So for the ironically named Final Fantasy, it’s been a while hasn’t it? 5 years! I mean X was the last one really wasn’t it. X-2 was a bit…well…poo and XI was online which doesn’t count. So, for Final Fantasy fans all over the world, the long awaited, highly anticipated sequel couldn’t be hyped up enough. With that in mind, Square Enix have managed to pull of yet another stunning game packed with lush graphics, a healthy storyline and enough dynamic changes to make you feel your not playing another carbon-copy clone. But, like Marmite, you’ll either love it or hate it.

Final Fantasy XII starts off in Dalmasca, the capital city of Rabanastre, where the happy union of Princess Ashe of Dalmasca and Prince Rasler of Nabradia is put to an end by the invading Archadian Empire. We learn that the Dalmascan king, Raminas, is being forced into signing a treatise of surrender whereupon the king will be assassinated. During a rescue mission, the Knight Captain Basch slays Raminas and Reks, a 17-year old knight who was with the knights during the rescue mission. Ashe’s suicide and Basch’s treason are announced by Marquis Ondore. Our story starts 2 years later with Vann, Reks’ younger brother.

So, lets talk about those changes they’ve implemented. The first and obvious thing you’ll notice is FFXII is free roaming, unlike its predecessors where all encounters were very much a menu-driven turn-based system. The ‘Active Battle System’ was a design to move away from random encounters and let players change between exploration and combat with greater ease. All the while you can walk around whatever you’re attacking; in fact, this is encouraged as it recharges your Mana Points. Another change is the Gambit system, which in effect is a way of letting you handle the free-roaming change by adding situational based commands to your teammates or yourself should you so wish.

For some this concept will be new, but most of us have used macros in some form in a game. You can call up the Gambit system and say, for example, assign a command to a team-mate that states if one of your allies is below 50% Health Points then use the spell ‘cure’. A variety of these commands can be picked up in shops, and while they can really help, if used effectively you’ll end up doing less and less. Lastly we have the license board, which is your means of getting new skills, abilities and stat boosts. While fighting critters out in the wilderness, you’ll get at least 1 license point for each kill. These can be accumulated to spend on the license board to allow your characters to learn how to use a new weapon or cast Ultima for example. You still have to buy the spell or weapon in a shop, but the license is to ‘allow’ you to use it, which falls in line with rigid society, set down by Archadia and its Judges.

While these are the main changes, there are technically a couple of others. “Mist”, a strange phenomenon, fuels two main abilities your characters have: Summons known as ‘Espers’ and ‘Quickenings’. Quickenings are abilities much like the previous Limit Breaks and are chainable from character to character for bigger damage. The difference is that it saps all of your MP, so you’d better hope you pull it off well. Espers become available after you defeat them, similar to the summons from the previous titles. The odd difference this time around is that once you summon an Esper, it’s just the summoner and the Esper together until it gets wiped out. In essence, you’d better hope the summoner’s battle ready. Both of these systems are going to not only be odd for a lot of people to get used to, but you might find yourself not liking them either.

This is especially apparent in the earlier stages where you rely on your MP a lot among team members to make the Gambit system work. You might also find that casting a Quickening on a group of foes rather than one big boss works out better until you can get your hands on some Ether to recharge your mana. As always, it’s important to do what’s right for your playing style. There’s also a new bunch of side quests where you can go on ‘Hunts’ to go kill stuff out in the world for rewards and rankings, which can be a decent challenge and a lot of fun.

Matt - Obviously not tried Yiazmat yet then!

Jay - Dude, I just don't have the time to take on something with as much HP as that!

Matt - But think of the bragging rights if you defeated it!

Jay - What?

Matt - No, it's nothing. We can't all be good at games I guess.

Jay - Hey don't think I didn't hear that!

Anyway, I don’t know if it’s just me, but does any body else get that Vagrant Story feeling with Final Fantasy 12? For the first wad of the game you’ll be hanging around a lot of dingy dungeons designed by the famous architect Greyham McGrey of Greyingham, leaving you with a compelling desire to see sunlight. Well fear not, the game does progress out of these and into a variety of surroundings for you to enjoy…after about ten hours or so. What? That’s quick for Final Fantasy! Generally though the environments are the usual Square Enix beauty, not to mention the FMV’s we’ve all got to know and love. If anything, the cutscenes have gone more towards a film-style look rather than a game-orientated one. I’m sure no one’s going to mind the quirky look of the characters as always, from the ‘leading man’ look of Balthier the sky pirate, to the beauty of Ashe the Princess, to the half-naked American sounding youth of Vaan. Yeah, that one doesn’t float my boat either.

It was a shame to learn that Nobuo Uematsu had left Square Enix in 2004 and thus only contributed the main theme to Final Fantasy XII, which in turn happens to be a variation on a previous theme. Hitoshi Sakimoto stepped in to compose most of the soundtrack, and while most of the music almost fits to the Final Fantasy genre it still lacks Nobuo’s history with the saga and his ability to create those memorable themes we’ve all got stuck in our head from time-to-time (damnable Golden Saucer!). Other than Vaan who for some reason has been turned into a whiney American brat, the voice acting has been really well done. Seeing as there are some lengthy conversations in Final Fantasy for the best part, the last thing you want is a bunch of badly dubbed actors you can’t stand to listen to, resulting in the inevitable passion for skipping the cutscenes to save your own bleeding eardrums and have no idea what’s going on!

However, after all this, there are still some elements to the game that fall short of my Final Fantasy expectations. Now, don’t get me wrong, most of the following points are personal preference. I’m no doubt sure you’ll wander around the net and get other peoples opinions, I openly encourage you do so. I’m betting there isn’t a single opinion that will sum this game up out there. Why? Well let me break it down…

Final Fantasy for me has always been menu-driven, other developers of RPG’s moved over to this system as they saw it was popular. With the move that Square Enix has done in making it free roaming, it’s like they’ve moved away from Final Fantasy and started down a different RPG route. Remembering that Square Enix have of course developed other stunning RPG’s I’m sure they could cope with the transition…given enough time. As I said before, the Gambit system can result in a lack of activity on your part. The summons and Quickenings certainly aren’t as useful as they were in previous version. And, with the License System’s implementation, everyone can do anything they want really easily! The whole Final Fantasy ride felt as thought it had been made for a younger audience by being easier to grasp, yet ironically has been given the highest age rating to date.

While my experience with this title hasn’t been my favourite, I’m still going to thank Square Enix for yet another amazing journey.