FInal Fantasy XII is a revolutionary game with a unique battle system and compelling graphics that cannot be forgotten.
As we all know, FF games are based in an RPG format and takes gamers into a world of magic and fantasy. FF XII talks about 2 empires waging war across the lands of Ivalice against each other conquering all lands in its way. Ivalice is also the worlds of Final Fantasy Tactics, and tactics advance on the GBA. Dalmasca and Nabudis, also known as the kingdoms that stands in the center between both the archadian empires and the roazarian emprie. Nabudis has fallen to the archadian empire and Dalmasca is next. This is where the story will begin and your adventure starts from here. Vaan, a young boy who is an orphan that dreams to be a sky pirate and wants to set his goal on restoring Dalmasca to its orignal Kingdom. You will also meet other unique characters on your way as Vaan is only one of the six main characters in the game that you will move around with. Penalo, a young girl also a orphan that has been friends with Vaan since childhood will accompany you in most of your adventures and looks after Vaan. Since the arcahdian empire has taken over most of the lands of Ivalice, Vaan and a group of lackies will try to uncover the truth behind the archadian empire and put a stop to this war.
Now we all know in each Final Fantasy, they all have a unique battle system and espicaly the active time battle system that is well known in most Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy XII returns with the same active battle system but adds more depth to it. In most Final Fantasy whenever you walking in a dungeon or the enviroments of the world, you'll trigger a battle sequence. In Final Fantasy XII, the developers have taken the battle screens away and your left in a massive world where you can attack enemies freely and not have the battle screen pop up each time to stop you from your journey. Battle sequences are triggered when you walk close to or come by any monsters that are near you and your team. There is however the time bar that is brought back from other old Final Fantasy such as Final Fantasy 3. Each time the bar reaches the end of the right side, youll be able to attack or give commands to your characters depending on how you want to them to attack. Now something new in Final Fantasy XII is the gambit system. The gambit system is when your have given your party members a set of commands in a list. Depending what you give the commands to the characters, the very top one will trigger first and the bottom one will trigger last. Example of this could be Cure comes before attack. Simply saying that your character will cure automatically who ever is low on hp and then attack the enemy after. Which is a nice unique system, but most gamers will get frustrated when the commands dont come out and your left to give the commands yourself during battle. When your bring up the menu in battle, time freezes and your able to give the command out. But depending on the time bar, it will trigger the command after the bar reaches the far right side. Having the newly gambit system is a great system to help the NPCs do actions with out giving set of commands each time. You can also select a leader when your out in the open area, meaning you will be controlling the movement of that character. Having the gambit system is a great thing, and something knew in the leveling up system is the license board. Similar to Final Fantsy X's huge circular board that levels up your character depending on how you want to customize the character. Final Fantasy XII licenses board lets gamers customize and select different types of ways to level up their characters and learn new things. At the end, of the licenses board is the myst abilties also known as Quickenings. Quickenings are like special moves that can be triggered during a battle sequence. But a trade must be made in order to use a quickening, meaning you will lose all your mana for one quickening. Each character will be able to ues up to 3 quickenings. So this makes be aware of how you use your quickenings, because if you use up all your quickenings and your low on hp, all thats left for you is items and that wont be enough to heal your party members. So FF XII gamer will have to be careful on how they use their quickenings. Having said customizing characters their own way is unique,but in the end it has some flaws. Every character learns the same abilities leaving your no choice but to learn it if you want to make the character stronger. So i dont see how the developers say this is customizable when every character is left but to learn the same things.
We all know Square-Enix are hard at work with their CGs and art work. Final Fantasy XII's intro is long and superb in all CG animation. Almost 2 - 3 minutes on the first intro CG cutscene is pretty impressive. Making gamers want more as they contuine on the story of Final Fantasy XII. Character designs are made from the developers of Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics. Giving most gamers the more mature look in the characters that are similar to Vagrant Story on the PS. Each character has their unique looks and fighting style with each weapon that you give them. The vast enviroments are largely big and well animated giving you the feel of the actual world of ivalice. Now since this game was only made for ps2 the graphics might have been a little bit more shallower then Final Fanatsy X. But becasue the graphics were not top notch, you are able to move the camera freely left and right in a 360 degree format depdning on how you want to look at the perspective of your character. Characters have a great emotional look during the little cutscenes that are in game footage and not CG. But all in all the game looks well and presented well, giving gamers the feel theyll never forget.
Almost every Final Fantasy fan knows about Nobuo Uematsu, the legendary composer for Final Fantasy games. Though this project did not have Uematsu in it, he did do the opening theme for Final Fantasy XII. Composer from Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant story was behind this project, and not having Uematsu in this project was a little shocking news. Having the music seems almost endless and flows with the game very well, most gamers will realize that the music is similar to star wars and will have that feeling through out the game. Each sountrack is very touching and has a unique feel when you venture into each new area. Some songs are use twice, but not too much so that youll be annoyed by it. Voices are very well done and each character has a great expression when takling or in a dramatic scene. Almost all the developers of the Final Fantsy XII project was suprised on how well the english voices were made for Final Fantasy XII. Most rpg fans that are fans of Final Fantasy XII will likely pick up the sountrack and enjoy it. Sound effects from walking, to slashing the enemies have a great impact on the gamer. Each step you make you will hear the characters footstep and with each enemy you slice will have a growling pain even when the enemies perish in battle. All in all this music is for sure a fantasy and a great game for the holidays coming up.
Great gameplay, Unique story, compelling graphics, what more in this Final Fantasy could you want. Get your copy of Final Fantasy XII now and you wont be disapointed. If you have 10 bucks more to spare grab the collectors, since there is only a limited of them made from Square-Enix and is a well good game to be placed in your jewel case.