Final FF12 gameblogging update

[owlmoose]

Final... because I'm done!

I finished the bulk of the story ages ago, and probably could have taken on the final battle without *too* much trouble, but I think my last major dungeon exploration -- the hidden areas of the Great Crystal -- not only helped me prepare in terms of levels (everyone was at least level 59 when I got them there), but it got me a great deal of strategic practice dealing with tough battles, especially in terms of taking on a bunch of tough enemies at once. Bubble is my friend now. As is having my primary melee types (Basch/Balthier) cast a bunch of defensive magic (Haste, Protect, Shell...) before walking into the fray, thereby letting my offensive mages (Fran/Penelo) and defensive mages (Vaan/Ashe, who I pretty much built into paladins) conserve their MP for the fighting. In general, it worked quite well, although the defensive mages had a tendency to run out of MP fairly quickly still. I never did settle on a perfect strategy for dealing with that, nor did I ever find a good source of Hi-Ethers. I do like though, that this game lets you re-build MP as you walk around. Very handy. I did get away from Quickenings as the game progressed, to the point that I didn't use a single one in the final battle. Too much danger of getting munged after using up all the MP, especially since you go into those battles one straight after the next, no chance to heal and recover MP.

I was ready to be done with the sidequests, though, since once past that first rush of exploration in each area, they seem to mostly be about crazy-difficult boss battles that don't earn you much in the way of experience or stuff. Espers, okay, but since I basically never used those, I didn't see much point in investing blood, sweat, and tears into trying to find them all. The hunts are better, since some of those have pretty sweet rewards, but I only managed to beat one level VII mark -- Gilgamesh, and it was totally worth it, just for the cut scene after the battle, and Masamune made a decent weapon for Vaan -- and it probably would have taken hours and hours more leveling to get anywhere with the others. Just not worth it to me. My main goals for this replay, besides of course immersing myself in the world for many hours, and getting another crack at watching the story unfold, was to fully explore Nabudis and get into hidden areas like the back of the Great Crystal, and in this I definitely succeeded. One irritating detail, though, that I wonder if anyone else noticed: if you're too high level by the time you get into some of these areas, do all the good treasures turn into Knots of Rust? It happened in the secret chamber of the Sochen Cave Palace, it happened in the Great Crystal, and I think it also happened in the Lhusu Mines. Very frustrating.

Anyway. Enough complaining about game mechanics; let's talk about the ending.

• The airship battle seems straightforward enough: Vayne wants to take out the entire resistance in one swoop, Larsa is horrified but can't do much about it by himself, Ondore has put all of the resistance's eggs in this one basket and is not about to back down now. One question that has not been answered to my satisfaction: where were the Rozarrians in all this? Fleet on the way, or being bothered by other Archadian forces? The final cease-fire announced by Larsa, Ashe, and "Gabranth" doesn't involve Rozarria at all, and I have to wonder how they felt about the resolution. I have a lot of open questions about Rozarria, really. I still wish the game had developed Rozarria better, and given us a chance to visit.



• Brotherly reunion: this thread was wrapped up quite well, I think, with all of Basch and Noah's unfinished business hashed out, first in battle, then on Noah's deathbed. (Do we know which of the twins is older? My money is on Basch, but it could go either way, really.) Unlike other last-minute Final Fantasy conversions, I thought that Gabranth's was set up very well: his primary loyalty was always to Larsa, so I found it logical that he turned on Vayne at the end. Not for Basch, but for Larsa. A much more satisfying end for their family than for Balthier's -- the Ronsenberg brothers ended up fighting side by side, but Balthier was given no choice but to kill his father.



• Would a Final Fantasy game be a Final Fantasy game without a three-part final battle? No, I don't think so. Also, I do enjoy the resemblance of Vayne's final form to Bahamut's dragonish form in so many of the other games.



• The other unanswered question: what happened to Venat? Was she merged with Vayne so deeply that she was killed along with the Undying? Or is she still out there, waiting to crown a new Dynast-King and rule all of Ivalice? I also found her comments about the end of the other Occuria dubious -- yes, the Sun-Cryst is no more, but it's not as though Ashe and company did any other damage to them. Venat or no Venat, the others are still out there, and I see plenty of opportunities for further meddling in the affairs of humanity.



• Ah, good old Ashe/Balthier subtext -- and not-so-subtext. Ashe ordering Balthier not to die? Not particularly subtle, that. Of course, we also get hints of Ashe and Basch, in Penelo's letter and in Basch's reaction to it, and we can never forget Balthier and Fran's totally awesome fist bump after the final battle. (Terrorist fist bump?) But the replay, and the stories I've been inspired to write in the process, have settled me pretty firmly on Ashe/Balthier as my FF12 OTP. Not to the point that I can never see either of them with anyone else, but I like them better together than not.

Overall, I think it's safe to say that I actually liked the game better the second time through, which is always a good sign for me with a game. And I'm so glad that playing it a second time drew me more into being fannish about it. The downside? I wish I hadn't waited three years for the replay. Next time I have interest in being part of a game fandom, I will not put it off nearly so long.

Comments

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

You're actually making me want to play/replay the entire thing -- I've spoiled myself silly but in all honesty I've only played up to a certain point, mostly due to my awful schedule. But I think I'd benefit from a replay on a lot of games (X-2 is another one)...

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

How far did you get in FF12 the first time?

I think it's worth finishing, even if you've seen cut scenes etc., because I always feel like I get more from seeing them in context. Especially if, as I seem to remember, you are a Basch fan, because he gets development at the end.

FFX-2 totally benefits from a replay, IMO (which is of course totally unbiased and not influenced by wanting to get more of my friends to like or at least come to a better appreciation of the game, oh no not at all), because it was non-linear enough that it's really easy to miss stuff the first time through. Also you pick up on way more stuff once you know what's really going on with Paine and the Crimson Squad backstory. At least I did. So I totally encourage you to pick it up again if you have any interest.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

I have a fine tradition of only playing a game 2-3 years after the first wave of fandom has already digested it!

I was flush with FFX obsession about the time everyone else was burying themselves in FFXII.

Ah well.

I enjoyed FFXII more on the second play-through, but for some reason, apart from a very few gratuitous Fran-drabbles, I have simply enjoyed reading other people's work.

Ashe/Balthier was definitely implied, possibly unrequited. The dynamics in the game were satisfyingly complex. Although I find many of the Fran/Balthier stories (especially ellnyx's) very satisfying.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I played FFX (and X-2) when they were new but didn't get into fandom until years later, so I get that for sure.

My resistance to Fran/Balthier is probably a manifestation of my resistance to buddy pairings in general, and particularly male/female friendships. I had the same issue with Harry/Hermione in the Harry Potter fandom: the dynamic feels so much like friendship/partnership to me, and the urge to turn it sexual and/or romantic strikes me as devaluing friendship, falling back on the canard that men and women can never be "only" friends, as if there is anything "only" about the bond of friendship.

Oops, triggered a rant there. >.> And I fully accept that some of the pairings I like can also be read as friendship (Penelo/Vaan comes to mind, and apparently Paine/Nooj to some people, although I can't see that one any other way now), so maybe I'm a hypocrite ;) but it still gets to me.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Rant away. That was part of my initial crankiness about Lulu and Wakka marrying -- it honestly was not the A/L thing, since Lulu is clearly capable of "serial monogamy" -- it's the fact that their dynamic as friends was fantastic. I've gotten used to canon, but it makes me wistful.

Fran/Balthier I can see either way. I like the buddy stories as well, and the Chewie/Han parallels are fun.

I've never been able to grasp Penelo/Vaan as anything but friendship, but that's just me.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Wakka/Lulu as settled canon was especially a stretch for me because I didn't see their dynamic as friends, but as surrogate siblings. So for them to jump to lovers/married was a leap I couldn't really take on faith. If we'd seen it developed between the games, maybe.

I did see more evidence for Fran/Balthier this time through, even if not enough to change my mind. ;)

[lassarina]

\o/ SHARED OTP LUV 4EVA.

By which I mean I will stop being an obnoxious fanbrat now.

But I am very looking forward to anything you may come up with in future!

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

:) I totally need an Ashe/Balthier icon, hmm.

Ideas continue to brew, even though I'm not working on anything specific in that vein right now.

[sarasa-cat.livejournal.com]

I just saw your post and, to answer your question, Dissidia claims that Noah is the younger twin.

Before learning that, I assumed Noah was younger -- something about their interactions? I got the impression that Noah once looked up to his brother, before Basch "failed Landis."

Here's Dissidia's Bio Card for Gabranth:

Gabranth - Final Fantasy XII

A warrior who swears his life to those he trusts.

In the original game, he served as a Judge Magister of the Archadian Empire.

Despite being non-native to the Empire, he advanced to the position of Judge at an impressive speed. However, his heart was filled with regret from being unable to protect his home country, and he despised his older brother Basch for abandoning him and their mother.

.

I was also a bit baffled by Venat's comments. Even though the age of stones ended and the cryst+shards were the Occuria's way of manipulating humes (and others), are the Occuria really only able to meddle with humes through the cryst+shards? They seemed much more powerful than that. :/

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Great info, thanks! It might be a bit of a stretch to call Dissidia canon for FF12, of course, but it's an interesting insight into what the writers likely intended. And I agree that it suits the way they interacted, if Noah saw his older brother as a fallen idol.

I was also a bit baffled by Venat's comments. Even though the age of stones ended and the cryst+shards were the Occuria's way of manipulating humes (and others), are the Occuria really only able to meddle with humes through the cryst+shards? They seemed much more powerful than that. :/

I am really glad that this is not just me! It really seems to me that the Occuria could find another way to meddle if they wanted. Also, in a way you could even say that Venat "won" -- the stones are destroyed and the Occuria's influence over humes is at the very least diminished, even if it's not Venat's chosen ones in charge. It's curious. It doesn't help that I've never really felt exactly clear on what Venat actually wanted to accomplish.

[sarasa-cat.livejournal.com]

I would definitely say that Venat won, because her(?) goal was to help hume scientists develop manufacted nethicite, which appears more stable and usable/reusable than the rare, legendary deifacted nethicite. When nethicite can be manufactured, its power can be harnessed by (theoretically) anyone, and nethicite is no longer a rare nuclear deterrent powerful relic held only by Raithwall's lineage.

I don't think Venat cared who was in charge in the end, but only that there exists a known process for manufacturing nethicite. Venat & Dr. Cid wanted to put humekind in control of their own history (free will?) by giving them a source of power/energy they could manufacture. Related, the sage knowledge entry about Draklor mentions "great strides being made in the manufacting of magicite and improved methods of drawing energy from the stones." There were a few indications in game that oil and solid fuel had been the primary energy source for creating electricity, but that electrical motors have mostly fallen out of use and have been replaced by magic-based energy via artificially condense mist.

So, Venat is trying to create a level playing field for everyone with a stable form of industrial-quality nethicite, rather than let the other Occuria determine who will act as a ruling power (who gets to stockpile the unstable nuclear nethicite bombs).


...Still, it doesn't really answer any questions about Occurian influence beyond nethicite. Those Occuria sure looked powerful to me!

And what happened to Venat after the 3rd battle with Vayne???

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Ah, so Venat was very much looking at the bigger picture of hume/Occuria relations. And in that sense, she (I'm pretty sure Venat was meant to be female, at least based on this replay) got what she wanted before the game even started, since it appears that Dr. Cid succeeded in making stable nethecite offstage.

Good info on the Draklor sage knowledge -- I should really just dig up a source for all of that and read through it, it will be a lot easier to retain that way than by just flipping through pages and pages of monster notes on the TV screen!

And what happened to Venat after the 3rd battle with Vayne???

I absolutely wonder this, too. Was she merged with Vayne so deeply that she died when he did? Did she float away to fight another day? Or does she even care to keep fighting, now that her primary objective has been achieved? It's a puzzle.