HD XENOSAGA

author=piano
A game series of tremendous scope, with scenes of incredible action, interspersed with scenes of sheer boredom, but some brilliant science-fantasy writing nevertheless; a prequel to the infinitely better Xenogears. I liked it, but if it had been a book, it would have been far better.

A spiritual successor, but not a prequel.

author=piano
What is my problem with XII, even though it's my fourth favorite? It tries to be everything. It tries to take the best elements of all FFs without stopping to wonder if that's such a good idea. It was to Final Fantasy what the prequel trilogy was to Star Wars and what Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was to Indiana Jones: creators caving to the demand of the fans without having a better reason to do it. They did it without a fully formed idea. The story gets unweildy and cluttered. It's as big as Arena, and just as confused (the Elder Scrolls got better with time and practice though, SquareEnix should have taken a few lessons from Bethesda). An effort went into making Vayne a three-dimensional villain, but he fell flat. The choice to deviate from the traditional summon creature ended up with new creatures that were bizarre, largely uninspired, and often grotesque (Cuchulain, the flatulent sewer-slime monster, anyone?). What's good about XII? So much to do that you never get bored, Balthier and Fran, a skill system similar to FFX, Balthier and Fran, exquisite graphics, Balthier and Fran, the hunting side-game...and did I mention Balthier and Fran?

Here's the biggest problem with XII; the departure of Yasumi Matsuno from the project, and therefore the storyline. I'm not sure whether or not he actually got 'exhausted' or if SE screwed him over (given the ultra polite nature of Japanese business and society, probably the latter), but once he did, the rest of the plot potential got screwed over, big time.

The same mind that cooked up the plot and setting of Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and the Ogre Battle series (all games critically acclaimed for their setting and plots) started FFXII and couldn't finish it, and a lot of people say the attempt of SE to pick up the pieces later is what doomed the potential of the game, so much that Hironobu Sakaguchi himself didn't even play it past the intro.

By all accounts, FFXII should have been much, much more.

I'm not really seeing the similarity of FFXII to Elder Scrolls. Explain?

Is that bad? A lot of RPGs are like that, and more are coming. Xenoblade is like that. Yes, Elder Scrolls is the open world to name when it comes to the genre, but I really doubt that they were thinking of Elder Scrolls when producing FFXII, if anything, it's more like Star Wars in theme than most else.

aimless sandbox RPGs always come across as so... aimless, to me.

And you even got a gif of the appropriate idiot to respond to that. Although, I've got a meme I like.

author=nurvuss
Xenosaga Abridged

Actually, Mitsuda only scored Xenogears and the first Xenosaga (and he was brilliant, of course). Yuki Kajiura did the second and third Xenosaga games. Her style is very, very different from Mitsuda, and it's jarring at first how different it sounds, but once you get past that, her work is almost as excellent as Mitsuda's.