This is a game I’ve been meaning to play for a long time, but never got the opportunity to until recently. Nearly sixty hours later, I felt the need to write down my thoughts on this behemoth. Good lord, how do I even begin to review a game like this? There are so many things to talk about. Let’s see…
I said behemoth because this is a
game of a massive scale, with a huge world and a large conflict. Even the time
it took to be developed and get released was much longer than previous FFs. I
find Yasumi Matsuno’s ambition with this project really admirable even if there
were bumps on the road.
FFXII takes place in the gigantic
world of Ivalice which houses a staggering amount of landmarks, along with
multiple races and a vast lore. The story is basically about a kingdom caught
in the war between two empires, and later occupied by one of them. Ashe, the
princess of the conquered Dalmasca is desperately trying to restore the
sovereignty of her nation and will meet along her way many friends and foes.
This is a tale of political struggle, betrayal, revenge and hunger for power.
But does the actual unfolding of the plot live up to the premise? This is one
of the points where fans are divided and FFXII becomes a love it or hate it
game.
The story starts out in a powerful
way, with the prologue taking place during the war. You take control of a young
soldier going by the name of Reks and learn the basics of the battle system. At
the end of this short level a surprise awaits you and hooks you up to the general
conflict. Later on, you take command of Vaan, discover more of the setting and
the gameplay, and then prepare to bust your way into the royal palace where
you’ll meet future comrades.
I think the story is really good
during the first hours, whereas many other JRPGs have a slow start that plays
with your patience. Unfortunately the plot gets quite sporadic at the middle of
the game and becomes somewhat like “Okay, so let’s go to this faraway place”.
And after a while I found myself thirsty for new cutscenes and a bit tired of
going through huge areas. There aren’t many of those “wow” moments that reward
the long hours of play. That being said, the story is not a complete failure. Some
scenes are powerful and moving, I just wish they were more frequent. The story
is pretty good at the beginning of the game and at its end. The long sequence
after the defeat of the final boss was frankly well thought and presented with
epicness befitting of the game’s scale and conflict. The epilogue managed to
wrap up loose ends. Honestly, there are games that wish they got the same
treatment in terms of closure.
But I got the feeling that the
setting was too large for the game’s own sake, and it was never fully fleshed
out. For example we didn’t see much of the Rozarrian Empire although it is
rivals Archadia in vastness and military might. The same goes for characters. I
would have loved seeing brief flashbacks of Reddas and Balthier’s backstories,
and the mere few lines describing their past left me thirsty for more. Ideas
were thrown at me nevertheless, which is still way better than nothing. I think
FFXII is another case where development hell leaves scars on the final product
and we can only wonder about “what could have been”.
Another case of what could have been
is the short screentime many characters got. Some of them are charismatic and
funny (Al-Cid with his maid and accent), others are highly intriguing but most
of them go away before we get the chance to know more of them. If you played
the game you know who I’m referring to. Yes, the judges of Archadia never got
fully fleshed out and developed. Except maybe, arguably, if you don’t ask for
much, Judge Gabranth. A big shame for a cast of villains with such a strong
presence and menacing aura.
Since we’re on the topic of
characters, there is one element that disappointed many fans. It is, chances
are you already guessed it, the weak role of Vaan in the overall plot. He is
kinda pro-active in the beginning of the game (he decides to infiltrate the
palace and steal stuff), but later on, most of the time he’ll be just there,
with the other characters who are much more involved with the plot, hanging out
with them and providing some comic relief. The fans on the net are so vocal
about that point, I already knew what was waiting for me, so it’s not like I
was disappointed. I accepted the thing and moved on. But still, I dare say Vaan
and Penelo (who suffers from the same problem) had a few nice dialogues and
moments. Of course, it’s far from enough and somewhat frustrating. You may have
noticed that the pitch I gave above mentioned Ashe and not Vaan, and this is
because she’s much more involved in the main plot than Vaan, despite him being
presented as the hero of the tale. Yes, story-wise this is a flaw - I suspect
things got messy during the development of the game and affected the writing,
but I didn’t let this flaw ruin the whole game. It’d be a waste to give up
savoring FFXII’s strong points only because of this shortcoming.
As for the rest
of the main cast, we have some awesome characters. Balthier is legendary, Fran
is charming and Basch oozes manliness. The character design is stellar (thanks
Yoshida) although I find Basch’s exposed abs a bit silly and Ashe’s outfit kind
of overdetailed. But that’s nitpicking and the characters’ look is really well
crafted and makes for awesome character models especially when the camera zooms
near them.
I would have preferred if the main
characters had more dialogues where they’re not merely discussing their next
destination or their goal. There is a potential for interaction that is never
explored as much as it should, there was the opportunity to make this one of
the most memorable casts but I feel it was missed. For some gamers, the party
of playable characters is one of the most important aspects of an RPG.
Luckily the exchanges between characters are charming thanks to some high quality dialogue-writing. Dialogues are a bit too eloquent (or archaic) and lack some real-life spontaneity (except for Vaan, but maybe his way of talking is deliberately simple-minded since he often behaves like the idiot of the team), but are still appealing nevertheless. I must salute the person or the people who crafted such scrumptious lines. For instance this exchange is gold to me and may be my favorite from the whole game:
“The hound strays. Treason bears a price.
- One I gladly pay.”
Oh, and speaking of dialogues, I
also have to applaud the performance given by the voice actors. Listening to
the characters speak is a real feast for the ears. Granted, Fran’s voice got a
bit funny at times (the Mmissstt) and
Vaan grew somewhat irritating toward the end, but those are minor nitpicks and
take nothing from the stellar voice acting. Honestly I’d never take the
Japanese dub (I know it’s great too) over the English one. To me there are
instances where the dubbed version is much more enjoyable than the subbed one,
and FFXII is a clear example.
But enough with the story and
characters. Let us examine the gameplay, shall we?
The gambit system is another
much-debated element. Some players loved it, others were outraged. As for me? I
liked it. It’s a nice break from standard JRPG battles. Enemies are visible on
the area and you can avoid them, not always but it’s infinitely better than
random encounters occurring every five steps. The battle starts right where you
are, without the screen shifting to another dimension.
The gambit system goes like this:
you assign commands via a menu and your characters execute them during battles.
If condition X happens, character does action Y. For instance, if an ally has
his hp under 50%, then he casts a healing spell on himself. Or if you face a
flying enemy (who can’t be reached by close-combat weapons) your character uses
a black magic to reach it. And so on. The pace of the fights is quite crisp and
fast, and assigning commands manually for each character can slow down the
smooth flow of the game. So you plan and set up gambits, and your party does
what it is supposed to do. It’s certainly convenient not having to enter the
same commands again and again when dealing with regular, not-so-tough monsters.
But make no mistake: the game does not play itself. You won’t finish it on
auto-pilot, unless you are overleveled, but battle systems aren’t built around
that purpose. If, like me, you have no intention of grinding for centuries,
then you will have to take command when things go out of hand. This is
especially true during boss battles, the AI won’t be able to replace the player
in terms of adaptability and reactivity. Not only bosses, but many monsters
require a different approach when you encounter them.
Another unique feature in this game
is the license board in which you have to spend license points (earned after
defeating enemies) in order to unlock new abilities, magics, equipment, weapons
and so on. That’s right, buying equipment at a shop is not enough to use it,
you must also acquire the right to do so by reaching and activating the
appropriate tile. This may sound like a pain in the butt but you get used to it
after a while. I recommend you use a map of the license board (you can easily
find it on the internet) to know where you are going and what tiles must be
unlocked in order to reach the equipment you have just purchased. Trust me, if
you decide to go blindly in this maze of a grid you’re setting yourself for
frustration and inefficiency.
It should also be noted that equipments
are really expensive. More than that, you don’t earn money from killing enemies,
except a miserable amount from human ones. Instead you collect loot by killing
all that moves and you sell it later to the local merchant. I like how it makes
sense, but the loot you sell and hunts you complete don’t bring a lot of money
until later in the game.
Like every FF there is a variation
of the traditional Limit Break and here it’s called “Quickening”. In short it’s
a special attack with a nice animation and it eats a good chunk of your
character’s mp. By shuffling the four buttons of the controller and quickly
pressing one of them, you can trigger another character’s Quickening. Repeat
that process to build up longer and longer combos that deal some massive
damage; this is almost necessary when fighting some early-game bosses. That being
said, the more I advanced through the game and the less I found myself
resorting to Quickenings. The cost in mp is quite heavy and the damage dealt
becomes less significant since bosses tend to have more and more hit points. At
some point it is wiser to save your mp for healing and buffs (those can be
extremely helpful) rather than use them up and then find yourself unable to use
a much-needed magic. This is probably a deliberate choice from the developers
to prevent the Quickenings from breaking the battle system and making it too
easy.
Quickenings are a nice feature and
are convenient when you want to quickly eradicate an enemy with a good amount
of hp. They are also very effective to use against numerous foes who happen to
be grouped at the same spot.
Another returning feature of the battle system is the summons. There are thirteen of them and you have to defeat them before gaining access to their aid. When summoned, the Espers fight the enemy along with their summoner, they use magic and take hits for a certain time and then leave after a flashy finishing move. Their presence in entertaining but honestly you won’t need them to finish the game. Sometimes they will perform less than expected and they often require a significant amount of mp. Nevertheless collecting Espers is a nice challenge for side-quest lovers as well as completionists and offers some really exciting boss battles.
There are a lot of side-quests,
especially the hunts where you have to search for special monsters and kill them
for the sake of your clients. I loved seeing NPCs complaining about wild
creatures and how they were threatening their safety and their business. The
hunts add a lot to the liveliness and richness of Ivalice.
But at a certain point I gave up doing
hunts since they end up consuming too much time and the rewards are often
dispensable. Personally, I find the main journey to be already long enough.
During the twenty last hours I was just hoping it would end. I must admit
though that this is not the game’s fault; I don’t have too much free time and I
want to move on to other games. If I was a student on summer break with nothing
to do I would’ve been much more patient. Or if FFXII was available on a
handheld, then I would’ve found the time to keep playing until the 100 hours
mark.
Be they rare hunts or regular
dungeon dwellers, the monsters are well designed. This is an aspect that is
rarely discussed when reviewing RPGs, and one that is quite important to me. After
years and years of gaming I grew tired of the usual trolls, minotaurs and
Cerberuses so I really appreciate when an effort is made to create original
monsters. Luckily in this game the art direction is like no other. The iconic
creatures of the FF series (Chocobo, Flan, Bomb, Malboro, etc.) are revisited
and presented with neat redesigns. But there are also new, unique species such
as the Slavens, Coeurls and Sleipnirs to name a few. The game develops a
tendency for palette swap, which can be boring at times, but the bestiary
remains large and varied. The monsters are spared goofy looks, instead they have
a mature, sometimes scary appearance and reinforce the feeling that this is not
a kiddy game. Not only that, but you can also read very detailed descriptions
about every foe you have slain, which adds a lot to the rich lore of the world.
Seriously, I cannot start to imagine the time and effort that went into the
bestiary’s entries.
And while we’re talking about
meticulous details, allow me to tip my hat once more to the people responsible
for the elaborate architecture of the numerous cities and dungeons. You can
forget about the simplistic, poorly designed caves and mines you reluctantly
and hastily went through in countless jRPGs before. In FFXII you will stop to
admire the intricate patterns and motives that decorate the many walls and
buildings you’ll come across. The first city you set foot on is not the
stereotypical small village with grass everywhere and a few wooden houses. From
the get go, you are sent to the huge city of Rabanastre, with its staggering
buildings, numerous alleys and countless NPCs. I can imagine the staff at
Square back then not being satisfied with the level design being just “good”.
The final result is a beautiful and immersive world with landmarks as elaborate
as humanly possible.
Not only that, but the various
cities and towns feel truly alive and sightseeing is a joy for the traveler in
each of us. One of the things I like most about jRPGs is the exploration and
discovery of a rich and carefully built world, and FFXII definitely succeeds in
that department. Here the NPCs are not simply standing around like statues;
they are living their own lives. Some are having discussions, others are
checking the local merchant’s goods, a guy is reading a book in a library, a
few kids are playing... few RPGs achieved that level of liveliness in their
populated areas. The shops are neatly decorated and filled with customers;
you’re certainly not the only chap coming to buy a few swords and armors.
I could go on forever about the
world of Ivalice but let’s move on.
I’ve got to mention the graphics department
which is tightly linked to the immersive locales the player visits during this
journey. I’ll be blunt: FFXII is one of the most beautiful games on the PS2.
Maybe THE most beautiful, I’m not sure. But emulate this game on your pc,
activate some graphical enhancements and you will be blown away. After all, the
astounding visual artistry described above wouldn’t have been properly transcribed
to the screen without a top notch game engine. Some views are breathtaking and
I couldn’t help taking lots and lots of screenshots in order to capture those
magical moments. FFXII is so gorgeous and so large, I still ask myself how it
fits into only one disc.
A few words about the musical score: it is
rather atmospheric and does its job of accompanying the game, however it I’m
not sure if it stands on its own. The music is not bad, there are some really nice
tracks here and there (the Victory Fanfare comes to mind, as well as the Esper
battle theme), it’s just that the style of the composer (Hitoshi Sakimoto) is
different from Uematsu’s. Different doesn’t necessarily mean inferior or
superior. I’m not crazy about the soundtrack, but I don’t dislike it either.
There are people who consider it to be fantastic, so there’s that.
To sum it up:
Pros:
+ Incredible graphics
+ Vast, immersive and beautiful
world
+ Refreshing and smooth battle
system
+ Lots of side-quests
+ Excellent voice acting
Cons:
- Story and characters could have
been more elaborated
I have the feeling I forgot to
mention something. Dunno.
Final Fantasy XII is kind of
polarizing, some welcomed the changes it brought, and others were outraged. I
guess you can’t please everybody when venturing outside a traditional formula.
Some complains are legitimate while others are exaggerated. Yes it is different
from previous entries. But rather than considering it a piece of garbage or
rating it 2/10, it’s better to simply recognize that Matsuno’s vision did not
coincide with your personal taste and expectations. Blaming it for taking risks
and ignoring the many things it does right would be an unfair attitude. Personally
I took FFXII as it is. There is no need to keep comparing and contrasting it to
other FFs. I enjoyed the strong points and tolerated the weak ones. I don’t
think this is a game I would recommend to everybody but I’d say it’s at least
worth a try. There are good chances of you falling in love with one of the most
immersive and refined JRPGs. Personally I consider it to be a rock-solid entry
in the FF series and a wonderful addition to the JRPG world.
