Final Fantasy XII Comments by Rob Fahey

10.

Better than H...

Oh.

It's times like these I wish I had a PS2. Wasn't expecting a 10 before the review, something high, but not that high.

10! Brilliant! Can't wait!!

Yet another winner for the PS2

Must be rubbish - didn't get an 11!

I did'nt like it.

Mainly because of the characters and the story, which for a FF game stands as the most important part for me.

The combat is actually quite fun and stands as a refreshing change from the norm. However the only real way to get money from the game is to either use steal in every single fight or do the bounty quests, which get really really dull after awhile. The Gambits add a quite alot of depth are quite fun to use, the summons are a bit rubbish though.

It takes about 30 minutes for you to be able to control someone for the first time, 10 minutes after that its wrenched away again and then once you get to control the "main character" (which he's basically not but you'll get that later) you have to fight rats.

The skill system while being quite novel and interesting, is needlessly complex, you get a new piece of armour or accessory, in order to use that new item you need to have the right license, which needs to be bought.

It is bloody beuatiful though, especially once you get out of desert land.

Never played a FF game before, I've just never been fond of turn-based gameplay.

However, after reading this review, I'm thinking maybe I should give it another chance.

Better than FF XII? ;)

there is still a part of me that screams to buy a PS2 for the four or five games I would truly love to play on it -- Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War perhaps, Resident Evil 4 perhaps, PES6 maybe, and now this

that said, this has been getting the most divisive reviews of any FF in my memory

Wow.

Would you say that FF VII has been surpassed then?

zomg....

Meh.

anyone know when it's out here? Don't want to import as I've got a stack of games to get through already

I did'nt like it. Mainly because of the characters and the story, which for a FF game stands as the most important part for me.

I think the storytelling is going to be divisive for FF fans, but largely welcomed by people outside that clique. Personally I feel that it's a much more mature, interesting piece of storytelling than anything Final Fantasy has done in recent years, and one which draws on a much wider range of sources for inspiration, which will make it appealing to a lot more people. It's a strong point of the game for me, but I won't be surprised if a lot of FF fans consider it to be a weak link.

Would you say that FF VII has been surpassed then?

Yes. FFVII is the most important game that I've personally ever played - it's the reason I fell in love with this medium and chose this career - but FFXII is unquestionably, to my mind, a better game.

Man I wish I could justify owning a PS2. This, Ico, Shadow of the Colosus, Singstar are all begging to be owned.

Perhaps if Sony reduce the price of a PS2 to £50 I might get one.

Feb innit?

That's what Amazon are sayin'?

Shinji - roughly how many hours gameplay are there here? I clocked up 60 hours on FFX, is there a similiar amount here?

I guess its the complete feeling of futility in your actions that I did'nt like. It feels like you have no affect on whats happening around you but your still forced to keep plodding on, knowing that nothing will really happen that you can change.

Certainly its more mature but its just slightly depressing.

EDIT: What reason is there not to own a PS2 now??

On that note in the review that FFXII is something more of a role-playing game because development is up to the player, how is that different from Final Fantasy III and V, with their job systems and characters who have no basic build unless you develop them that way? You can mix and match dozens of abilities and stuff in those games too. As well, in VII, VIII and X (especially the international version of X) you get just about as much freedom to develop characters the way you want.

The License Board is great, but it doesn't make the game any more of roleplaying game than the past games or other console RPGs.

Does it support PAL 60?

It's refresing to see that amidst the re-runs of what we accept, that companies like Capcom and Square-Enix are still willing to take a risk and rethink a genre which they have more or less owned for many, many years. Taking a well-known franchise name, and really breaking it down before rebuilding it, taking previous criticisms and complaints on board and balancing it out, developing a title that not only shines but redefines everything we know about it.

After all these years, the simple fact that we are still from time to time offered such amazing rethinks is cause to get excited. By both being remarkably fresh and creative, with a splash of unexpected originality and yet also being safe and familiar for the fans to feel just as welcome, FFXII is by far and away some of the best work to come from Square-Enix since... well... since Final Fantasy VII.

A bloody shame we still have to wait until January for the PAL release. But since Square-Enix have this thing for adding content to the game for those of us that have to wait, when it is released, no-one will be complaining.

Bravo Square-Enix.

Ceatlan you cheap git, as if you still find a PS2 expensive. :/

Anyway excellent review, I have a feeling I am very much going to enjoy this, the comparisons to RE4, Lost, and most especially BSG are very promising. I like the fact that there is no single main character, it sort of shows the ocnvergence of gaming stories with thoe found in excellent TV shows like BSG and Lost. Some of my favoutrite shows work like this, such as Stargate (me am cry), Firefly, and to some extent Prison Break. Of course main characters aren't bad either, but having a main protaganist can displace people from the game if they don;t like that particular character, which is why this is a good idea.

Will be getting the US version soon, but is there a decent reason to wait for the Europe version?

Why does FF always have gender bending main characters?

Barret is clearly the best character in all the FF games.

I would have said that III and V were very similar in that regard, although they didn't offer the kind of expansive side-quests and so on that you find here. I disagree about 7, 8 and 10 though - if anything those games discouraged character specialisation, and you ended up with all-rounder characters or characters who followed development paths fairly clearly set out by the designers. XII is far more free-flowing in terms of its character paths than those games were.

Uninteresting characters and story - that is (IMO) the most important part of any RPG

Again, I completely disagree. The core characters in the game are far more nuanced and human than characters in other recent Final Fantasies - they don't conform to the overblown stereotypes that other games in the recent iterations of the series have resorted to, which makes them less instantly identifiable and more complex, but also allows the storytellers to tell far more interesting stories about them and to play with their motivations in fascinating ways.

That's not conventional Final Fantasy storytelling mechanism, and frankly I think a lot of fans of the series have been too caught up in the "lol omg airship let's save the world!" side of the series to appreciate the previous attempts at building nuanced characters - which is why some of them dislike this game, which simply drops the weak fantasy-lite plots of VIII through X and replaces it with something much more adult and interesting, which is essentially a character story.

Why does FF always have gender bending main characters?

Out of the male central characters, Vaan is a teenage floppy-haired prettyboy, certainly - but call Basch or Balthier "gender-bending" and they'll kick your effin' neck off, sunshine!

Albeit in a very posh, refined, English accented sort of way. But you'll still have NO NECK.

@ Jedi;

I think it will help create a certain level of affection for the characters. Whilst we all love the likes of Yuna, Rinoa, Tifa et al (lead female protagonists), we've also seen the likes of Yuffie, Cait Sith, Selphie etc. - characters that most wouldn't touch with a barge pole of any length. Of course, sometimes even great characters are overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Vivi and Lulu two great examples (Lulu was a stunning design and I want to warmly shake the hand of the people behind her creation!).

So perhaps getting to use all characters and develop them all is a good step. I do love a lead role, but no doubt we'll find our own favourites. Characters are great because each one has a personality bestowed to them... what I think is great is that we can make our favourites and use them without worrying about unbalancing the entirity of the game...

Sorry, I read the script and what can I say is you dont watch anime much do you Shinji ...

Awesome. That review sent shivers down my spine. Being one of those angry and disheartened by almost everything we talk about 'industry', it kinda brings a tear to the eye when a game like this is released.

You're making this sound awfully enticing, Rob. Just as well, then, that my copy has just shipped. Hurrah.

Shinji - roughly how many hours gameplay are there here? I clocked up 60 hours on FFX, is there a similiar amount here?

I'm not even going to hazard a guess at an exact figure. I reckon you could do the story in well under 40 hours, if you ignore all the side stuff - but frankly I don't know anyone who's done that. I've got friends who have clocked over 80 hours on the game and are still going, on the other end of that spectrum. One Japanese friend says he's done 100+ hours but then again he's proper mental.

Sorry, I read the script and what can I say is you dont watch anime much do you Shinji ...

Oh god :) I'm not even going to start on that one! I think my anime-watching credentials are pretty well established :)

I bet Shinji watches tons of anime.

I really liked the World Maps!

European release date?

I've played this for over 25 hours and I can honestly say I've never been so disappointed with a game in all my life. I loved FF6 right throught to 10 (FFX-2 was terrible) but this 'offline mmorpg' leaves me cold.

Dull characters with no development, combat is 99% automated melee and the story? there's a story? I haven't found it yet.

Oh God I just really don't like this game.

Fuck, now I want it.

Excuse my ignorance (crosses fingers) but is there some sort of disk I can buy that allows me to play import US games on my PAL PS2? I just got a PS2 recently off eBay and would quite like to play this without waiting until January. Thanks for any info!

Oh god :) I'm not even going to start on that one! I think my anime-watching credentials are pretty well established :)

My impression from reading the script was that I was looking at typical anime characters, they are not interresting at all.

The fact in FF XII you basic do NOTHING (unlike say FF VII were you save the Garden 2 times but things still go very wrong) so I am not exactly trilled about playing a game were the impact on the game world is exactly at the end and the story is the usual BS of "villian gets artifact of untold power and wants to conquer the world" dows to going after him at his version of the Death Star.

To be fair, it really has divided opinions alot, I think some people simply don't get more mature story lines in this game, which may be a far cry to what they are used to. I just hope that everyone gets the chance to at least try the game and see what they think, even if they don't like FF normally.

Very well written review. I have already picked this up even though I have yet to see the lure of JRPGs.

Here's hoping.

/Fingers crossed.

I guess I have to buy a PS2. Again.

I'd just like to make it clear that just because the story is more mature than it normally is, it does not automatically make it better.

It feels as if instead of letting you save the World the makers decided that none of your actions would have any sort of effect what so ever. Why is that so much more mature?

They could have found at least a little balance between the two different versions instead of having nicely rounded characters but them having no effect on the over-all storyline.

EDIT: Again just pointing out that I do understand the alour and I do get the deeper political threads of the story, I just don't enjoy them. They just that are'nt spectacularly well written (in comparison with previous games yes, in comparison with media at large no).

It's more mature because it's more subtle, and it takes maturity to appreciate subtlety.

Shirley.

It's more subtle?

FINALLY!

Must get it.

Subtle?

Not really most of the machinations are obvious enough, and most of the characterisations are pretty broad. Like I said, in comparison with something like Shin Megami, it still falls short.

Holy ****!!

Now I'm even more jealous of those damn yanks.

Definitely can't wait to see how the battle system evolves in FFXIII. o_O

/hugs PS2

Yes because THQ did'nt just release Company of Heroes a genre defining RTS.

Can't believe this only comes out in Feb in these parts, damn Squeenix.

I think we should rise as one and slay them, who's with me?

Turn based gameplay is for games workshop whores.

So there.

Can't wait! Can't bloody wait!

It's Final Fantasy time again!! Woo-hoo!!!

Players fall into one of two camps - you like Final Fantasy, or you don't

I actually think it's okay. I've never bought a FF game, but have beaten a few that I've borrowed from friends and i doubt FF XII will be an exception.