Some new breeze in Final fantasy series but not for everybody.
Graphics : 10/10
For the PS2 hardware it's just beatiful to watch the Cutscenes , CGs, the design of the monsters and everything the old-generation of SONY never brighted so much .
Sound : 7/10
I really don't know what happened here =/ , the musics are...okay as so are the Voices and effects but in some way the Huge charisma of the series doesn't seem to be found here ...Didn't know that the lack of Nobuo Uematsu's work woyld affect the epicness this quesite could be :o
Story : 7.5/10
I's pretty good to see Ivalice in 3D and from a pretty interesting angle (For who that don't know the first appearance of many elements of FFXII , including the races, and pretty much the storyline was in FF Tactics Advance from Nintendo's GBA) but I wish I could see something like FFX or FFVI here. Also I'd like to put my personal opinio about the characters design and blah blah blah ... WTF HAPPENED TO FF'S GREAT HEROS? Vaan is just '' I'm gonna save the world from the bad kingdom cause i got nothing better to do'' , To do not be unfair Basch , Fran and Balthier has a very cool background story and when I leaved the game It left me with a ''want more'' feeling . I WON'T EVEN LOST MY TIME WRITING ABOUT THE ''BIG VILLAIN'' .
Gameplay : 8(?)/10
The gameplay ... AH! the gameplay of FFXII , the wall between the gamers that experienced this one .
From my view of point they kinda tried to emulate a little from what is a MMORPGs into a singleplayer one , Much like the Mix of action-RPG with Classic and real-time menu of actions (even if you have the classic option to STOP everything ) .
SOME GAMEPLAY NOTES : you can use the X button to do various actions to open chests , from doors until operating mechanisms in some dungeons , the magic must be bought AND learned in a a chess like grid that remember a little the FFX System . After choosing your action it must be performed real-time ... Example : You selected attack with your Vaan equipped with a dagger , it must reach the enemy choosen to perform it . You can change party member to party member freely , when controlling one the game let you move it or ''flee'' . You can send orders to them at any time , but FFXII also introduces a new system , the gambits . With them you can totally customize the actions of your character choosing what action do , when or/and add some special conditions .
Replay Value : 9/10
The game's world size is pretty kicking as*, you have tons of quest to do , espers to take on(GF's/summons of this game) , weapons to make and buy , rare material to colect , easy getting over 70 hours + .
Last words :
This review was just to show some of my ideas and try to inform a little of the last FF on PS2 platform , I recommend you to rent it and watch some videos about before buying , even if not so expensive as some PS3 game ;)