Final Fantasy XII – PS2 – Review

Five years – that is how long the
wait has been since the last “true and original” Final Fantasy came out to
American shores. Some people might say ‘what about Final Fantasy X-2?’, but that
really isn’t considered true, because it is a sequel off of an existing story.
The wait has been very long with screenshots, short movies, trailers, teasers,
and even a demo of the new game and all it has to offer but has it been worth
the wait? After having the chance to really play this game into the ground I
have to say that it was worth the wait and then some.

The world in which you will be
spending many hours of your life is called Ivalice. Two years ago the mighty
Archadian Empire started war with all of its neighbors to get all the lands
under their rule. As time passes small nations start to fall under their mighty
military and the kingdom of Dalmasca is one such nation. Two years later in the
capital city of Rabanastre the people wait in line to see the new consul from
Archadia, and it is here where the story starts.

During the course of the game
players will get to take direct control of six characters. The first is Vaan, an
orphan who lives on the streets of Rabanastre, who dreams of one day becoming a
sky pirate. He hates the Empire because they took the life of his only living
relative, his older brother. Penelo is a childhood friend of Vaan and also an
orphan, and she spends her time watching after Vaan as well as doing small jobs
around the city. Balthier is a sky pirate who likes to think of himself as a
noble thief. Fran is a very strong warrior and partner of Balthier. Basch is a
knight who was branded as a traitor because he murders the King on the night
Dalmasca and Archadia were to sign a peace treaty. The last character is Ashe,
who is the last remaining heir to the Dalmascan throne, most people think that
she is dead after the invasion of the Empire. With these six people will you be
able to over take the Empire? Only time and your skill will tell.

One very unique thing about this
game is the gambit system. Many other games have tried to come up with an AI
system that works intelligently as a human and have failed, whereas this game
succeeds on many counts. Using gambits players can dictate how their party will
react in a battle situation. For instance your top-most gambit can be to heal
anyone whose health is less then 30 percent, the next option could be to attack
the nearest enemy, and so on. There are up to 12 different gambits that you can
program and it really helps battles go by really smoothly.

This really makes your life easier
since there is another new thing in this game that hasn’t been seen in a long
time. In Final Fantasy XII you will no longer get random encounters, you will
always see the enemies on the screen. Not only that but there is no battle
screen, you see the enemies and then you just starting fighting, that is all. So
this makes it a lot easier to level up your characters since you can see your
enemies on screen as well as avoid them if your health or magic points are low.

The license board in the game is
very similar to the sphere grid in Final Fantasy X but offers a much higher
degree of customization. In the sphere grid everyone started at a certain spot
in the board and you could freely go wherever you wanted. The license board
starts everyone in the same area and you can level up your characters however
you seem fit. It can make your characters be anything you want, but as always it
is a good idea to make a balanced team where you are in battle. You gain the
license points by defeating enemies. Also, before you can use whatever license
you have just got you have to buy the skill as well. For instance if you
purchased the ability to use cure, you have to go to the magic shop and buy cure
in order to use it. The same can be said of everything.

I know you are wondering about
summons and limit breaks, and this game has them to. They are listed in various
places on the license board. The thing is that only one person will be able to
use that summon once you acquire it on the license board. So make sure before
you purchase that summon that you will want that person to control to.

When I play an RPG I really like to
leave no stone unturned and talk to every NPC as well as check every door. Final
Fantasy XII has done something that makes my life easier as well as integrates
into the game nicely. Instead of having to talk to everyone, the NPCs that have
something to say will have a talk icon above there head. Also anything that is
of interest has an exclamation point next to it. While this might sound cheap it
really isn’t and helps players out while exploring since there is so much to
explore.

The graphics for Final Fantasy XII
are something that you really need to see to understand how great this really
looks on this aging PlayStation 2 platform. This game really squeezes every
ounce of graphical power that the system has and it really shows, as it is one
of the best looking games to date on it. Screenshots can’t do this game justice
when you see it running live on your television screen because this game looks
fantastic.

What makes the game so good looking
is its attention to details. The main character models look absolutely fantastic
and are very highly detailed from their clothes to everything else on them. The
same can be said of the enemies and non-playable characters. Everything has a
lot of detail and even various facial animations are noticed while talking or
performing certain actions.

Then you have the artwork for all of
the levels that you will be visiting. One of the coolest things to me was in the
main city you will have to go out and fight some enemies, and it is set in a
more desert-like setting. Well sometimes you will go out there and the weather
is all fine yet other times there is a huge dust storm that really limits your
viewing so it makes it easier to sneak around or even attack enemies. This is
the first time that I can recall that a Final Fantasy game has done this and it
is a welcomed change as it gives the feeling that the world is not static but a
living, breathing world.

This game also gives player full
camera control of the game. This means that you will be able to look at any spot
in the map to help you get a better idea of where you are going and just stand
around and look at the wonder architecture. The only thing that I didn’t like
about this is that the controls for it are opposite of what you are used to on
camera controls and it will take a while to get adjusted. What makes it worse is
that there is no option to change this. While it really isn’t a bad thing by any
means it would have been nice to change the option on how to control the camera.

A very impressive thing for this
game is even though it is very graphical heavy with tons of details you will not
find very long loading times to get to places. Of course when you have to go to
new sections you will be met with loading times but it is not long and
cumbersome like many other games on the market. Also something that I noticed is
that I was never met with any framerate issues which are also really outstanding
because at times you can have up to four party members fighting and get attacked
by huge bosses or even five or more just regular enemies.

Square-Enix always out-do themselves
each time they release a new game with their CGI movies. Like always Final
Fantasy XII starts off with a very long, highly detailed, action-based CGI movie
that was beyond gorgeous. Then, though out the game, you will be treated with
many more movies that you swear look better then the previous ones. It is just
outstanding to see all of them as you are playing on and wonder how much better
they truly can become.

As always, the soundtrack to Final
Fantasy XII is exquisite. The music that you will hear throughout the entire
game really fits well with everything in this game’s world from the music you
hear in the various towns, dungeons, fields, and more. The sound effects are
also very top notch from the gun fire, sword clashing, and even walking around.
Last but not least, is the voice acting, while many people still might scoff at
having voice for all of the main characters I think that it really fits well
with the game and all of the actors did a wonderful job at playing their various
characters. While it does stink that you can’t personally rename any of the male
characters like in games past, I think that hearing this high quality sound
makes up for that.

One thing that the developers do to
make the game nice and fun to play is that they always load it with lots of
extras to keep help breakup any repetition that you might face in this game. If
you look in the game menu you will see that there is a full-featured Bestiary,
which contains all the information about the enemies that you fight as where as
where they came from. A Sky Pirate’s Den, that contains animated trophies for
doing specific feats. Then there an option that shows what bounties you have
done thus far and information on them, and much more that will keep you
entertained for some time.

Final Fantasy XII is rated teen and
contains alcohol references, fantasy violence, mild language, partial nudity,
and suggestive themes. It will take 94KB on your memory card for game saves.

Gameplay: 9.7
This game in the series takes a radical
change with the gambit system, license board, full camera control, and many
other things. The game will keep you on your toes with its very intelligent AI
and leave you wanting more.

Graphics: 10
Final Fantasy XII is a game that has the best graphics I have seen for this
system to date. That is no exaggeration. Some people might not like the art
direction but I think that it is really a nice change of pace and fits really
well. The fact that load times are pretty much non existent and I didn’t even
notice slow down is a huge plus. The CGI movies were also a wonder to behold.

Sound: 9.8
Just like every other Final Fantasy game before it the music for this
game will rock your socks off. While it doesn’t reach the pinnacle as some of
the earlier games in the series, it is still one of the best musical soundtracks
around. The sound effects and voice acting is also done very nicely.

Difficulty: Medium
To be honest it takes a while to get used to everything that this game
has to offer and the difficulty is really high at times, especially when you are
lower levels and run into a “rare monster” that you have no chance to defeating.
Also the AI in this game is really intelligent from running in packs, trying to
escape from a battle if it is losing, as well as other interesting things.

Concept: 9.7
It takes a lot of guts to completely change the entire formula of a
well established and beloved series such as this. The developers took on this
monumental task and proved that it is a great chance of pace and worth the wait.

Overall: 9.8
It is hard to believe that it took this long to actually get my hands
on a new Final Fantasy. This has got to be the longest development cycle for one
of Square-Enix crown jewels games, but it was completely worth the wait. If you
love RPG’s then this game is a no brainier to pick up. If you love games that
have a great story, unbelievable graphics for the PS2, wonderful soundtrack, and
a game that is just fun, then pick up this game immediately you will not regret
it!