Years ago I saw a copy at a comic convention and hesitated in buying it until it was too late. Today I found another copy that also included the manual. Just in time before FF Revelations comes out since I never quite understood what the Tsviets are (although I’m hoping a remake of this will be one of the DLCs).

I always wondered if simply making Balthier the main character would have changed the perception of FF12. Either way, it's probably my favorite one to play. The gambit system is something I wish all games could have to make up for bad ai

https://shmuplations.com/ff6rt/

—Here's a question for everyone: who is your personal favorite character from the main cast?

Uematsu: I'd say Relm. She's so cute, right? If not her, then Celes. She's strong-willed, but seeing her rediscover that softer, feminine side of herself is really compelling. Tough choice.

Minaba: For me, probably Gau... bit of an oddball pick...

Sakaguchi: My absolute favorite is one of the secret characters, though I can't say the name. But thinking purely in terms of combat, Cyan is #1 for me. Age-wise, I can relate to him quite a bit... (laughs)

Takahashi: I also really like that secret character, but my next favorite would be Mog.

Nomura: I have two favorites as well: Setzer and Shadow.

Ogata: Setzer is the one for me.

Kitase: From a combat perspective, I used Sabin a lot. In terms of writing the story, though, the ones I really grew attached to were Locke and Celes.

—Nobody picked Terra!

Sakaguchi: Although Terra was designated the central protagonist from the start, we actually spent much of development trying to step her back from that role. That's probably why she didn't become a favorite. And the reason we didn't want Terra to be the main character goes back to our original concept: when kids finish playing the game, if you have 10 different kids, I wanted all 10 of them to have a different favorite character. For one kid, the hero of the story might be Shadow; for another, Setzer. I wanted everyone to walk away with a different impression. Surprisingly, the playtest feedback reflected that, and as you can see our staff itself is completely split, so I'd have to say mission accomplished.

Uematsu: When I first heard that concept, though, I thought it would be impossible.

Sakaguchi: Right. Someone always ends up standing out as the clear lead.

—That's certainly been true for previous games in the series, whether it was Bartz or Cecil...

Uematsu: When you look at it that way, I think the way we handled the main cast really paid off.

Sakaguchi: Mind you, the unpopular ones are really unpopular. Strago, for instance... I fussed over him until the absolute end, but he never caught on.

Minaba: I guess people just don't want an old man?

FF 7 Remake Intergrade was my first FF game and I kinda rushed through the main story, skipping the side content (less than 30 hours). In Rebirth because of the open world I literally do everything except the main story, every marker on the map must be checked, every battle intel, ruins, every grayed out area must be visited. I'm fully committed to complete the game with all the side content. I know Resonance is coming out soon, but it's different as I saw so it won't disturb my flow, even if I will play both.

Screen is from the in game mini game (no spoilers)

I got this one to celebrate my freedom from an 8 year controlling relationship with no communication! My boy is dealing 9999 dmg to the toxic ex 😂

I made Tifa’s Black Mage outfit* from the Final Fantasy VII Revelation gameplay trailer!!

*I am VERY aware of the outfit changes in the demos which unfortunately came out after I’d nearly finished making her SO I have decided it’s still canon though let me cope :p

Finding stops and petting babies 🐥

Locke, i promise you'll be the same

For me it's Edge from FFIV especially considering how they'd handled him in a sequel lol. They'd even use this as an optional gag attack that was so bad omg 😭 Still love the guy tho

Who are you favorite unsung heroes of the series? Those characters who make big contributions to your mission in smaller roles or characters who get overlooked.

A few of my favorites:

FF4 - Cid’s helpers. They don’t ask questions. They just help out.

FF6 - the guy who fakes being sick so you can sneak into Vector. Imagine the guts that would take IRL.

FF7 - Elmyra. One of the most admirable characters in the series.

Source: https://bskyx.app/profile/strawderryst.bsky.social/post/3mw2ua7h2ss2a

Literally left up to luck in the end

Basically a long dungeon that every floor has either a random dungeon floor, a special event, or a town or something like that.

Bonus point if it has some set special floors.

My next tattoo I ever want to get is going to be of Shiva, but I won't lie, I've been incredibly conflicted on which one.

I love FFIX, but I keep going back to the FFVIII version, but then I think I want FFX's, but THEN, I look at the others and want them all, which may realistically be outside of my wallets capabilities haha

I'll choose one day, but which one would you choose?

Or which other summon/guardian/etc. would you choose?

Meme Monday has begun! For the next day, memes are permitted. In 24 hours, another notification will be posted to signal the end of Meme Monday. Any memes posted between these two threads will be exempt from our regular rules. Have fun!

There is nothing in the story that presents Vayne as evil. He is driven, pragmatic, and willing to sacrifice anything for success. These are hardly qualities at the extreme, but they aren’t malicious or ill-intended. Vayne simply lacks the “Mwahahahahaaaa!!!....” moment that traditional villains get.

Now, on to what makes Vayne a Tragic Hero.

This part is easy. In fact, out of the top-three Tragic Hero qualities in Greek Tragedy, Vayne has, get this, all three.

(a). Overweening Pride. A Tragic Hero, by definition, needs a Hubris, or Fatal Flaw. Of these, none is more common than Hamartia, or Overweening Pride. Vayne thought that he could do anything, and at any cost. He was prideful, arrogant, and devalued human life. He thought he should be the Dynast King, not because of his innate talents, but because of his ambition. His pride is so obvious, it’s plain to see. This, was Oedipus’ fatal flaw, and considered the most common in Greek Tragedy. Vayne’s name is no coincidence. The Vayne = Vain parallel is easy to see.

(b). Patricide. Ah, the single greatest crime a Greek Tragic Hero can commit. Killing your own father upsets the natural order, and always leads to your downfall. Keeping the natural order was the function of rules in Greek Society, thus, anyone who disrupted this perfect and natural balance was sure to falter. Again, this was committed by Oedipus, the quintessential Greek Tragic Hero.

(c). Defiance of the gods. When you spite deities, it never works out in your favor. Vayne worked against the Occuria (who even worked in a Pantheon), and upset the natural order, yet again. This is considered the ultimate act of defiance, and always leads to downfall. However, this can be (and often is) done with the best intentions.

Now, on to what makes Vayne the Main Character of the Story.

In pure gaming terms, Vayne is not the main character, as he isn’t playable. However, in terms of Greek Tragedies, he is.

Greek Tragedies are from the point of view of the chorus, not the protagonist. Outsiders are the ones who tell the story, and only the most important events about the protagonist are revealed. This is because the story is not about showing what happens, but highlighting the emotion and the reaction. If the game were from Vayne’s point of view, one could see his decent. However, as it is from Vaan & Co’s. point of view, we see the ramifications of his actions. Now, let me reinforce this idea. To fully understand the protagonist, we need some foils, or someone to highlight the struggles and complexities of the protagonist. In FFXII, we find this in the form of Vaan & Co.

Each character represents a different aspect of Vayne’s personality, and shows how he develops. Again, this is a common theme in Greek Tragedies.

Vaan: Vaan highlights Vayne’s desire for freedom. Vaan wants nothing more than to be free. Vayne wants to keep Arcadia from being taken over from Rozaria. He feels that Arcadia is in danger, and wants to save it. Both feel that it is personally up to them to save their kingdoms.

Ashe: Ashe highlights Vayne’s sense of entitlement, and desire to rule Ivalice. Ashe has no real claim to the throne of Dalmasca. Her family was a monarchy, and ruled only because they had ruled for a long time. They were not elected to their positions, and only had an ancient claim to power. Vayne felt this same claim to the throne of the Dynast King. It was his title to take, because it was in his blood.

Basch: Basch represents Vayne’s unwavering loyalty to the State. Basch is a soldier, down to the core. Vayne is the same way. He is willing to do anything for his Kingdom. The fact that his last name is Solidor, a close spelling to Soldier, is no accident. Vayne is acting out what he sees as his duty.

Fran: Fran represents Vayne’s ‘mystical connections’ to Venat, and his willingness to defy the natural order. Vayne defying the Occuria is similar to Fran leaving the Wood and betraying her people.

Balthier: Overweening pride? Patricide? Balthier is almost a Mini-Vayne. He represents Vayne’s arrogance with his ‘leading man’ syndrome. Balthier and Vayne both felt that the rules didn’t apply to them, and were far too self-absorbed for their own good.

Penelo: We’ll get to Penelo later… She is Vayne’s faith and innocence, or lack thereof.

Each character was a small facet of Vayne, and it was only together that they could combat him. Ironically, it was Penelo that played the most important role. She was innocent, had faith in her friends, and saw the best in others. These were the things that Vayne lacked, and what prevented him from being a whole person. However, these attributes were not lacking in Arcadia.

Larsa, the exact counterbalance to Vayne, was the one who possessed these attributes. Had Vayne kept Larsa’s support, he would have been an equal match for Vaan & Co. However, he lost Larsa’s support because of the culmination of his flaws. Penelo represented all Vayne was missing, and provided the impetus for change with Larsa. The friendship she had with Larsa was no accident.

Now, this brings us to the ending. The ending of the story is textbook Greek Tragedy. Vayne wants Arcadia to be safe. In the end, it is. However, there is a cost—Vayne. For Arcadia to be safe, Vayne had to pay the price. He became the embodiment of all of Arcadia’s problems, and caused his greatest fears to come to fruition (War, invasion from Rozaria, uprisings in Dalmasca). Rather than removing Arcadia’s problems, he was now wearing them as a mantle. Without Larsa to redeem him, he fell to his own fatal flaws.

However, his death saved Arcadia. Larsa took over, and became everything Arcadia needed, as he was everything Vayne wasn’t. Now, there are allusions to this within the story. It almost appears that Vayne knew that he would either succeed, and become the Dynast King, or he would fail, pay for his crimes, but then leave a secure Arcadia to Larsa.

Vayne was, in every way, a Greek Tragic Hero. And when FFXII is viewed as a Greek Tragedy, a lot of the story elements make a lot of sense. Now, I’m not claiming that this was the intention of the writers, only that it’s a different way to look at the story. Then again, as every writer worth their salt has studied Greek tragedies and analyzed Oedipus in college, it’s not impossible.

Discuss if you want, but don’t flame. If you disagree, that’s fine (I certainly won’t say that I’m right and you’re wrong). This is just for story discussion, and to give a different point of view. If you have anything to add, that’d be great, too.

-EMaylic

———

I came across a post similar to this in & around the mid 2000s, cannot find that exact post so used this persons interpretation as it closely lines up with my own.

After reading this theory and playing FFXII from that perspective it made me much more thoroughly enjoy the game and the world and FF12 now sits arguably #2 on my FF ranking list.

I heard this was considered the worst game by a mile, I’m trying to play most major JRPGs in order and was dreading this one. However at first I was actually pleasantly surprised while a lot of things are silly it was kinda fun learning how to game the system a bit and hurt my guys to level up health, avoid wearing armor and going all in on agility etc.

But now I’m late game and still finding new spells, and my god I do not have it in me anymore man. Even with the cancel technique I’ve already spent so much time in every battle trying to get at least 5 uses of a spell in and it’s like what were they thinking?! Early on it was fine my elemental spells were leveling normally as I was going through but it’s like I gotta really dedicate time to just spamming Esuna and canceling to make it do anything at all I just got slow and holy and it’s like man am I really gonna put the time in to make these useful. I’m just gonna play with what I got because I cannot keep doing this it was cute at first and now it is just mind numbing I just wanna wrap this shit up