What are you playing right now?

[Dunkum]

58 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

 

The job system is what is making me curious (loved bravely default and bravely second), but the gambit system is what keeps turning me away from ff12 without trying it. I am very particular about what my characters do and when. When I played Dragon Quest 11 I would get annoyed that the default is that the AI controls my other characters and would turn it off as soon as possible. So I am concerned I will feel the same way if I play FF12. 

you can turn gambits off entirely if you want.  i think outside of the tutorial on it in the beginning, you can probably play the whole game without it, at least in the original version.  can't speak to the remake.

 

edit to add: and if it makes a difference, the gambit system isn't exactly AI.  its rules you give to your characters on how to attack in various situations, ordered by priority.  so it isnt AI making stupid decisions, its characters doing what you tell them to do. my biggest issue with it is that you have to collect the gambits before you can use them, meaning your options are pretty limited early on.  but by the end of the game the only times id deviate from the gambits were either rare status ailments that i hadnt bothered to set a gambit for or 1 specific scenario (having my healer use osmose on a party member when her hp was low) that the gambit system couldnt do

Edited September 27, 2019 by Dunkum
addition

[Briar King]

For those not wanting to do gambits(which help with the tedious stuff) umm just turn them off...

ha

[Pathfinder]

45 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

you can turn gambits off entirely if you want.  i think outside of the tutorial on it in the beginning, you can probably play the whole game without it, at least in the original version.  can't speak to the remake.

So does it default to turn-based, or is it still "action orientated" just now I have to constantly switch among my characters to tell them what to do instead of the gambits auto scripting them? Or another way to say it, if I turn off the gambits, do I get to take my time, observe the battle, and move the character where I want them, and tell them how to act like in Divinity Original Sin, or will it basically turn into an MMORPG?

Quote

edit to add: and if it makes a difference, the gambit system isn't exactly AI.  its rules you give to your characters on how to attack in various situations, ordered by priority.  so it isnt AI making stupid decisions, its characters doing what you tell them to do. my biggest issue with it is that you have to collect the gambits before you can use them, meaning your options are pretty limited early on.  but by the end of the game the only times id deviate from the gambits were either rare status ailments that i hadnt bothered to set a gambit for or 1 specific scenario (having my healer use osmose on a party member when her hp was low) that the gambit system couldnt do

I have been told by my wife's cousin who played it that I may like it because I could customize the gambits, but I get concerned that I will end up just sitting back and watching the fight. One big part of making combinations for myself, is actually being able to play them. That is why I am into borderlands so much. I come up with combinations, and then I get the visceral feeling of using them (using fade away and skills to increase crit and gun damage with fl4k turning enemies into blood paste with a shot gun. using Amara's skills that turn her into a tank that even when damaged, she does a phase slam and suddenly her health is back to full, and im dealing the hurt). Basically I am worried it will turn into auto pilot. I have heard great reviews regarding the game, but I acknowledge I am a very picky gamer (not saying other games are bad, I just recognize I like a very niche type of game that ironically enough to my benefit has recently become more popular). So what I am trying to determine is whether or not FF12 fits into that niche enough to spend money on it. 

35 minutes ago, Briar King said:

For those not wanting to do gambits(which help with the tedious stuff) umm just turn them off...

ha

My first question to Dunkum in this post is why I haven't just turned it off. I would like to know if it then switches to turn-based, or does it remain action orientated. Because if it remains action orientated, that makes it worse to me, because now I am being rushed to make decisions and spam abilities instead of being able to take my time, and think through my decisions. That is why I never played Final Fantasy 15, or any of the "Tales of" games. I prefer tactical. Not to say action games hold no tactical aspects, but they hold more appeal to my wife, who can knock out those attack combo flawlessly, while she says she has no patience for games like fire emblem where I make a spread sheet planning out every level and skill till the character develops how I want. That is the reason I am curious about FF12. I am curious about the job system and builds I could make as result. Another example is I am hesitant about Atilier Ryza. I like the art style, and it is sorta turn based, but from the gameplay I have seen so far, the other characters keep acting while you control one in the party, and that I do not like. So I am waiting to see more gameplay before I decide whether I will be interested or not. 

 

 

Honestly I would love to play a demo to see how I feel about it, but there does not seem to be one. 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Pathfinder

[Dunkum]

56 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

So does it default to turn-based, or is it still "action orientated" just now I have to constantly switch among my characters to tell them what to do instead of the gambits auto scripting them? Or another way to say it, if I turn off the gambits, do I get to take my time, observe the battle, and move the character where I want them, and tell them how to act like in Divinity Original Sin, or will it basically turn into an MMORPG?

Its been a while since I played it, and i generally used the gambits, so take this with a grain of salt, but I seem to recall the battle system generally playing out in real time.  so I think that if you turned off the gambits you would potentially end up takign several hits while trying to figure out which skill to use.  One other thing to note: even when using the gambits, you can interrupt them at any time with a command that usually takes priority over the gambits.  the osmose example i gave above for isntance would stop my healer trying to cast a healing spel, which is what her gambit was telling her to do, l while i had her drain mp from one of my non-magic using party members.  because i gave it as a command, it supercedes any gambit.

[Pathfinder]

26 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

Its been a while since I played it, and i generally used the gambits, so take this with a grain of salt, but I seem to recall the battle system generally playing out in real time.  so I think that if you turned off the gambits you would potentially end up takign several hits while trying to figure out which skill to use.  One other thing to note: even when using the gambits, you can interrupt them at any time with a command that usually takes priority over the gambits.  the osmose example i gave above for isntance would stop my healer trying to cast a healing spel, which is what her gambit was telling her to do, l while i had her drain mp from one of my non-magic using party members.  because i gave it as a command, it supercedes any gambit.

Hmmmm, then there is a chance I will end up not liking it. There have been games (like borderlands) where I am fine with action, as long as the customization is enough to make it feel unique, but I dunno. It would probably depend on how I feel watching the gambits I prepared based on my builds played out. That's something I give Sony, and more so Nintendo, they tend to have demos for their games. That's how I discovered my love for tactical rpgs. I played the demo for Disgaea 5. Shame Sony never did one for FF12, and Nintendo didn't do one for the remaster. Eh I shouldn't complain, I have a list of 10 to 15 games I am looking forward to playing and none of them are short lol. Thanks for the info!

[Briar King]

2 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

Hmmmm, then there is a chance I will end up not liking it. There have been games (like borderlands) where I am fine with action, as long as the customization is enough to make it feel unique, but I dunno. It would probably depend on how I feel watching the gambits I prepared based on my builds played out. That's something I give Sony, and more so Nintendo, they tend to have demos for their games. That's how I discovered my love for tactical rpgs. I played the demo for Disgaea 5. Shame Sony never did one for FF12, and Nintendo didn't do one for the remaster. Eh I shouldn't complain, I have a list of 10 to 15 games I am looking forward to playing and none of them are short lol. Thanks for the info!

There are 12 combos/gambits you can assign that will auto play out if you have the slots unlocked unless you manually stop them. Other then that you are manually entering commands every action unless you are attacking which plays out till the end of battle. If you are entering in a magic or technique command the gameplay completely pauses as you scroll through your options so the enemies aren’t getting in any shots on your characters.

[Dunkum]

2 hours ago, Briar King said:

There are 12 combos/gambits you can assign that will auto play out if you have the slots unlocked unless you manually stop them. Other then that you are manually entering commands every action unless you are attacking which plays out till the end of battle. If you are entering in a magic or technique command the gameplay completely pauses as you scroll through your options so the enemies aren’t getting in any shots on your characters.

is that somethign that changed in the remake?  because I know the original had way more gambits, and i'm about 80% sure gameplay didnt pause for you to chose attacks if you entered them manually.

[Briar King]

Easy nuff to check..let me go fire up PS2 

 

 

12 gambits and gameplay pause on command inputs. Same.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Briar King

[Draginon]

16 hours ago, Wander89 said:

I think KH would be a game I'd like to get into, if I wasn't playing about 1 million other games at the same time! Same with Final Fantasy. After XV (Which I really enjoyed), I'm needing a new FF.

Kingdom Hearts in general is a pretty easy game series, especially compared to FF. If you do get into the series here’s the exact order you need to play them so that surprises stay surprises: KH1, KH reChain of Memories, KH2, KH 358/2 Days, KH Birth By Sleep, KH reCoded, KH Dream Drop Distance, KH BBS0.2 and KH3. A lot of casuals skip the non-numbered ones without realizing they bring up characters and concepts that culminates in KH3. Thankfully all the titles, minus 3, are in the package known as The Story So Far. In there 358/2 Days and reCoded are movies but they give the gist of what’s  needed to continue so you only need to play 7 games, one of which is about 3 hours since it’s the prologue to 3. Also in the package is a movie called X [Back Cover] that brings up a couple things seen in 3 so make sure to take an hour to watch it.

 

10 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

 

The job system is what is making me curious (loved bravely default and bravely second), but the gambit system is what keeps turning me away from ff12 without trying it. I am very particular about what my characters do and when. When I played Dragon Quest 11 I would get annoyed that the default is that the AI controls my other characters and would turn it off as soon as possible. So I am concerned I will feel the same way if I play FF12. 

Well the gambit is a form of choosing what your characters do, you just preset it beforehand so if you know a boss is weak to fire you can have the gambits set so that your party takes advantage of that weakness. It’s just annoying since you have to find and buy the different gambits in order to really customize them and you have to change it when facing certain enemies so if you have the perfect setup it’s a pain to figure out a new setup on the fly to beat the enemy.

[Dunkum]

2 hours ago, Briar King said:

Easy nuff to check..let me go fire up PS2 

 

 

12 gambits and gameplay pause on command inputs. Same.

oh, 12 gambit slots, not 12 options for gambits.  yea, that makes more sense.  because there are thousands of possible options for each slot.  well 12 gambit slots per character, 6 characters any 3 of whcih can be in the party at a given time etc etc

[Draginon]

8 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

Hmmmm, then there is a chance I will end up not liking it. There have been games (like borderlands) where I am fine with action, as long as the customization is enough to make it feel unique, but I dunno. It would probably depend on how I feel watching the gambits I prepared based on my builds played out. That's something I give Sony, and more so Nintendo, they tend to have demos for their games. That's how I discovered my love for tactical rpgs. I played the demo for Disgaea 5. Shame Sony never did one for FF12, and Nintendo didn't do one for the remaster. Eh I shouldn't complain, I have a list of 10 to 15 games I am looking forward to playing and none of them are short lol. Thanks for the info!

There was a demo for FF12 included with Dragon Quest 8 when they were on the PS2. There isn’t one for Zodiac Age though.

edit: In answer with your gambit off question if I’m remembering correctly turning it off would be counterproductive for you since I think not using gambits causes anyone who isn’t the leader to do their own thing, meaning 100% AI control, while having them on gives you a measure of control by giving the character AI a checklist of priorities.

Here’s an example of what you can do if you get the right gambits from the shops:

1. Attack non-leader monsters (they’ll attack everything except the one you have targeted)

2. Attack monster with weakness

3. Heal status ailment [insert ailment here]

4. Use cure on party members when HP below 50%

5. Use ether on party members when MP below 30%

Pretty much it will prioritize 1. until the conditions can’t be met (in this case the monster is immune to physical attacks and requires magic to damage it) which will cause it to move to 2. and so on until it reaches the bottom of the list and if it can’t meet any of the conditions then the character will do nothing and die from being attacked. The way it’s set up you can have one character prioritize healing and magic over attacking, another prioritize status effects (which is very useful between battles since that character will keep applying them when they wear off) and then you the leader can focus on killing the monsters.

In the OG version you couldn’t do this with guests or summons but in Zodiac Age you can change their priorities so you can control their behaviors as well.

The only thing that can really describe the system is it’s a hybrid of an action RPG and MMORPG stuck smack dab in the middle of the two. There’s more control than FF13 but a little less control than the turn based games since combat is in real time like in FF11 and FF14. In terms of total control to no control over party members it goes FF1-FF10 (ATB allows you to input everyone’s actions in battle), FF12 (you can set action priorities), FF13 & FF15 (I think control is similar to 13 where party uses best action possible but I haven’t played it yet), FF11 & FR14 (since your party is other people).

edit 2: found a video that explains the system much better: 

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Draginon

[Draginon]

I’m one level away from my goal on Kingdom Hearts. It took two hours to get to level 49 and the EXP is about the same but I don’t have the energy to go another two hours right now. If I start again tomorrow as soon as I get home from work I should be able to get to level 50.

[Pathfinder]

On 9/27/2019 at 4:28 PM, Briar King said:

There are 12 combos/gambits you can assign that will auto play out if you have the slots unlocked unless you manually stop them. Other then that you are manually entering commands every action unless you are attacking which plays out till the end of battle. If you are entering in a magic or technique command the gameplay completely pauses as you scroll through your options so the enemies aren’t getting in any shots on your characters.

 

On 9/27/2019 at 6:46 PM, Dunkum said:

is that somethign that changed in the remake?  because I know the original had way more gambits, and i'm about 80% sure gameplay didnt pause for you to chose attacks if you entered them manually.

 

On 9/27/2019 at 10:03 PM, Draginon said:

There was a demo for FF12 included with Dragon Quest 8 when they were on the PS2. There isn’t one for Zodiac Age though.

edit: In answer with your gambit off question if I’m remembering correctly turning it off would be counterproductive for you since I think not using gambits causes anyone who isn’t the leader to do their own thing, meaning 100% AI control, while having them on gives you a measure of control by giving the character AI a checklist of priorities.

Here’s an example of what you can do if you get the right gambits from the shops:

1. Attack non-leader monsters (they’ll attack everything except the one you have targeted)

2. Attack monster with weakness

3. Heal status ailment [insert ailment here]

4. Use cure on party members when HP below 50%

5. Use ether on party members when MP below 30%

Pretty much it will prioritize 1. until the conditions can’t be met (in this case the monster is immune to physical attacks and requires magic to damage it) which will cause it to move to 2. and so on until it reaches the bottom of the list and if it can’t meet any of the conditions then the character will do nothing and die from being attacked. The way it’s set up you can have one character prioritize healing and magic over attacking, another prioritize status effects (which is very useful between battles since that character will keep applying them when they wear off) and then you the leader can focus on killing the monsters.

In the OG version you couldn’t do this with guests or summons but in Zodiac Age you can change their priorities so you can control their behaviors as well.

The only thing that can really describe the system is it’s a hybrid of an action RPG and MMORPG stuck smack dab in the middle of the two. There’s more control than FF13 but a little less control than the turn based games since combat is in real time like in FF11 and FF14. In terms of total control to no control over party members it goes FF1-FF10 (ATB allows you to input everyone’s actions in battle), FF12 (you can set action priorities), FF13 & FF15 (I think control is similar to 13 where party uses best action possible but I haven’t played it yet), FF11 & FR14 (since your party is other people).

edit 2: found a video that explains the system much better: 

Thank you all three for all the information! I appreciate everyone's hard work! I will check out some more gameplay, research the job system some more, and decide if I am going to add it to my list. I definitely have a much more informed opinion on the gambit system now so that will no longer hold me back if I decide I want to give it a shot. 

 

As to what games I am playing right now. I am putting most of my hours into Borderlands 3. I have created seven characters so far, switching among and leveling them depending on my mood (some days tank, some days control, some days dps). When my wife plays classic Final Fantasy 7 (in preparation for the FF7 remake) I play on the switch in handheld my second run of Fire Emblem Three Houses (first run was Black Eagles, now doing Golden Deer, then Blue Lions, and ending with Black Eagles but making a different choice). Then I will play Trails of Cold Steel 2, Divinity Original Sin 2, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Banner Saga 1,2, and 3 (not necessarily in that order, it will depend on which game I am feeling at the time). Then the games I am keeping an eye out for are Alliance Alive Remaster, Trails of Cold Steel 3. Atelier Ryza (maybe, like I said need to research gameplay some more), Disgaea 4 Complete +, Baldur's Gate 3 and Phoenix Point. Then even further in the future Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Tactics, Tokyo Mirage Session FE, Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 (on the fence because heard it was glitchy), Cyberpunk 2077, Empire of Sin, Digimon Survive, Haven, CrisTales (looks beautiful), Fairy Tail, and last but certainly not least The New Bravely Default game (whatever it will be called and whenever it will be released, no clue lol). I do not play short games, and I like finishing whatever I am playing before going on to something else so I have come to the conclusion that I may very well just keep an eye out when games come on sale and buy them, so they are cheaper, and will still exist when I finally have a chance to get to them lol. 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Pathfinder

[Draginon]

Just got to level 50!

[overlord stick]

Just started Kingdom Come: Deliverance. 

[Wander89]

15 hours ago, Lord Furret said:

Just started Kingdom Come: Deliverance. 

It certainly looks good but I haven't seen much buzz about it. Let me know how it is!

[Briar King]

It’s an older game now, I think an expansion is coming for it soon.

[Dunkum]

started playing Final Fantasy X-2 a little while back (got it cheap and figured I'd give it a proper chance), btu pretty much every time I was playing it, I found myself thinking about how much i'd rather just be playing FFX.  so i'm now on a new replay of FFX.  just got to Kilika, and watched it get wiped out.  And not to be unsympathetic (to a group of fictional people), but maybe, just maybe, if there is a god-level giant monster roaming the seas and attacking human settlements, then maybe you shouldn't build your entire village on piers out in the ocean.  You'd think someone, at least one single person, would have picked up on that in 1000 years...

[Wander89]

9 hours ago, Dunkum said:

started playing Final Fantasy X-2 a little while back (got it cheap and figured I'd give it a proper chance), btu pretty much every time I was playing it, I found myself thinking about how much i'd rather just be playing FFX.  so i'm now on a new replay of FFX.  just got to Kilika, and watched it get wiped out.  And not to be unsympathetic (to a group of fictional people), but maybe, just maybe, if there is a god-level giant monster roaming the seas and attacking human settlements, then maybe you shouldn't build your entire village on piers out in the ocean.  You'd think someone, at least one single person, would have picked up on that in 1000 years...

Final Fantasy X will always hold a special place in my little heart. What a game!!

[NottTheBrave]

Been playing a lot of the last of us multiplayer on my fiancé's account.  I'm grinding out the two journeys so she can get her platinum.  She can't stand the multiplayer.  

When im not doing that, I haven't really been playing much honestly.  Some stuff has happened lately in my personal life so I've just been in a funk mostly.  Just watching tv/YouTube.

[Jaywalk]

I continue my journey through Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

[Storming Radiant]

Started the new remake of Link's Awakening. I didn't play the original, but I'm loving it. Especially the new art style

[Wander89]

So I'm playing Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom and there are these little embodiments of things called Higgledies and they are the exact concept of spren and it's so awesome! The first one you get is a wind higgledy and it basically creates wind! If I could name it then it would have definitely been Syl!

[Zurvanight]

Playing FFXIV some more. Working on leveling my Red Mage to 80. Also the new trailer for Patch 5.1 dropped and it includes stuff like the Nier Automata raid (YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse) Hades Extreme, The Grand Cosmos dungeon, and the Alexander Ultimate raid: 

 

[urrutiap]

ive been playing Assassins Creed 2 nonstop for the whole week up to this weekend. 

 

Im up to the last 6th assassin tomb and Im right at Memory Chapter 10 or whatever. 

 

6th assassin tomb im gonna have to watch a youtube video of