Official Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: RPG

Number of Players: 1

It’s been quite a long time since a new Final Fantasy has been released. It was 2001 when Final Fantasy X came out, and many fans of the long running RPG skipped Final Fantasy XI either due to not having a hard drive for their PS2 or not wanting to get too involved with an MMORPG, which probably isn’t a bad thing. I spent way too much time involved with the online version of FF, not that it was bad, but it did take away from my social life, and everything else for that matter. I’m not counting sequels like Final Fantasy X-2 into the total, nor re-issues of other games in the series, but after five years, Final Fantasy XII has come at last.

In the past, there have been only a handful of FF games that have revisited worlds seen before. FFX-2 of course is one of these, and the offshoot of the series, Final Fantasy Tactics has seen two games. Final Fantasy XII however is set in the world that the Tactics games introduced us to; Ivalice, but this is not at all like those games save for the setting itself. The world itself is torn apart by war with the kingdoms of Archadia and Rozarria locked in a desperate battle. The game begins by telling us the past before we jump to the present, something that also serves as a feature to explain the controls. Once this segment is completed, the real cast of characters comes into picture, in particular a young boy named Vaan who is trying to survive life after the war. Both his parents have died, his older brother was killed in battle (the beginning portion of the game) and with the Empire having control over everything, he simply wants to take back what belongs to him and the people of his home town of Rabanastre.

Eventually Vaan crosses paths with Balthier and Fran, two sky pirates who have no love for the Empire either. However, they are quickly thrown in prison as they have both broken into the castle in Rabanastre, now part of the Empire itself and the throne of government. After finding their freedom, the three soon find others to stand along side them, in particular Lady Ashe who was once the ruler of the city. As a part of the Resistance Movement, she’s trying desperately to find proof of her linage and not only take the land back, but remove the Empire’s newly appointed counsel in Rabanastre; Vayne.

This is not the Final Fantasy that many might know and love, but the changes that are found within the game actually take it to a new level, though one that is familiar. FFXII works of the same style of game engine that FFXI does, and that means a number of things. This is one of the first games in the series that allows for full 360 degree rotation. You can look at everything around you and are now longer limited in terms of the game only allowing one certain view. This also brings some enormous areas in the game, and you’ll see this become evident as you run about Rabanastre for the first time. You still have shops that can be visited, but instead of having a handful of characters you can interact with, there are numerous ones, and even ones that are simply there for an aesthetic approach giving the city, and the others in the game, more life than ever before.

Combat is different as well and the days of random encounters are gone. Just like FFXI, you can see the enemies in the terrain, and they aren’t limited to small areas, but often tend to walk about the region freely. In these settings, you also will see your party members tagging along with you, and combat is quite easy. Once you’ve targeted an enemy and decided to attack, you simply need to approach and start battling. Characters with ranged weapons will stay back and everything still operates on an active system meaning that you will need to recharge before you can attack again. The same is true of the use of items or spells, but having to go into a sub-menu has been eliminated and everything is available on the main battle screen.

Though you will only control your party leader, you do have some control over the other members of your group via the new Gambit system. This will effectively allow you to give orders to your other party members and decide what actions are the most important. You may have one character set to heal any characters when they reach 25% of their original hit point total, or you may specify one character to be healed. You can decide what types of foes are priorities for attacking, the leader for example, and you can decide the frequency of spell usage. Magic points can be conserved or expended as you see fit, and each character has multiple gambits that can be set up or turned off. The only time this may not work is when you have a guest character in your midst, and they do as they see fit, but there is an advantage to this much of the time. If you have a character in the group who uses potions frequently to heal the other members, it won’t expend what you have available and is something that you should take full advantage of.

Another change is the new license system. Each character has a grid which shows what abilities, armor, and weapons are available to them. To use the various features, you will need to obtain a license, and each battle will reward you will points that can be used to purchase these. This gives each character the ability to use any weapon, and armor, and any spell. Buying a square on the grid will open more adjacent to it, and while you may need to have multiple weapons and armor on hand to equip, that isn’t true of spells. Once you’ve obtained the ability to use the first level of white magic for instance and purchased the spells for it, any character with the first level of white magic has access to it. There’s no need to buy multiple scrolls as everyone pulls from the same one. However, one thing to be wary of is that this is NOT true of Espers, and you will need to select which character can summon which Esper. Another difference is any of the summoned beasts replace all characters except the summon themselves.

There is still another major battle change. Should you party leader fall, you will need to select someone to take their place, but there’s another nice feature which allows you to replace a fallen character with someone from your reserves. So, unless you’re just not apt at playing the game, the boss battles usually tend to be survivable instead of having you run around and try and level up your party, though that’s never a bad idea.

Winning battles will not only give you experience, license points, and money, but two types of items. There are those that can be actively used, potions and such, but also what is known as loot. As you start adventuring as Vaan, you will become what is known as a Hunter, a gun for hire of sorts who is in search of deadly monsters. Finding and killing the mark will gain you a reward from the petitioner, but you will also be able to join a Clan, something started by none other than Montblanc himself (also seen in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.) Once you’ve been accepted into the clan, you can sell the loot and with the right combination, you will get something special at the bazaar to purchase; both rare and discounted goods. The Clan also has information concerning rare marks to hunt and will reward you with items as your Clan rank increases.

Final Fantasy XII brings in races that we’ve seen in other games. The Hume (or human) has been seen in all the games, though it wasn’t until FFXI that they were officially given a race name. Moogles obviously are found here, and not just with the Clan, but they serve as a means to teleport in the larger cities, though you will need a teleport crystal to do so. Chocobo’s are the preferred method of transportation, but Final Fantasy also wouldn’t be the same without an airship or two, and those are included. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Viera, or “bunny girls” are in this game, and Fran may be one of the hottest video game females created in quite some time. Even the Bangaa, also seen in Tactics Advance, is a part of the world of races found in the game.

Square-Enix chose an interesting approach for the voice acting in the game, but it’s actually quite fitting for the dialog. Many of the characters speak with a British accent and the script itself is much like hearing old English. The character however that simply doesn’t fit in and actually is one of the weakest heroes of the entire Final Fantasy franchise is Vaan himself. I found the character and the voice acting a bit flat, unimpressive, and boring much of the time and Vaan really lacks the impact that memorable heroes in the series like Squall and Tidus had. But, why not mention Cloud? Simple; I don’t care much for Final Fantasy VII and find it to be one of the most unmemorable games in the entire line.

Each game has always outdo the last as far as the graphics go, and FFXII actually is the cream of the crop. The costumes are amazing in the game, something that normally you wouldn’t pay attention to, but not in this case. There are heavy details added to each of them, ornate cravings and designs, and it’s entertaining just to look at the characters. The new vast territory is extremely detailed in all aspects. You have plants that move; water flowing by, environmental effects, winds blowing sands in some areas, and if you thought that Final Fantasy XI was great, it was merely a prelude to what developers were working on here. And of course, you’ll see some amazing visuals with each and every summoning that the game has, and keep in mind that aside from the primary ones found in the game, there are hidden ones that are off the beaten path that add to the games side-quests.

Final Fantasy XII is to the world of video games what the original Star Wars trilogy and the Lord of the Rings films are to cinema, and as the story of FFXII unfolds, you will definitely find some similarities. Square-Enix has always been ahead of the game when it comes to RPG and Final Fantasy in particular, and once again we find another entry into the series that is going to have developers struggling to keep up. Final Fantasy XII however marks the end of the series on the PlayStation 2, at least at this point, but when Final Fantasy the 13th is released on the PlayStation 3, I can guarantee that once again, we’ll all be drooling and staying awake until the wee hours of the morning.

-mike-