Final Fantasy 12 Impressions
Final Fantasy 12 is a huge, immersive game. In order to do a proper review, I would have to complete it in its entirety. I am not ready to do this yet. I want to spend as much time as I can with the game, tweaking characters, exploring and unlocking and experiencing everything that SquareEnix has chosen to throw at me with this newest iteration in the classic series. So, that being said, I am about 20 hours in to the game and ready to make my judgement. Get it?! LIKE THE JUDGES IN THE.... Nevermind.
Final Fantasy 12 is the first game in the Final Fantasy series that takes place in a world featured in a previous game. You'd think since the games are numbered that they would all be direct sequels of one another, but noooooo. FF12 chooses the world of Ivalice, which was in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I spent a good 400 hours in FFTA, so needless to say I was going to enjoy FF12 by default. What is the most interesting thing about FF12 to me is that most of the staff that usually works on FF games at Squeenix has left. The team that made FFTA made FF12, and it shows. The game is absolutely amazing. Only 20 hours in and it is already my favorite Final Fantasy (yes, even over 9, which I am obsessed with). It combines the best elements of Final Fantasy 11, Tactics Advance, 10 and 6 and somehow makes it into an even better game. Read past the jump for the real reason why I am so nuts over Final Fantasy 12.
Shininess: Final Fantasy 12 is, hands down, the best looking Playstation 2 game to date. Yes, even better than Shadow of the Colossus. Yes, even better than Okami. There are moments in the game where you could swear you were playing an XBOX 360 game. The environments are lush and detailed, the textures are high resolution and the art style is beyond compare. Take the exquisite hand-drawn look that Final Fantasy Tactics Advance had, and make it more fleshed out in 3d. That is what playing FF12 is like. The pre-rendered cut scenes are almost indistinguishable from the game engine cut scenes, the facial expressions are varied and believeable and the character design is the best in the series. I still cannot get over how completely hot Fran is. I have never said this about a video game character, but I am totally a furry for a Viera named Fran (much like how guys can be gay for Brad Pitt).
The music is also a great throwback to FFTA, with very memorable themes. This is important to me in a Final Fantasy game. I want to be able to go buy the soundtrack after I complete the game, and when I listen to it, I want to be able to remember where I was when I was playing that certain area. Even the sound effects are excellent, with satisfying little clicks and beeps and chimes for menu navigation, item collection and license board unlocking. The game is just a joy to look at and navigate through.
Funness: For me, this game is the epitome of fun. Spending time on the license board unlocking different abilities and customizing each character, exploring areas and still having new areas to venture to, running into monsters that kill you in one hit but you know that you can come back later and own that bastard... that is what makes a great RPG for me. Final Fantasy 10 just didn't have it. It held your hand too often. Gil was useless. Battles were boring. The detail that went into the game balance for 12 is unparalleled. The new battle system takes a bit to get used to, but using gambits, setting them up, choosing a good party and going into battle is the most fun I have ever had in a Final Fantasy game. There will be a lot of reviewers out there telling you that the gambit system (which essentially allows you to program your sub characters to do tasks automatically) is almost like cheating, or masturbation. It's not. It is a detailed system that you have total control over, and it doesn't make the game overly easy. You still have to think about every battle, you still have to control those characters individually when something goes awry.
The license board is another great innovation. Everything in the game requires a license, even equipment. Want to equip that new awesome sword you stole from a monster? Have to unlock the license for it. Want to cast that new spell you bought from a merchant? License time. Unlocking licenses unlocks the ability to unlock more licenses, leading your characters down customizable paths of logical job types. You can make a paladin-type character, with heavy armor and healing spells. You can make a thief type character with light armor and special abilities. It adds a certain amount of replay value and thought that other FF games just didn't have. And I love it.
The storyline and the voice acting are another element that make this the best FF game to date. The acting is superb, and the story, while a bit derivative of Star Wars, is engaging, exciting and refreshing. The characters are never annoying (I wanted to stab Tidus from FF10 everytime he opened his damn mouth) and some of them even make you want to cheer from time to time (like Balthier. That guy is just a badass).
Worthiness: If you were at all on the fence about Final Fantasy 12, pick it up. It is a must have for classic RPG fans. If you played Final Fantasy 11 for any period of time, pick this game up. It is essentially FF11 offline, and there is nothing bad about that. Heck, this game is even fun to WATCH. Final Fantasy 12 was delayed for years, and wrought with production problems, but the end result was a polished masterpiece. A fitting last hurrah for a system being phased out. This is a must have game for your PS2 library, and I plan on spending at least a hundred hours playing it. It has re-energized my love for console gaming, and is the first game in a long time that I have thought about obsessively during the day, just waiting to get off of work so I can sit down and spend time on it. If we had a scoring system, I would give it a perfect score. This is my kind of game.
What say you?!