 Final Fantasy XII - PS2
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| GENRE |
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RPG |
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| PLAYERS |
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1 |
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| PUBLISHER |
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Square-Enix |
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| DEVELOPER |
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Square-Enix |
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| ESRB |
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T |
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| CREATED |
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03/25/07 |
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Well let me just say that this review may be a bet biased. Final Fantasy was the first RPG I ever played, I remember being six and enjoying the blissful tale of Final Fantasy VII, and remember at nine when the PS2 came out and I loved Final Fantasy X more than any other launch game out there. And this is before I could read roman numerals.
And now after many years I'm fourteen and I got to playing Final Fantasy XII. Hardcore, action type gamers will, unfortunately, not like this game. The battle system that got so much hype is like the old one on wheels. There's still a battle menu, and you will always die at least once during a boss fight.
Let me just say that this game almost has the looks of a PS3 game. Cutscenes are rendered perfectly. Every single bit of the environment is detailed to the last touch, even the backgrounds or parts you can't reach. Ivalice is huge. And the effect of the airships is amazing.
The battle system, while slow, is still great. From the config menu you can change the battle speed, which effects how long it takes for you and your enemies to perform actions, and you can change the mode from wait to active. This is the only part that sucks because when you have it on active there is no easy alternate to moving around instead of the left analog stick, which is a pain because that thumb is also used for the D-PAD, which controls the battle menu. In most cases just keep it set to wait, so that then, it pauses the battle instead of letting the enemy kill you while you're deciding between casting blizzard or fire. You can move around in or out of battles with the left analog stick, and rotate the camera with the right. Cross or Square opens the battle menu, and Cross confirms commands. Circle lets you cancel actions, and Triangle opens the party menu. R1 and L1 let you toggle between targeting allies or enemies when choosing targets for an action, L2 lets you center the camera on your current target and R2 cancels all your party's actions and lets you flee. And D-PAD goes through menus.
And that's what this game is all about, menus. When exploring new and old areas(I told you, environments are big) you must constantly consult your location map with select, and the mini-map tells nothing at all except enemy locations, which is a big help when it's already bearing down on you.
There is a lot to complain about, but the good blances the bad. For one a lot of people complain about the license system. I concur. It is irksome to have to obtain a license to wear a frickin hat that does absolutely nothing, doesn't even look flashy, in fact, you can't even see it. But the good part is that if you're smart, you would go for all the quickenings.
Quickenings are pretty much FFXII's version of the limit break. What's cool is that when multiple members of your party have quickenings, you can chain em' into a giant combo that does mucho damage.
And then you have summons, in which case they're called Espers. It follows Final Fantasy X. Once summoned, the summoner and the Esper are the only guys on the field. And while there are very few in the game, (I only have one, and I'm at level 20), they do look cool. A good and bad thing is that these are new. You won't see the classic Shiva or Ifrit in here. It's all new ones. That's a big let down too because I was looking forward to a new version of Behamoth
The story so far to me, is not linear, but it's not what you'd come to expect from Final Fantasy. Within the first hour, and trust me when I say that their will be many more, you will have all six of your party members, which sucks because that scampy latino chick gets old after a while. And if you play your licenses right you'll have abilties reserved for level 70'ers.
This is, in all, still a decent game. While it has lost some of the depth from the series, you could still get emersed into the story, if you speak fourteenth century.
+ Final Fantasy!
+ Good Battle System
+ Amazing Graphics
+ New Summons
- New Summons
- Confusing Story 
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