Final Fantasy XII dated

By Tom Bramwell Published 12 January, 2007

Finally.

Final Fantasy XII is due out in Europe on 23rd February, Square Enix has announced.

The hugely anticipated PlayStation 2 title will be the last core title in the famed RPG series to appear on the Sony console, with number 13 already queued up for PlayStation 3.

But that shouldn't put you off, with the game having already won rave reviews on import - including a whopping 10/10 from this very website - despite some division over its unusual battle system.

For more on what makes FFXII tick, be sure to hit the review, and we've also got a clutch of new screenshots for you to admire.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Aretak #1 5 years ago

    And, despite the promises to the contrary, they've probably still made the PAL conversion a pile of ropey old wank.

  • Blerk #2 5 years ago

    'bout bloody time!

  • The12thMonkey #3 5 years ago

    I think the conversion job they did on Kingdom Hearts 2 was promising enough to think that Final Fantasy XII will be just as well done. Eitherway, date is penciled in. Looking forward to it.

  • jellyhead #4 5 years ago

    Sweet.
    / books time off work

  • BMXer #5 5 years ago

    Final Fantasy XII dated
    I agree, reminds me to much of FFIX and puts me right off.

    Im looking forward to FFXIII now, fingers crossed on that one.

  • mkreku #6 5 years ago

    Yup. I am getting this. And I hated FFX.

  • Steroyd #7 5 years ago

    :o

    2 months earlier than i was expecting \o/

    well going by SE's past conversions this is bloody quick.

  • Triggerhappytel #8 5 years ago

    BMXer - "I agree, reminds me to much of FFIX and puts me right off."

    ??

    Don't you mean Vagrant Story? :p

    Other than being set in a olde-worlde and having lots of airships (which is a staple of the series anyway), this doesn't seem to resemble FFIX particularly, does it?


    Anyways, glad this has finally got dated - I have it on pre-order.

    I might be a bit stretched for time with all these releases though, as I should be getting Okami a couple of weeks earlier and I still haven't started Twilight Princess.

    Does Rogue Galaxy have a confirmed release date yet, anyone?
    Edited by 2 at 12/01/07 @ 13:44

  • Blerk #9 5 years ago

    No definite Rogue Galaxy date other than "June-ish". So you've got a little while. ^_^

  • HiddenAway #10 5 years ago

    Wherever I got it from, I told you so ;-)

    OK, I was more looking at retailers sites but what can you do :-)

  • kenty #11 5 years ago

    surely everybody that wanted this imported it back in november?

  • BMXer #12 5 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel
    To look at FFXII its just the same visual style as FFIX. Little Monkey Boys, Rabbit girls, OX big guys etc the whole style is not my thing. But to say it was dated was flippant I admit it, I was prevoked by the headline of the article see.

  • CitizenGeek #13 5 years ago

    Well, I was hoping it would have been earlier, but it seems the online stores were right. I hope there is some kind of Collectors Edition for Europe. And I would SO buy that FFXII themed PStwo.

  • CitizenGeek #14 5 years ago

    @kenty,

    Importing from the US for PS is hard enough, but having to have the right PS and the right TV makes it too much of an ardous task.

  • jglover4 #15 5 years ago

    "BMXer - "I agree, reminds me to much of FFIX and puts me right off."

    ??

    Don't you mean Vagrant Story? :p "

    Both FFIX and Vagrant Story were utterly wonderful. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong (factually, not just imo ;)).

  • Mageme #16 5 years ago

    Ooh, only took what? Just under a year after the Japanese launch? Good going Squenix...

  • Mudo #17 5 years ago

    There's been a lot of talk about the battle system, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how it's different from the likes of Knights of the Old Republic.
    Someone care to point out exactly how it's innovative and extraordinary? (bearing in mind other games exist which aren't FF)

  • Tomo #18 5 years ago

    Earlier than I expected too... Gotta complete Zelda extra fast now :[

  • vane101 #19 5 years ago

    Gameplay had this date a while back - pre-ordered anyway!

  • Sorb #20 5 years ago

    Hell yes, about time too!

  • Lumines #21 5 years ago

    The game also got Game Of The Year from EDGE Mag ^^

  • EmiliasHorse #22 5 years ago

    Happy news indeed.

  • NegativeZero #23 5 years ago

    @Mudo

    No, Knights actually does the quasi-realtime system properly. FFXII doesn't have any form of auto-pause feature to allow you to automatically stop the action and issue commands. Also, it has no capability to queue up actions.

    I found FFXII incredibly disappointing. The storyline is fantastic, but the gameplay is very much like playing an MMO - lots of monotonous grinding which is mandatory if you want to survive. People always complained that the FF games were turning into barely interactive cinematics with a bit of battle every now and then, but 12 swings the other direction entirely. Too far IMO.

    The main problem I have with the game is that the changes they've made make it play far too differently to the games I used to like. I'm all for getting rid of random battles and not separating the battle and exploration systems, and the gambit idea is great. The problem is really a lack of control. In all the games before it, your characters would build up until they were ready to perform an action, the menu would appear and the game would stop and wait for you to issue a command. There is no way to get the system in FF12 to stop and wait like that, primarily because the characters charge up after you issue a command, not before. I want my old initiative system back, there's no reason why it wouldn't work in this framework. Let me turn the gambits off and handle boss battles slowly. Please. I end up getting completely overwhelmed because there's too much going on and I can't see what's happening half the time and can't react to it fast enough. The game's completely changed, from being quite strategic to being completely tactical.

    The license board sucks too. The characters have poorly defined roles, and there's not even so much as a hint as to what you're intended to do with them. Plus because it's all hidden there's no way to plan things out. You feel like you're blindly fumbling about with very little idea of where you're going. FFX's Sphere Grid was far from perfect, but it was a much better implementation of this idea.

    I ended up playing about 12 hours of the game and then giving up completely. It felt like an absolute chore to play. Of course this is a highly controversial opinion since everyone on the planet besides me seems to think this thing is god's gift to RPGs and can't comprehend how on earth anyone could possibly think it's an overrated, frustratingly disappointing experience.

    (And no, I don't hate RPGs, and I do understand what I'm doing with the Gambits - I program for a living, I can understand if/else statements)

  • NegativeZero #24 5 years ago

    @Ahab

    Yeah, I'll probably go back to it eventually. It ended up getting set aside because there were a pile of games that released around it that I enjoyed playing a lot more. I imagine I'll end up going back to it once I finish Twilight Princess (and subsequently consign my Gamecube to the place in the back of my wardrobe where my faithful old consoles go to die.) As for the difference in plot style, I actually really liked that. The problem for me was a lack of stimulating gameplay. As always, a good story will keep me going even when the gameplay is poor, but something about the whole system seems completely foreign to my mind and it just won't click with me, leading to situations where I breeze through areas slaughtering millions of enemies then encounter a boss who completely overwhelms and annihilates me in the space of a few seconds.

    I also fucked up getting the damned spear thing by opening random chests that I was supposed to avoid opening, so maybe I should start over with a guidebook or something.