF7 when you have all the characters circa the end of disc 2 or beginning of disc 3 where you can really focus on chocobo breeding and battle arena. Or it might be FF6 when you re-gather your party a bit after the big "Change" in the world, y'all know what I'm talking about there.

I came to this as I was just playing FF12 (Yes 12, I hate roman numerals in games) for the 2nd time (which is sometimes better than the first) where you can pick party members you never really picked before.

Personally I'm one of those that will have his party set to certain characters in an effort to achieve more replayability the next time through by picking another 2 or 3 (depending on the game) for the next run. I think I've done every possible FF7 party combination after you gain vincent you can think of, for example. Same with FF9 which I find is the most similar to 7.

Anywho as I said I'm doing FF12 again, the first time it was Vaan, Ashe, and Penelo. This time I'm leaning towards Vaan, Fran, and Basch.

That's one of the "Free Reign ideas" anyway. So what's yours? I hope this is a different FF question or "idea" than the rest.



PEACE

[Raype]

Why the hell would you want Vaan in your party? The hell is wrong with you?

(Balthier, Basch, Fran or I'll rape you with a knife.)

Oh, and same here. I tend to stick with a certain party through the whole game, except in certain cases where it's incredibly easy to level or you lose certain members/have a set party for a good deal of the game.

[thx4allthefish]

I can't imagine what would be the point of a rpg without a story.
at least for me,that's what a rpg is supposed to be played for,to enjoy a good story and good characters and that stuff,not a free roaming thing,I don't know why,maybe a bad experience with a non-very-linear game perhaps?,but I associate "free roaming" with "total boredom" because nothing interesting happens and the plot doesn't go fordward.

[Vesper]

I'm only on my first playthrough but I've given up on the game. Too boring.

Anyway I was using Balthier, Basch and Ashe. I would totally go for Fran instead of Basch if it weren't for her ugly stats. I would use Penelo, but like Vaan, she has nothing to do with the story and her level dropped behind Basch's anyway =/

[Elmdor Rizer]

Vaan, Fran, and Basch are the obvious first-time choices. Fran has those long ears, Basch is just plain awesome and Vaan.. uh, yeah!

Eh, back-up characters are for losers. I don't think I've ever had to level anyone outside my A-team, except for Suikoden IV, when you have to select two parties before the last boss. But that game is stupid, so it doesn't count.

[Gare]

I used all six characters in XII, but that's the only game where I did that. I usually just choose my favourites and use them all the time. Although the Vaan+Masamune, Ashe+Zodiac Spear and Balthier+Excalibur combination rapes all the enemies that cross my path.

[Megalith]

I use all characters in every RPG I play. Not because it is fun or anything, but just in case I lose a vital member of my party, I don't want to find my self stuck with an under leveled and skill less character. Besides, after FFX, characters almost became carbon copies of each other due to the poor design of the system.

[crusher]

Fran has those long ears

Ears? What the fuck is wrong with you?

Am I the only one who hate when you have to pick your own team? There's always bound to be someone that is underpowered because you can't use them all at once... Either give me a 3-4 characters only system or EXP rewards to every playable character.

[Cookie Monster]

I use all characters in every RPG I play. Not because it is fun or anything, but just in case I lose a vital member of my party, I don't want to find my self stuck with an under leveled and skill less character.

im in yur forumz stealing yur post
I could re-phrase it, but's exactly what I do and why I do it

[Elmdor Rizer]

Ears? What the fuck is wrong with you?

Am I the only one who hate when you have to pick your own team? There's always bound to be someone that is underpowered because you can't use them all at once... Either give me a 3-4 characters only system or EXP rewards to every playable character.

She'll hear the enemy and warn me, before it's too late!

You are.

Though I'm positive I know of some good game with an "all characters get exp, but only those you use get ability points" system. But, yeah, dunno which one.

The Suikoden way is the best. Any weak character will catch up to the rest of your party in no time. Games like FFT are really annoying when it comes to this, due to the fact that under-experienced, slow characters never get to act.

[Evans]

Oh, and same here. I tend to stick with a certain party through the whole game, except in certain cases where it's incredibly easy to level or you lose certain members/have a set party for a good deal of the game.

What she said.

Though I'm positive I know of some good game with an "all characters get exp, but only those you use get ability points" system. But, yeah, dunno which one.

The Suikoden way is the best. Any weak character will catch up to the rest of your party in no time. Games like FFT are really annoying when it comes to this, due to the fact that under-experienced, slow characters never get to act.

Some games have a system where the ones you don't use get some experience points, but no ability ones.

But, it's so easy to level them up.

[Zaladane]

I can't imagine what would be the point of a rpg without a story.
at least for me,that's what a rpg is supposed to be played for,to enjoy a good story and good characters and that stuff,not a free roaming thing,I don't know why,maybe a bad experience with a non-very-linear game perhaps?,but I associate "free roaming" with "total boredom" because nothing interesting happens and the plot doesn't go fordward.

I wasn't really saying that story is bad or anything just what peoples Fave "free reign" moments were. typically these are where you can really get into mini-games and the such, or really powering up your charcters etc. Mainly the ability to "choose" yourself where to go. It's nice to have a diversion and adds a little more scope to these games. If it was all story then in FF7 say - you would never get the chance to go off and Chocobo breed or hit the battle arena to get all the spiffy items and such. You would prolly like Grandia 2 as there aren't any diversions from the "quest" you just keep on trucking.

In the case of FF12 which I used as my example above, the ability to really get into monster hunting and such after you've opened most of the map is fun as hell, mainly though because in 12 I find the story to be rather dull and too short. In 10 let's say when you get to the calmlands and get the airship you can then proceed to do the monster capturing thing and go back and start collecting back up to the point your at. This enables of course to create monsters and get items from them to upgrade your weapons and such. which can make it easier down the road. This could very loosely by considered part of the story since it's a good time to build up characters, or those you haven't used much.

Another one for me also is when you get to start collecting your characters again with Celes in FF6, this is still part of the story of course, but you also have that Free reign moment after getting Sabin and Edgar to choose who's next and maybe go after some dragons and extras too. so "free reign" in the sense that I was getting at really, was just that moment of freedom or point in the game where you can choose a little more direction yourself. Hope that made sense.

[l337killa07]

I personally like having a smaller choice of characters, because in EVERY RPG I have played to date, the first character (Such as Cloud in FF7, or Vaan in FF12, or Tidus in FF10) is always the strongest, and the one who's style you're most accustomed to. I won't use FF12 as an example like you guys are, because I have yet to beat it, but since I've only played FF7 about 20 times, I can say something about it.

*Begin semi-long rant about t3h b3st g@m3 in t3h w0rldz*
In FF7, as everyone knows, you start out with Cloud, the spiky-haired former SOLDIER member. As the game progresses, you get Barret, Tifa, Aeris, Yufi, Cait Sith, Vincent, Cid, Red XIII, and I think a character or two. As everyone knows, the best party would be Could Barret and Tifa, because Cloud and Barret are heavy hitters, and Tifa has some good limit breaks, and can always be the healer. Thats just my pick about the best party, but others have other choices. I normally tend to neglect the other characters, and don't even both to buy armor/weapons/materia for them if I'm short on gil. I normally would let the game level them for me, as I didn't want to take the time out to level them.

Now I know someones gonna say "Well X character has Y property which makes him Z times better." Ok, you're absolutely right. But this is just my choice. Yes I know that Vincent has an Uber transformation ability which makes him pwnz0rz t3h n00blies. But then again its hard for him to control anything, he stays transformed the whole battle (So any summons you equip are useless until the next battle), and if he becomes confused and attacks your own party, you're screwed. I don't have much experience playing Cid, and Yufi and Cait Sith just annoy me to another level. Aeris is, of course, Aeris. Nothing else needs to be said about her.

But in the end my choice of party, no matter how many times I play the game, will still be Cloud, Barret, and Tifa.

*End semi-long rant*

Feel free to question my authoritay/comment/reply.