Final Fantasy XII Reviews

• One of Finer Fantasies (4.5 Stars)

  
  By A29BQ6B90Y1R5F on 2006-10-31
  After a long wait, Final Fantasy XII is finally here, after such a long wait. Everything about it shines. From it's deep storyline, to its fantastic and complex gameplay. All worries aside, Final Fantasy XII is a keeper.
  
  The Archadian Empire has taken over the Kingdom of Dalmasca. The King has been assissnated and the princess is presumed dead. The people of Dalmasca are displeased with the Empire, especially a young boy named Vaan who believes it is up to him to take Dalmasca back. Luckily, he's not alone. There's an entire resistence group out there that are willing to help him out. The storyline of Final Fantasy XII is different from all the Final Fantasy games. For one, it relies far more heavily on its political drama and philosophical intrigue. What you get from Final Fantasy XII isn't a huge epic story in scope, but rather a drama that unfolds. It's a different way to tell the story for Final Fantasy, but here it actually works. It's still got some good twists and it is somewhat deep, but don't expect something along the lines of previous installments such as Final Fantasy X or VII. It doesn't have the most memorable ensemble cast either, but you do, for the most part, like the characters.
  
  What many fans are most concerned about when it comes to this new installment is the battle system itself. It strays away from the series roots. It is no longer the ATB style battles we've been used to since Final Fantasy IV. Instead it's Active Dimension battle. All enemies in any given area of a dungeon are present at all times and will charge you upon seeing you.
  
  You can free roam through any area, and so can your enemies. As your characters approach an enemy they pull out their weapons and you can begin to issue attacks. You can only play as one character at a time, but you can still issue orders to other characters if you want. Since all enemies are present on the map at one time, running away can be a hassle. Enemies will give chase, and some enemies will even join in the battle.
  
  The combat has a couple of downsides. For one, getting money is downright painful and repetitive. Your enemies don't drop money, and when they do it's not a lot. Instead you'll be forced to sell the items they drop. This wouldn't be a problem if stuff wasn't s expensive, and if the items dropped by enemies didn't sell for so little. Also, dungeon maps are huge. It's easy to get lost and overshoot your objective sometimes, even with the ingame map provided.
  
  This wouldn't be Final Fantasy without some complexity to the battle system, though. First, there is the game's complex AI system called "Gambits." Gambits allow you t customize what your characters do in battle. You can set your characters up to attack, or you can get more complex and have them heal anyone whose HP falls below a certain percentile. Once you get used to the Gambit system, however, it's really easy to take advantage of. To the point where Final Fantasy XII becomes a cakewalk. Even worse, if you set them up too well, you'll find that the only thing you ever have to do is move around the left analog stick. It is entirely possible to track through Final Fantasy XII never having to open up the menu.
  
  Then there's the license point system. As you battle through the game you'll earn license points which can be spent on the license board. This helps to determine what spells, abilities and even weapon and armor characters can use. Yes, that's right, weapons and armor. You cannot use a certain weapon unless you have a "license" to do so. There's nothing too complex about this and it suffers from its own little issue, the fact that in the end every character is the same.
  
  Graphicwise, Final Fantasy XII is fantastic. The towns are detailed, and so are your characters. The fact that each town has so many unique looking characters on screen at once is an impressive feat. The game also sounds lovely. Even better is the games artistic design. Towns are breathtaking. The game also sounds good. The voice acting isn't the best in the world, but it does manage to be good in many areas.
  
  Final Fantasy XII should please old and new Final Fantasy fans alike. Its storyline is pretty deep and its gameplay is complex and fun. Its by far one of the better Final Fantasy games in the series.
  
  The Good
  
  +Fantastic Graphics
  +Good storyline
  +The new battle system is complex
  +Tons of side quests and secrets to keep you busy for hours
  +Beautiful soundtrack
  +Well done voices
  
  The Bad
  
  -Dungeons are huge and save points are few and far between
  -The battle system is too easy to take advantage of
  -The license board will eventually make every character the same
  
  

• Fantasic Storyline, Amazing Graphics, a Must Have

  
  By A3V6Z4RCDGRC44 on 2006-11-22
  Final Fantasy is sometimes thought of as a kiddy game with chocobos and moogles. Final Fantasy XII proves that this series can present an awesome storyline and graphics that all ages will adore.
  
  Don't worry if you haven't played all of the other Final Fantasy games. You don't need to. There are subtle carry-overs, but this game is meant to stand alone. You are a young orphan in a city recovering after a war. The cruel Empire has taken over your home town, and you enjoy causing trouble for the soldiers.
  
  Soon, of course, you're swept up in an epic rebellion. The storyline here is just *amazing*. Not just the plot itself, but the voice acting, the dialogue, the graphics, they are top notch. This is really like being a part of an extremely well done drama movie. They delve into issues of honor, loyalty, love, betrayal, and more. I'm an adult gamer, and I was staying up many long nights because I wanted to see where the story was going. Some of the subtle interactions between characters in cut scenes are just amazing. The small nods, the looks in their eyes, you are hard pressed to remember that they are animated in a computer game.
  
  Gameplay itself revolves around a party of characters going on quests, fighting in battles and moving through the large world. Each character gains experience and skills as they go. You buy them new weapons and armor, train them in spells, and aim them in their career growth however you wish. There is a dual system in play here. First, you need to physically own the weapon or item you wish to use - say an iron sword. But then you need to KNOW how to use it too! You can't just hand an iron sword to a 10 year old piano player and expect her to know how to use it. That skill is called a "license". You have an online license chart that lets you manage what each character knows. Licenses relate to each other. If your character learns the basics of sword work, now they can learn a more advanced version. It is very intuitive and adds a fun element to the game. It's not just one straight line that you choose and are stuck with. It's an all-directions layout where you can try new skills or expand out as you learn the system better.
  
  I really like combat in this Final Fantasy as well. Instead of random battles where enemies appear out of nowhere to assault you, all enemies are "on the map" with you. If you're running along a path in the desert and see something really scary in the distance, you run away from it! You don't have to worry about enemies springing up out of nowhere to slam you into the ground.
  
  The enemies in general are challenging but not impossible. There are spots where you really have to think about the enemy and what its weakness is to defeat it. You can't just brute force bash away at everything and hope to succeed.
  
  Still, as great as the gameplay is, and as gorgeous as the visuals and music and voice acting are, I really have to come back to the plot and characters as standing out here. There's been a lot of talk in the gaming world about a game that finally goes from "little pixels on the screen" that you move from X to Y to the point of *caring* about these characters, about what they are going through, and feeling emotional about their highs and lows. I really think Final Fantasy XII has hit that level. Yes, there are one or two twerpy characters that can be annoying. Even Star Wars had Luke whining about the Takashi Station at the beginning, to set his "basis for growth". In general, though, every single character here seems real, seems complex, and you don't want to put the game down.
  
  Highly, highly recommended.
  
  

• The best Final Fantasy game since VII

  
  By AJKWF4W7QD4NS on 2006-11-01
  To call Final Fantasy XII eagerly anticipated is saying it lightly. Now, FF fanboys can rejoice at long last because FF XII is finally here in all it's glory, and not only is it the best game in the series since FF VII, it's one of the best RPG's on the PS2. The storyline appears to be something we've seen time and time again: a ragtag group of freedom fighters become reluctant heroes to defeat their evil oppressors, but out of nowhere the story evolves and pulls you in like you won't expect, something that the last few game's in the series haven't done. This is all seen with incredible cutscenes and surprisingly good voice acting to go along with some impressive graphics for a PS2 game, and the music score is excellently done as well. As for the gameplay, there are some surprises for veteran fans of the series. The random battles that went hand in hand with the title Final Fantasy are gone; replaced with battles that take place in context with the storyline. Not to mention that the battle system is now more strategic and involving now than ever before, adding a new dimension to the turn based battle system that has been used so much it has become archaic. If there's any negatives to FF XII, it's that the battle system takes some time to get used to, and there are times when exploring and re-tracing your footsteps becomes a chore, but other than that this installment in the long running series has quite a lot going for it: engaging story, lengthy quest, great graphics and sound, and well written and conceived characters. All in all, though the PS2 may be going the way of the dodo, Final Fantasy XII is another game that is going to help it go out in style.
  
  

• Worst Final Fantasy Game Yet

  
  By A3TFDZ1XOXQK5S on 2006-12-13
  I must admit to being surprised by the number of high reviews this game has received. I found it terribly disappointing, although if you love online gaming then you will love this game. It is basically an online game packaged as an offline RPG. It removed all the good aspects of offline gaming and kept all the things that are annoying about online, just to get the worst of both in one neat bundle. I will mention the good things about this game. The graphics are spectacular and the new battle system is interesting in that it attempts (with some success) to satisfy both the players who loathe menu systems and those who loathe AI systems that have your fighters chasing butterfliers while your healers wade into the battle and get massacred.
  
  The thing which killed this game was the story, or rather the complete lack of one. I have heard the story line called "epic" and "complicated". Uh, when? The story line is very basic and has only one or two twists. Character development is pretty much non-existant. And yes, I have played the whole game. Take Penelo. Her character story can be summed up as "Childhood friend of Vaan's who goes along because being left behind would be boring." That's it. The sad thing is, the story had potential if it had gotten developed. Instead of working on the story the designers spent ages coming up with tons of pointless, boring sidequests and this is said by a person who normally levels characters up to 99 and will spend hours chasing through a dungeon to get a slightly better weapon. In this game the sidequests got repetitive and didn't get you much. Hunts? There are forty five or so and after the first ten it becomes tedious in the extreme. Status effects? Learn to hate them because the ribbon accessory to block them is almost impossible to get. There is one in a chest that may or may not appear and which may or may not have a ribbon. I worked out the percentages and to get three ribbons you would, on average, have to reboot the system three hundred times. Wow, what fun. You can also try to get one as a drop from a rare creature that has a 1 in 256 chance of showing up after fulfilling certain conditions if that is a more appealing way to kill twenty hours or so. It's right up there with watching paint dry.
  
  As I said, it is basically an online game. I play RPG's for story and characters that you can at least be interested in, even if you don't like them. If you want story then don't bother with this game. Go play Xenogears or Xenosaga. Now those games had deep and complicated plots, not to mention character development. This game was just beautiful graphics around no substance.
  
  

• Wanted to like it...

  
  By ALT63JU57TPEU on 2006-11-23
  Lack of balance...if one thing could be pointed at as the problem, it is the lack of balance.
  
  The battle system was a good attempt and it sounded great on paper but it just didn't pan out. As has been mentioned, the number of enemies and the speed of enemies took away from the battle. Also, the monotony of the enemies left me wanting. During one area of the game, in the Sandsea, I had a chain of 164, I wasn't trying to get chain points, either. No matter how good the battle system was designed, 164 of the same enemy, in a row, gets boring.
  
  The license system seemed more like a dumbed down version of the sphere grid in FFX. I loved the sphere grid, wasn't so fond of this system. Obtaining the experience through battle to increase your abilities would have made this a success, requiring abilities to also be bought made it a failure. At level 20, Penelope had cleared the Magick section of the grid, although, her highest level magick that was of use was Cura...hardly an impressive skill.
  
  The storyline was like riding a snail. Too many cut-scenes and not enough interesting developments. The gil distribution was down-right ridiculous. Leveling up for hours, exploring every nook-and-cranny of a dungeon, and still not having enough money to improve your weapons...there just wasn't a good balance. There needs to be a healthy dose of risk and reward to keep it interesting, in past games, leveling up was just as fun as progressing the story...it felt like a necessary chore in FFXII. For nearly every enemy I remember, you got 1 license point per kill. By a rough estimation, 1800 enemies would need killed to clear one section of the licensing system.
  
  The last rant was the character classes, or lack of. Any character can be anything you want and carry any weapon you want (for a necessary price). While the openness can be good, it makes for rather boring characters and the excitement of getting new skills for a class is completely lost. After all, so what if Vaan gets that new axe when Basche is right behind (note: I mentioned a weapon...there are no special abilities unique to any character, either).
  
  Between the lack of rewards, gil, ability increases with experience, and monotony of battles, I would not recommend this game. I put 20 hours into the game and completely lost interest midway through a hunt (the mini-games are bland and the rewards for completing a hunt are nothing to get excited about, comparable to defeating a difficult enemy in previous FF games). I believe you can make a decision as to whether you will enjoy this game with a rental. Naturally, another person may like everything I ranted on above. Like any FF game, you hate the learning curve from the previous for a few hours and then become addicted...I lost interest in the middle of the addiction-stage.
  
  
• Final Fantasy or Fatal Fantasy
  By A151YBOWGU3KJF on 2007-01-01
  Final Fantasy XII is one of the most overrated and pointless PS2 games released this year...nay, this decade. The game itself revolves around 6 beautifully designed characters with brilliant voice acting and amazing background environments. The FMV's are also top rate especially in the first 5-10 minutes of the game. However, that's as good as the game gets. Don't expect anymore. And if you thought FFX was good, don't bother with this game because you will be sorely disappointed.
  
  Firstly, Square-Enix seems to think that FF fans are unlimited sources of income, so why not create a game that is so frustratingly difficult so that they can charge extra for the strategy guide...yeaaah what a brilliant marketing plan. because most of the eratic locations of optional spells, shops, keys etc. require either a friend who has helped develop the game, or some divination from God (God being square-Enix of course!!!). There are even invisible areas in the map that either require accessing every pixel on the map or sheer luck to find. And who can forget those cryptic messages from cryptic people about cryptic items. Think that they'd be worth going out of your way to obtain?? Think again..You'll probably spend a further 4 hours of gameplay hunting down a treasure chest that holds 2 gil or a potion. As for the hunts, yeah great idea but just one problem, they're not worth the aneurysm you're going to develop as a result of how these bosses irritate you. Also, the potions and status recovery meds you use in one of these hunt battles, will far out-value the bounty you receive at the end of the hunt. But unfortunately that also means you won't gain access to great weapons, armour, magic etc. So you choose...aneurysm versus good items....???
  
  Now lets talk about those licenses...yes, the waste-of-time-board. Quite simply put, the license board is crap. You will spend hours trying to open up licenses across the board hoping that you'll find something remotely useful, but apart from a few augment licenses, you'll never find them. Why... Because square don't want you to be able to easily defeat optional espers and Rank 7 hunts of course...thats why!! Licenses such as "Allow statuses to last longer" are about as useful as coffee without water, because you only have a 2% chance of inflicting that status , before the enemy casts it back on you, in which case, it will have a 100% chance of success. And see those cool weapons that you unlock on the second half of the LB as well, well guess what...?? You won't see 70% of them unless you spend $250K on a ridiculous pot, that allows a 5% chance of enemies to drop another item of which you need 99 of, to create a semi-useful item, of which you need another 99 of to create a useful item. Either that, or you will have to locate an extremely rare monster to steal an even more rare item. But most of the time, you'll only receive potion or a pebble, so unless you have a few decades free to roam about hoping that you can steal it or that enemies would drop it just because you spent $250K on that ridiculous pot, the licenses for those cool weapons are pointless.
  
  Thirdly, there is absolutely no chemistry between any of the characters except for Balthier and Fran and even then their relationship is not properly explored. The main character lacks any real personality and has no real point to following the group around apart from `just wanting to see the world'. The other main character Ashe, hardly talks at all and seems to disappear at times because she's so uninteresting. And then there are these other two people who are about as interesting as a frog and a fish. The `bad guys' are boring and the guest characters are more annoying than helpful, and many times had to be killed by one of my other characters, to avoid luring unwanted high level enemies and elementals into battles. Their undeveloped AI programming seems to compel them to engage in battles without any particular strategies in mind. As for the story,....yeah well it was ok. I felt that the entire plot can be summarised in three sentences. But was dragged out by going through limitless dungeons and fighting crappy espers who seem to lose their bite after they join your party.
  
  All in all, I could not wait to finish this game because I wanted to shelve it as soon as possible and forget that this game even existed. I thought that FFX2 was bad but at least it had a great battle system and one that remained true to FF (despite stupid main characters and an even more stupid storyline). But FFXII has deviated even further from what has made Final Fantasy a truly unique game series, by replacing fun turn-based game style with frustrating hack and slash pandemonium.
  
  
• I tried to like it...really
  By A28RBKO49FZE9I on 2006-12-18
  As is always the case (I must admit to being a bit of a FF fanboy), I said "wow" after playing this most recent installment of Final Fantasy. In almost all other cases wow was all I could muster after playing a spectacular game. Now, I'm stunned by how unimpressive Final Fantasy XII turned out. It has left me utterly disappointed and questioning my faith in the future of this series.
  My disappointment stems from the "carry-overs". There are many themes that appear in most of the games in the series. These carry-over themes have included airships, powerful creatures the party can summon, specific character jobs, chocobos, certain weapons and typically a character named Cid. The two themes that have the greatest impact on how the game plays are the jobs (e.g. Warrior, Red Mage, Summoner, Dragoon, etc.) and the summoned monsters.
  Jobs in this installment are non-existent. Each character is virtually as adept at being a mage as they are at being a fighter. This sounds deceptively inviting, leaving it up to the player to determine how you will develop your characters. Unfortunately, not far into the game, all your characters will have all the same skills since they're aren't that many. The only thing that differentiates character from character is the gear they have equipped. Take off their heavy armor, shield and sword, and strap on a staff, robe and pointy hat. You have just converted your best fighter into your best mage. This neuter approach to character development caused me to care less about "buying" skills.
  Summoned monsters were, equally, poorly implemented. Summons have been handled quite differently over the years. In Final Fantasy XII, the summons have been relegated to near uselessness. They have hit points and attacks that are surprisingly low. Summoning during a boss battle was an exercise in futility. The summon was typically dead before it could cause any major damage. Alas, the worst of it all is the introduction of an almost entirely new cast of summons. The old stand-bys, Leviathan, Shiva, Ifrit, Bahamut, and Ramuh, have been replaced by a freakishly overstylized group.
  It is with a heavy heart that I pass judgement on Final Fantasy XII. This game forced me to turn in my Final Fantasy Fanboy Badge. I can only hope that FFXIII will redeem the franchise..... I'm not hopeful.
  
  
• Am I bored? I think I am...
  By A1FO5CXWRIVSSN on 2006-12-30
  First, the good: It's set in a huge world with beuatiful landscapes and scenery. The FMV sequences are stunning, as expected. That's about all the good I can say about it though.
  
  From somewhere around hour 20 until hour 90 in gameplay, development in the story was almost non existent. Nothing really happens! It's pretty much a series of boss fights and treks through random jungles. Every now and again there's an extrememly casual one lined piece of 'character development' thrown in that barely keeps the thing going.
  
  It's quite badly designed also. For instance, not every shop sells the same spells... so by the end of the game, when the good spells finally become available, you still have to trek all around the world to find some of them. And even then some of them seem unattainable. Like 'bubble' for instance - couldn't find it anywhere. Apparently you have to be at a certain clan level to buy this. Great. How is that supposed to make my experience of the game even remotely enjoyable? And the ardour spell, where was that supposed to be? Why not just make all the spells available in all the shops? Wouldn't that make more sense? It's just a waste of my time to have to pointlessly go from shop to shop buying crap. Believe me, by the end I HAD LONG SINCE CEASED TO CARE! Maybe people who play these games more frequently enjoy this kind of pursuit. I'm mostly playing for the story.
  
  Somebody else mentioned that the balance between risk and reward is disgraceful. I agree. It seems like you put in so much effort to get almost nothing. The treasure chests in the game are a joke - the contain a host of the most useless stuff you could imagine. Most of the technics in the game are entirely worthless. Status effects spells don't work 90% of the time so just forget them. They will annoy you though as most bosses who are challenged by you in any way will just status effect the crap out of you until you die.
  
  Also the positioning (or lack) of some of the save crystals is terrible - again, just bad design. I found myself pointlessly replaying certain parts after dying in boss fights because I couldn't save.
  
  Most importantly though, where was the character development in this game? The most random people kept poppoing up out of nowhere when the 'story' required their presence. Like that french looking guy with the sideburns. What was his function in the story? What were any of them doing for that matter? Could anybody understand a thing any of them were saying apart from the main six? I know it was something about magic rocks...
  
  Only in the final five hours of gameplay did anything start to actually happen. But way too little too late. For instance, when Ashe says to Vaan, 'don't interrupt me', why was she so moody? There is no relationship in any way between these two people. Vaan and Panello are ... well what are they exactly? If they're just friends, that's great . If they're friends with benefits, that's great too. But we're never told! In fact, their friendship is never referenced in any way by any of the other characters. None of the characters are ever in any real jeopardy either.
  
  And then at the end Vaan says to Ashe, before one of the final battles, 'you've got good friends'... is he talking about them? They barely speak a word to each other for the entire game... they're off looking for magic rocks and then suddenly, they're best mates?? Jumping the gun a little no? A bit of development wouldn't go amiss here...
  
  Maybe Vaan's just desperate for friends or something...
  
  I just finished the game an hour ago and can barely remember a thing that happened in it. It actually feels as if nothing happened at all, which is basically the truth I suppose. Quite unlike what I felt after final fantasy X, which was more like withdrawal.
  
  If it was Square's intention to make a game about six people whose relationships to each other don't develop in any way, then they succeeded. It's pretty much a group of people who get together and go on a quest (something about magic rocks I think???), barely speak to each other for the whole journey (no exaggeration), and then go their separate ways again at the end. Thrilling. I can barely believe I just spent more than 90 hours of my life on this! LESSON LEARNED.
  
  In short, it's no final fantasy X and there's no epic feel to it like there was in that game. But still, you may enjoy it. I just found the whole thing extremely pointless!
  
  
• Looks Beautiful, deep story, Don't like the battle system.
  By A1Y0AAA4FD28XT on 2006-11-04
  I ordered Final Fantasy XII as soon as I could and I must say I counted down the days on my calender till it arrived on my doorstpe. When I got home from work I ripped on the packaging and dusted off my PS2 that had sat dormant since I beat Kindom Hearts II. I watch the opening scenes and was amazed, the graphics were excellent, the characters were already quickly described and had depth beyond the traditional FF characters. I was riding high, and it was not until the first battle that this feeling of Final fantasy Perfection left me.
  
  Ladies and Gentlemen, you'll hear it from everyone but the main problem with this game is the BATTLE SYSTEM. call "Active Dimension Battle" or ADB FFXII is an extreme departure from every other FF title except perhaps FFXI. This however is the problem. I personally Refused to play FFXI becuase I refuse to pay someone for the right to play my game beyond the intital cost of the game. Apparently the Folks at Square Enix thought that because FFXI took off, that this applied to all FF gamers; that if THEY liked the battle system then everyone would. This however is a false point.
  The ADB system is a problem because it makes the game harder and more boring al lat the same time. It is harder ebcause you will find very early on that you can be swarmed by monsters very quickly all of whom can attack you though you cannot more than one of them. While some diehards woudl say "that's the challenge" and "you just ahve to elarn how to be tactical." I would disagree. this goes into my second complaint.
  The battles themselves are now passive affairs. your characters now automatically attack the enmy and you don't need to select any commands. I thought this was best summed up by another individual who said with the new system you can set up gambits, go to the bathroom or go to work, come home, and you characters would be just fine. I totally agree and i don't like the idea you don't even need to be PRESENT to actually defeat portions of the game.
  
  The aDB was enacted ebcause it was stated to provide strategy to the game. this is also false. Short of sneaking up on sleeping targets, running behind target for example provides no more additional damage nor does it provide any additional protecttion from the monster's attacks as they just randomly whip around and strike you anyway. Ranged weapons might be different, but this basically holds true for a long time into the game.
  
  I am stil lrather early on and while I have hope for this game, it has a lot to do before it earns my respect. And while fun, this is not a true final fantasy, and may be my last purchase in the series if it continues along this vein.
  
  
• FINAL VAGRANT TACTICS FANTASY 12
  By A3S1YIQQW7AZO on 2007-01-25
  So, here's my take on Final Fantasy's latest. Is it the greatest? Read on and find out!
  
  BATTLE SYSTEM: Everything is in real-time, which any veteran FF gamer knows is not the way it used to be. Although it takes a while to get accustomed to this change I found the real-time battles a breath of fresh air--something this series is definitely going to need if we're ever to hope of seeing Final Fantasy 24 or so. It is so nice when the only transition screens you have are those that occur when going to menus, new locations or cut-scenes. Also, the ability to run for your life all the way across the map is really nice, especially in addition with the sounds of thousands of angry hooves and feet stamping after you!
  
  TRANSPORTATION: I don't know about you, but I LOVE flying airships on a world map! Sadly, in Final Fantasy 12 this is not possible. Very ironic, because this is the powerful Playstation 2 and the game itself sports alot of airships. There are Chocobos, but that is the only type of transportation you actually steer on your own. You can take teleport crystals to warp you almost anywhere and later your airship can "fly" you places.
  
  STORYLINE: I would disagree with anyone that says that this game has no storyline. But I would agree that there is so much leveling up/looting to be done between locations that when you reach your final destination you might forget your initial motive for going there. As a whole, FF12's storyline is not as prominent as other storylines, like FF6 and FF7. And of course part of what makes a good storyline are good . . .
  
  CHARACTERS: Since anyone can learn any weapon or magic, the only thing that makes them unique are their looks. Fran looks like she escaped from the Playboy mansion, Vaan looks like a younger brother to Ashley Riot from Vagrant Story and Balthier is something of a mix between Setzer and Locke, which is cool. Reddas is an interesting Auron-like person, but he appears too little, too late in the game. Ah yes, and if only Elza in Balfonheim Port were a playable character.
  
  ANTAGONISTS: Part of the reason I did not get drawn in by the storyline (what little there is of it) is because the antagonists were not very convincing. You won't find anyone as evil as Kefka or Sephiroth. For a good portion of the game I knew that the Empire was evil (obviously) but had no idea who exactly was the "Boss" and even more importantly, WHY? And it doesn't help either that the Empire's black-clad knights like Gabranth sound like Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. Or at least a very pathetic Darth Vader.
  
  MUSIC: I own several Final Fantasy game soundtracks and of course I think that Uematsu is brilliant in his work. But I also own the FF Tactics soundtrack and I was surprised how good it was. One of the two composers for the Tactics soundtrack did the music for this game. Unfortunately, by himself, he's not that good. Granted, there were no songs that felt out of place, but at the same time, there were no stellar tracks that captured the EMOTION OF THE MOMENT or had the genius of the work of Uematsu's earlier soundtracks. Considering that you will spend alot of time collecting loot/leveling up in different locations, expect to hear the same track over and over again. Also, the ending boss theme, sadly, is nothing spectacular. I'd even say it's forgettable.
  
  SUMMONS, SPELLS AND SIDEQUESTS: For perhaps the first time ever I found myself hardly ever using summons and magic. The summons are nice to look at, but die too easily and deal too little damage and sadly offensive magic is the same way (although Flare comes in handy at the end). Even sadder, to get alot of these spells and summons you have to go on sidequests that are voluntary, but end up feeling mandatory--or you could do the alternative and loot the land for 3 hours and search a whole world for the one shop that sells the magic/weapon/armor you need.
  
  GRAPHICS: To me, the least important, but they're definitely good. Although only the first and last few FMV scenes are worth watching twice and unlike FF10, you can't buy them.
  
  SOMETHING FUNNY: When Vaan is running around saying "I'm Captain Basch fon Rosenburg" I thought it would be funny if he also randomly said, "I'm Rick James, b-tch!"
  
  OVERALL: If you're a casual RPG gamer, this is clearly a solid RPG that is very well thought through in terms of game mechanics. And let's not forget, you can easily log in 80+ hours before beating the game, which is definitely getting your money's worth.
  If you're a veteran Final Fantasy gamer, one who's played since it's NES days (or at least its SNES days), then you'll see what a weak story and soundtrack this game has, which to me is below par for a Final Fantasy title.
  
  
• FFXII is hobbled by novel design
  By A1QT7LTWEZRQFK on 2006-11-22
  I want to take a moment to address the battle system and the license system. These systems, while well-conceived, have completely ruined the game for me. For example, the license system is, itself, a very good idea: It allows the player to craft the character to his liking and tastes. The problem lies in the execution. Say, for example you want to learn "Steal." Not only do you have to get the license for it but you also have to purchase it in the game. This presents problems. In my game, for example, my characters possess a suite of licenses that they cannot use because the shops don't carry that particular item. The system gives you flexibility but snatches it away by requiring that you not only get the license but to also find the item. I can't help but to feel hobbled by the license system. Because these items (which require licenses) come at discrete parts of the game, the developers have cunningly shot up the difficulty. It doesn't matter that I earned the license for "Shield of Fire" at level 4, I can only get it at level 20+ when its offered in a shop!
  
  The game is very challenging precisely because the mechanics prevent characters from getting better-than-normal equipment after they earned the license. The sly, artificial way the developers of FFXII ramped up the difficulty strips away seems almost arbitrary and unnecessary. The cap of three playable characters (at one time) is the straw that breaks the camel's back.
  
  
  Lastly, the battle system, in my opinion, isn't fitting for a console RPG. It feels like I am playing World of Warcraft or City of Heroes. The enemies are always faster than you. It's nigh impossible to chase them down and they always are able to catch up with you. Fighting with a bow is an exercise in futility: the enemies will catch you because the game freezes you in place during firing.
  
  The R2 button, which allows you to flee, borders between being useless to outright deadly to use. While fleeing, the game prevents you from interacting with objects. So if you flee toward a door, you have to stop, pause, let them hit you, before you can escape.
  
  My mouth gaped open when I saw the reviews for the game online. This game received astronomical scores, some heralding it as the best Final Fantasy ever. That shocks me beyond belief. FFXII would be a better MMORPG and an even sharper two-player RPG. As a single-player game, with shoddy A.I mechanics, the game plays like a tumbling rock.
  
  Perhaps I am just too old school, but this game tastes too much like lollipops and bubblegum. Your mileage may vary.
  
  
  
  
• Supreme disappointment from a lifelong fan of the series.
  By A1V8DDS0G3ZWGC on 2006-12-22
  Final Fantasy XII. After multiple delays, almost four years worth of them, the game is finally here. So, was it worth the wait?
  
  In a word, no.
  
  In fact, I'm so let down by this game that I don't even know where to begin...but since this is a review, I suppose I have to start somewhere.
  
  I'll start with the good points of the game first.
  
  Graphics: 9/10
  
  Visually, the game is very, very pretty. Spell effects are stunning, character models are detailed and nicely textured, the environments are expansive, and the FMV sequences display the high level of quality we've come to expect from SquareEnix. This is one of the prettiest games available for the PS2, no doubt.
  
  Story: 8/10
  
  The plot is deep and involved, as is to be expected. A sweeping story of war, betrayal, love, and honor awaits you throughout the game. Overall, a well thought out plot. Those that played Final Fantasy Tactics will feel right at home in the game's storyline.
  
  Music: 7/10
  
  The soundtrack, composed by Final Fantasy Tactics' Hitoshi Sakimoto, is varied and beautiful, but the lack of a Fanfare (I've heard it ONCE in the game thus far) or distinct battle musics really hurt the soundtrack experience. I've always judged Final Fantasy soundtracks by 4 tracks, those being the game's overworld music, battle themes, Fanfare and final boss music. What I've heard thus far has been good, but I cannot give the music a higher score due to the disappointing lack of several staples of Final Fantasy music.
  
  Voice: 4/10
  
  The English voice acting is competent, except for Ashe, who's voice is very flat and has stilted delivery. She's still better than Penelo, however. She sounds horrible. The other voices are adequate but forgettable, and ultimately the fake sounding accents drag the aural experience down. A Japanese voice option would have been much appreciated.
  
  Gameplay: 1/10
  
  Ah, and now we get to the part of the game where it manages to fail, spectacularly so, on every level: the gameplay. The battle system is the heart and soul of a Final Fantasy game. It's the part of the game you get most intimate with, discovering tricks and techniques, and testing your wits against the monsters and enemies of the game. However, with Final Fantasy XII's battle system, none of this is necessary. They've removed that annoying and tedious "playing" portion of the game and replaced it with an auto-pilot. You select Fight once, and if left to his own devices, your character will simply keep fighting until you tell him different. You can interrupt the character and give them new orders, but if left to their own devices they revert back to "Attack" by default, leading to many wasted turns. Ah, but it gets worse later, with the Gambit system.
  
  The Gambit system is a method by which you give up control of the game and become merely an observer. You program "Gambits" for your characters, which are basically AI commands so they can play themselves, without any of that pesky "actually playing" getting in the way. You can set up complex instruction sets for your characters, telling them how to react to all manner of different situations and attacks, so that you don't have to do it yourself. Some people say that the Gambit system removes the tedious "selecting attack over and over" parts. While this may be true to some extent, at least selecting Attack is doing SOMETHING to interact with the game, and personally I find just watching the battles far more boring.
  
  It is possible to not use Gambits at all, however. You can instead opt to manually input commands through the entire game, except the game punishes you for doing so. See, the battles are played out in a very Final Fantasy XI-esque psuedo-MMO style, meaning they're basically real time. So, of course, manually selecting commands for your characters will more than likely get you killed. Even selecting Wait for the battles doesn't really help matters. If there are more than 2 enemies and 3 party members in a battle, it descends into chaos, becoming impossible to tell what's going on even if you selected the actions yourself. I have the game set to Wait, with the battle speed set to Slow, and the fights are still utter confusion most of the time. The interface is also clunky and awkward to use.
  
  The License system further complicates matters. Take Magick, for example. Not only do you have to use LP to "buy" the ability to use the Magick, you have to use Gil to buy the Magick, as well. It's a lot like the Sphere Grid system from FFX, only not as well thought out or user-friendly.
  
  
  Overall, the game's good points cannot overcome the depressingly bad battle system, which plays like a bizarre hybrid of an MMORPG and a computer programming tutorial. They tried to combine MMO and Final Fantasy gameplay, and ended up with something far less than the sum of it's parts.
  
  Overall score: 1/10
  
  I'd like to give it more, based on the graphics and music, but the gameplay is so atrocious that I cannot in good conscience recommend the game to anyone. I realize I'm going to be in the minority on this, however, but no amount of people insisting this game is good will contradict the evidence right there on my TV screen.
  
  
• The Well Runs Dry, But The Potable's Still Potent
  By A2JLAEM497EEXL on 2007-10-20
  OVERVIEW
  
  Since the point of these reviews is to help others make a decision about whether to purchase an item or not, I will get to the heart of the matter and say that I fence-sat on buying FF XII for about eight months, but within an hour of opening the package and playing it, I was completely hooked - I cannot stop playing this game! It's definitely not the best of the series (for me, that would be FF X), and it's definitely lacking in some areas, but my basic recommendation would be buy it, you'll like it. You probably won't love it, and you probably won't play through it more than twice (if that), but you'll find plenty to keep you busy (I'm already up to 130+ hours). If you're acquainted with the series, it's familiar enough to get right into, but different enough to challenge you for a good while and keep you interested.
  
  PROS
  
  Graphics
  The first thing that will strike you about this game is how beautiful it is. This has got to be the prettiest game I've ever played, including anything on the PC. The cut scenes are jaw-droppingly gorgeous, the best I've ever seen in any game, even next-gen ones (including Halo 3, which - while more detailed and realistic - depicts more naturalistic (and therefore less interesting) settings). The in-game character models are still on a par with FF X, at least as far as poly count, but the environments are so much richer, more detailed, and non-repetitive that the gap between CGI movies and actual gameplay is getting even smaller. And there are additional in-game details, such as the graphic representation of whatever shield or weapon your characters have equipped, which take this game just a step beyond (of course, even FF I had different art for the particular weapon each character had equipped, but it only showed up on the battle screen - here, weapons and shields appear in full 3D in the world exploration/battle view).
  
  Design
  The second thing I noticed about this game is how user-friendly the gameplay is: I have never played a game that seemed so intent on actively helping you succeed. For example, with regard to found items, whereas in every FF game prior there was nothing other than the graphic of the barrel or treasure chest itself (and sometimes even that was hidden!) to let you know there was something to investigate, FF XII gives you additional sound and graphic clues to let you know a treasure container is nearby. Even doors have these additional clues to help you find your way around. Save points appear immediately before or one map loading section away from almost every boss fight, and many special save points (identified by their orange colour) let you teleport to any other orange crystal save point you've used before (as long as you have a Teleport Stone in your inventory), so you don't have to waste a lot of time and effort walking back and forth between places. Even the Map Screen helps you out by putting a big, orange "X" on the spot you need to go to next in the early part of the game, then later on providing more generalised clues as to where you need to go to advance the story (for example, one hint reads "We can get the Sword of Kings in the Stilshrine of Miriam."). This is especially useful for those times when you have to leave the game for an extended period and are trying to figure out just what you were doing and where you were going when you left off.
  
  The game also manages to incorporate some pretty great surprises through map layout and creature placement. Even though the Square/Enix team have done away with the random-battle aspect of the series, the designers have still managed to throw in some stinger encounters made even more shocking by the fact that you now expect to see all possible enemies in advance. For example, certain Flans drop down without warning from the ceiling, while frog-like Lizards can leap up from the floor below the one you're walking on, appearing as if out of nowhere. And Ghosts can materialise out of thin air - literally! Don't expect scares like the one in System Shock II or those in Resident Evil, but they are startling!
  
  CONS
  
  Character Development
  For their next iteration of Final Fantasy, Square Enix has chosen to create something similar to the node system used in FF X, but without its class limitations or sophistication. You will ultimately have available to you six different playable characters, with occasional non-controllable, non-equipable "Guests" who temporarily join the party at certain points (and this feature I DO applaud, since it means you never have to worry if the super-duper expensive, all-powerful spear you just equipped that character with is going to disappear forever if and when that character leaves the party, as was often the case as far back as FF II). Yet, unlike any other FF game, there are no class-specific limitations or bonuses - every character can be developed just like any other, with only slight variations in each character's statistics (for example, some characters level up with more spell points, others with more hit points or strength). A very large (and very cool) part of practically all the FF games before XII was figuring out how to balance a party (or, in the case of XI, which one class you would play as), determining the right mixture of attack magic versus healing magic versus sheer brute strength (and the edge-of-your-seat tension that came with those particularly tough areas or bosses your party was not particularly well-suited for!).
  
  But now all of that is gone, and what has taken its place is the License Board. In a nutshell, each character has a grid - the SAME grid - made up of dozens of adjacent squares, each of which represents an ability - a certain set of spells, a stat augmentation (like "spells cost 10% less to cast" or "HP total increased by 50 pts."), or the ability to equip certain weapons, accessories, or armour (yes, sports fans, you must now "LEARN" how to equip a Broadsword before you can actually use it in battle!). However, you have no idea WHICH particular ability is represented by any square, just that it's of a certain type (Black Spell Level 3, Weapon, Armour, etc.) and how many License Points (awarded like Experience Points for all non-boss enemies you kill) it will "cost" you to learn the ability. Not only that, you must "buy" the abilities in the order they're laid out - you can't pick any square you like, you can only "buy" abilities that are next to abilities you have already bought. This means that occasionally you will have to spend a bunch of LPs (and the time it took to earn them) on abilities you don't want to be able to clear the way to the one you do want.
  
  I suppose you could force yourself to only have each character learn abilities for a particular imagined class, like having one character only learn White Magic spells and magic-casting augmentations so that he or she "becomes" a White Mage, but because of the way the grid is laid out, you will sometimes have to learn abilities outside of the class you're "creating" in order to get to the ones you need. And anyway, why would you, when there are certain rewards in the game for learning every spell, every Technique (like spells, but can be "cast" without using Spell Points), and completing everyone's License Board? And, frankly, some enemies are just so tough you'll need everyone to have every advantage, and the best-developed characters are so bland anyhow that to limit their development in any way would be close to suicide. Again, I'm glad Square/Enix are trying to create something innovative with each iteration and add excitement and newness to the series, but this just wasn't it.
  
  Button Mashing/Menu Raiding
  The battle system allows you even more freedom than in FF X, allowing you to not only switch in and out characters (as long as the active member you're switching out isn't the target of an attack or spell, friendly or otherwise), but also to change your battle commands and equipment on the fly. However, while the added customisability is great, it also changes the very nature of battle. Because enemies can change tactics, or battles can acquire additional enemies with different attacks or spells from the one you initially chose to engage, the equipment you have on may prove inadequate, and you will find yourself constantly going back to the Equip Item screen to swap it out. For example, if you start fighting a Fire Elemental and equip everyone with Flame Shields, and an Ice Elemental joins the battle and starts casting Blizzard spells, you will find yourself constantly switching to the Equip menu to exchange Ice Shields for the Flame Shields (and vice versa), which really detracts from battle. This frustration is only compounded when you don't have enough of the desired piece of equipment to equip everyone, and your non-active party members are wearing the pieces you want to equip on the active members. For a while, this may be pulse-pounding, reflex-testing fun, but after hundreds or even thousands of battles, it just gets tedious.
  
  Minigames
  For the first time since their inception, the added-element "mini" games are incredibly one-dimensional and of limited duration. Where FF X had Blitzball and FF VIII and IX had the card game Tetrad, both of which had the depth and complexity to be released as games unto themselves (and were!), FF XII has...um...talking to townspeople. At one point in the story, you will have to convince a predetermined amount of people that Basch, their one-time hero in the resistance against the empire, has returned from the dead. To do this, you will have to flex your fingers, hone your reflexes, train your leet skillz to razor's edge sharpness, and...talk to people. Of course, there is the added element of making sure you talk to them while they are out of range of the wandering docents, who - if they hear your gossipmongering - will reset your success rate to zero. But that's it. Then, later on, to gain access to certain areas of the empire's capital city Archades, you will once again have to "bring it" with severe gamer pwnage and...yep, you guessed it, talk to people. Basically, this time it's a game of concentration, where you find two people with a shared need (for example, a young, aspiring actress needs advice, while a faded, retired starlet needs purpose in life). After paying a street thug to gain the "memorize/relate" ability, you talk to various people until you find one whose need you can "memorize," then you walk around until you find someone whose need corresponds to the memorized one, and you press the Talk button to relate the memorized speech to him or her. That's it.
  
  When I played FF X, once I understood the mechanics of Blitzball, I played that almost to exclusion, ignoring the main quest for hours on end. In FF XII, there just isn't any side quest or mechanic or game that keeps you hooked and coming back for more. The closest thing to it are the Quickenings, which are sort of like playing a slot machine, but because they're so random and so limited (requiring full magic meters and being based on a constantly shrinking time meter), you really can't "play" them like you can Blitzball or Tetrad. Shadow Hearts had a similar battle mechanic, which required you to watch a sweeping second hand on a clock and press "X" at certain points in its sweep, and even allowed you to chain attacks as with Quickenings, but this was available for every battle, and didn't require a meter be filled. Even the Hunts, which are basically bounty hunter tasks, aren't really a game at all, they're just boss fights with really, really hard enemies and a lot of searching around for bounty postings and someone to hire you to make the kill - and the rewards are usually of less value than the items you had to use to accomplish it! All in all, the side mechanics/"games" in FF XII feel so small, shallow, and one-dimensional you really get the sense that the game was rushed, or that the game designers have simply run out of steam.
  
  
  PROS WITH CONSEQUENCES/MIXED BAG
  
  Interface - the Good
  The maps are incredible - I don't care what else they change, I just hope Square/Enix use this map system in every Final Fantasy game they make from now on. You get not one, not two, but three versions of the map to access. There's an onscreen radar-style map that appears in the upper-right corner of the world view screen showing the "walls" of a limited section of the area you're standing in, with party members, friendlies and enemies appearing as blue, green, and red blips, respectively. There's the map you can access via the Select button, which shows you a "fog of war" version of the area you're in; and then there's the World Map, available via the Menu Screen, which shows you an overview of the entire continent, with a beautiful rendering representative of whatever area you're currently in, and access to maps of all the places and area maps you've bought, found, or explored.
  
  The menu system is also much better laid out, with a greatly increased division of items based on function and the addition of a grid that allows you to see who has what equipped or "earned" (in the case of License Board skills). For example, the game provides an overall menu for all weapons, but also allows you to look at just the one-handed weapons, just the two-handed ones, and just the ranged ones separately. You can also choose to have the game auto-arrange items (according to the designers' preconceived notion of which will be most useful appearing at the top), or arrange them by quantity or strength (in the case of weapons and armour) or even one-by-one wherever you care to put them. You can also arrange the spells within any given category (White, Black, Time, etc.) so that the ones you tend to use most will appear at the top of the spell selection menu during battle/exploration.
  
  Interface - the Bad
  Unfortunately, it is an apparent truism of game design that you cannot have every aspect of a game's interface be optimally user-friendly, especially if you insist on changing the basic game design and functionality from previous versions, as was done in FF XII. Having played every other game in the franchise, I found it very difficult to get used to there being two different sets of menus (and two buttons to access them): an action one (which accesses usable spells and items in the world-view mode) and the inventories one (which fills the screen and pauses all action in the game, and which - unlike every other game in the series - does NOT allow you to use potions or cast spells). After 130 hours of play I still find myself pressing the wrong button for the menu I want. Another example of ill-considered functionality for the new interface is that you cannot change the order of the spell schools in the spell school menu (which would allow you to put the Time school at the top of the list so you could quickly access "Haste," without having to use the X and the directional buttons to access it); this might seem like a minor point, but when you go through all the menu raiding I described above, plus find yourself using a particular persistent-effect spell quite often (as they tend to wear out quickly, even with the "Increase Spell Power" and "Increase Length of Spell Effects" Licenses earned), it becomes a bigger irritant than you might expect.
  
  The most annoying aspect of the interface I have found, however, is in the shopping menu, where you are unable to see what a particular accessory or piece of armour does beyond the plus or minus points effect it has on Defense and Magic Resist ratings, any persistent effects (like Reflect or Immune), and what elements (Fire, Ice, Water, etc.) it is resistant and/or weak to. While the interface does show the positive or negative numeric effect an item will have on these parameters, it only shows the values relative to what your characters are currently wearing; more importantly, any bonuses the item has to Hit Points, Spell Points, and Attributes (Strength, Speed, Evade, and the like) are not shown at all! If you want to know exactly what ALL the effects a particular accessory or piece of armour will have on your characters without wasting money on items you don't want, you will have to save your game, go to the shop, buy the item(s) in question, try them on, compare results, then reload the saved game and buy just the items you know you want. The shopping menu should have been a variation of the item equip menu, which shows every effect an equipped item has on a character, as it was in most of the recent FF games, but for some reason the designers chose to go the less user-friendly route.
  
  Layout
  Towns are lavishly detailed and filled with a variety of sights, shops, and residents with unique scripts which actually change over time depending on your actions...but to be able to achieve this with the PS2's limited memory, the towns are broken up into unnatural, arbitrary segments divided by a kind of glowing string of beads hanging in midair. You might be walking down an alley and suddenly in the middle of it cross one of these section dividers, resulting in a longish load-time wait until you can get to the end of the alley and continue on. I guess I prefer this to the incredibly small but still single-load villages that were in FF X, but - hopefully with FF's upcoming next-gen system iteration (i.e., PS3) - we can have our cake and eat it, too.
  
  Battle System
  As always, Square/Enix have come up with something new for the battle system, and while I was initially hesitant and less than sanguine, then confused, then okay with it, and finally intrigued by the change of pace, it's not something I ever hope to see again - one game's worth is definitely enough. Basically, the designers have attempted to give you a way to "script" your characters' actions so that battles can be waged without you pressing a button. This goal in itself should have set off some alarms at the Square/Enix design roundtable - how much fun is a game you let play itself? You want to increase player involvement, not lessen it! Then there's the matter of the commands (called "Gambits") themselves. In simplest terms, the game lets you construct a command that tells your characters what to do (and whom to do it to) based on the status of the active character himself, an ally, or a foe. These three elements - target, status, action - form the entire basis of the Gambit; create a succession of Gambits, and they wind up being a sort of AI script. Unfortunately, AI can never come anywhere near to the finesse of a real, thinking human brain, and this is painfully clear in FF XII. For example, you can create a Gambit that tells a character to attempt to steal from an enemy, but you cannot include in the Gambit the instruction to STOP trying to steal (and move on to the next Gambit in the list, or another enemy in the playing field) once that enemy has been successfully robbed - the character just keeps trying to steal, to no avail. This means you wind up micromanaging your party, doing even more menu raiding by either countermanding the stealing character's actions in the action menu, or by going into the Gambits menu and turning the steal Gambit off until there are new enemies to steal from (which still doesn't guarantee that character won't keep trying to steal from an enemy with no items - there is no Gambit status "enemy with items" to select as the target for a Gambit).
  
  Another inadequacy of the Gambit system is that there is no way to incorporate an "unless" statement, especially based on your other party members' actions. For example, two very common status ailments inflicted upon characters are Blind, which lowers their attack success percentage, and Silence, which prevents them from casting spells. You can create a Gambit "telling" a character to cast Blindna or Esuna, while will remove the Blind status from the spell target, but if the character with the "cast Blindna" Gambit is suffering the Silence ailment, he or she will keep trying to cast Blindna in vain, wasting time and spell points, until you manually override the Gambits and either remove the Blind status by using an item or having a non-Silenced party member cast Blindna, or you remove the Silence status with an item or having another party member cast Vox or Esuna on the Silenced character, so he will finally be able to cast Blindna. On the other hand, you could create a Gambit for every party member to cast Blindna if any one of them is Blinded, but then all three will cast it, and you will waste precious magic points and time, especially in heated battles (and it is often all too likely that all three will be Silenced, anyway). To deal with this, the Gambits would require branching if/then ("unless") statements - in this case, "if party member = Blinded then cast Blindna unless (self) = Silenced or other non-Silenced party member is casting Blindna; if (self) = Silenced + party member = Blinded, then use Eye Drops; if other party member is casting Blindna, return to higher-priority command in Gambit list." And even these convoluted commands do not address the situation in which another party member is already casting Blindna, but that party member is also Silenced. (What this whole example should make clear is that to adequately deal with the situations in a game which uses Gambits without redundancy or wasted effort would border on using programmer language, which - while perhaps fun to those who might actually go on to become programmers - is extremely complicated and does not actually make for a rollicking good time. I expect my games to come already programmed, so that I can just PLAY them....)
  
  Another major failing of the Gambit system is that there is no way to save lists that you've created. Effective Gambit strategies vary from boss to boss, and area to area; this means that you will constantly be tinkering with your Gambit lists in order to maintain optimum efficiency (read "stay alive") for whatever enemy you're fighting or area you're exploring. For example, for 99% of the game, you will use magic to heal your party and cast Quickenings. However, there is at least one notable exception, where you have to fight a boss without being able to use magic. That means you have to recreate your Gambit list so it doesn't include commands like "cast Curaga on ally with < 50% hit points" - for ALL SIX CHARACTERS (most boss fights are so tough that you will wind up switching in replacement characters for the ones who have been slaughtered, so you will need all six characters prepped and ready for battle). Then, once that battle is over, you can go back to your magic-based Gambits...but you have to recreate the entire list from scratch...again, for ALL SIX CHARACTERS. There really should have been a way to save at least three lists per character to rescue the player from some of the tedium which seems to pervade every aspect of this game.
  
  And finally, the entire Gambit system, with all its inherent weaknesses and shortcomings, is itself poorly incorporated into the game. Once you finally are given the Gambit ability, you start off with only two Gambit slots (spaces for creating a command), only two target "pieces" (target, status, or action) for enemies ("nearest" and "targeted by leader"), and only one status piece for allies (HP <70%). You have to "buy" additional slots (up to 12 total, which - given the limitations of the system, is not enough) on the License Board, and you have to buy the command pieces with money at Gambit shops or find them randomly located in pots. This in itself is not so incredibly terrible, but because money is so tight in the game you have to spend a lot of time fighting (WITHOUT benefit of Gambits) in order to be able to earn enough experience points and money to create a halfway decent Gambit list. Also, maybe it was just me, but I didn't get the Gambit pieces I really needed until late in the game, usually after they weren't needed so much anymore. For example, the "ally status = Dead" piece of Gambit (which would have allowed me to "tell" a character to cast Raise or use a Phoenix Down to bring a dead character back to life) did not become available until after my party was so well off that members were hardly ever killed anymore. That's ridiculous! And while you can play the game with the Gambits turned off, the menu system for fighting means you wind up pressing a LOT of extra buttons, and sometimes countermanding the commands you just gave, which makes your characters incredibly inefficient in battle.
  
  Money
  While many have complained about the radically changed money system in FF XII, with hardly any creatures dropping actual Gil, instead leaving behind items which must be sold to obtain Gil, I did not find this aspect particularly vexing, and was rather intrigued by the new item creation system, much like the one in Etrian Odyssey for the DS (once you've sold the right amount and kind of dropped items in the right combination, new, unique items become available for purchase in a subset of the market called the Bazaar. Many of the game's unique items cannot be gotten any other way than by "creating" them in this manner.). Since you have to go to a market anyway in order to purchase something, it's not like you have to go out of your way to get the money for the dropped items. However, it is an added step, and - since there is an inventory screen upper limit of 99 for any item (which there should not have been, at least not for the "Loot" items - those that cannot be used, like Potions or Motes) - you will often find yourself maxed out on a particular item that gets dropped in the area you are exploring, thus causing you to lose out on a great deal of money unless you run to sell items every time your inventory for that item reaches 99. And while it is not a failing of this new exchange system, the pricing of many of the items is outlandish, forcing one to minimax/level-grind in order to be able to afford necessary items and equipment. This, in turn, disrupts the whole balance of the game: in order to be able to afford the items the game is offering, you have to collect enough items to sell to be able to afford those items, which means your characters are usually much beefier than they should be to make the gameplay fun. I think the designers really blew it on this one: the very strategem they were using to keep the difficulty ramped up (expensive item pricing) only winds up making the game tedious and easy.
  
  Patches
  While overall the game design and layout seem competent and well-considered, you will often come across areas or characters or interactive items that feels like they are bandages applied to the game after focus groups ripped it to shreds. Certain townsfolk you must talk to in order to complete a quest have their houses or locations earmarked with a special graphic on the map...but not all of them (I'm guessing just the ones the QA department had an impossible time trying to locate). At one point about one third of the way through the game, you reach a village where not one, not two, but three separate NPCs tell you not only where the different exits from the map lead, but where to find the moogle who will sell you the map to the region...who also gives you "verbal" directions! While this is great if the sticking point the designers were trying to address just happens to be one of the points you got stuck at, the measures taken seem obvious and contrived and unnecessary to the point of being silly and breaking the suspension of disbelief required to tell the tale if the sticking point is something you breezed through. Technically, this doesn't "break" the gameplay or design in any way, but it does make the overall game experience seem less smooth and well-considered. When you come to the above-mentioned village, for example, whose layout is nor more difficult than any other area you've explored so far, you can't help thinking, "Gee, I guess the Square/Enix CFO couldn't get through this point in the game!"
  
  Sound
  Overall, the sound is great, with much attention to detail (for example, the sound effects of the party traveling by foot change depending on whether they're walking or running, and again to reflect whether they're running on dirt or stone or in rain). Although there aren't any new musical themes as iconic as the ones that are borrowed from the first FF, there are a few that are memorable, particularly the plaintive ones from the fishing villages and the refugee camp (after first encountering the refugee camp late at night, I woke the next morning with the theme song stuck in my head and couldn't remember for the life of me where I'd heard it. These songs are not initially prepossessing, but they do wind up sticking with you.). For the most part, the voice acting is creditable and serviceable, although Frann, the Playboy Bunny slash forest dweller character who joins your party, has an accent that will make you say "what the hell was that?" Also, the actress voicing Ashe, the female lead, sounds too old for her graphic representation. But the one thing that bothered me the most was the nonstandard pronunciation of a number of words, in particular "fete" (should rhyme with "bet," not "bait") and "marquis" (usually pronounced "markee," as in "the Marquis de Sade," not "markwiss"). Of course, all the words that are uttered using the nonstandard pronunciation are featured prominently in the script (I think "fete" is said twenty-two times in the first hour of gameplay/cut scenes!). Why they couldn't have checked this, I don't know, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise competent, clearly well-budgeted soundtrack.
  
  Story
  Whether you enjoy the story in FF XII or not is strongly subjective; I liked that it was incredibly mature, realistic, and required me to stay on top of the plot and action in order to understand all the cryptic little asides the characters made in the cut scenes. There were also several references to epic classics, like Dune and Star Wars, that were fun to try to catch and decipher. On the other hand, this just wasn't as emotionally involving a story line as, say, FF X or VII, and I could go for long periods of time without feeling like I had to complete the next stage of the main quest to find out what would happen next. If you want to be intrigued and mentally challenged by a story, this is a great game; if you want to feel connected to and invested in the characters' backstories and get emotionally involved, go play FF X (or even III, for that matter).
  
  Final Verdict
  The well may very well be running dry, but hey, it's Square/Enix' Final Fantasy well - still drinkable after all these years. You will find plenty to criticise, but there is enough here to have a great deal of fun with until the next magnum opus, FF XIII, comes out, which will hopefully address all the weak spots so evident in XII.
  
  
  
• A turd dressed in gorgeous graphics
  By A1Y4VF2450LHQY on 2006-11-24
  Image if you took all those aspects of an MMORPG that everyone complains about: The lack of story, the constant level griding, the stingy monetary system, the stingy experience system, quests that require the FAQ, and completely stupid party members. That, in a nutshell, is what FFXII is like.
  
  It starts out well, though, with strong characters, beautiful graphics, and good playablity. If, the game had stopped at about 30 hours in, it would have shined as a great game. But, 40 MORE hours of grinding and subquests are neccessary past that point, where there's almost no story. In fact, what story there IS gives a strong indication that you shouldn't actually BE doing what the story wants you to do.
  
  Truth be told, the game is terrible, when all is said and done, and the rediculous ramping up of difficulty as the game progresses, the absurdity of the License Point system, and the very concept of BUYING AI routines so your party isn't hopelessly stupid (which, they still generally are), completely ruin the experience.
  
  Once, the Final Fantasy series was the standout line of console role-playing games. How the mighty have fallen. It's not the worst RPG out on the market, but it's easily the worst of the franchise, and one of the worst of the past couple of years.
  
  Play any of the other Final Fantasy games instead, and give this one a complete pass.
  
  
• Good, but at the same time a big Dissappointment...
  By A1FLK47MNLEN4C on 2007-09-10
  I am offically let down by this game...I so wanted to love it, but after I got into and played through it, I just couldn't...The new battle system is wonderful..and some of the details in it are awesome as well...Like being able to see there weapons on them as there running around...But the story....There was no development of the story...I had no connection with the characters at all...I didn't care if they lived or died..And I actually stopped playing the game for a like a month cause I just lost interest...For me, I was hoping this one would top FF X...I thought that was the best game I had ever played..The music was wonderful..The music in FFXII was just ok..It sounded like they took music from every other FF game and just watered it down..The story on FFX was so capturing I couldn't stop playing it...I beat FFX in like a week cause I just couldn't get enough..Now, I don't want another FFX game just redone, but put some time into the story of the game...Thats what FF is all about...THE STORY and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT...Battle systems are awesome and the enviroment is awesome, but without a great story, all that stuff will just fall flat...But hey, thats just this gamers opinion....
  
  
• To The Point
  By A3UKZ3E247IA9I on 2006-12-15
  Battle system is fluid and engaging (similar to FFXI), and the overall looks of the game are spectacular. However, anyone who says this game's storyline has depth, has never progressed past a third grade reading level (or played FF VII or VIII). Character development is nonexistent, so you gain no attachment to them through understanding, nor do you have any vested interest in finding out what happens to them. There are no personal relationships developed between ANY characters, and the plot itself is so one-dimensional that I found the thing, despite its great looks, a complete bore. I almost didn't finish it. There's no sense of climax and the characters are 100% static. They never change.
  
  What could be worse? Well, the game is also ridiculously easy. And I mean ridiculous. The end fights in VII and VIII, those were pretty tough, even WITH the best weapons. The end fight in XII, just select fight, and then heal occasionally and you'll be fine.
  
  
• A Horrible Step.
  By A3IPFALA5GD54E on 2007-01-16
  What happened to Final Fantasy? Since X, the results have been mediocre at best. XI is, by many FF fans, not even considered an FF game. Dirge of Cerberus was a decent idea gone wrong. X-2 had some interesting battles but not the most enthralling story. Final Fantasy XII joins the list of Final Fantasy games I won't be playing again any time soon.
  
  Where to start...we'll go with the positives. The battle system is definitely new and, I'll admit, more fun than I imagined. Commanding your men or letting the Gambits take care of it based on the conditions you've set up - that's a nice twist. The graphics, understandably, are astounding. The license board is yet another unique way to grow and develop your characters. Sadly, that's just about it for good things. The music's alright, too, but definitely not up to par with Uematsu's.
  
  Now, the negatives.
  For one, the fighting. Although I said the system is cool, I'm also saying that there's WAY TOO MUCH OF IT. Why? You have to spend hours upon hours grinding to gain the experience to beat a boss or the gil/loot to buy a new weapon or spell. And in these fights, some things are indeed a bit "off" from the rest of the Final Fantasy line. For instance, summons are just about useless in XII. They show up at your side, maybe get a few hits in, and die - killed too quickly to execute their strong attacks, and not even commanded by you. The quickenings are pretty, but being able to combo them gets boring (seeing only 9 animations, if that, per combo) and can make some of the boss fights too easy. Then, the other boss fights are ridiculously hard and serve no purpose but to annoy and aggravate you. Unless, of course, you've done your hours upon hours of grinding.
  
  The story is great. Great at being nonexistent. What do you do, and what do you learn? You run back and forth across the world picking up items and questing, basically. Picking up items with no use except for the lackluster story. But yes, you do RUN across the world, because if you used the otherwise convenient teleportation crystals, you'd just be too weak to continue fighting the bosses. And you'd be too poor to buy any new items. What you learn...well, nothing about the characters, that's for sure. Just a few dead relatives and past deeds. The "great story" that the reviewers and people love to harp about is an old one of empires, war, politics, and princesses. Hardly a single twist on that.
  
  Here's how the game typically goes:
  1. Leave a place after being there half an hour.
  2. Walk and fight for hours, leveling up and getting loot and maybe buying some items along the way.
  3. Run into a boss and find out you haven't leveled up enough.
  4. Go fight and level up some more.
  5. Beat the boss and keep walking/fighting.
  6. Reach your DESTINATION!!!!
  7. Spend an hour to an hour and a half there watching some 2-minute cut-scene for story, then some walking and/or puzzle-solving. Throw a boss fight or two in. Grab that quintessential item.
  8. Hit the road for more and more hours.
  
  You end up knowing nothing about the characters and nothing about the world. Honestly, what happened to the deep, immersive worlds? What happened to Spira and Yevon, to Gaia and to The Planet in X, IX, and VII, respectively? Ivalice, as portrayed in games like Tactics Advance, is a world that could be made into an amazing mixture of culture and beliefs, of interaction. But it's hardly developed at all. All of your party members are humes except for one, a Viera. No Bangaa, no Nu Mou, not even a Moogle, all of which are abundant in Ivalice. Your interaction with these other races (or with just about any other characters) ends, for the most part, when you first leave the big city. Compare this to the other big Final Fantasy hits. VII's cast includes a talking cat and a talking stuffed animal. IX has a rat, a mage, two summoners, and some...thing..with a big tongue ( <3 Quina :D ). FFX includes a giant blue creature and, although she's still human, a girl from an entirely different culture, that of the Al Bhed.
  
  When compared to other video games, Final Fantasy XII can, in some ways, shine. When compared to other Final Fantasy video games, however, it's a terrible step in the wrong direction, a direction which all of Square-Enix has been taking (See Kingdom Hearts II). While the gameplay is up there, the stories - essential to any good RPG - lack in the worst possible ways. In essence, it's painfully obvious that this game is based too much on Final Fantasy XI. Not only is its battle system nearly identical (some friends tell me it's completely identical), it's got the general lack of story you might expect from an online game. The linear kind of story that any Final Fantasy game must have. In short, it's an MMORPG without the MMO.
  
  If you like the gameplay, try XI, I guess. If you like Final Fantasy, you've played better. You know what you like, and this probably isn't it. If you haven't tried Final Fantasy, I'm telling you, introduce yourself to the series properly.
  
  
• I don't get all the hype.
  By A140NPAYQNMYWU on 2007-10-27
  I remember when I first heard about Final Fantasy XII, a few months before it came out here. I was excited. Half the reason I got Dragon Quest VIII was to play the demo game of FF XII that came with it, infact the demo was the first thing I put in. I played it for five minutes and thought "..This game's gonna blow." So FF XII came out, I didn't get it.
  
  I ended up talking to my friend who said he didn't like the demo either, but liked the game. I wasn't playing any other game and had the money, so I went out and got it. I gave it 25 hours of play and stopped. I couldn't stand it.
  
  First off the battle system to me is the same as nails on a chalk board. Now, I like it that they use a different battle system, or change the way you level up and etc. Infact, I usually look forward to it and love even random battles. However in this one, it made them feel like a chore. I like real time battles, and I like turn-based. However this feels like they tried to mix them, and just went beyond messing up. I'd find myself running from battles so often, mostly ones I could handle, just because it was so dull.
  
  And thing that killed it more, I didn't just find myself not caring about the characters, I found myself hating almost all of them. I kept hoping Van would just die, honestly. The ones I didn't hate, I just didn't care about. And caring about the characters is half of a RPG.
  
  Overall, unless your just a completely rabid fan who doesn't care about battle systems or charcters, then get it. Unless you are and get it, enjoy wasting your time.
  
  
• Five, even FOUR stars?
  By A1UHFL77QL47Y0 on 2007-10-30
  Before I'm vilified for making a constructive criticism of Final Fantasy XII, let me first say that I have been a fan of this series well before you were all twinkle in your fathers' eyes. Final Fantasy XII is essentially an MMORPG with the online element removed, but still retains the riveting action of drying paint in MMORPG glory! Final Fantasy XII had great promise, but fell short a couple thousand miles. This game was all eye candy and no story! When watching the game's opening, you'll think you're in for one HELL of a treat (I certainly did!), but as the story "progresses", you'll have this nagging voice in the back of your mind, asking, "Hey, when is this game going to START?" and a truck load of back tracking and useless quests that would have Silent Hill 4's Henry Townsend feel badly for you! I'll try my best to condense this review.
  First, let's review the pros (*chortle*):
  
  Pros:
  
  -Gorgeous FMVs and graphics
  
  -A talented and skilled cast of voice actors (kids, believe it or not, there's a world of difference between "bad voice acting" and your opinion of whether or not a particular actor's voice fits the character)
  
  -Balthier. This character was a real card--and about the only character that was "alive" in this snore-fest. Take Balthier out, and this game would have NOTHING!
  
  -Customizable characters. No more archetypical, spineless, female white or black magic users that are killed by weak enemies! Now they can raise hell with battle axes and guns! GET SOME!
  
  Cons:
  
  -The story. Where the HELL is the story? When your television is graced with the game's introduction, you'll get pumped and truly believe you're going to receive a colossal bang for your buck! A truly legendary tale full of war, sacrifice, honor..you know-all that good stuff. These expectations begin to fizzle 45 minutes into the game. The military occupation of Dalmasca by the "mighty" Archadian Empire feels about as tense and menacing as playing with mashed potatoes! Their presence is hardly even noticed! The developers attempted to add some political intrigue in there, but they seem to have forgotten about it in exchange for pointless side quests and some other equally flat villain that was "BEHIND THE SCENES!1!11!". Some particular characters decide to stab you in the back for no reason whatsoever. Konami's Suikoden II (a PS1 game) did a much better job than these guys in terms of a tyrannical enemy occupation.
  
  -The Characters. With the exception of Balthier and Ashe, none of these characters were memorable. They were all flat and one dimensional with virtually no interaction with one another. For example, what was the depth of Balthier and Fran's relationship? If you were to write out the other characters in your party, you wouldn't even miss them. I assumed Vaan was supposed to be the main protagonist, but he was suddenly tossed to the back seat for Ashe and Balthier, and was only given a few lines after that. A few other characters were thrown in (Al-Cid, The Judges, Archadian Senate), but really had not purpose either. (Even Fran seemed pissed off about this game!)
  
  -Battle System. Was too damn slow for my tastes.
  
  -Music. Whomever this new person is, they're surely no Uematsu or Sugiyama!
  
  -Licensing Board. This is truly a double edged sword. Whereas I liked customizing my characters, having to get a "license" via the licensing board just to equip a friggin' HELMET will get on your nerves.
  
  
  Because of certain negative factors that plagued this game, I feel that this title was rated with a double standard, simply because "Final Fantasy" is in the name. If this were a regular run of the mill RPG, I'm sure it would have been graded harshly.
  
  
• This game truly deserves the perfect score it got from Famitsu!!
  By on 2006-11-02
  Ok, when I first the game I had very high expectations and after playing it for about 20 minutes I was kinda disappointed by the GAMEPLAY, the battle system was wierd and not that great but I was definitely amazed by the intro which was simply spectacular
  I kept playing in spite of my disappointment, till the point I got Balthier and Fran in my party and then things began to get better, the story finally picked up and cool things started happening and also the introduction of the Gambit System was wonderful but unfortunately due to the lack of Gambits at the beginning, it was underwhelmed
  Ok, the Gambit System is very unique and it allows you to set your characters' commands and actions cleverly and it never gets annoying and it also adds a lot of strategy to the game as well since choosing Gambits needs a lot of care and thinking
  The graphics are simply amazing, the PS2 is dying but this game just gives it life once again... the FMVs are spectacular and the in-game graphics are improved upon the graphics of FFX which were already perfect, and dungeons are wonderfully designed although they like variety of styles but none the-less-they still look good
  The game also has the License Board which is truly unique but doesn't have as much customization as previous systems but it's still good, the camera is fine but it has its flaws and the music is simply spectacular
  The story might be slow-paced at the beginning but when it picks up around an hour or two later it will become wonderful with all kinds of twists and turns everywhere and it's actually darker and more mature than any other FF storyline to date
  This game has numerous side quests available from the beginning of the game making it nonlinear, the side quests are awesome and there's a fine variety of them and they're actually too many and need numerous hours to be fully completed
  The difficulty is perfect, it's harder than any FF to date and also there are several other changes but originality is still there and it's still a Final Fantasy, in spite of the new battle system
  Overall, FFXII wasn't a disappointment after all, it was quite fun and I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed numerous other games so this is a must have for all RPG gamers
  
  
• a disappointment
  By A32QT6KFOU9U3E on 2006-12-03
  I have played nearly every final fantasy available in the U.S. including the legends and mystic quest and everything, so i have some background with these games and I love them. Final fantasy 7,8,9, and 10 are genious, with great gameplay, extremely thoughtful and interesting storylines that defy imagination, and tons of replay value. I bought this game the day it came out expecting another classic, but after playing it for maybe 10 hours I was extremely disappointed. I have never played FFXI but I am aware of MMORPGs and am not a big fan. This game essential tries to mirror an MMORPG with single player elements. The storyline is basically a throw-away, because they tried to concentrate on gameplay more like an MMORPG. There are no fantasy elements, such as Sin from FFX or Sephiroth from FFVII, but rather a political struggle that makes you want to yawn because it is like watching the history channel. That was the biggest disappointment to me, I love how brilliant the fantasy-like storylines are from the previous final fantasies. They are games that start out with a minor mission and explode into trying to save the world, universe, time or something awesome like that. This game starts out with a minor mission and continues with a minor mission the whole way through. The gameplay is fun, though. I like the turn-based playing more but this is ok too. It adds in more elements to strategy, that's for sure. One problem that really frustrated me as I played was the fact that the designers set boundaries in some areas by adding in enemies that would instantly kill you and you couldnt beat until you gained many more levels. Sometimes you play for an hour, run into one of these enemies that doesn't look any harder than any other enemy and your party will be wiped out trying to escape (especially in the beginning when you have only 1 or 2 active characters). As far as I see it, there is really no difference in characters very much. There is no real story about each character and you never really learn much about them or their personalities or anything (like an MMORPG, only the battling matters). There is also no real difference between the characters in battle! They may have some slightly different stat buildup, but its nothing major. The way the board or whatever its called is set up, any character can equip any weapon and learn any magic so you could have 6 white mage-types or 6 knight-types. Another thing I really like about final fantasies is the music. This game really doesn't have much in that category either, it pretty much all sounds like elevator music. I'm not sure If Nobuo Uematsu wrote the music for this game, but if he did he let me down because I never really noticed any of it. All said, this game is fun but not really FF good. It maybe tries too hard to be like an MMORPG and that pretty much killed it for me. But if you play those games purely for the battling, leveling up your characters, and not really caing about storyline or anything, than maybe you'll like this more than me. If you want a real final fantasy game, 7,8,9 and 10 are all incredible and the ones that came before it are not bad and are available on anthology, chronicles, origins, or i guess now on the Nintendo DS or things like that.
  
  
• Playing on Auto-Pilot
  By A17KMHCEI7AI56 on 2007-01-02
  Anyone who followed news of Final Fantasy XII, the final installment of the legendary RPG series on the Playstation 2, should know what a troubled history it had. Several years of delays and several key members of the development team leaving before the project's completion definitely shows on the final product. With its balance issues and muddled, poorly done storyline, I can't help but feel that Square-Enix, sensing the final days of the Playstation 2 approaching, just shoved this one out the door and hoped for the best.
  A departure for the series, Final Fantasy XII uses a quasi-real time battle system similar to what you'd find in an online RPG. Character AIs are controlled by the gambit system, battle routines that you program for each character before hitting the field. Of course, you can still input commands manually, but the gambit system really does make things flow more seemlessly. While the semi-real time combat does speed things up quite a bit by eliminating random battles, it sacrafices most controll and strategy usually required to play these types of games. The gambit system works a little too well, as all you really need is a few properly enabled healing and attack commands enabled and all the game requires of you is to steer the characters around the map. In fact I always turned the AI script off for my party leader just so I could press a button every once in a while. Even boss battles don't require much more strategy than melee attacking and healing every once in a while.
  The game goes even further in destroying the need for strategy by introducing quickenings. These are super powerful, magic draining attacks that you can chain together for massive damage in you have quick enough fingers. Just wear a boss down to half of its life bar and unleash one of these babies to finish him off. If that doesn't work, switch in your reserve fighters to finish him off.
  The game has also done away with automatically earning money for every enemy defeated. Instead you have to rely on loot, the items monsters drop at random. You must buy everything from armaments to magic to new gambits and its all very expensive. Imagine how hard it would be too buy that several thousand coin spear if only every fourth monster gave you something to pawn off. Compound that with even late in the game, about 3/4th of the loot dropped pays only a pittance when you sell it. I never had to intentionally build my levels because I was always severely overly powerful from just earning money to buy equipment.
  Then there is the utterly frustrating treasure system. In Final Fantasy XII there is no set treasure item in each box. The strategy guide tells me that there is a box that might contain a super duper weapon. Unfortunately, you only have a one in three chance of getting that. You have a better chance of ending up with a potion or 13 coins. And that is if the chest even appears at all, because as I trekked through the fields, I found that more often the not the chests containing the better items were suspiciously absent.
  Character skills are assigned through the licensing board. Not only must you purchase every piece of gear, magic spell, and fighting technique, but you must also buy a license to equip/use it with points earned from fighting monsters. You'd think this would lead to very open ended skill development, but it doesn't. Like the weapons, certain magic and techniques are only available after certain points in the game and there is nothing more frustrating than purchasing a license for a nifty looking ability and finding out you won't have access to it unless you go an insane sidequest to defeat some giant rock turtle with two million life points. As for the weapons section of the board, it can be ridiculously unorganized. Some weapons like bows, swords, and spears are neatly grouped together, but others like guns, and ninja swords seem to have been placed all around the board at random.
  I'm sorry but it seems for just about every step forward they took, they took three leaps back.
  Let's talk about the story, what really makes this a turkey. I'm not going to talk about anything specific after the first five or so hours. After the intense and well-directed opening cinematic, I thought this really would be the masterpiece the hype machine promised it would be. It had everything you'd think an epic should have: large scale battles, death, war, betrayal. The Kingdom of Dalamsca was soundly thrashed in a war against the Archadian Empire. The king surrenders to avoid total annexation by the Empire, but before he can sign the treaty, he is assassinated by Basch, his loyal knight. Several years later, Princess Ashe teams up with a ragtag band of rebels to win the kingdom's freedom back. No one in their right mind should call this well written when one of its few major plot twists is that the assassin was really, that most ridiculous of soap opera clichés, Basch's evil twin brother! That is when the story falls down and only struggles back to its feet after another twenty hours. And I absolutely dare anyone to tell me that the first third of this was not totally patterned after the first two Stars Wars movies, the ones from the good trilogy. At about the start of the last 1/3rd it falls down again and never gets back up, as all the carefully drawn political maneuverings are thrown out the window for an increasingly ridiculous and more stereotypical quest for magic rocks. The characters are almost 100% static and I don't think the developers ever really had a clear picture of who they were as, especially towards the end of the game, their personalities seem to change inexplicably from one scene to the next.
  In the end, Final Fantasy XII didn't demand much out of me and I didn't give much effort in return. I just sort of sleepwalked through it. It was far from addictive, and I, who usually want to complete every sidequest, ended up only doing the bare minimum. When it was over, I was just left feeling cold. I've played worse games, but this is the worst entry into the series in a long, long time.
  
  
  
• Horrid is an overstatement for this game.
  By on 2007-06-04
  I like Final Fantasy games, I really do. When I first heard about the new battle system a while back, I turned my head, throwing away the idea. I eventually got bored and decided to try it.
  
  I wasted 12 hours of my life before realizing this game blows, big time. I'm all up for a real time battle system, and even the idea of mixing real time and turn based is a good idea, if done right, which in this case it was done as bad as possible it seems.
  
  For one, you can't ever run from a battle, unless you go to another screen, because as soon as you're away, your characters put up their weapons, and while doing so they stop, and the enemy catches up to you and ding! Battle resumes.
  
  Now, that's not the only reason I hate the battle system.. It's just.. Uninspired. It was a pretty good idea.. But not all good ideas turn out good, they should've just made it either all real-time, or all turn-based, that's all I'm going to say on the battle system.
  
  Now the characters.. Not a likeable one at all, I tried to like at least one, I just couldn't. And if I can't like at least one character, it just makes the game painful..
  
  Anyone who claims this to be the best of all Final Fantasy's.. Needs to go re-play the other ones, hell, even X-2 (which wasn't a bad game at all.)
  
  This game sucks, period.
  
  
• An Honest Review
  By A3PKOM25JXCODH on 2006-11-01
  Final Fantasy 12 is great in its own way. If I had the option it would be more like a 4.5 It has a good story line that is dark and serious compared to other Final Fantasy games. Its graphics are good as well, showing impressive scences for what the PS2 has to offer.
  I don't really like its combat system. I know that the stand and wait thing got on a lot of peoples nerves so I am glad they got rid of it. But they replaced it with...move around and wait. I wish it was just more like Star Ocean Until the end of Time where you could keep attacking while moving.(But only if they AI were smarter) No matter whether you can move around during a battle or not it is still turned base. Not having random encounters is a perk, but considering they litter the screen with plenty of baddies thatwill simply chase you down. I don't see much difference.
  Its camera angles leave something to be desired as well. Outside its all fine and dandy but if your inside a building half the time whatever your fighting is dead by the time you swing it around. Which wouldn't matter anyway, because of the gambit system you not only wait to strike but if you want you can just let them fight while you go off and use the bathroom. On the camera angles...if I wanted to play Vagrant Story I would. When I play final fantasy I want to see pretty backgrounds....not the ground.
  The only other real complaint I have is the lack of a love story at all. Its all about the doom and gloom of war without any real feeling of the characters besides revenge. Not that I was a big fan of FF8s overdone love story. But it gives you a sense of knowing the character better, and also seeing something happy for them. If I wanted just doom and gloom I would turn on the T.V.
  That aside as I said it has innovative ideas and a great storyline despite not having a classic FF feel to it. With good graphics and cool sidequests. I may have just got my hopes to high for the greatest game ever, and so it couldn't live up to my expectations.
  
  
• Kinda boring.....
  By A1XREM6P9K4A79 on 2006-11-27
  If you liked FFXI you'll love this game! It's basically FFXI offline and with a story that is not as engaging as other FF's.
  
  But if you were turned off by FFXI by concept or by actually playing it then avoid this game. It is a departure to the old traditional FF's. It's not bad but it's sooo boring.
  
  The intro was great and it makes you feel like you are in for a treat but then when you pass the prolouge and get into the game you are left battling in drab places and stuck doing fetch quests. You go around in sewers and dungeons for about 10 hours then you get to go to the desert and wonder around there for a while. I'm about 15 or so hours into the game and I'm starting to see a pattern in the game. A boring one. I failed to defeat a boss ( some flying bird boss or something ) and I really don't have the desire to continue playing. I know that I'll just have to fight some more boring battles that just feel like a chore to level up. I know thats what you are suppposed to do but at least make it more interesting. Make the enemies have a readon to fight you.
  
  I fought 2 bosses in a row for no reason at all. They just appeared without a thought as to why I had to fight these guys. When I beat them the ame continued as if nothing happened. I leveled up wondering what the heck that was all about.
  
  It's just an uninteresting game. Whats going on Square? Ever since they merged and became Square-Enix the quality of games have gone down. If you want a good Final Fantasy I say go buy part 3 for DS or or the ones for GBA. Heck even X was better.
  
  Makes me wonder how good FFXIII will really be.
  
  
• An honest opinion after 2.4 hours of playing.
  By A1GYO3ZLWWZ0FZ on 2006-11-28
  I bought the game the night of the release. I took it straight home and played it that very night like many of us did. Within the first 2 hours of playing I was hooked. Yes, like all new games, getting used to a new world, battle system, monsters, leveling systems and how to aquire items is always a challenge. But I think the developers saw the possibility of people becoming frustrated and they put items throughout the game to assist in leveling up, finding the way around, buying items, getting from pt. a to pt. b, ect... It is a huge, vast and enormous game, endless choices! It is marvelous!
  
  I love the concept of having to take back your pillaged items and selling them. To me that makes it seem more real to life. If I were to go out and kill a few birds, beasts, catch a few fish ect... I would not expect ever to find a shiny brass farthing on them. However I would expect to have to take what I could and sell it. That would be how I would make my living. The same concept exists here.
  
  I find the game to be beautiful, brilliant and hypnotic. I enjoy listening to all the characters voices, I enjoy the story line and I feel pulled into the world.
  
  I am now about 55 hours into the game and my opinion at 2.4 hours hasn't changed. If anything it has only deepened the conviction that I have that Squaresoft knew what it was doing and that they did a splendid job.
  
  
• Better than what I expected
  By A1VR2D059SIJGH on 2006-12-10
  Before I begin, I would like to say I've been a long-term Final Fantasy fan throughout the series. The difference is, I am not biased towards this game nor previous titles. I actually lost a lot of faith in the series when FF X came out...infact, I lost all hope in it mainly due to the storyline. FF X-2...don't even get me started on that. I decided to get my hopes up once more and give FF XII a shot when it came out. I wasn't expecting much out of it because I didn't want to get my hopes up as I did with FF X.
  
  I really should have gotten my hopes up though. The storyline may not be entirely original (an empire taking over other countries to become the main dominant force) but the plot is very rich. I can honestly state this is the first FF series EVER where I enjoyed each and every character. I did not find not one annoyance with any of them. Although the main character is perceived to be Vaan, it does not central around him and the plot shows a great balance in character development.
  
  The new battle-system. I love it. The gambits are amazing (although if set right, it makes it downright easy) and it is more "realistic".
  
  
  Pros:
  -Battle System
  -Side jobs
  -Storyline
  -Characters
  
  Cons:
  -Not enough save points (The dungeons and certain areas are very vast and it could take quite a while when you reach a save point)
  -World Map (I honestly miss the "world map". They have gotten rid of the idea since FF X of actually flying your airship around and landing in certain spots)
  
  
• Dissapointed
  By AB9VPO41A02GV on 2007-01-09
  After seeing the dynamic and gorgeous introduction, I was pumped. Unfortunately, that's the only part of the game I like. I've played FF7 through X-2 and I must say XII is a disapointment to the fabled series. Sure the graphics are gorgeous and the special effects in battle are breathtaking. But graphics and sound don't completely make the game. You need great gameplay and in FF's case, a fantastic story.
  
  That's where XII comes up short. The story and characters are uninteresting when compared to VII through X. To tell you the truth, I lost track of the story at the very beginning. Additionally, I can't say I really care about the medevil setting when compared to the sci-fi settings in VII through X-2.
  
  However, the real sore area is the battle. I thought it would be a great idea for real-time combat compared to the repetiveness of random turn-based combat. However, there's a difference between challenging and frustratingly difficult. I mean this game is HARD. For example I would hunt down a lone foe. And before I know it, I have about ten foes on top of me.
  
  On top of that, enemies seem to be unfairly more powerful than your characters which makes an already frustrating battle system even more difficult. Finally, your resources are EXTREMELY limited. It's very hard to save enough gil from selling loot given the very high cost of weapons, majicks, technics, armor, etc. Essential items like potions, phoenix downs, and ethers cost more and barely restore anything. You have very little HP and MP given the enemies you fight and the use of majicks cost more MP and don't even help much. You basically play this game with two strikes against you all the time.
  
  I also think it's frustrating that you have to earn "licenses" to use certain weapons and armor and that you have to "buy" technicks and majicks in order to use them. The license board is a joke. I liked the one in FFX so much better. It was more intuitive and provided greater benefits for engaging in battles.
  
  I really wanted to like this game but the steep learning curve, frustratingly difficult battle system and limited resources in addition to a lacking story is a turn-off. I hope Square doesn't screw up with FFXIII for the PS3.
  
  
• Complete Crap
  By AG2SZ238GJFZ8 on 2007-11-07
  This game takes away everything a true FF title is.
  
  It has a real MMO feel to it, and if it wasn't for the title, you'd NEVER know you were playing "Final Fantasy"
  
  If you're buying this because you're an FF addict, don't bother..but, if you're just looking for a decent RPG with an MMO feel, go ahead and pick it up.
  
  Conclusion - It's decent, but gives real Final Fantasy titles a bad name.
  
  
• Another Applause To Square-Enix