Square Enix New Fantasy

In the late 1980's a struggling company known as Squaresoft was going bankrupt. They were in the gaming industry and licensing games to a new and innovative home entertainment consol, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) but were horribly unsuccessful. As the later part of 1987 rolled around the company was face with but one hope, a new game was rolling off the production line, and it was the last game they could afford to market. This game was dubbed Final Fantasy because it was the last hope for a dying company

And how did that story end? You may ask. Well here we are ten years later and the Final Fantasy franchise is all the way up to 12! So from humble 8 bit graphic beginnings we now face a new challenge in the legacy of Final Fantasy XII for the Playstation 2. The designers decided to change the Active time battle system all us die hard fans have come to know and love over the years, a decision met with much criticism, but it works! This along with the games in depth story line and stunning graphics make it a must have for fans of the franchise or otherwise.

The story of the game follows a war between two rival kingdoms. And of course caught in the middle is a small peaceful kingdom consumed by the ensuing war. Here in the remnants of Dalmasca lies our young hero Vann. Vann is an orphan growing up in the streets of Dalmasca, pilfering food and other provisions from the villagers, but his life changes forever. Through some lucky (or unlucky) circumstances Vann meets up with a sky pirate and the former princess of Dalmasca.

Along with a few other characters this group travels the world looking for a way to re-establish the fallen kingdom, overthrow the Arcadian Empire and bring peace back to the land. Twist and turns abound in this game, you'll never know who really to trust, and if you do... think again. One of the most in depth and intricate plots to date in any previous Final Fantasy game.

The graphics are what you would expect from any SquareEnix game, simply amazing. If you were to compare this game on the PS2 to any game on one of the newer next generation consuls, you may have a hard time distinguishing the graphic difference. The Cinema's that pop up every so often are like watching a movie, and just as enjoyable, not to long and not to short Square did an excellent job with this one.

Now, the battle system. Most gamers, myself included were wary of this new innovation. We all like our turn based attacks, but Square made this game different, and I for one am glad they did. In FFXII you can command your team through a series of "gambits" they are equipped to each character and he or she will follow that action. If you have the Gambit "heal ally when at 50% hp" equipped to a character, that character will automatically heal a party member once they drop below the said amount of health.

There are numerous Gambits that you can fin, or purchase, each having a different effect. Whither it's casting Magic, healing an Ally or attacking a foe you can equip your party to do anything you want. When all is said and said and done, you could get into a fight, put your controller down and go eat dinner while your characters fought for you. Now you do have the option to turn Gambits on or off, and personally I like being in control of my main character so I keep theirs off but the rest of my parties on. Square was dead on by switching to this new system.

We all remember the sphere grid from FFX2 and you may have loved or hated it, but FFXII take the concept a step further. With this new "License Grid" you earn points for fighting and winning battles then can spend them on each characters own license grid. On the grid you can personalize each character to fit your needs. Make them a strong magician, skill user, warrior, or make them all around average, but the possibilities are endless.

A game offering this much must be purchased by anyone with a PS2 who enjoys role playing games. Heck even if you don't like them I'm willing to bet that if you gave this one a try you'd lover it! A cinematic masterpiece with limitless potential and replay value, you just can't ask for more.