aka_pyro's definitions
The only decent reason to play on any of Sony's game systems. Sports games don't even count as games, for those of you who weren't in the know.
by aka_Pyro May 23, 2007
Get the Final Fantasy mug.In lieu of the gross oversimplification of this game provided above or below this definition, I would like to say that Final Fantasy XII, an RPG published by Square-Enix for the Sony Play Station 2, is brilliantly distinguishable from its 11+ predecessors in the Final Fantasy series by its high production values, extravagant voice acting, a plot line easily identifiable as a blatant rip-off of Star Wars yet so intricate that it's more than forgivable if you're a fan of the series.
Essentially, if you liked LucasArts' Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic series for Xbox and PC for its gameplay, then you will have nothing against FFXII's gameplay. If you liked Star Wars Episodes IV-VI for their creepy-cult-forming stories, then you will fall in love with FFXII, because 90% of what made up A New Hope great is there: the princess without a kingdom, the orphaned boy with an above-average destiny from the desert, his slightly less-important side-kick, the knight of an extinct order, the awesome pirate that men envy and women adore, and his tall, dark, and fuzzy sidekick who used to live in a realm of gigantic trees. Hell, S-E even threw in their own Cloud City, complete with a Lando-character! But he's white and has a funny accent.
Since I cannot respectably portray the plot of this game without spoiling it, I will just go to say that you will not finish this game in the time you can finish KotOR, which took approximately 40 hours, and FFXII has already eaten up 55 hours of my time, and I'm not even halfway through it.
If you played Final Fantasy X and thought the Sphere Grid was too linear in terms of character stat development, then you will probably enjoy FFXII's mode of development, the License Board, in which you have total control of your character's spell development, weapons and armor that he or she can equip, and even which 2 of the 12 total Espers in the game that they can summon.
If you played FFX and thought that the Overdrives were over the top, then you haven't mopped the floor with the faces of boss characters until you've made use of the Quickening system. In contrast to the other games in the series, where each character has a few unique, super powerful attacks that they are able to use one at a time after they've charged their gauge, FFXII gives each character 3 fully offensive attacks that can be CHAINED together with the Quickenings from two other party members for a powerful combo capable of felling bosses before they can lay a hand on you. But, there's a couple of caveats: one, the MP gauge, also known as your Mist Gauge, is shared by both your magic AND your Quickenings, and two, it's also your Summoning gauge. So, you can't summon a monster, perform magic powerful magic, and then unload some serious pain with a Mist Chain without using some ethers or elixirs (if you have only one Quickening unlocked, that is). But, on the plus side, each Quickening you acquire on the License board will give you 100% more Mist at your disposal, so technically, you CAN do all three MP related actions if you have acquired all 3 Quickenings for your character.
If you liked being able to set behaviors in the KotOR series for your party members, in FFXII, you can fully automate your characters that you aren't directly controlling through the use of fully customizable instructions for them to follow, called Gambits. Of course, due to the nature of the Gambits, it takes a bit of practice to remember to check and re-customize these gambits for each area you visit or each enemy you fight, because you don't want your characters to be sitting around casting Shell on each other when you're being ravaged by melee fighters, or sitting around casting any magic when you want to save their Mist Charges for Quickenings and Summons.
For full reviews of the game, try a site like GameSpy, or IGN.
Essentially, if you liked LucasArts' Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic series for Xbox and PC for its gameplay, then you will have nothing against FFXII's gameplay. If you liked Star Wars Episodes IV-VI for their creepy-cult-forming stories, then you will fall in love with FFXII, because 90% of what made up A New Hope great is there: the princess without a kingdom, the orphaned boy with an above-average destiny from the desert, his slightly less-important side-kick, the knight of an extinct order, the awesome pirate that men envy and women adore, and his tall, dark, and fuzzy sidekick who used to live in a realm of gigantic trees. Hell, S-E even threw in their own Cloud City, complete with a Lando-character! But he's white and has a funny accent.
Since I cannot respectably portray the plot of this game without spoiling it, I will just go to say that you will not finish this game in the time you can finish KotOR, which took approximately 40 hours, and FFXII has already eaten up 55 hours of my time, and I'm not even halfway through it.
If you played Final Fantasy X and thought the Sphere Grid was too linear in terms of character stat development, then you will probably enjoy FFXII's mode of development, the License Board, in which you have total control of your character's spell development, weapons and armor that he or she can equip, and even which 2 of the 12 total Espers in the game that they can summon.
If you played FFX and thought that the Overdrives were over the top, then you haven't mopped the floor with the faces of boss characters until you've made use of the Quickening system. In contrast to the other games in the series, where each character has a few unique, super powerful attacks that they are able to use one at a time after they've charged their gauge, FFXII gives each character 3 fully offensive attacks that can be CHAINED together with the Quickenings from two other party members for a powerful combo capable of felling bosses before they can lay a hand on you. But, there's a couple of caveats: one, the MP gauge, also known as your Mist Gauge, is shared by both your magic AND your Quickenings, and two, it's also your Summoning gauge. So, you can't summon a monster, perform magic powerful magic, and then unload some serious pain with a Mist Chain without using some ethers or elixirs (if you have only one Quickening unlocked, that is). But, on the plus side, each Quickening you acquire on the License board will give you 100% more Mist at your disposal, so technically, you CAN do all three MP related actions if you have acquired all 3 Quickenings for your character.
If you liked being able to set behaviors in the KotOR series for your party members, in FFXII, you can fully automate your characters that you aren't directly controlling through the use of fully customizable instructions for them to follow, called Gambits. Of course, due to the nature of the Gambits, it takes a bit of practice to remember to check and re-customize these gambits for each area you visit or each enemy you fight, because you don't want your characters to be sitting around casting Shell on each other when you're being ravaged by melee fighters, or sitting around casting any magic when you want to save their Mist Charges for Quickenings and Summons.
For full reviews of the game, try a site like GameSpy, or IGN.
Final Fantasy XII scored well according to many respected reviewers. I like it better than FFX, personally. Square-Enix has outdone themselves in this PS2 classic.
by aka_Pyro November 25, 2007
Get the Final Fantasy XII mug.Many people of the Abrahamic religions, specifically Christianity, have a saying: No God, No Peace, Know God, Know Peace. I cannot honestly be expected to believe that being a Christian will mean that I will know peace when all the Abrahamic cults are warring with one another.
Instead, I'm just going to assume that 'devoting oneself to the highest power' means 'selling out the the ones who won't kill you if you join them.'
Everyone has their own opinion on religion, of course, and therefore, it is impossible to create a world-wide peace when peace is agreement not to be enemies. For example, if a faith requires enemies to survive, its practitioners will continue to kill and maim and hurt others until the faith is dead or every last 'heretic' is no more than a memory.
Besides, organized religion defeats the purpose of free will, if you haven't noticed. That's why I'm the free and happy atheist that is completely stigmatized against any religion that doesn't offer the power to summon monsters based on a pact with the religion's deity.
Final Fantasy has some cool religions in it, ever hear of the Yevonites? Oh, wait, their leaders are corrupt and evil. Ever hear of the Covenant, a religious collective of alien races with one single goal? Oh, wait, that involves the total annihilation of all intelligent life in the galaxy. Star Wars has the coolest religion of all, though. May the Force be with you, always.
Instead, I'm just going to assume that 'devoting oneself to the highest power' means 'selling out the the ones who won't kill you if you join them.'
Everyone has their own opinion on religion, of course, and therefore, it is impossible to create a world-wide peace when peace is agreement not to be enemies. For example, if a faith requires enemies to survive, its practitioners will continue to kill and maim and hurt others until the faith is dead or every last 'heretic' is no more than a memory.
Besides, organized religion defeats the purpose of free will, if you haven't noticed. That's why I'm the free and happy atheist that is completely stigmatized against any religion that doesn't offer the power to summon monsters based on a pact with the religion's deity.
Final Fantasy has some cool religions in it, ever hear of the Yevonites? Oh, wait, their leaders are corrupt and evil. Ever hear of the Covenant, a religious collective of alien races with one single goal? Oh, wait, that involves the total annihilation of all intelligent life in the galaxy. Star Wars has the coolest religion of all, though. May the Force be with you, always.
by aka_Pyro October 13, 2007
Get the Know God, No Peace mug.A famous video game console created by Sony. Well-known for its many, many 3rd party games. This relatively free and unrestricted competition of publishers and developers accompanied by a lack of serious 1st party support has earned this system a reputation synonymous with capitalism.
Most of the games for the PS2 are not produced by Sony. And there are more well-reviewed 3rd party games than 1st party games.
by aka_Pyro May 13, 2008
Get the PS2 mug.To all those who have written or heard negatively about the BSA as a whole, NOT ALL participants in the Scouting Movement are: bigoted, right-wing, pro-life, vindictive, scum-sucking bastards. Although there are a few members that accurately fit some or all of the above descriptors, the REAL scouts actually adhere to most of the ideals represented by the Scout Oath and Law.
You may have heard that the entire BSA openly discriminates against people for there sexual orientations, religious beliefs, or lack thereof. NOT TRUE. Most troops, such as my own, are against discrimination. See also: Scout Oath.
An organization dedicated to providing fundamental life-skills and leadership training for young men and women. Membership requires dedication, honor, and character.
Neil Armstrong was an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
You may have heard that the entire BSA openly discriminates against people for there sexual orientations, religious beliefs, or lack thereof. NOT TRUE. Most troops, such as my own, are against discrimination. See also: Scout Oath.
An organization dedicated to providing fundamental life-skills and leadership training for young men and women. Membership requires dedication, honor, and character.
Neil Armstrong was an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
The Boy Scouts of America. If the real world was like D&D, these people could be likened to a group of Paladins. Yes, that was a nerdy analogy, but at least I got the message across.
by aka_Pyro July 23, 2007
Get the Boy Scouts of America mug.1. A humorous exclamation uttered whilst playing a game, and while playing, the game characters unintentionally do something suggestive, for example, when playing Star Wars Battlefront, and you use the crawl feature and make the character back up, causing them to crawl backwards with their ass in the air. At that point, it is prudent to say "Sexy Ass!" to provide comical relief.
by aka_Pyro May 27, 2007
Get the sexy ass mug.When a game company lucks out with smash hit game, and then proceeds to crank out worthless clones of the game, cleverly disguising them as "sequels." A prime example is CapCom's MegaMan BattleNetwork series for Game Boy Advance, which began as a launch title for the handheld in 2001, but quickly became an incredibly long "series" of games that are all essentially the same game. Of course, the same thing could be applied to Nintendo and Game Freak's popular Pokemon series for Game Boy, GBA, and the DS.
by aka_Pyro May 23, 2007
Get the the Megaman effect mug.