A disapointing installment in the series
User Rating: 6.6 | Final Fantasy XII PS2
First the good. The ‘new and improved’ battle system is a nice change from the previous games, and it is good to be able to walk through an area without constant interruptions; it gives the game a more fluid feel. The experience points and gambit system are ok, but they are nothing to write home about. There is nothing revolutionary here. The sound is great though; the voice acting is realistic and the music is good as always. Then it all goes downhill. The complex story lines with twists and turns seem to have vanished from this game. The story here feels like recycled bits from other games and films, (star wars being a rather obvious influence) and it doesn’t fit together too well. I didn’t feel the need to carry on playing to see what would happen next, the storyline is flat and the end is unrewarding. The characters also seem rather shallow and not much is done to develop them. Vaan is way too ‘girly’ for my liking and he acts like a child, he rarely comes out with anything useful to say. I would have much rather had his brother Reks as the main character. The other characters are not much better, Ashe is cold and unlikeable, and Fran, Penelo and Bashe barely open their mouths to speak. It is only Balthier that has any amount of substance or style. My only problem with the battle system is that the esper and mist techniques completely drain your mp. The espers are completely useless in battle, usually dying before they can do anything useful.
FFXII is still a reasonable game, but don’t expect too much from it. Unless you are mad about final fantasy, I wouldn’t bother making the purchase.
