FFXII is one of the most well made and best designed Final Fantasy's.Despite plot and character flaws,its world is huge.
Story and Setting- Final Fantasy XII's world is both complicated and riddled with political intrigue. It is set within the land of Ivalice during an age when "magic was commonplace" and "airships plied the skies, crowding out the heavens". Central to the story is Dalmasca, a small kingdom between the two continents and empires. During this time, Ivalice is beset by the pending war between the forces of Rozarria and Archadia. Caught between the two powerful Empires, Dalmasca and a number of smaller nations have already been subjugated by Archadia two years before the game begins.
The Archadian Empire is ruled by House Solidor, headed by Emperor Gramis. The family also consists of two siblings, Vayne and Larsa, the former a military genius and the latter a charismatic seeker of peace. Judge Magisters, upholders of Archadian law, protect House Solidor and execute every command issued by the ruling family. The mythos of Final Fantasy XII revolves around a character known as Dynast-King Raithwall, a man who once united Ivalice to create the Galtean Alliance in ages past (wikipedia). Despite its lack of personalisation and character development, such as Vaan apparently being the main character; the overall atmosphere of the worlds story draws the gamer in. The political plots between a very large cast of characters and guest characters are alot for a new player to sink their teeth into. The universe Final Fantasy XII takes place in is the same as that as Final Fantasy Tactics (PSone). It has a very similar feel to Final Fantasy II, as well as its overall influence from Star Wars.
Music and Sound- While the voice acting had definetly improved since Final Fantasy X the music and sound effects had not. While the music started of epic and upbeat to begin with, the following tracks lacked the charm other Final Fantasy games had such as FFX and FFVII had. I cant think of a track in Final Fantasy XII i find particularily special, though that is not to say that the score doesn't do its job in capturing the tension and atmosphere of the moment.
Gameplay- Despite FFXII's controversial "out on field" battle-system the game contained a vast amount of side quests. Many of these side quests consisted as 'The Hunts' were one of the the greatest side quests invented by Square Enix. "The Hunts' consisted of hunting different monsters in exchange for a bounty or reward. These monsters can be located anywhere in the world. The game obviously gives you hunts close to home to start with, but more and more hunts get unlocked and secret clubs dedicated to hunting can be joined. Ivalice is a huge and populated world where there is so much to see and do from city upon town upon dungion and snowy mountain you visit. However, The games great gameplay activities is weighed down by some primative and frustrating level grinding and huge boring dungions and temples that seem to never end! They sprawl with respawning monsters. Seriously this game is hard and if it wasn't for a thick guide booklet and some hints from the internet to get a very powerful sword such as 'The Deathbringer' early in the game I dont think this reviewer would have gotten very far unless he had no life. Despite some hate, FFXII's battle system did require deep strategy and planning. My best friend and I merged our strategies to defeat the third form of the final boss and we defeated the game. It was very rewarding! ( I was dispelling The Undying, while my friend wasn't. But my friend had this great magick ability called 'Bubble' that trippled his characters HP for a short period of time bringing them easily up to 9999). Most importantly, the licence system along with equiping various and more powerful weapons and armour play a very important role in making your characters more powerful.
Final Fantasy XII is a brilliant role playing game, and a supurb Final Fantasy. Despite its flaws such as its characters and plot development being dumbed down due to the open endedness of the world of the game; it makes up for it with hours upon hours of quests and activities to train your characters into to being powerful warriors.With that said the mythology and overall geography of the realm of Ivalice should be commended. Square Enix did a brilliant job.