Final Fantasy XII

We take an in-depth, detailed look at FF12 and give offer our definitive verdict, on the RPG everyone's been waiting for. Tonnes of video included.

	Version PS2	Developer Square Enix	Publisher Square Enix	Genre Fighting

Page: 1  2  3 

Page 2

As is typical of Matsuno's work, the story of Final Fantasy XII revolves around politics, treachery, and massive-scale warfare. The continent of Ivalice is currently embroiled in a war between the Rozzarian and Arcadian Empires, each of which is vying to conquer as much territory as possible. Many smaller kingdoms caught in the middle of this fierce struggle have found themselves under attack and the empires look to expand their territories. Though Princess Ashe of Dalmasca has recently wed Prince Rasler of Nabadia, the Prince's homeland is soon overrun by Arcadian forces, and it is clear that Dalmasca will be next.

The General Basch and Prince Rasler head out to defend Dalmasca's military fortress, and although they struggle valiantly, the forces are overwhelmed and the Prince dies upon the battlefield, leaving a broken-hearted Ashe widowed and her kingdom at the mercy of Arcadia. From there on, events take even more strange turns, leading to General Basch's imprisonment and the apparent death of Princess Ashe. The game begins two years later, as Dalmasca is being integrated into the whole of the Arcadian empire. Vaan and his best friend Panelo are two young orphans living in the capital city of Rabanastre, stealing and doing odd jobs to get by while dreaming of eventually living a better life.

On the eve of an Imperial celebration, Vaan becomes adventurous and decides to sneak into the castle to steal royal Dalmascan treasures, with the aim of returning the wealth to the citizens. When things don't go exactly as planned, Vaan finds himself in the company of the sky pirate Balthier and his lovely bunny-eared partner in crime, Fran. A chance encounter with the underground Dalmascan resistance movement sets off a chain of events, sending Vaan on an adventure he had only dreamed of...

The approach to the presentation of the story in FFXII is rather different from what we have seen in previous FF games. While titles like FFVII and FFX had a lot of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and abstract concepts as key elements of the plot, FFXII is a straight-up political thriller, with the central drama being the result of intense power struggles between individuals and empires. As a result, FFXII relies far less on emotional ploys and melodrama for plot advancement and characterization than many other games in the series. There's still a host of RPG clichés, but they are usually handled quite well - for example, many members of the central cast have a Painful Past(tm), but very little time is spent dwelling upon such events, and the characters are more concerned with fighting their immediate struggles rather than spending time bonding and analyzing their emotional states.

That isn't to say that the game lacks enjoyable characterization, in fact, it's quite the contrary. I found FFXII to be one of few RPGs in recent times to lack any main party members that I found annoying and unlikable. Especially noteworthy are the female characters, all of whom are confident, skilled fighters with interesting and enjoyable personalities.

Here is where the real meat of FFXII lies, and what ultimately makes or breaks the whole deal. Fortunately, FFXII does not disappoint in this department.

The battle system is a completely new effort, taking cues from both the Active Time Battle system of FFs past and combining it with a free-roaming, MMORPG-like combat presentation. Random battles are a thing of the past, as all enemies (and non-hostile creatures) are visible onscreen and are fought in the very environment in which they are encountered. This allows for some interesting new strategies; for example, charging up a magic spell and then sneaking up behind a foe to unleash it, or subduing an enemy with long-range skills while a heavily defended warrior rushes in to engage in close-range combat and take the brunt of the enemy's attacks. Positioning of yourself and enemies is often a crucial part of fights - those attacking with long-range weapons generally receive fewer attacks than those in the front lines, and, much like the Grandia games, certain spells and skills have ranges and affect everything in a limited area.

The player can toggle between two types of combat flow in the configuration menu: "Wait Mode" and "Active Mode." The difference between these two might not seem obvious at first, but the moment you get into a really hairy battle, you'll see just how the battle mode you select can affect your outcome. In Wait Mode, the onscreen action will freeze when you open up a menu for battle, allowing you to take your sweet time choosing targets for attack and healing, figuring out what might be best for your given situation. Those who prefer a more tactical style of battle will probably prefer this setting.

By contrast, Active Mode is just what it says - both you and your enemies will keep on taking action even while you're busy flipping through menus and making decisions, keeping the pace of combat flowing smoothly and quickly. As you might expect, battles in Active Mode can become extremely chaotic, with snap decisions being a necessity. While Active Mode is considerably more difficult than Wait Mode, it is also much faster and more exciting, turning notable enemy fights into battles every bit as tense and frenetic as any action game. (Please note that all media shown depicts battles in Active Mode.)

Of course, all the battle commands you'd expect in a Final Fantasy game are here - you've got your standard attack, along with magic, special skills, items, summons, and special attacks called Mist Knacks. Every FF title has a new way of learning all of these skills, and FFXII is no different, giving players something called the License board. This is a checkerboard-like grid where you can gain the ability to use magic and skills, as well as receive stat bonuses and enable a character to equip weapons and armor of a particular type. Every enemy defeated yields both EXP and LP (License Points), allowing you to purchase licenses from squares on the grid. Once a license has been bought, the character learns the skills or gains the bonuses that square gives, and opens up license squares immediately adjacent to that one. (Magic and combat skills must still be purchased before they can be used, however.)

Related skills are often grouped closely together, but you are never restricted to following a certain "path" of development for a character, allowing for extensive customization. Summon skills (once earned) and Mist Knack attacks can also be opened on the license grid, though only a single character is permitted to learn a particular summon/Mist Knack. It's a very simple system that doesn't take long to learn and offers the player a great deal of customization for each character.

The skills and magic learned from licenses obviously plays a very important role in fighting. There are several types of weapons that you can use in combat (provided you have the licenses for them), and all have vastly different properties. For example, bows and guns are both long-range weapons, but a bow's strength is based on a character's speed, while guns completely ignore enemy defense and score more critical hits. Swords and daggers differ from katanas and ninja swords by being one-handed weapons (allowing a shield to be equipped), but a character can attack faster and has the potential for more multi-hit attacks with a dagger over a sword. There are many weapons and pieces of armor made available, and it's up to you to decide what equipment to buy licenses for and when to use them. Magic is again broken up into categories, adding the category of green magic for support spells, and "forbidden" magic for skills like Dark, Death, and Gravity.

Page: 1  2  3 

NEXT PAGE >>