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Final Fantasy XII Review (continued)
More User Submitted Final Fantasy XII Reviews
Date: 2008-03-08
...disappointing
...whoa the covers different in this country...talk about mind warping...it looks so much worse...anyway...
I've played every FF game from one to twelve and this is the only time I have decided not to finish a FF game.
What made the other FF games so great was the experience of watching your characters grow their relationships and strengths with great ways to learn new ablities such as the materia system in FF7 or the Sphere grid in FF10. Along with limit breaks (Trances, overdives etc...) and summonings. Along with the heap loads left to do that has nothing to do with the story such as defeating the Emerald weapon or collecting all the cards.
This FF has barely any of these traits. The leveling up is tedious because old monster models are used over and over again and the fighting system which is meant to be revolutionary is just irritating and boring. The license board system is annoying because it's impossible to see what makes characters different to others; I understand trying to master all skills but if there are no parameters at all then all characters will be very similar.
The characters bore me to death and has one of the worse main characters ever (Vaan just seems to be dropped in without a care). The main story is also nothing compared to the gold of the stories in the older plots; I can't relate to these characters at all.
Now I won't lie the FMVs are very impressive, but that's just not enough to make this great. Is this Enix's fault for joining Squaresoft? I mean FFX-2 wasn't exactly the best was it? I'll let you be the judge.
Date: 2008-02-27
Was it boring??? uh quite it was!!
For those that may critize what i am saying yes i have played a majority of the final fantasy games starting with at least final fantasy vII. this game was quite a waste of time for real and i really hope that the newest game coming out on ps3 is much better. first off this game lack serious relationship play. there is no way your gonna go out and save the world and risk your life with a whole bunch of folks and people you posiitively don't really speak to or no. there really wasn't any type of evaluation of each person's skills and they all seem edgy and jumpy with one another with only two characters really trusting one another and that was the two thieves in the beginning of the game. the graphics were great but the gameplay was horrible. you go on these everlasting quests and playing this game seemed more like being at work then getting away from your job. every town you came to there was another crisis. there was never any fun and the rewards you got after sweating was minimal. you had random people pop up in your journey and you never really knew who they were or the revelance of them being in the game for that matter. and even if sqauresoft decided, hey we aren't going to make this a love story like every other final fantasy, they could have at least built stronger relationships. i remember at the end when the pirate (can't remember his name now) told vaan about learning how to fly the ship in case he died, it was like the driest moment of the game because it had no emotion behind it. it was like...uhhh...okay. so needless to say even final fantasy x-2 held my attention way better than this one
Date: 2008-02-21
Waste of time!!!
I will keep it brief since I don't want to waste anymore time on this game.
The story is boring whoever says otherwise is lying. It starts of good(Empire vs. Empire, tradegy and all that), and it gets your attention. However, the story just dies from there.The story fails to keep you interested with all that political rabbling.
The gameplay was interesting at first, but like the story, it gets dull. You run around for most of the game with a gambit system that requires very little action on your behalf. It is very easy to take advantage of the system and once you do it, it gets boring. Even if you don't it still is boring.
Story and gameplay make a RPG, and Square Enix failed miserably. The scores would be lower if it did not have the Final Fantasy name. It is beautiful and nice to look at, but that does not make a RPG.
Date: 2008-01-18
A must have
I played final Fantasy XII, and i got so hooked on it. This game is a must have for any final fantasy junkie. the way skills are learned, number ways of leveling up and setting up your characters anyway you want is a huge plus.
Date: 2007-12-29
Great but missing the "fantasy"
To get the major positives aside first, this offering by the Final Fantasy franchise completely alters the battle system (which is really the key feature of the game) by making battles occur in real time. Not having random battles is a welcome addition, and I found the actual gameplay of this one as fresh as ATB was when FF IV was released. While each FF has been a treat to play, this is probably the most fun I've had actually "playing" one since FF VI and VII. It just seemed so much more action packed than any other one, and after the first few hours, the new battle system will suck you in.
Now, my multi-layered gripe...
Having played through each installment of the FF series, I've been privy to some of the greatest stories my generation has been offered. That said, when I play a FF game I expect a multi-faceted story with deep character development. Nearly every one has had its share of political intrigue and philosophical musing, and to a certain extent XII is no different. However, what becomes painfully clear only a few hours into the game (and I'm making my best argument without offering spoilers, mind you) is the so-called top billed character, Vaan--yes, the one who offers the narrative and serves as the eyes and ears of the player--is not really the main character. That role is filled by Ashe, a princess in exile. This does not seem like a major problem except for the fact that Vaan receives almost no development AT ALL. Whenever something major happens in the plot, Vaan literally stands to the side and observes while the other supporting characters do all the talking and make every decision. There were a couple major cutscenes that I can't recall if he even opened his mouth once. What kind of lead is that? He honestly does NOTHING throughout the course of this game. In fact, most of the characters you recruit in the party receive little or no development, aside from Ashe and Balthier, and to a somewhat lesser extent Fran and Basche. That does little to change that fact that the MAIN CHARACTER HAS NO EFFECT ON THE EVENTS UNFOLDING THROUGHOUT YOUR ADVENTURE. Had Vaan not been present in the story, the events would still have played out as they had.
Branching off from that, the story itself was unimpressive. Events kind-of happened, sometimes with little or no foreshadowing. The party makes its way across the world, fighting monsters and doing their own thing, while the villains go about their own objectives, and of course by the end there's a standoff. However, the events that the party goes through before had little consequence on what happens by that point. Only near the end of the game do they actually involve themselves in the actual story. It almost seemed like two separate tales woven into one, and by the conclusion they both come together somewhat conveniently.
That said, I loved this game. LOL! I found the main character to be the weakest of the entire series, while the story was underwhelming. However, the gameplay itself was a revelation of sorts, and made fighting monsters and leveling up fun again. Balthier pretty much steals the entire show--I'm putting him up with the best characters the series has to offer. Again, I'm going to say that this game is definitely fun to play, but don't expect a story along the lines of IV, VI, or VII...most of the characters are one or two dimensional, and things just happen without warning. Still, the production values, amount of material within the game, the new battle system, and overall playability rank it as the best RPG PS2 has to offer. Yes, FF X was great too, but took linear to a whole new level.
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