Final Fantasy XII
by Square Enix
|
List Price: Our Price: $15.34 You Save: $4.65 (23%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.47 (click here) Category: Video Games See more product details |
|---|
Video Game Reviews of Final Fantasy XII
Customer Review: And another homerun for Squaresoft
Summary: 5 Stars
Before going on with the review, I'd like to say that I've been a fan of the Final Fantasy series since Final Fantasy VI came out, I've played and finished every FF from FF4 to FF10 and based on the reviews I had read about FFXII, I was kind of scared when I received the game from amazon and put in my PS2. Let me tell you, the fear dissipated very fast.
Let's start with gameplay! The new battle system is very smooth, I certainly didn't the random encounters! The gambit system(the AI that you set up for your party characters) is fairly intuitive and once you understand, it makes leveling up and fighting in general very enjoyable. A minor set back is the loading time on black magic spells, which make them less efficient than physical attacks, except when dealing with multiple foes. Another problem is the camera angles, which can be realy hard to adjust to and when battling big bosses (and there's some really big ones) or big beasts, it is near impossible to find an angle to see the monster properly. But it is something you get used to and it doesn't take any enjoyment out of the game. Gamers who enjoy side quests will certainly love this game, as there is well over 100 hours' worth of side optional stuff to complete including some very challenging bosses (some of the most challenging in the history of the series) and a pretty fun mini-game (fishing). One drawback, which I think is a bit shameful of Square, is that some of the side quests will be near impossible (if not impossible period) to complete without the strategy guide, particularly regarding some of the best weapons in the game. I highly recommend that you buy the guide along with the game.
Now, onto the graphics. The game, esthetically, is simply gorgeous. The environments are very detailed, every city has a distinct personality and architecture, as do the temples and dungeons. The CG scenes are breathtaking, as is expected of Square. The ending sequences were probably the best of the series, in my opinion anyway. Another plus is the voice acting and dialogue, with are top notch. For the first time in the history of FF, the dialogue is actually interesting! The voice acting is so much better than FFX's, it's in sync with the lip movement, and the actors are quite good, particularly Balthier (a sky pirate who I must say is probably the coolest FF character in a loooooong time).
Now the plot, which is a very important part of an RPG. I read many reviews of people who were disappointed by the story and the character development. Now it is true that the core of the game is not a love story as it was in FFVIII and FFX (something I am personally thankful for) and it wasn't as much a story of 'save the world from total absolute annihilation!' as it was in FFVII. But the plot is actually quite mature, with political intrigue, clever dialogue, an interesting history as well as mythology, and a lot of detail about the different world cultures given by all the NPCs in the different locations of the world. As far as setting goes, FF fans should feel right at ease as moogles, airships and chocobos are once again present. While I do think some things could have been developped further and that the characters' backgrounds could have been elaborated on more (Vaan who serves as main character is not as central to the main plotline as some of the other characters of the cast), but I think the plot is the most mature yet in a FF game and I hope they continue in this direction.
To sum it up, this game is one of the best game in the series, previous fans of Final Fantasy will find many elements to make them feel at ease in the environment, and new players to the series will probably have an easier time adapting to this than FFX or previous installements (mostly due to the disappearance of the random encounter system). The gameplay is fun, the battles challenging, 150+ hours of play guaranteed. The storyline is complex and mature, the graphics are better than any other in the series. In other words, if you're an RPG fan, this game is a must buy. Five stars, despite its few faults! A good step forward in FF evolution. Don't forget to buy the guide along with the game! I know it feels like a rip off, but it is well worth it to fully enjoy one of the best RPGs available.
Customer Review: One of better games on PS2!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is probably in my opinion one of the better Action/RPG games on PS2. The story line is great, the characters are great and the action is endless.Customer Review: pretty good game
Summary: 5 Stars
This game is a great sequel to the other Final Fantasy games, 1-11. I have played most of these and this game is one of the most fun Final Fantasy games. If you need to use a guide for any of the games it would be this one, it can get really confusing and hard to find want to do. Overall this is a great game and a great buy.Customer Review: I Love FF But
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay i love Final fantasy, But in all reality 12 was not the best one. Don't get me wrong the game i loved it, but it fails to comparison with the other FF Games. Especially when camparing to 6 and 7, yea six has those 2d graphics and 7 was the first ff on the psone. But still the story lines mad a little more sence.
In this game you learn more about Ivalice, This world was brought to life origanally in Final fantasy tactics, and of the war well you start out as Rex, only to be killed, and then you take controle of Vaan Rex's younger brother. It really dose take some time for the true intentions to become known, Especially after Vaine kills Judge Drace and his own father. now a few of the dungons are longer than expected. The wepons can be used by anyone witch i find as a down side to this as in previuse games you hade to be a certain class to handle certain wepons. I did like the character designs. and a friend pointed out Ashe's Butt Actually dose swing like it was real. The side quests for the sumonings got tiresome. And the hunt system was kinda borring. And inorder to get your summons you need to compleat hunts. Granted it took me 50 hours to compleate the game with out side quests. The story line like other reviews say is slow to start but it dose get better as time progresses on. All in all i loved playing it and would pick it up again. and maybetry to finish the side quests but who knows. But definitly a good game
Customer Review: "Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca..."
Summary: 2 Stars
Ugh. Ugh. UGH! How many times must I SAY this! Just, for God's sake, I expected much better from the FF world. It just...UGH!
Okay, let me start out with the good things. Um...oh yeah! Balthier was awesome. The suave, smooth, debonair air pirate definitely could pull off that huge vocabulary that everyone was using. Basch was also a cool character and continued the good brother trend in the series. The last good character was the Cid of this game. The first villainous Cid was way awesome. And he also was had a nice splash of kookiness to him. And he was also Balthier's father, so coolness runs in the family.
Well, that's it for the good things.
The bad things far outweigh the good in this game. First off, the game starts off spectacularly with a good storyline but does not follow up on the good stuff. A typical story of imperialistic regime and a young band of heroes goes awry when the empire is not very oppressive and the young band of heroes are mainly a bunch of whiners. Also, the "twists" in this game are NOT twisty and extremely disappointing.
The rest of the cast sucks...literally. Ashe is a whiny princess who wants vengeance. Vaan is the OTHER whiny person who wants vengeance. Penelo is the whiny friend of these whiny people who whines about why they are whining. Larsa is a whiny little boy who whines about why his whiny older brother whines about ruling this whiny little world. (Oh, and the whiny older brother is one of the worst FF villains ever.) Fran is simply unemotional, so who cares about her?
The dialogue was way too British and high and mighty to be called an FF game. I mean, I can stand a couple of characters in a pop culture world that will talk high and mighty, but everyone talking like that in a game of pop culture trends makes the experience unbearable. Also, some of the words they use sometimes sucks and has no relevance to the actual dialogue.
The battle system was a bad mix of real time battle system and active time battle system (trust me, there is a HUGE difference). I loved the fact that, in older FF games, when you walk on the field, a random battle may pop up and take you by surprise. But, that is what kept the games FUN! By knowing where the enemy is, the fun of killing them randomly is taken away, and we're left with drab, boring crap.
The music is mediocre. I mean, seriously, the composer of the Kingdom Hearts series is much better than this guy is. This music is so uncompelling and lifeless that I literally moaned for Nobuo Uematsu to come back to this series. I did not even LIKE any of this music.
Ugh...ugh, need I go on? There is just so much WRONG with this game that I cannot stand it. Ugh...ugh...UGH! What in the hell is this game's problem? Just...even FF fans will be sorely disappointed with this game. Ugh...ugh...UGH!