Final Fantasy XII Review

Final Fantasy XII was quite a departure for the franchise. It places more emphasis on gameplay than storyline. As a result, fans of the series will either love it or hate it (what else is new?) Fanboys aside, Final Fantasy XII is no doubt one of the finest RPG on the Playstation 2.

Story
The story beings after the Dalmasca Kingdom fell in battle against the mighty Archadian Empire. Like all wars, casualties are aplenty. And so are the thoughts of vengeance. The plot of Final Fantasy XII (on the heroes' side) is about taking the necessary steps and acquiring the necessary power for revenge against the empire.

The plot points in Final Fantasy XII is few and far between; the complete opposite to the heavily story-driven Final Fantasy X. This is easily the most disappointing aspect to the game. The main characters have little to no development and the overall plot was forgettable. It does better at the end, but it was too little too late.

Graphics
Visually, Final Fantasy XII pushed the Playstation 2 to its limits. Everything is so detailed, especially the environment architecture. You can tell that Square Enix put in a lot of work not just graphically, but artistically as well. As a result, Final Fantasy XII is easily one of the best looking Playstation 2 games.

Sound
The Final Fantasy series is known for its memorable music. The main reason is legendary composer, Nobou Uematsu. Final Fantasy XII was the first game without a significant contribution from him. While the music is still heads and shoulders above the competition, it wasn't as memorable as previous games of the series.

The voice acting remains excellent. The Shakespearean dialog couldn't have been delivered any better.

Gameplay
Final Fantasy XII was huge departure gameplay-wise for the series. The game plays more like a MMORPG than a traditional Japanese Role-Playing game.

For one thing combat has been completely streamlined. The game contains no random battles; all battles take place on the huge battlefields. The transition between walking and getting into combat is completely seamless.

In combat, you attack automatically, unless you decide on performing another action. If you have the right equipment and the right gambits, than most of the time you don't need to do anything. The Gambit system lets you set your own A.I. for specific situations. For example, you can set your character to heal after their health falls below a certain percentage. Although it can be complicated and intimidating to set up, the Gambit system adds a lot of depth and strategy.

Another new concept added by Final Fantasy XII is Licenses. You earned License Points for every victory achieved in battles. You can then spend the points on the License Board for magic, stat increases, the ability to equip better armor, etc. The system is similar to the Final Fantasy X's Sphere Grid.

Finally, Final Fantasy XII has a unique concept in earning new and powerful items and weapons. Enemies drop loot when they are defeated. By selling these loot to stores, not only will you get money but you will also unlock new buyable items and equipments; the rarer the loot, the rare the content.

Concept-wise, Final Fantasy XII has the makings of real classic. The game falls short of expectations when it comes to the overall scope, however. The main flaw is the flow. The story never really got going and, thus, the game tends to drag too much. Final Fantasy XII basically amounted to one grinding fetch quest after another. If you were expecting exploration and gameplay than the game would have been perfect. But Final Fantasy XII lacks the cinematic moments you expect from the series.

To deviate from the sluggish main story path, you can go on hunts for rare monsters. These beasts are exponentially stronger than regular monsters and usually requires great amount of strategy. The hunts are challenging, fun and plentiful. While the main story may be lacking, the hunts easily make up for it.

You will be going on plenty of hunts since Final Fantasy XII is easily the biggest game to date on the series. The battlefields are massive and full of little nooks and crannies. The main story path only contains a small portion of the overall scope of the world. The rest are filled in with secrets. You could argue that doing all the optional quests is more fun than playing the main one.

If you can get past the disappointing story and grinding-heavy gameplay than you will find that Final Fantasy XII is the best playing game in the series.

Overall
Final Fantasy XII certainly has it flaws with its lacking story and questionable pacing. Still the amount of content, many of which are optional, makes it one of the biggest RPGs ever. It may not be for everyone, but you will get a lot of bang for a buck if the game caters to you.

While the story may not be the best around, Final Fantasy XII's gameplay is a triumph over the other RPGs, whether if they are named Final Fantasy or not. Just don't go in expecting it to live up to the name. It is a completely different, and arguably better, experience than the rest of the series.