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Thursday 21 February, 2008
Final Fantasy 12
Summary:
Final Fantasy 12 is the latest installment in the Final Fantasy series. It is in an entirely new universe, as Final Fantasy games usually are, and the story, consequently, follows a "new" plot. The reason I put the word "new" in apostrophes is that the word new in this situation is a relative term. The main character, Vaan, is a run-of-the-mill street urchin striving to be an air-pirate. Fortunately, I like air pirates, and the story has been proven to work in other games like Skies of Arcadia (My favorite RPG), or Rogue Galaxy.
Gameplay:
So far the beginning of the game has been varied. I played as two different characters before reaching the main character Vaan. It seems as though they have replaced a tutorial mode on the combat system with an intro sequence revolving around a random character in war taking place between two countries. The intro sequence also added an interesting twist to introducing the villain. I had no idea that the character i was playing as was going to dye, and by murdering my player, and backstabbing my team, I was caught off guard and I already started to dislike the villain for killing me.
The battle system is also not what I was expecting. This is the fourth Final Fantasy game I've played and I was expecting another turn based classic rpg (the other titles I played were Final Fantasy 3, 5, and 7). I haven't made up my mind yet as to whether or not I like the fighting mechanics, but the lack of loading times is definitely a plus. The lack of load times keeps the game fresh and allows for an expedited leveling up system. Usually when I play RPG's the first order of business once I'm not too constrained by progressing the story is to level up for a long time, and removing load times between battles can hopefully let me level up faster.
Unfortunately after the first hour I haven't been given much of an opportunity to move as I please due to multiple cinematics which are lengthy. The cinematics are pretty, however I am a little frustrated with the lack of freedom the introductory hour has given me. I am also bothered that the creators have decided once again to give me an androgynous main character. For some reason I find it hard to take Vaan seriously when I can see his full mid-drift and a large portion of his waxed chest.
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