Well, it looks like there’s a limit to the total number of Miis you can have on a given system: one hundred. I learned this the hard way when I hit the ceiling this morning and a bunch of Miis that had been sent overnight refused to arrive. I’ve had to make some judicious deletes — mostly to some of my own Miis, or various duplicates people have sent. Apparently everyone really likes making Michael Jackson and Jesus.
Anyway, at this point I need to ask that everyone be more selective in what they send my way. For instance, I recently received about eight characters from a single person, apparently that guy’s entire family, and that’s maybe a little too many. I’m sure your mom is nice but I don’t know that I need her hanging out with Clint Eastwood and Mr. Saturn.
Actually, it’s not quite true that you can only have 100 Miis on a system; the Mii Parade can presumably host another hundred. Mine is currently up to 82, so I should find out soon. The parade was sort of dopey when there were only two people trudging along, but I have to say that it’s much more impressive in its present form.
Anyway! I decided to do the FFXII thing this weekend rather than the Lunar Knights thing. I’m now 50 hours into the quest and… hmm. Looks like about halfway through the actual story… and I haven’t even hunted down a third of the Marks yet. Normally when a game stretches this far along with no end in sight I start to get a sense of “OH GOD WHEN WILL IT END,” but the more I play of FFXII the more the fires of my addiction are stoked. The last game that had this effect on me was FF Tactics. I sense a trend!
I should probably be a lot further into the main story of the game, but a few days ago I headed to the Henne Mines only to discover that I was slightly underleveled; after spending an hour fending off constant bat ambushes my party was starting to wear down and I beat a retreat to a save point so I could regroup and do a little powering up. But then I happened to talk to some random guy in Rabanastre who ended up leading me into a seemingly insignificant subquest which ended with me battling a boss (only the sixth battle so far to have the BOSS energy meter at the top of the screen) which in turn opened up a path to massive areas of Ivalice which had previously been inaccessible. Which in turn set me to exploring new territory, finding new gear and completing various subquests, at which point I realized I was probably strong enough to go after a few of the currently-available Elite Marks. And before I knew it I’d spent 12 hours distracted from the main storyline… and still have plenty of other things to do before all that’s left is to tackle the mines again.
And that is why FFXII is awesome: it offers the openness of an MMO or American RPG with the streamlined interface and visual beauty of a Japanese RPG. And a solid story with good characters. And occasional mockery of the FF Tactics script. Oh, FFXII, is there anything you can’t do? Besides my work, I mean.
54 thoughts on “Too much of Mii”
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I think it bears mentioning that it took me precisely 100 hours to reach the first Gilgamesh fight. FFXII is the most awesome game ever.
“the streamlined interface…of a Japanese RPG.”
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Really? Like twenty pages worth of items, inscrutable sphere grids, nested attack menus, and novel-length item descriptions? Have JRPGS changed that much since I checked out of the genre a few years back?
I’m like 70 hours in and I just got to Balfonheim Port. I don’t think I’ve EVER spent this long playing an RPG. Just to compare, I played FFX for about 85 hrs or so and that’s with getting everything short of defeating all of the arena monsters. 70 hours in this game just sorta flew by whereas I was wondering if I would ever be able to complete FFX’s sidequests.
Have you compared a console RPG to a PC RPG? PC devs’ idea of “streamlining” is to map a function to every button on the keyboard and fill the screen with an ocean of tiny, inscrutible icons. Even Legend of Legaia feels like a page from Apple’s human interface design manual compared to WoW or Fallout. (Which isn’t to say LoL is better than them, because that would be asinine.)
Sent their entire family, huh? I sent you Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris in place of my own Mii because… well, I guess I’m just that shy.
Careful, you’re almost making me want to play FFXII.
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As for the Miis, I have a bursting five people in my parade. Then again, there are only three people in my friends list. (If anyone from the thread the other day added me and still got a gray listing for me, let me know and I’ll add you.)
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In my plaza, I currently stand at about six or seven… yeah, I havn’t really gotten into the Mii thing, at least not yet. As far as sending them out goes, the only ones I have set to mingle are Brock, The Master, and Torgo (which is, admittedly, not a very good likeness.) Brainstorming a few others that might be good, though.
I really need to play some more FFXII. The only thing that I’ve played beside Zelda is Phantasy Star Universe and I’ve got to play that or I’m going to fall behind.
LBlock, 10 out of 10 people agree that your Chuck Norris was way better than mine and that your Clint Eastwood is awesome beyond description. In fact, we’re going to include it in a 1UP feature.
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Also, the Torgo is as good a likeness as you can get without the ability to include deformed knees. Although at first glance I thought it was Christian Nutt.
Well color me flattered! After seeing your Golgo 13, which is spot-on, I figured your other creations would be impeccable.
ff12 is definately the most fun i’ve had with a jrpg since tactics (oh suikoden, why have you let me down so!), and i’m barely into the second city.
I could have sworn the last game to make you feel that way was Twilight Princess… hmmm…
That doesn’t count, since I started FFXII first. Technically, Twilight Princess is the next game that will make me feel that way.
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Really, though — if LoZ:TP had drifted into 100-hour territory, it would have been grim overkill. Action games just can’t go on that long.
Only mildly unrelated: my Wii is 6828-6543-1618-3538
Yeah, the hunts are the fun part of FF XII. If they’d made FF XII into a whole game of just hunts, then I might have actually enjoyed it :p
incidentally, continuing with the vague indian-esque vibe of FF12, anyone notice that bhujerban shopkeepers say Swagatam? It means welcome in sanskrit. It’s also the only legit word in their bhujerban dialect, though there are other close ones.
and yay for the voice actors all sounding like highly educated bollywood types =)
I’m only about 11 hours into FFXII and I think I just now got addicted to the game. They really should’ve let you explore a little bit more earlier on. It blew my mind the first time that I walked from the Westersands into the Giza Plains. Also I can’t wait until I gain enough levels to kill the neutral monsters walking around the world map.
I thought I was being original when I made my Michael Jackson Wii :(
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Oh well, hopefully my Satan wins me some points.
Man, I just got to Balfonheim for the first time at 52 hours in, and I feel like I’m blasting through the game. I’ve taken side trips for marks and such, but I’ve not bothered with most other side quests — there is so much to do, and I want to do all of it. I’m trying to beat it in the hope that some far-off day will find me with enough time to play through again and really take my time.
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I think FFX took me about 35 the first time through, most of the other FFs between 30 and 40. Xenogears was a relief to finish at 50 hours. This one I just don’t want to stop playing, even at the 55-hour mark.
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Speaking of FFs, can anyone confirm/deny the rumors of Gen. Leo and Emperor Gestahl as playable FFVI Advance characters?
Total lies. If those Leo and Gestahl rumors turn out to be true, I will give you five dollars. Have you seen the “evidence”? Pitiful Photoshoppery.
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I’m willing to buy into the Kaiser Dragon bestiary entry, though!
Bestiaries! This is exactly what I’m talking about!
Spot on about PC RPGs, though. I never was much for spreadsheets.
“t blew my mind the first time that I walked from the Westersands into the Giza Plains.”
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Seriously? If all it takes to blow your mind is the Westersands and Giza, the Sandsea is going to kill you.
About Final Fantasy 6 Advance and whether or not Leo or the Gestahl may show up: I went onto the Japanese FF6 Advance page and read about the new features, and two are listed. One is new Espers to be collected (two are cool, the others look not so interesting) and the other is an extra dungen. (I’m witholding names of Espers and the dungeon in case anyone is uptight about spoilers… but if you really want to know e-mail me or something…)
But! The advertising copy for the add on dungeon ends with the teaser text: “But what/who is the ’emperor’ waiting at the its deepest level . . . !?” Unfortunately, in Japanese you can’t really tell if they mean “what” or “who” in that sentence, and “emperor” is in quotes in the Japanese as well. So, while it could potentially be Gestahl, more but likely it’s just a really tough boss who.
The point is: Square is clearly playing with our emotions.
And FFXII is the most I’ve enjoyed a game in the series since Tactics for me, too. I played the Japanese version of XII so I could justify all the time I would dump into it as “studying.” I finished it but then got really busy, and I’m still slowly but surely finishing off the ridiculously hard battles at the end of the game. I think the Gambit system actually makes it really easy to come back to after a month or so away, because you can’t forget your battle tactics or how to most effectively use you characters because you’ve already programmed them in to pull up and adjust at any time.
So does turning on “travel” automatically send the Miis to everyone on the friends list? If so, I’m sorry for sending so many as I had some people over for a post-Thanksgiving turkey dinner and pretty much everyone that showed up decided to make a Mii.
And by travel I meant “mingle,” sorry, its early.
As far as I can tell, mingle only sends Miis to other folks’ parades. You have to drag them onto the message envelope in the plaza to send them directly to other people in your address book (it’s bizarre launching the Mii channel and having squirming little dolls raining down from the heavens. But in a good way).
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Also, parading Miis will show up as spectators in various sports, where as the plaza residents become active participants.
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With the amount of thought that went into this feature and the various easter eggs tucked away in places like the Photo Channel, I’ll be disappointed if spinning around the globe to reveal Kyoto in the forthcoming Weather Channel doesn’t reveal a miniature waving Miyamoto or something of the sort.
I was very happy to see an obscure Vagrant Story dialogue reference in FFXII – I don’t remember the exact quote, but in the second area of old Archades there is an old guy sitting with people around him and he says something to the effect of [you’d better believe]”…in faerie tales!” Complete with ellipsis, just like a certain rood-inverse bearer in a certain prologue.
I’ve already finished XII. Took me almost 80 hours and I didn’t finish the marks. I’ll try that later. Anyway, I won’t spoil anything, but there’s something wrong with the ending, or the last third part of the game, storywise. Perhaps due Matsuno’s departure? Don’t know, but something’s missing in the end.
Did you see Eyes Wide Shut? If you did, do you remember how producers ended the movie after Kubrick’s death (in post production, of course)? Maybe is a similar case. The ending in FFXII feels… odd to me. Like rushed or something.
I’ve heard that about the ending. I just assume that’s what happens when you let Akitoshi Kawazu get involved. That man needs to be quarantined back in the SaGa series where he can’t hurt anyone.
I would like to send you a Mii, if you have any more space.
My Wii number is
6093-4869-1161-0749
Guess I’m off to talk to the entire town of Rabanastre now.
I find I’m always low on money in this game. Probably since I insist on taking on monsters and Marks that seriously outclass me and burn through all my Phoenix Down before I just barely take them down. It has been entirely far too long since a Final Fantasy let me do this. (I want to say it’s been since V, but that may only be because I’ve also played V Advance lately.)
I would recommend you start in the south plaza. Also, if you’re short on cash, save up for those forgotten grimoires that sometimes appear as bazaar items — they’re pricey, but you more than make your money back in no time at all once you own them. At this point I always have more money than I know what to do with. I may have to start using Gil Toss just to get some use out of it.
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And no, you’re right. IV and V were the last honestly challenging FF games in that regard, where items were rare and expensive enough to make them feel precious.
A great way to make money is chaining enemies. The more the better. I did it, just for fun, in the first 2 or 3 hours of the game (I had not even meet Balthier and Fran) and I had 99 potions already. Its insane.
I’m 93 hours into FFXII, and I’ve finished Giruvegan and now I’m dragging Reddas along for Mark hunts. I seem to have missed the FFT script references, but I do delight in reading about Merlose’s adventures in the bestiary!
Is that the same Merlose? I thought the one in FFXII was supposed to be male. But the bestiary entries are great, sometimes adding depth to the world, sometimes offering tips, sometimes just funny.
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The FFT mockery happened right before Golmore as incidental, unsubtitled dialogue between Penelo and Vaan.
The translation refers to Merlose as female. The first mention of Merlose I came across was gender-neutral, but once I got some higher-level monsters in the bestiary, she is referenced as female. At the moment, the monster entry I recall most clearly is the one for Giruveganus, which you don’t get until you pass through the Feywood.
Totally spaced out on the FFT reference.
Oh no. Don’t tell me the guy who sent you 8 Miis at once was none other than… Mister Raroo.
I played FFXII for five hours a day for a few weeks-after I defeated Pylraster (I figure the name is less of a spoiler than a description of the mark) and the save crystal displayed a time with 7 digits I said “time for something else.” (so I bought Rez)
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Anyway, gameplay-wise it’s incredible, story-wise…well I didn’t pay much attention until near the end, oh well…I think I caught most of it. I thought that plot-wise the ending was okay, but I had issues with the presentation. Particularly the FMV before the final boss-it was basically what I expected, sure, but…
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Really though, I burned out on the game…I couldn’t stand to keep looking for random objects and monsters and trying to manipulate the weather in Paramina. I’ll probably come back for the last few things next summer or so (probably 60 hours…four marks and four espers…and a lot of the bestiary, which I’ve become oddly obsessed with), trying a more direct playthrough in the spring. It was still pretty awesome though. My favorite part was the Sochen Cave Palace. Awesome music, and…hahahahahahaha.
For another great FFXII reference, talk to the Bangaa outside of Migelo’s in Rabanastre later in the game. All I’ll say is, it’s a little spoony.
The translators must have had a blast working on this game.
I echo a lot of the stuff I’m readin’ here. I’ve put about 85 hours into the game and I’m still having a good time with it; it’s one of the few RPGs that somehow kept my interest for that long. I think a large part of it (for me) is the exploration… I was spending hours in new areas making sure I saw all there was to see. There aren’t many games that’ve done that for me, especially out of the FF series. Oh and I love the bestiary, nothing like takin’ a little break and reading up on all of the awesome detail and depth poured into the world. The story was pretty good, but probably the weakest link in the game in my opinion. Still good stuff though. Just recently beat it a day or two ago so I can start Zelda and focus on it, but there are still a few marks and espers left for me. Right after Zelda I can see myself hoppin’ right back in. Fun times.
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Oh, and thanks for the miniature Dr.Toasty… which really is miniature. Perhaps I just need to correctly size all of my Miis, because they are all giants next to him.. and none of the people I know are all that tall.
Yeah, I finished the main story in FFXII weeks ago, but there are so many sidequests that I’m still busy with them. Right now, I’m trying to get all the ultimate weapons. Usually I wouldn’t even bother (since even fighting unarmed, my party can destroy just about anything dumb enough to attack them), but the game’s so good I’ll take any excuse to keep playing.
Ah…FFXII…I’m too scared to go back to playing it. I’ve got finals and all coming up, so I’m trying not to let that black hole suck me in. I think I stopped about 40 hours in after obtaining the Sword of Kings. I will admit I spent about 6 of those hours unlocking all the quickenings.
Found my way through. Thanks!
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The Grimoires are generally what I’m saving up for. Now that I’m in the new area I’m picking money up a lot quicker- though the other Bazaar deals have been too good to pass up (Heavy Armor that doubles Basch’s Strength? Sold!) now that I’m getting new kinds of loot. I shouldn’t be surprised at how much more I’m enjoying this game in my native language, but I put in 125 hours on the Japanese version and it’s looking very much like I’m gonna do it all over again.
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In a way I think Kawazu was sort of a good choice to finish this, because a lot of locations in FFXII remind me of the thrill of walking into Fynn in FFII and picking a fight with those knights that are supposed to kill you. Since weapon and armor drops are a lot more scarce it doesn’t unbalance the rest of the game quite so much here, but the rewards are still enough to make it worthwhile. I don’t know how much influence he had on the game overall, but that much does remind me of the best (only good?) aspect of FFII.
God damn it Jeremy stop making me want things. I’m way too short on cash to have you influencing my video game id like that. Gahh! must, own, wiiii…
I suspect I will not be hanging on to all my Mii’s. If it’s a good enough Mii, if people like it, it will survive somewhere. If not, than it’s just keeping another Mii from becoming. It’s all very Circle of Life. I play with it like an etch-a-sketch. Disposable art. If you love your Mii, set it free. I it comes back to you, it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be.
Prologue: New [Japanese] Virutal Console games announced w/ SNES Zelda & Castlevania IV!
As for FFXII, I still don’t play it as much as I should, at about 30-35 hours in, and I’m supposed to be moving towards Archadia. But, I am finally stopping to hunt some marks and do some side quests, mostly because I need to make some money. Man, every new town is like real life, what one weapon/armor should I buy for my party for the next dungeon?
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The game, though, is like a wonderful fusion of Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. In fact, I really don’t see much FFXI in it, I just see those 2. After all, FFT had a huge world, and Vagrant Story had ‘real time’ roaming through the entire world. The only MMO elements I see are a: you’re eternally broke, and b: towns. But, there is one huge, gaping flaw in this game, if I haven’t mentioned it before. All it does is makes me want to play through Vagrant Story again. VS was so much better!
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A little aside: The skybox in Giza Plains, when it’s the rains, most beautiful painted sky ever.
Yeah, I definitely want to play Vagrant Story now. I only got to rent it once and I didn’t get particularly far, but it was very interesting. I remember just enough of it to get nostalgic every time I fight a Leamonde Entite.
Man, I made up a Mii cast from The Big Lebowski this weekend. I was considering sending you a few of them, but then I stumbled on the Kotaku “Miichinima” Lebowski clip.
Speaking of Final Fantasy Tactics, is there any secret word as to a continuation of the series on the DS (or PSP)? FFT was probably the first game that consumed me for a truly unhealthy amount of time, and I would be quite thrilled to learn of a DS incarnation.
I would kill to have the PS ver. re-translated and brought over on any platform…preferably the DS, but any would do. Also…I love the spell-check feature on FFox 2.0
FFT could show up on PSP if Sony’s download service ever grow legs. I wouldn’t hold my breath for a new translation.
Psst – my Wii is 1262 2384 2273 2547. Don’t tell anyone.
Considering how bland and uninspired (actually, I’d call it flawed) FFT Advance was, I’m no longer holding my breath for such things.
FF XII has Gilgamesh? Thats awesome.
Other than the Monographs, the other thing that’s finally helping my FFXII cashflow is Thief’s Cuffs for Vaan and Balthier. Even so, whenever I clear another part of the story I go broke on new gear. Time to hunt all the new Marks that’ve shown up, I figure. Maybe tackle the Zertinan Caverns too- that’s usually a lot of fun.