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After the so called great FFX, Square decided to make a sequel to it and also assembled a new development team to create MMO installments in the series. This lead to FFX-2, which was hated by pretty much everyone, and FFXI, a MMORPG that is still loved by many. What many people didn't know at the time is that these games, along with spinoffs were to tide over the fans while a new game was being developed. Hiroyuki Ito assembled a new team after FFIX to produce a new, ambitious project that would bring the classic FF formula onto the (then) most recent generation of consoles. The game was part of the Ivalice Alliance: a compilation of games with common themes and story elements that take place in the massive world of Ivalice, which has a half modern, half medieval setting akin to Final Fantasy VI. After six years in development, Final Fantasy XII was finally released. It is a very polarizing game among series fans. Most people hate it, but it has its fans, including me. Let's take a look at it shall we?
The Story:
This game brings back a classic FF story formula: "Rebels vs. Empire". It tells the story of a princess named Ashe who has had her husband and father taken from her when her kingdom was invaded by the neighbouring empire of Archadia. Meanwhile, another neighbouring empire, Rozarria, has declared war against Archadia and her kingdom of Dalmasca. The story is good. Not great, but good. The narrative is pretty basic, but it does what it wants competently. The characters are what keeps it enjoyable. Some characters are better than others, though. Two of them, despite having backstories and reasons for fighting the empire, are there mostly to be used as a frame of reference for the audience when exposition is necessary. Fortunately, the others, mainly the sky pirate Balthier, are very likable and interesting. The ending in particular was very satisfying.
Overall, it's a good story with pretty good characters.
7/10
The Gameplay:
This game takes the classic FF formula and combines it with some MMO characteristics to create an experience with both a classic and a fresh feel to it, which is what i wanted from FFX but never got.
There's no world map, instead we have a huge MMO style massive world that is 100% open for exploration and has a huge amount of cities, optional dungeons, hunting quests and side-quests to find.
First, the good: The combat in this game brings back the ATB gauge for more lively battles, and is integrated into the world of the game, thus removing random encounters and battle screens. Combat still plays like a turn based game, where you assign commands to each character. Most spells, abilities, and other stuff are bought in stores like in the NES era. Because combat doesn't play exactly like the previous games, you will have to assign commands without ever stopping for anything, which is where the Gambit System comes into play. In shops you can get gambits, which assign automated actions for characters when specific situations occur. The most used gambits will of course be "Attack nearby enemies" and "Heal when HP is low", but there are others like casting specific spells or using certain items in even more specific situations. There are nearly milions of customization possibilities in this system, which can help you get through the game with less trouble. In fact, smart players will realize that they can grind without actually playing the game. This will only happen if the player goes out of his/her way to customize the characters that way, so it doesn't intrude on player interactivity. Not to mention that Gambits are completely optional, which will please players that dislike automation. It's a fantastic system and I could talk for hours about its possibilities, but what really makes it shine is that it makes the gameplay customizable to the player's comfort level.
Our character development system this time around is the License Board. Every time you kill a monster, you gain license points, which you can spend to unlock a license in the board. Every spell, weapon and armor piece in this game requires you to have its respective license before being equipped, which will prevent players from getting powerful stuff by going out of their way to get into one of the later shops and getting strong equipment before the story brings them there, thus preventing the possibility of having an overpowered party. The board is non-linear in structure, which means every character can get a license for everything in the game. The recommended procedure, though, is to develop each character depending on which job you want to him/her to have. Each time you unlock a license, one to four new ones will appear on the board, including the next license of its kind, which will allow for linear development, (For example, unlocking a black spell will make the license for another black spell appear) but people like me will be able to give the character a more diverse role in battle. The License Board is by far the best character development system in the series, for it allows absolute control over growth.
Now, the bad: For some reason, the developers thought placing invisible booby traps over the field was a good idea. You can be walking somewhere and all of a sudden you get a notice saying you triggered a trap and receive massive damage or get infected with status effects. It's just as annoying as it seems. I just can't understand why these exist. They don't add in any way to the challenge and don't require any gaming skill to avoid, so why are they even there? You can avoid them by casting the "Float" spell on yourself or equipping a certain accessory that prevents their activation, but come on, the player shouldn't have to deal with this. It's an annoying flaw, pure and simple. Another problem I have is that some dungeons can be painfully long at times, mostly because their puzzles can be unclear because of a lack of useful clues.
Despite these problems the gameplay is still fantastic. It is the ultimate evolution of the classic FF formula with amazing customization.
9/10
The Audio:
This is the first soundtrack in the series to be fully orchestrated and this time around, we have the composers that did the music for all the games from the Ivalice Alliance: Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masaharu Iwata and Hayato Matsuo. Their music is known for its cinematic feel, which helps give the game an epic feel and a great atmosphere. The music is very epic and listening to the three classic tracks in their fully orchestrated form is unbelievably satisfying. My only problem is the small amount of emotional pieces, but that can be blamed on the basic story. The vocal song, though not the best, is very good, even if it doesn't reflect the story or the characters. The voice acting is also incredibly better than the last game. The acting is very good, especially Balthier's actor.
9/10
The Graphics:
This game goes for an old school fantasy look thanks to Ivalice Alliance artists Akihiko Yoshida and Hiroshi Minagawa. The backgrounds look beautifullly detailed and the character design is cool looking if a bit weird at times. Monster design is also very creative and diverse. They may not be the best graphics on the PS2, but it's still gorgeous.
9/10
I personally love this game even if the story kept it from becoming the best game in the series. It's a fantastic game that in my opinion should be a blueprint for future games in the series.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
Join me next time as we take a look into the final game of this series of reviews: Final Fantasy XIII.
