To be honest, I've got the guide *insert screams of horror from "pure" gamers here*. I'm going to play it safe and powerlevel.
That reminds me of some of the "rubber band" tricks I used when I was younger for a lot of RPGs (especially FF games, up to FFX IIRC). If I needed to level up, I'd leave my console on overnight (or for a couple hours depending on the situation), and come back to a party with insanely high levels (or whatever). So I usually didn’t have a problem leveling up for the most part. I'm sure that will make the "pure" gamers scream out in horror too.
Yasumi Matsuno is simply one of the best videogames directors out there; even though he left FFXII midway through, I think it's clearly evident that this is still his story. The guy directed two perfectly 40/40 rated Famitsu scores (Vagrant Story & FFXII (the very first FF to get a perfect Famitsu score)); Famitsu, in it's history has only ever given 6 perfect scores. Although some don't like the story as much as FFX, I find this story far more superior than most of the FF's past. The mature storyline, and the way & style the story itself is being told makes up for the suppossed claim that there's a lack of character development. With a strong story (in my humble opinion), a nice updated gameplay system, and one of the best voice acting I've ever seen, FFXII is quickly moving up on my short list of classic videogames. BTW: FFVI aka FFIII rules! FFVI is being remade on the GB Advance. From what I understand, they'll be adding a few new tweaks...the most notable one being the addition of a handful of new summons.
XII has kind of fallen by the wayside for me. I will pick it up and play it eventually, but there's just too much going on right now. And now that I've played them more, I'm loving the old Final Fantasies in handheld form. I'm looking forward to the V and VI releases for the GBA/DS. I'm not understanding. How does this level you? Someone has to direct the battles, right?
If you think about it, all you're really doing is using 2-3 buttons repeatedly when trying to level up, so it isn't all that tough to "automate" it. Basically, I'd get it so that the character on screen was walking/running into a wall or something solid during an area with random encounters. I actually used tape or some sort of weight on my tricks instead of rubber bands, although I believe that is how it is usually described. I would tape down (or weigh down) a directional button (or the analog stick) as well as the x button, and my whole party would basically do all the fighting for me (the x button being pressed down would have every member of my party attack the enemies). Keep in mind that I'm talking about battles with relatively easy enemies (preferably enemies w/o status attack). Even then, I'd sometimes have to check it out every couple of hours to make sure my party was still alive (and sometimes, they did die). It worked out in the long run though. It varies game to game, system to system though. Sometimes, I think I used a cheap turbo PS1 controller for some of the PS1 games (which would repeat button taps really quickly just by holding a button down). I might have used it on the PS2 too if it worked (can't remember). I haven't done this in like 5+ years, so my memory is a little fuzzy on how things worked exactly.
IMO, the best FF to me has been 9. A true classic. I've played all FF's except ff3, ff11, and ff12. 1 - an ok game, basic story, no character development. here you can see the root of all FF's. it's pretty hard though, i got stuck a couple times not knowing where to go. 2 - here you can see FF being more complicated. characters are becoming more interesting, the level system is completely different here though. too lazy to explain it. 4 - in this FF, 'evil' is being more focused on. 5 - job system is introduced here where you can change to anything you want, very addicting. 6 - great story and characters, started the revolution of rpg's. 7 - Overrated but still it's great, just not the best of some say (IMO) 8 - Battle system blows due to the fact you had to summon GF's 999999 times to level up. Story was pretty good though and scenes were epic... Spoiler i loved the scenes where you were fighting a soldier and there was CGI behind you. or when the bridge was falling and you were running for your life. 9 - true classic, loved it for the sole reason they brought back the characters to look like their job classes. each character's story was memorable, like how Spoiler dagger cut off her hair, how the little wizard guy finds out he's just a creation, and how zidane's a puppet. . compared to 7, and 8... 9's characters were better. i loved how you get your abilities from your weapons. 10 - this is my second favorite, the characters here were also memorable. auron was a total badass. i loved the way you leveled up with the sphere system thing.
I'm at a lull in the game for the moment. Kinda going around, snagging the occassional hunt, and basically just LP farming. I picked up Medieval 2 so I'm kind of engrossed in it (I love the Total War series). Between that and multiplaying Gears of War, I'm not showing FF much love. I might play it tonight after the USC/ND game though.
