Final Fantasy XII is Another Winner in the Series

With a Halloween release and me never even paying attention to this game until the 30th I decided to head to Wal-Mart and pick up Final Fantasy XII at midnight. I'm glad I did. Took me a LONG time to get through it though, but I did. Not because I didn't want to, but because there was so much to do.

I started playing Final Fantasy games on the Playstation One so I'm pretty much a Final Fantasy noob. I've been around since the Atari days though so I'm a gaming vet. First one I played was Final Fantasy VIII, and I have never played the great Final Fantasy fanboy game Final Fantasy VII. Other than Final Fantasy VIII the only ones I've played are Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. Final Fantasy X is probably one of my top 5 favorite games of all time, and I have played through it at least 6 times.

There are 2 different versions of Final Fantasy XII. There is the regular and a Collector's Edition out right now. The Collector's Edition comes in a tin case and has a bonus DVD with a History of Final Fantasy video, interviews from developers, game art, etc. Most of that stuff is probably on Youtube so unless you are a hardcore Final Fantasy fan the extra $10 that the CE costs might not be worth it for you. The strategy guide also has a Limited Edition. Apparently there are 8 of these with each cover having a different character. The LE guide also has quite a bit of extra art in it. From what I've heard they are very nice. They are packaged so you really don't get to pick the one you want unless you know the color covers and such.

For most of the other Final Fantasy games I started them and then start them over when there is enough walkthrough information on the net to allow me the ability to find everything in one play through. Since I got this on the release I have just been finding things out for myself and decided to go it alone the first time through. Quite a bit to cover, but I'll try to keep it short and to the point. Probably won't though. I'll start with the gameplay as I think this game has some great new features and is really the best part of the game.

At first the game was rather confusing with the new battle system and the changes in the leveling. Of course this is nothing new as every one of these I've played had a completely new system. In this instance I was not a fan of the battle system initially and thought I would end up hating it. The learning curve on it was rather long compared to previous titles and I'd say it took me about 3 hours of game time to catch on to it.

At this point I absolutely love the battle system now that I've caught on. There are some really interesting aspects to it. If you have played FF XI the system should be relatively similar to you. The battlefield is more of an MMORPG than anything. There are no random battles anymore. You can actually see the enemies and can judge for yourself prior to engaging with them if it is a good idea or not. There is a good balance of enemies in each area with ones you can't possibly beat at the beginning that you should just stay clear of.

The battle system is called Active Dimension Battle (ADB). It is still pretty much a turn based system, but has the feel of real-time. When in battle you can move your character around freely and even try to run away if you get into trouble. No "Flee" command is entered, you just run away on your own by holding down R2 to make sure your party goes with you. The battle menu to select an action is brought up at any time on the battlefield by pressing the "X" button. All the standard attacks are there with Magick (Yes that is spelled right), items, and Technicks which are your abilities such as steal. All of these attacks can be done on the fly and when selected an active ATB gauge fills up before the action is done. When actions are selected there is no need to enter the action again during the battle. For example if you selected "Attack" your character will continue to attack until the enemy is defeated with no further commands needed.

You have control over your entire party and can change the leader at any time while on the battlefield. What is unique about your party in Final Fantasy XII is a system that they call Gambit. The Gambit system is a programmable interface that allows you to program your party members to do certain actions in certain situations. These actions will be performed when certain conditions are met in a battle, or anywhere in a battle area. For example, you may program a party member to heal other allies when a condition is met. You could have a Gambit that says:�â'¬Å"Ally HP
Gambits need to be selected carefully. They also need to be placed on the Gambit list in the correct order so you don't make mistakes in crucial situations. If you decide that while your team is wandering around you want the to cast �â'¬Å"Protect" on each other to prepare for upcoming battles automatically you can do this, but if you want the attack commands to take precedence over this action you can't have it before an attack Gambit. As soon as that �â'¬Å"Protect" Gambit wears off it will recast it if it is set before an attack command while you are in battle. It might make sense to do this sometimes, but typically you want your party to focus on the enemy above certain other ally commands.

The Gambit system itself takes a lot of tediousness out of battles that have been a staple in power leveling for Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy XII makes this much more enjoyable as you don't have to repeatedly re-enter commands over and over or fumble through the menu all the time. Characters take action when it needs to be taken for the most part. Gambits can be turned off too so you can play an old school way, but why would you want to? You will be changing your Gambits often and you can do so at almost any time. Even in battle so it isn't a tough thing to use. I love it and it is one of my favorite aspects to the game.

Later on there is something available called "Espers" which are the summonings in this game. You have to actually battle them to get them and they are actually pretty darn hard to beat. I won't lie to you. I didn't use them very much at all in this game, but they may be useful for you.

Also, you have the ability to perform "Quickenings" which are ultimately this game's version of Overdrives. Each character can obtain up to 3 Quickenings. These Quickenings level up as you get more and can be extremely powerful attacks if strung together. It will take some practice to get them down and when to use them. Some people think they are cheap, but later in the game they really aren't that useful against the stronger beasts. I pretty much used them in emergencies with boss battles, but they are useful in other situations.

The leveling in the game is that same as usual where you earn leveling point by defeating enemies. You get the EXP points like most Role-playing games and as you move up the scale the ability to level up gets harder. I never really found that leveling in this game was a chore though like past ones.

Also, when fighting enemies you earn what is called "License Points". License points in the Final Fantasy XII world are what you use to learn and use abilities. There is a chess board accessible for each character on the menu under "Licensing" with various skills and abilities you can learn. As you gain License Points you can spend them to upgrade and learn abilities. You can move from say "Swords 1" to "Swords 2" to allow you wield stronger swords, upgrade accessories, magicks, and learn technicks. More powerful skills are only available once the earlier ones are learned (licensed). An interesting concept and something that is similar to the Sphere Grid to Final Fantasy X, but much more simplified. You don't upgrade actual player attributes here as those increase by leveling up in battle.

Graphically the game is similar to Final Fantasy X for its patented cut scenes and the player models are comparable to the ones from Final Fantasy X. I am of the opinion that they look much better, but others feel they are not. To each his own. What are most amazing in the game are the environments. Graphically they are superb. From the cities to the deserts to the dungeons, the environments are fantastic. They literally blow Final Fantasy X graphics away here. If you have played that, or even just get this game you should be impressed.

The game map is actually extremely large. Every time you think there isn't another area to explore they give you 3. It is definitely the largest of any Final Fantasy game and just massive for one of these. It really is a great experience. Don't worry though. You don't have to walk everywhere in this game. There are plenty of other methods of travel similar to past Final Fantasy games.

The musical score is also very good. It is classic Final Fantasy music and gives the game a nice feel all the way through. I can't remember any J-Pop so hopefully those patented FF love songs that we are accustomed to hearing didn't seem to be there. There are many classical Final Fantasy tunes that play through out the game in menus, the title screen, and just as you wander around.

Plenty of side-quests in Final Fantasy XII. There is a pretty interesting one that puts you into the role of a monster assassin. Hunt Boards in cities display what more or less can be described as Wanted posters for particular fiends and you then go out and hunt them down. Defeat them and return to the one that posted the monster to receive some sort of reward. This is a very fun side-quest. There are 45 Marks to hunt so it is a very fun quest and goes on through out the game. Many other Final Fantasy staples are in the game with weird little quests that you can find just by accident. You definitely need a walkthrough to find them if you don't want to add 100 hours to your game like I did searching everywhere.

Gil, the name of Final Fantasy money, seems to be a bit hard to come by in this game. It is obtained a bit differently here. Instead of fiends out in the desert actually carrying wallets around with them and dropping Gil, in Final Fantasy XII they actually drop items that you would expect from them. This just seems like total common sense here. Monsters with money are absurd. Selling these items, or "Loot" as it is called gains you not only Gil, but if enough of these are sold it opens up the ability to purchase more rare items from shop owners. These are called Bazaar. On the shop menu it is on the bottom below the Buy and Sell links. This is rather detailed so you may want to use an FAQ for this. The strategy guide is said to have all this information listed.

Well that's pretty much most of the gameplay info.� I think that gives you a decent idea as to what the game involves from the gameplay standpoint. I guess I'll describe a bit of the characters and the story now for those that will like watching the movie that is Final Fantasy XII.

The story of Final Fantasy XII is set in a sort of a medieval time and there is a war raging. Your people have been captured by a neighboring empire and now you are pretty much second class citizens. You play as Vaan, a 17 year old that is like every other Final Fantasy character in the leading role. He's girly and he is skinny. Reminds me of Leonardo DiCaprio pretty much. To be honest he really isn't even involved all that much in the story and probably shouldn't be in this game other than the fact that you have to play as someone. They could have definitely allowed you to play as one of the better characters, but then again, Tidus wasn't exactly fitting in either in Final Fantasy X, but was pretty important. He had a decent story role though while Vaan just seems to be there.

The Princess Ashe who lost her new husband in the war. The loyal Knight Basch branded a traitor who has been accused of murdering the King. Penelo is a 17 year old girl who is a friend of Vaan's and is kind of just around sometimes. Much like Vaan useless to the story. Balthier is the pimp in the game and is described as a dashing sky pirate. He does play a pretty significant role in the game. His partner in the sky is a girl named Fran. She is of some form that they call a Vierra. Considered a master of weapons and she is scantily clad. These Vierra girls all wear like bunny ears on their heads so you can imagine that they are rather Playboy Bunny like. Plenty of good old fashioned Final Fantasy skimpy outfits.

To give a rating on the story is rather difficult for me. I really liked it, but it seemed a bit flat at times. The story is more politically motivated and is more of something an older gamer would enjoy. It doesn't have the good old Final Fantasy love story really, but the characters aren't as annoying either. It is more realistic in terms of our world as to how an epic war would occur. The story itself wasn't my motivation really to keep playing. I would tend to wander around a lot rather than continue on with the story and never really felt compelled to push it forward. It wasn't bad by any means, but they allow you to get out and do whatever you want to early you kind of forget to finish off the story for a long time.

According to most sources the game should last around 70 hours with out doing side-quests or extras. With all of the extras it has risen to the 100-120 hour range. If you are a perfectionist type like me I would probably expect a good 150 at least hours worth of play time. I actually spent 200 hours on my first play through. Hey, I said I was a perfectionist. I'd say that this is definitely the longest Final Fantasy with out hesitation.

Based on how much I've played so far I think Final Fantasy XII is fantastic. Going in with no expectations and a really no background on the game before I bought it I was pleasantly surprised with all I've seen. All of the reviews so far have given this game an average of about 9.2/10 so the consensus out there is that it is a great game. Lowest score I have seen was an 8, but the review was quite negative. From the sounds of gamers and reviewers so far I'd say that most will love the game and a select few will not be happy with it for whatever reason.

My opinion is that the story is very good, but may not be up your alley. The gameplay mechanics are superb. The characters are a mix of fantastic ones and a couple of ones that you just don't really care about. Well...maybe you would. I didn't. I loved the game and would recommend that anyone looking for an RPG with a lot of play time to buy it. Just way too much to do for a rental and it is worth the purchase anyways. It kept me from buying an Xbox 360, PS2, or Wii for a while at least.