I never thought in a million years that I would end up giving a Final Fantasy game a bad score. What a let down!
Let me just say that I am a huge final fantasy fan, and like so many others, I raced to the shelf to get my hands on one of the copies on the shelf just as I have done since I completed my first final fantasy (which was FFVII by the way), or in the case of when IX was released, used my employee position and shanked it from the shelf before the store even opened. Now I know that some people will look at this review and say that it may be a bit biased as I will be making referrences to previous games and claim that I should look at it from the point of view of it being its own game and judge it by its own merits. So I'll say this, for the most part, I am, but you can't stamp the high profile name "Final Fantasy" to a game and not expect people to hold you to the high standards of the previous generations. Same as everyone does to movies, you get a great movie, then a half ass sequal comes out bearing the same name, everyone pays to see it "Because" they loved the previous, then come out pissed off that they wasted they're money.
OK, now that I've made that abundantly clear lets start off with the review. I will be dividing this review by means of the different areas of scoring as on the scoring system. But since there is no scoring meter for story, which is VITAL when scoring a final fantasy game and most RPG's, I have split the gameplay scoring in half. Half the points dedicated for actual gamplay and the other half for the story comprising the whole of the gameplay scoring.
On one quick side-note, was I the only one got the wierd feeling that I was playing a disguised Star Wars game. Such as the beginning wedding parade, pretty damn close to the parade on naboo at the end of episode one. And the scene shortly after that, destinctly attack of the clones. Plus they always refer to archadia as the Empire. And there's lots more through out the game that just screams star wars. It just feels like it's got a george lucas stamp somewhere in here.....Any way back to the review.
Gameplay/Story:
Now for one of the most heated debates... the combat system. As so many have put it, you either love it...or hate it. I'm one of the few that looks at it for what it is. I don't love it and I don't hate it. At first I did hate it, but since I didn't have a choice in the matter I shut up and dealt with it. It grows on you. It's fast paced, fun for the most part, very well thought out, and much easier and more fluid to use compared to most of the similar systems in other games. It opens up the landscapes and often makes makes exploration more enjoyable because it brings life to the surrounding environment and when your looking to level up, instead of running around in circles looking for random battles, waiting for the battle to load, fighting, then waiting for the world to reload to do it all over again, you can just look around and run to your next victim. The problem with it, as with most fast paced action based rpg's, is that with that fast pace, you lose the grandure of the fights you've come to expect from final fantasy games, especially in regards to the spells which you can cast. In previous games, when you finally managed to acquire your most powerful spells, you got a spectacular sequence and damage count that made you feel like all your hard work was worth it. Plus in previous games, you may acquire a move that was so powerful that it would hurt you as well unless you wore a particular item (such as Vivi's Doomsday) or acquire an abitility whose full potential wouldn't be realised until you fullfilled certain tasks. There is no such grandure to the moves in XII except when it comes to the use of quickenings (which are short and are limited to 3 per character and risky to boot) and your summons most powerful moves, but thats it. Also there are no trances, overdrives, or limit breaks to speak of in XII, the closest thing to that regard is your quickenings, but are of little help if luck is not on your side, because if you do manage to get a chain to do everyones most powerful quickening but fail to keep the chain going because of the "roll of dice" plus the amount of damage regardless of what quickening you pull off varies drastically, leaves you with still needing to finish your opponent off but with your MP completely drained which limit breaks in the past didn't do. But these can't be called limit breaks anyway as you can use them anytime you want as long as you don't mind losing all you MP. I was also dissappointed that there was no major mini-game, as with previous FF games, like Tetramaster in IX or Blitzball in X. I know it seems like I'm running on and on but I'm just trying to give everyone an idea of what to expect. While I do like the new combat system (based soley on its' own merit), I still very much prefer the classic combat for playing Final Fantasy games. This combat system while good by its own right, would be better served utilised in a different game other than Final Fantasy.
Now for the system which is used for equiping...erm...well...equipment and customising characters. The system for equiping items and weapons is pretty much the same as whats been used in most FF games, so there's not much to say there. But the new system for increasing the abilities of your character is the license board. As the name suggests, before you can use new equipment, techniques, abilities, and spells, you have to buy a license to use them by spending license points which you earn along with your experience points when you defeat enemies. While this system is good for customising your characters, it's flaw lies later in the game when you've unlocked practically everything for everybody (everyones license board is exactly the same), making each characters abilities and usefulness virtually indistinguishable from one another other than their base stats and the what espers you've allocated to what characters. As for the gamit system. For this kind of combat system, I found it to be quiet adept, simple to use (If you've ever taken a small class for learning C++ or ever learned the basics of it, you'll find it simple, just of them as if statements. In other words, if you set a gambit for one of your charachers to automatically heal a character whose HP drops below say 70% you would the the gambit "ally HP < 70% Curaga" (which is the same as saying "if ally's HP is less than 70% of max, then cast Curaga)) and very effective. While I liked the gambit system for this style of game and believe that many companies would benefit by incorporating this type of system in games they develop that play like this game does, I still prefer the older system because it allows for more thought, strategy and tactics.
Gameplay earns 4 out of 5: Great system but lacks the grandure of previous generations.
Now for the part of the game which completely lets down the entire experience. The Story or Lack there of. Why do people by Final Fantasy games. Is it simply for the gameplay... Hell NO! People buy them for the stories which they tell. Stories which spark our emotions, introduces us to characters, allow us to participate in the characters development, experience the interaction between the characters, relationships, hardships, humorous moments, contempt for the bad guys, and take part in the story which unfolds. You grow attached to the characters and actually care about what happens to them. And don't you deny it.
Who wasn't in utter shock when Aeris was killed in VII, felt sorry for Aeris and cursing while feeling utter contempt for Sephiroth for killing her.
Who didn't feel compassion and maybe even a little protective of naive little Vivi.
Who of you felt like they could relate to Squall's isolationist demeaner for whatever reasons you may have.
How many of you (who didn't use a Game Guide) started scouring the internet looking find out what you did wrong, trying to see if there was a way to end the game so that Tidus lives and hooks up with Yuna only to find out that, that was how the game was supposed to end.
These are just a few of the examples. FF games are known to stir up your emotions, make you laugh, and present you with "memorable" storylines. Final Fantasy XII has none of these qualities. The characters are bland, have no depth or scope. The only character who seems to remotely have a personality is Balthier. The story is sparse in its presentations, short when there is a cutscene, and lacking in its execution. There is no real character development, and barely any character interaction, as such you don't care about the characters, you don't really care about what happens to them, and won't really care about the world of Ivalice, your just along for the ride. Which is really dissappointing, because the premise of the story was something many of us could relate to, while maybe not a political evil empire, but rather of world events unfolding around you which you feel powerless to do anything about. Or an overall good empire, being led to wrongful and deadly outcomes because of its greedy, power hungry, warmongering leadership. However which way you look at it, many people these days can relate to this premise. So like I said, there was a lot of potential is what could have been a great story, but the more the game progresses, the more it seems like they didn't even try.
Story earns 1 out 5: Great Premise and Potential but grossly under achieves.
Gameplay total earns 5 out of 10: Great Gameplay, but Crap story.
Graphics:
Great. By far some of the best graphics I've ever seen on the PS2. There's just nothing bad I can say about the graphics. In fact, I was nothing short of consistently impressed by them. Huge incredibly detailed environments and cities. Although for Archades supposedly supposed to being the biggest city in the game I was surprised and dissappointed at how small it was and how little there was to do. Especially considering that it is an important point in the game.
Graphics earns 10 out of 10: Beautiful... just beautiful.
Sound:
The music in this game is....well....what can I say. There's nothing special about it. I've always loved the music in FF games, but the music in this game....hrm...is the kind of music you expect to find while standing in an elevator....well maybe a little better than elevator music, but not memorable either. Sound effects are good though, just the music sucks.
Sound earns 5 out of 10: Sound effects are good, but the music was dissappointing.
Value/Overall:
As a stand alone game, it's very good. It has a lot of very good gameplay elements and is a lot of fun on the whole. Plus it has gorgeous graphics to boot. But the seriously lacking story, and lack grandure that you've come to expect from a game brandishing the Final Fantasy name leaves much to be desired. Also while I did like the new combat system, I did not like using it for a final fantasy for the reasons stated above. Plus, and I know this may be an overdramatization and an insult to this game, but I feel that this new combat system has reduced this game from a proper RPG to a (albeit far better than average) garden variety Hack n Slash, which Final Fantasy should never be allowed to become.
For those of you who have taken the time to read this long-winded review. Thank you for your time and hope you found it interesting, regardless of whether you agree with me or not.