Review
Release Date: 03.16.2006
Platform:
PlayStation 2Developer:
Square-Enix Co., Ltd.Publisher:
Square-Enix Co., Ltd.Reviewed by
Ashton Liu on 3.21.2006
| Review Rating: 10/10 | User Rating: 8.44/10 |
Note: This review is for the import version, not the domestic version, which is schedule to be released sometime in Q4 2006.
I'd be hard pressed to find a game with a past as troubled as
Final Fantasy XII. The numerous delays stretching out its development time over a few years notwithstanding, the game has also suffered from the departure of its previous producer Yasumi Matsuno for "health related reasons." As if that wasn't enough, the demo released alongside
Dragon Quest VIII garnered a lukewarm reception from the gaming populace; Penny Arcade tried petitioning the game to not suck and 1up's Jeremy Parish described the game using the word 'iconoclast' generously. But all of those impressions were based off of a demo that is but a mere shadow of the actual game, and despite Japanese magazine Famitsu
giving the game a perfect score, many still continued to foretell the demise of the game and demanded a second opinion confirming or denying the quality of the game.
Driving a game with a brandname with as much reputation as
Final Fantasy attached to it into the ground would be akin to what George Lucas did to the Star Wars franchise. There are those who pride themselves in thinking that they "know" what a
Final Fantasy game
should be, and dismiss any game bearing the license if it does not adhere to their rigid standards, but these people fail to realize that the series does not adhere to standards, but creates them instead - the
Final Fantasy moniker has, over the course of over a decade, essentially synonymized itself with the word change. Any victory that Square Enix has with each incarnation of the series is purely Phyrric in nature in regards to longtime devotees of the franchise. So over five years in the making, and what does
Final Fantasy XII have to show for it?
Know that this is decidedly a
Final Fantasy game. The game's presentation, aesthetic qualities, and narrative all uphold the high quality its predecessors have set. At the outset of the game's story, the player is thrust in the midst of an invasion of the country of Dalmasca, a country whose prince recently married but unfortunately fell in battle soon afterwards. The player then assumes control of a young knight named Lex who is leading a troop to defend the kingdom. Soon afterwards, however, he is betrayed by his troop leader and murdered brutally. The narrative then shifts to young Vaan, Lex's younger brother, who has decided that he's tiring of the poor life he leads and decides to go treasure hunting in the castle, and this act, of course, sweeps him into the middle of the current political struggle.
From the beginning of the game, the presentation is absolutely top notch. The opening movie has an incredibly epic feel, and this incredible delivery is manifested throughout the whole game. The cityscapes are large and expansive, all the while bustling with activity, the environments are alive with activity as well, and major battles are orchestrated in a way that can only be described as magnificently epic, with each boss fight ending with a fantastic cutscene showing the boss' demise.
The presentation owes its excellence largely to the fact that the graphics are beautiful. The cities and dungeons are so large, complex, and intricate that they must be split into multiple parts for the system to render them, numerous detailed characters are rendered on screen all in real time, and special attacks and summons are some of the most beautiful creations the series has ever seen. While this may come as no surprise to many - Square Enix has, after all, crafted many a game that took complete advantage of the hardware they were developed for - screenshots and stills simply don't do the game justice - you have to
see the game in action to appreciate just how fantastic the visuals are. In an age where the industry has already dismissed the PlayStation 2 as yesterday's news, it's astounding how Square Enix has pushed out visuals of this quality from supposed 'inferior hardware.'
Of course, mesmerizing visuals would have no effect without music and sound to match, and while devout series followers may be skeptical about the game's aural quality without the guidance of previous series composer Nobuo Uematsu, Hitoshi Sakimoto's compositions lend well to the game's atmosphere - I daresay that Sakimoto is actually preferable to the mighty Uematsu in this game. His music serves to amplify the overall feel of the game, supplementing each situation - particularly crucial battles - perfectly, while at the same time avoiding association with the musical scores of his predecessors, due to the fact that nearly none of the music is lifted from any of the previous entries in the series.
Equally impressive is the voice work of the game, with each character's voice fitting perfectly with their role. From major plot points to battle shouts, the depictions of the characters are perfectly done. Whereas most games that have voice acting perform it in a style similar to that of anime,
Final Fantasy XII opts to take a more movie-styled approach to the performance of the cast. This results in an overall more authentic feel to the game and injects more sternness to the already serious story.
But presentation is only part of what makes a game. Even the most glorious of games can be quickly brought to ruin by subpar gameplay.
Final Fantasy XII may have a splendid presentation, but can the game hold up its gameplay on a pedestal as high as the one on which its presentation sits?
Fear not, oh ye of little faith.
Final Fantasy XII's battle system provides just as much entertainment and immersion as previous entries in the series, if not even moreso. While the turn-based battles of the series proper have had many cosmetic facelifts done to them over the years (mainly with the introduction of the ATB system in
Final Fantasy IV), this game eschews the turned based battle system completely, replacing it with one that is handled in real time - those players who have delighted themselves with the online adventures of
Final Fantasy XI will find the ground here to be familiar. Battles begin when a character attacks an enemy or vice versa; combat begins on an auto-attack fashion, with the player being able to freely move his or her controlled character around as well as enter commands manually to said character, while the computer controls all other battle characters. If the player so wishes, he or she is allowed to give commands remotely to computer controlled characters, and a quick flick of the directional pad switches player control between characters. Commands made are shown to the left of each character's HP/MP bar, and different actions require a different amount of time to finish preparing - items and special attacks charge near-instantaneously, while normal attacks and magic charge much slower. If the player finds him or herself in a dangerous situation, holding down the R2 button causes the characters to enter escape mode to flee from the frontlines. Be warned, however - enemies that chase you to the zoneline won't conveniently forget that you just tried to make sushi out of them, and if you return, they will be waiting to exact their revenge.
The battle system unfotunately takes a long time to settle into, with the early portions of the game being extremely straightforward and unexciting due to the lack of abilities at the player's disposal. Once the player obtains a sizable moveset, however, it's pretty much smooth sailing from then on. Sadly, there have been mistaken accusations of the game saying that it wrests an unfair amount of control from the player. Given that previous games of the franchise allowed players to do nothing but enter commands for their characters, it's a wonder what people these days consider
control, because
Final Fantasy XII's battle system fits that term better than any of its predecessors ever did.
But wait, does this system mean that you may be forced to enter commands for three different characters in
real time if the AI decides to take a sudden crash course in becoming a kamikaze fighter? Fret not, because Square Enix has addressed that aspect of combat well through the Gambit System.
Let us say that the Gambit System is, for all intents and purposes, customizable AI. So, you may be asking, how is that different from other games with 'customizable AI' that give you only three choices, all of which probably spell certain doom for the character? Ah, that's where things get interesting - the Gambit System is much more complicated than any of those piddly 'customizable' AI systems. The Gambit System basically consists of a number of slots where players are able to set different 'Situation-Reaction' scenarios. It offers a staggering amount of different options, allowing the player to do things like set the exact HP percentage when an ally should use a cure spell, or set whether the ally should attack the strongest, weakest, or same enemy the leader is fighting. Of course, any command the player gives while in battle overrides the AI setups, but this is pretty much as close to programming actual AI a game could possibly allow players without forcing them to sit down and code it themselves. The Gambit System, while limited by a small number of slots and a pitiful amount of selections at the outset of the game, quickly expands and as the game progresses, players will be able to find the exact Gambits they need to guide them through their quests.
Speaking of finding Gambits, everything the player will use is either found in a dungeon or sold in shops. Weapons, armor, accessories, spells, even gambit options are all up for sale or obtainable through treasure chests in dungeons, with any character able to use any item, cast any spell, and equip any weapon or armor.
This is where the License Board comes in. Every character has access to the same license board, which looks oddly like a chess board. Pretty much anything outside of normal levels is handled by the License Board; each square on said board grants access to abilities, weapons, armor, accessories, stat ups, and more, with certain special attacks and summon spaces becoming unavailable after one character has learned it already. To learn objects on the License Board, LP (which is gained in normal battles) is expended, with more powerful options costing more LP. But wait, did I just say "weapons, armor, and accessories"? That's right, in this incarnation of the series, just
buying the equipment won't help your characters at all. Technically, every character can equip any piece of equipment and cast any spell in the game. However, such a task would take hours upon hours of slaughtering enemies, so players will have to decide what items they want their character to be able to equip. In execution, this allows full customization of each character while still allowing them their own unique individual traits, and the player will never be 'stuck' on the board due to the lack of a pre-set path. Each time a square on the License Board is activated, each square surrounding it becomes available to learn. Players are limited only by the edges of their current progress, so the entire system is incredibly flexible while still offering reasonable boundaries for players to adhere to, all the while preventing players from becoming too powerful simply by hoarding money and upgrading to the most powerful equipment available, thereby keeping the game's challenege intact.
Speaking of challenge,
Final Fantasy XII offers lots of it. Normal battles can spell certain doom if players don't play their cards right, and boss battles can have some players suddenly staring at the red Game Over screen if they don't strategize correctly. Those gamers who are vocal about the "good old days" when games were hard - and they ARE out there - will find
Final Fantasy XII to be pleasantly refreshing. No longer does the simple method of hacking and slashing do away with enemies in this game, and subtle specialties that weapons have - such as bows dealing higher damage to flying enemies and guns ignoring enemies' defense - become much more than a mere decoration, they actually serve a significant use in this game, as do the spells that cause degeneration in enemy abilities. Players will be tested to their wit's end in each and every major battle this game has to offer, and trust me, you WILL die. A lot.
"So what," you may say. "I'll just level grind and hoard money from the fights." If only it were that easy. Despite that score up at the top of the page,
Final Fantasy XII is by no means a perfect game. The game suffers from some old design flaws that some would swear should've been taken care of by now.
First of all, leveling is hard. Really hard. It's nothing near what a MMORPG would be like, but nonetheless, for a console game? It's unbelievably difficult to level. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that experience gained is not spread out among characters not in the active battle party. Yes, you read that right, if you focus on certain characters, your other characters will fall behind. This isn't even like
Final Fantasy VIII, where a lower level doesn't significantly change endgame potential of a character. If you leave a character on the sidelines, their usefulness is pretty much gutted. What the hell, Square Enix, I thought we were past stuff like this already?
Secondly, money is scarce in
Final Fantasy XII. Monsters don't drop any gil at all, and the game relegates the player to treasure hunting or guild quests in order to build funds, which soon causes the player to endure the repetition of running out and commiting genocide on monsters again and again so that they can find some rare item to pawn off to buy that new weapon.
While the game also has a few niggles in the form of long load times and bizarre camera movement, these first two problems cause what is popularly referred to as "artificial game lengthening," making them the worst of the lot. About twelve hours of my game time was spent level grinding so that all my characters would be balanced level wise, as well as hunting for items and completing side quests so that I could gain enough green to purchase a new piece of equipment.
That leads me to my next point: this game is incredibly lengthy. I spent 55 hours on the main scenario and I did only enough quests to buy what was necessary. Side quests are assigned by a guild, and while these optional missions are not prerequisites for completing the game, they offer lots of encouragement for players to complete them. While I didn't do very many of the clan quests, they have the potential to double the total game time of a player's save file, so only the most devoted (and perfectionists) will finish all of them.
In retrospect, it seems unbelievable that a game with such a disturbed development track record held under the critical light of scrutiny has turned out to be such a polished game. It may seem that I've pretty much talked about everything the game has to offer, but in truth I've barely even scratched the surface. Words do not do this game justice - it is something that can only be understood by
experience. The sights and sounds of Ivalice are above and beyond anything that can be described with words.
There are obviously going to be naysayers who deem this entry a disgrace to Square Enix's mighty franchise, but truth be told, this game is the perfect example of what
Final Fantasy is all about. Know that this game delivers all the majesty and beauty expected of a
Final Fantasy game. Know that the presentation of the game, whether in visual or aural senses, is truly resplendent. Know that the story is epic, and the characters are endearing. Know that the gameplay is innovative and enthralling.
Finally, and most importantly, know that whatever you pay for this game when it releases in the U.S. will be undeniably worth the price of admission.
