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Final Fantasy XII Review (continued)
More User Submitted Final Fantasy XII Reviews
Date: 2008-06-25
An amazing, though not flawless, experience
I'd probably call this the second best game in the Final Fantasy series (VI is still at the top). In some ways XII comes across as a blend of Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy Tactics, but with a unique spin on the Active Time Battle system of previous games.
Active Dimension Battle is not actually as different from ATB as some reviews would have it. Each character still has a charge time meter that must fill before they can act, except you can choose actions in advance and "queue" them, rather than waiting until the meter fills. What really gives battling a different flavor is the Gambit AI system. Rather than choosing every action manually, you can set up Gambit conditions that allow the characters to automatically choose their next action based on what's going on in the battle. You can also break in at any time to manually override a Gambit action. With a well-planned Gambit setup, you can basically just steer your party from one enemy to the next and let them fight it out on their own. It sounds boring, and maybe it is for some people, but I found it very satisfying to watch how the Gambits I chose played out. The License Board ability system works great. My only wish is that the characters were more distinct from each other. Early on you'll need to make strategic decisions about how to spend your limited LP, having one character focus on learning spells, another on building offensive strength, etc. But towards the end of the game, you'll be earning so much LP that every character can learn everything, making them indistinguishable and removing that element of strategy.
Production values are top notch. The graphics are some of the best on PS2, and the art design is the most lush and detailed of the series. The script and voice acting are the best the series has seen, with the only problem being the sometimes excessive audio compression-- with as much voice work as it has, the game really should have shipped on two discs. The music is strongly reminiscent of Tactics, with most pieces being more atmospheric than melodic. It works great in the context of playing the game, but it's not as memorable as some previous Final Fantasy soundtracks.
The best thing about this game is the world. It's definitely the deepest and most immersive of any game in the series. NPCs go about their business in a believable way, making the cities seem alive in a way that JRPGs don't usually achieve. There is a ton of background information to be found on the history, culture, and inhabitants of Ivalice, either from NPCs or the in-game Clan Primer. Final Fantasy XII is one of those games that rewards you based on how much you put in to it; you could just focus on advancing the main story if you wanted, but you'll miss a lot of wonderful stuff that's there to discover just by exploring and interacting with the world.
Where the game falters is in the story and pacing. It starts out great, with engaging characters and an intriguing premise. It's a lot like Final Fantasy Tactics in that it eschews a lot of traditional JRPG story elements-- your party spends as much time reacting to events as shaping them, making you feel like just one of many players in a larger political drama. The story is "messy" in the way Tactics was. Characters and subplots that seem important get abandoned, events take surprising turns with no foreshadowing, not every villain gets the neat comeuppance that you'd expect. It's toward the end of the tale that things accelerate to an uncomfortable pace, with the game seemingly rushing you through a series of uninspired dungeons toward an abrupt ending. The game's difficulty is uneven by design-- you're free to explore much of the world early on, including areas with monsters much stronger than you. It's a nice touch of realism and reinforcement that Ivalice is a living world that doesn't revolve solely around your party's progress, but it doesn't always work. The Mark Hunts in particular become bafflingly unbalanced towards the end of the game; every Hunt seems either embarrassingly easy or level-99 difficult.
Overall, though the story and pacing could have used some more fine-tuning, XII is a fantastic game, one of the best in the series and easily one of the best games on the PlayStation 2. If you like JRPGs at all, you need to own this.
Date: 2008-06-23
Nothing like expected
Having been a Final Fantasy fan for e few years I became used to good stories and too-easy game play. I always considered Kingdom Hearts to be better because it had a good story and good gameplay that was a challenge and fit the story better. Three characters lined in a row taking turns damaging an enemy is not a very epic way to battle. Final Fantasy XII was different. Although the time-based situation was still there, it was only after you entered the command that you had to wait for the command to execute. Also, you could move your people around in battle. Well, your party leader at least. Sure, you can't effectivly dodge attacks - If you are out of range, the enemy will move so that you are in range before executing the attack. However, gameplay was fast and addicting. The lack of save points can be problematic, but the only other issue I found was the leveling up method. It took FOREVER. You thankfully get an item that allows double experience, but this is only mild releif for a short time period. Money could also be a problem. Some say that the issue is getting items and selling them, but you have to go to a store to buy something anyways so I did not find a problem. Instead, I found the issue to be that the items you sold were not worth alot at all. To get the spells needed to fight a level 35 boss, you had to fight. By the time you had the money to buy the spells, you were ten levels higher than the boss was. Not to fear, though. Alot of the bosses could still be a challenge as long as you actually fight them. For those who do not want the challenge, new summons are available, unique to the series. They reuse FFVI Espers, but the Espers are all new. No more Ifrit, Shiva, or Bahamut. Instead, these are names of Imperial airships ofund throughout the game. If summons do not work for you, the liscence board allows you to get the games limit breaks, called quickenings, for use. Three for each character, and the liscence board is faster than leveling up. Also, unlike abilities and magic, quickenings do not require you to buy the ability. You can only use as many quickenings as your mp allows, however, you can use mist charges during quickening sequences to rebuild your mp for more quickenings. Although the time alloted to do this is less with every quickening, it is possible to wipe out half of a boss's hp with an attack. Then, just switch in the next three characters and do it again! The story was better than I had heard. In fact, I had been expecting a boring midieval story. However, the war sequences at the begining are enough to hook you for the rest of the game. The main story, however, focuses on avoiding war, however the search for rocks (this games version of crystals) gives the heroes and villains more power (for the story) and calls for unique plot twists such as Will she use it for revenge? I personally do not yet know (I am almost to the end but not quite there yet) but if I did know I would not tell you. You will have to lay the game and see this epic tale for yourself. One last note, though, is that the characters are more realistic. Not just with the amazing graphics, but also with their movements. You do not see Vaan jumping up a skyscraper with a single leap or anyone wielding a sword that is obviously way to big. The characters move like humans (even the non-human ones) and have traditional human limitations. All the same, a great and long game to play.
Date: 2008-06-16
Boring and dissapointing.
I'll go against the majority and say that this is my least favorite Final Fantasy. First, the storyline is boring, the characters are not pursuing a major antagonist and don't have a clear goal. They travel from place-to-place with their goals constantly changing. This seems to result in repetitivness and makes the story plain boring. The characters for the most part seem extremely shallow, they are very simple and predictable and there seems to be nothing new to learn about them. Balthier and Fran, 2 characters in the party are a little more interesting but their stories are not well explored. The gameplay is reptitive, the license bored system becomes frustrating after a while. In order to learn new abilities you're required to get more and more license points yet defeating monsters still gives you 1 or 2 points even as the game goes on. Its hard to describe, but the game simply lacks substance.
Date: 2008-05-19
Ehh
The storyline was difficult to follow. This is because the dialect/dialogue was difficult to understand/comprhend what the characters were saying, and subsequently, what was going on.
Other than that, great RPG action and cutomability. Huge worlds to explore, monsters to vaquish. Great strategy.
Date: 2008-05-18
Much Better Than Final Fantasy X!
OMG People!!!! Quit comparing this game to other Final Fantasy games!!! The only other final fantasy game I have ever played was X, and I never finished it because of the last (I think) boss battle with Sin, and XII is head-over-heels better than X. I especially like the fact that the battles are not random. No longer do you take 3 steps and find yourself in a battle, and then take another 2 steps and you're in another battle!
The graphics are AMAZING, as is the story. Don't listen to the other reviewers who bad talk the characters. The characters were amazing also. I really liked Fran and Balthier. Vaan was forgettable as the main character, but all the rest were pretty good.
All in all, if you look at this game separately, without comparing it to other Final Fantasy games, than you will see a solid, fun experience that will last a LONG time. I have already clocked in well over 120 hours!
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