FF12 is a superb RPG with an exciting overall story and seamless battle system.
THE GOOD
-Incredible battle system
-Excellent overall story and characters
-Huge world to explore
-Beautiful graphics
-Enjoyable music and voice acting
-Fun side quests; especially the bounty hunter mini-game
THE BAD
-Individual character development wasn't enough
-Some parts of the game require excessive running around
OVERVIEW
Final Fantasy XII is the first game in the series to greatly change around the combat system from the turn based structure to the free flowing Active Dimension Battle (ADB). FF12 is another excellent game created by the popular development team at Square Enix. This game takes place in the world of Ivalice where airships rule the skies and magicite is the source of magical power. There are three major players in this story; the Rozarrian, Archadia and Dalmasca kingdoms. The opening cut scene takes place in Dalmasca's capital city of Rabanastre. Here we see a huge celebration involving the marriage between Prince Rasler of Nabradia and Princess Ashe of Dalmasca. People of all races are cheering peacefully in the streets for this joyous ceremony. Shortly after, this happy union takes place, the scene cuts to a war room where the higher Nabradian and Dalmascan nobility are discussing the invasion by the army of Archadia. When Rasler hears that Nabradia has fallen he vows to travel there, with some Dalmascan forces, and rescue his father (the king). This attempt goes horribly wrong and Rasler loses his life in the process.
Now its two years later and the story focuses on a young man named Vaan. Vaan is an outgoing orphan from the city of Rabanastre and plans to become a sky pirate someday. He and his best friend from childhood, Penelo, look after the other orphans in the city. The imperial Archadian Empire has control over much of Ivalice but there is a secret resistance force plotting to over through the cruel dictatorship. Final Fantasy XII's story revolves around six playable characters each with different backgrounds that end up sharing a common goal; to over through the Archadian rule and bring peace back to Ivalice. The six playable characters consist of Vaan, Penelo, Ashe (the determined and bold former princess of Dalmasca), Basch (the noble and loyal knight), Balthier (the cocky sky pirate that ends up being the leading man), and Fran (Balthier's wise and non-human co-pilot).
The overall story in Final Fantasy XII is truly an epic masterpiece in itself. The dialog is easy to understand and the plot twists will keep you on the edge of your seat. The main characters have great chemistry together and are very likeable. However, I felt that this game didn't spend enough time developing the individual characters. It felt like FF12 only "scratched the surface" in this department. Besides that this game definitely earns the Final Fantasy stamp of approval.
GAMEPLAY
Like I mentioned before, the battle system is one of the huge changes to the Final Fantasy series. Not only is it revolutionary to the RPG series but it creates a smooth transition from story to action. On the main field you won't have to worry about triggering a random battle where your heroes line up on one side and the enemy on the other. Instead Final Fantasy XII has introduced the Active Dimension Battle system that resembles much of what you would see in some of the popular MMORPGs of today. This means that you'll be able to see the enemies coming at your party and be able to take the necessary actions without ever stopping the game (well almost).
While you're in the field you can choose up to three characters to fight with in your party. You'll be able to directly control the movement and actions of one hero at a time with the A.I. controlling the others. You can switch between members easily or pause the battle to give orders to your A.I. teammates. Operating in a micro-management type fashion is possible but disrupts the flow of the game play. To provide a much smoother combat experience, Square Enix has come up with a great new feature call the Gambit. Gambits compliment the ADB system greatly. Gambits are basically a list of actions to be carried out by the computer under certain situations. For example, you could have the white mage in your party heal a teammate when his or her hit points are below 30%. In the main menu, under the Gambit section, you'll be able to customize each of your character's actions. At first it may seem like a huge and complex laundry list but once you get the hang of it I guarantee that you'll appreciate its effectiveness. Gambits are also a great way to eliminate the worry of having to upkeep your characters in battle with healing and buffing so that you can focus more on which physical and magical attacks to use.
The leveling system works like many role-playing games in that your characters gain levels based on the experience they gain from vanquishing enemies in battle. When Vaan and company level up their attributes will increase like strength and hit points. Each of your heroes can also be improved with Final Fantasy XII's unique License Board. Along with earning experience points, from enemies, you'll also earn License Points (LP). The License Board looks like a jagged checker board that is scattered with licenses to things like magic spells, passive abilities, and weapons. Basically, each character needs a license or permit in order to perform the action. For instance let's say that you just found a katana in a treasure chest. Well, in order for say Fran to be equipped with the katana, she needs to have the license to do so. This is the same for magic spells, armor and just about any else in the game. It's not the greatest idea in the Final Fantasy series but once you get the hang of things you should be fine.
One thing you'll notice is that the world of Ivalice is gigantic. The amount of exploration is incredible. You could literally be wandering for hours and still not see everything. There are save crystals in key spots that also act as transporting devices so you'll be able zip around Ivalice with ease; and sorry but there isn't any air-ship flying in this game. Unfortunately, there is one drawback to this huge world in that there are many times where you'll have some fetching to do. It can be painful, trust me, but thankfully it doesn't happen too often.
FF12 is littered with plenty of extra things to do which just makes this game even more massive but in a good way. Like I mentioned before there are a few fetching type missions that are tedious but the hunting mini-game is where the real fun is. Your hunting headquarters is located in Rabanastre. Here you'll have the chance to participate in some bounty hunting by getting leads from your boss at the HQ. There are over 40 enemies to defeat and each of them comes with a nice bounty. As you progress through this mini-game the marks will get increasingly more difficult and prove to be a nice challenge and can also provide a nice escape from the main story. Aside from that there are super weapons and espers (very powerful magical creatures) to find which can also be a lot of fun to complete. One thing I would like to point out about the super weapons is that there are some glitches with certain items. Apparently, there are specific chests located in the game that if opened will disqualify you from ever obtaining these weapons. So, I highly advise you to read an FAQ about this before you start the game because you don't want to find out the hard way like me.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
Ivalice is not only a huge place to discover but also a very gorgeous world to look at. Final Fantasy XII is definitely one of the higher end games in the graphics department on the PS2. The in-game visuals are stunning but the cut scenes are extraordinary. The cut scene quality is equivalent to watching a computer generated movie.
Even though the famed music composer Nobuo Uematsu didn't write the score for FF12, it still sounds great. The complete orchestra was used to the fullest with the whimsical main theme to the proud sounding brass section for the Phon Coast. The soundtrack is very memorable just like a Final Fantasy should be. The voice acting was very enjoyable and I felt like it fit each character well.
CONCLUSION
Final Fantasy XII is similar to FF10 in that they are both superb RPGs to check out on the PS2. You're going to really enjoy the overall story and innovative battle system immensely. That and the stunning video and audio will blow you away. With that said, I would recommend this game to all RPG fans. Final Fantasy XII definitely earns its place with the other games in this fantastic series.