Polished, but lacking.
Worse the characterisation is dire. Vaan, the supposed lead role, is nothing more than a 2-d cut out lacking depth and complexity. Some of the supporting case are rendered utterly irrelevant, why is Penelo even there? Of the cast only three come away with any kind of complete character base, Bathier, Fran and Ashe. Of these only the latter really has any time spent on layering and understanding her persona. The characters feel irrelevant, lack any type of quirks and fail to form either a cohesive bond with each other or the player. One line towards the end where Vaan comments about the friendships formed is almost laughable. Compared to the love you could feel between the people in Final Fantasy’s VI, VII and VIII especially it is a feeble comment. All this is so disappointing because the rest of the game is a revelation in turning the Fantasy formula on its head. The gameplay mechanics are very interesting, if flawed. There are issues with how much control the gambit system takes away from you during fights, and desperate flaws in how the gambits sometimes fail to full operate. However it’s a worthwhile and interesting experiment. The world itself it’s stunning, in terms of graphical detail and imagination. It’s such a shame that more time isn’t spent espousing the history of some of the places you visit. The architecture employed, the scale of some of the dungeons and the cohesiveness with which they fit together is hugely impressive. The game also employs a wondrous musical score, reflecting the past successes that the series has always had in the audio field. Some of the tunes fit supremely well within the world they represent and help to draw the players in far more than the flat characterisation. In conclusion then, there is much to recommend, but also much to question. Whilst the underlying themes and polish of the writing is far more mature than seen before the actual story is far less effective. Games like Second Sight and Eternal Darkness have shown how polished narratives combine with gameplay to create a compelling experience. Final Fantasy VI and VII showed how detailed characters, explained and integrated into the world, can tear at the heart strings and pull a player emotively into a story. The much lauded XII can’t lay a finger on any of those games. Whilst polished, thoughtful, detailed and revolutionary in many ways you find yourself asking only one question, where is the heart?