| Final Fantasy XII |
[11 Sep 2007|10:31am] |
For Christmas of 2006, I received this much-coveted 12th (ish) installment to Square's Final Fantasy series, and over one hundred and four hours of gameplay later, I have beaten the game (of course, there are some sidequests I'd like to finish later...). Interestingly, when I was looking for an image to place here, I found a great review that basically sums up what I'd like to say, very nicely. But here's my crude version.
After being disappointed by Square's decision to put Final Fantasy XI online (I have not even seen that one), I was really excited to see them return to the Playstation 2 with XII. After all, since I was six years old, this series has captivated me in ways few other games, let alone things, have. What separates Final Fantasy from other RPGs? Story, plot, characterization, soundtrack, gameplay, visuals, all which usually soar far, high and beyond the rest. Square was one of the first to present us with games that weren't just for inattentive 12 year old boys. The series was mature, intricate, intelligent, its titles often leaving a lasting impression on you like you've just read the BEST BOOK EVER, but YOU were the one that made it happen, that affected the outcome and explored its worlds beyond what the author divulged. And it took you sixty hours at least.
So how did Final Fantasy XII stack up?
Story: I must admit, I was surprised at Square-Enix's intensely MASCULINE story line. Involving politics and war in the world of Ivalice, XII's story was intricate enough for a Final Fantasy, but lacking that certain, um, "yin" quality that the other titles have. The belligerence of all the characters left little room for that certain "love and betrayal" that always appealed to me, I guess, as a girl. The story was also a little hard to follow, but that could be mostly because I spent much time on sidequests instead of furthering the plot. But it was definitely more mature, yet more predictable. In the past, the story lines were so incredible that you'd constantly be surprised, and you'd follow the story as you went along, not being able to predict anything. They had more of a real-time feel. Yet this story always felt contrived, like we knew what was going to happen in the end, and who the bossofthewholegame would be, and all that.
Characters: In the beginning, I was very excited about the characters. The game sets up GREAT opportunities for characterization, as all the characters are so diverse. Unlike earlier games, your party is completed within the first few hours of gameplay (leaving room for various guest characters throughout the game that come and go). Unfortunately, characterization was my second-biggest disappointment with this game. I was expecting so much back-story, so many more crazy character revelations and emotions that CHARACTERIZE the other final fantasy games! What happened here?
Your party:
Vaan - A carbon copy of Tidus from X, but you'll be very disappointed if you assume he is your main character or consequential at all.
Penelo - a throwback to Rikku from X or Selphie from VIII, but only exists to hang around Vaan.
Balthier - by far the coolest character in the game, with perhaps the most character background of them all (that's saying very little). There's a great voice actor behind this british-accented sky pirate.
Fran - a nonhuman Viera (think playboy bunny), who's so mysterious, I was expecting character explanations about her EVERY TIME a cut scene would happen. Barely anything happened.
Basch - He was okay. He didn't really necessitate any "stories" since his was clear.
Ashe - is the main character, even though your mind wants you to think Vaan is (he's the first character you get!). Predictable character with Yuna(X)-like qualities. I got excited toward the end when you think there's more to her.
And there you have it. The million-character cast of VI had more characterization in one character than these guys combined.
Gameplay: Here is where Square-Enix succeeded. The battle system was completely redone, from a "wait your turn" method to a more Legend of Zelda-esque live-action fighting method. All of the monsters are visible - no walking around only to be surprised by a cacophanous sound leading into a screen change for your battles. That being said, the a-is-attack method that has been with the games throughout is still there, but you can now program your characters to perform certain battle tasks once certain needs have been met. This is the gambit system. For example, you can tell Penelo to cast "Arise" every time a character falls, without manually doing this in battle. It's convenient, and surprisingly doesn't really take the fun out of fighting, because the battles are varied and complex enough to still require manual input.
This game's "limit break" system was again successful, like it always is, and relied on a roulette system that I don't feel like explaining, but it was fun. The only crappy thing was that each character's limit break was rather long, and when one is working on a 15 chain of limit breaks, that's a few minutes right there.
Other than battling, which is the main aspect of the game, the walking around was good. Haha. Like every other game, you'd walk in an out of certain areas, but of course the PS2 sucks with loading. This game has great graphics and scenery, so sometimes the "loading" was annoying.
The game's sidequests are excellent. The introduction of "hunts", which basically means you go find a special monster, kill it, and get prizes and move up the ranks, was a lot of fun. Other sidequests were great too, but I'm lazy. Basically, this game survived in my heart because of its gameplay. Otherwise, I would not have played it for 104 hours. There is a reason I took that long. I was spending more time fighting enemies and doing sidequests than furthering the plot. It's usually the opposite with Final Fantasy games.
Graphics/art/visuals: Amazing. The cinematic cut scenes included some of the most realistic animation I have ever seen in my life. There is one scene early in the game that has Balthier walking down stairs in the background. The subtleties of that simple movement were SO PRECISE I actually NOTICED. As for normal gameplay graphics, expect the best you've seen from a PS2. Nuff said.
Soundtrack: Behold, the #1 disappointment of mine with Final Fantasy XII. It was dreadfully, painfully obvious that Nobuo Uematsu, the former Final Fantasy composer basically up until this game, had resigned from Square Enix. Where were the character themes, the leitmotif, the John Williams-esque melodies that ALWAYS fit perfectly with both scenery AND story? NO-FRIGGING-WHERE. The entire game was composed of about 15 different orchestral "textures" that were reused and overused in a million different areas. Zero melodic content. Nothing that you could sing back to yourself, no reason to import its soundtrack from Japan or go to a concert of it (Nobuo held LOTS of concerts, still does). There were two tracks that came close to me enjoying: the themes of the towns of Rabanastre (including Lowtown, so maybe three) and Archadia. The others were a SHAME to the series. Nobuo Uematsu would compose tracks that made you FEEL the game, the characters, the story, the scene. Everything was beautifully thematic and had such lovely character. This game, not so much. Extremely disappointing.
Overall? Not the best Final Fantasy. Still, a great game when you consider it alone. Within the series, I'd rank it somewhere in the realms of final fantasy V, below X.
I HAVE TO PACK.
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