Author's Note: I just want to say, first of all, that the Moogles in Final Fantasy XII are the cutest little creatures I've ever seen in a video game. I want one. I shall name him Fluffy.

I was extremely giddy after I had purchased Final Fantasy XII when it came out last October. After playing Final Fantasy X, I expected nothing less from Final Fantasy XII. Let’s face it – it took a full four years for the developers to come out with another Final Fantasy that was based on serious, no-nonsense graphics and plot development (I’m not counting Final Fantasy X-2, which I believe was developed just for giggles, and Final Fantasy XI, which is online-based and I’m too broke for that). I figured Final Fantasies are a lot like great, epic movies. The longer they take to come out, the more excited you get as you wait, and the more hyped-up it’s supposed to be – not to mention awesome. Oh, boy, was I in for yet another disappointment.

Plot: We are taken into the world of Ivalice, divided in half by two warring Empires – Rozzaria to the west, Archadia to the east. Caught in the middle of this never-ending conflict are the neighboring kingdoms of Dalmasca and Nabradia, and when Archadia begins a campaign to extend its borders, Nabradia is invaded first. Dalmasca has no choice but to answer, but soon they are overwhelmed by Archadia’s powerful armies and both kingdoms are forced to surrender. With the Royal family of Nabradia obliterated, the Royal family of Dalmasca is shattered as news of betrayal, murder, and suicide spreads throughout the kingdom. Its people stand helpless and leaderless as Archadia gains total control of both countries.

Two years later, life in the slums continues on for Vaan as he pilfers his way towards a decent living. Aspiring to be a sky pirate, Vaan’s thievery eventually leads him into a chance encounter with two people, long thought to be dead, associated with the Dalmascan Royal Family. Their meeting proves that a web of intricate lies had been spun by Archadia, and they are plunged into a mission to uncover the real truth behind the war. Their investigations only lead deeper into troubling waters, and as they unravel the mysteries surrounding Archadia’s actions, their journey becomes a race against time to stop its ruthless leaders from destroying all of Ivalice and restoring the Kingdom of Dalmasca.

Character Development and Story: Practically none, and I’m not even exaggerating. The game is almost solely based on interactive gameplay, fighting, and the graphics. This is all well and good, but again, I cannot stress enough that you can’t have a Final Fantasy game without the fantasy aspect of it. If I had to put a wager on it, I’d say the creators put in about 20% of their devotion to the story, while the other 80% was focused on everything else. It was a well-spent 80%, but pretty graphics and fight sequences don’t impress me if you haven’t got a good story to back it up.

Well, at least the summary sounded good, right? That’s about as good as it gets. From here, it gets oh-so-unoriginal. I wanted my fiance to watch the introduction to this game just to get his first impression (he’s not a big gamer), and the first thing he said was, “This reminds me of Star Wars.”

Indeed, it’s almost as if the developers took a spinoff from the Star Wars concept and rearranged some of the elements to make the game more Final Fantasy-like. Unfortunately, there’s still that underlying symbolism from the movies that pops out sporadically in the game – such as the rebels vs. the Empire, bounty hunters, sky pirates and airships, the Yensan Sandsea with music that is undeniably reminiscent of Tatooine, and finally, the Judges (which made me immediately think of Darth Vader). It definitely makes you wonder how hard the creators are working to deliver a platinum Final Fantasy game once more, and I think we can all admit that they’ve lost a lot of steam after Final Fantasy VII.

The characters, like Final Fantasy X, were all assigned voice actors to make the story come alive and to give each member personality. Unfortunately, voice acting did not help the fact that there really was no story to go with each character. I’ve read reviews where the voice acting quality was actually much, much better than in Final Fantasy X, but I have to say again that this doesn’t exactly help the game. Each character has a tiny little bio contained within the provided information booklet, and I think that’s practically all the information the player ever gets. The majority of the time spent playing the game is fighting, and while I agree that the cutscenes and narrations in Final Fantasy X was a little much, there wasn’t enough of it in Final Fantasy XII. This practically wiped out any chance for the characters to really develop relationships with one another, and background stories were nonexistent. A few members in the party did have shady pasts, but none of these really developed into anything interesting, which was disappointing. A few of the other members hardly had anything to contribute to the plot at all, and seemed to journey with the party out of sheer coincidence. Aside from Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XII had the lowest party member count in years – only six members. This indicates to me that the developers ran out of ideas, and adding another member would simply cause them more trouble to come up with another random character background.

The plot holes throughout the game are astounding. There were so many unanswered questions, and again, there was so much potential that the developers just didn’t elaborate on. As if the Star Wars shadow wasn’t enough, the ideas of Ivalice, Mist, and wars over crystals have been used before in previous Final Fantasy installments. Although the concepts have changed, it still gives a recycled feel to Final Fantasy XII’s plot.

The saddest thing about this game is that it really did have tons of potential. It could have been so much more, but it never unfolded. The major mistake that the developers seemed to have made was the flaw in character development and the holes ridden throughout the plot. Most of Final Fantasy XII’s flaws are story-related, mind you, and not gameplay related. If you know me and read a few of my other Final Fantasy reviews, you’d know I’m big on the intricate plots. Give me twisted, detailed, conspiracy-ridden plots with surprise endings. Don’t give me half-assed Star Wars-plagiarized stories.

Gameplay: I had to get used to this. I was so stuck on the traditional ATB (Active Time Battle) and turn-based modes that Final Fantasy XII’s new system caught me off guard. To be honest, at first I did NOT like the new system, which is not turn-based and does not rely on ATB gauges. The battle system is heavily based on computer intelligence, where the character automatically executes an attack once they encounter an enemy. The player does not have to select a command from the menu if he or she so chooses. The enemy encounters are not random as in previous Final Fantasy installments. For example, in previous Final Fantasy games, you control one main character and run around from place to place – once in awhile, the screen will swirl/go to black/break apart, fighting music will trigger, and you’re locked into combat with a few monsters. In Final Fantasy XII, the developers have gotten rid of all that stuff – random encounters, battle music, victory fanfares, and informational screens that pop up after a battle is won, displaying experience gained and gil and accessories obtained. Instead they’ve developed ADB, or Active Dimension Battle, which is more realistic and lifelike. You control one character while the other two follow you through the land, and sometimes a wolf or some behemoth will be in your path. You may choose to attack or avoid it, and sometimes the beasts will run up to you if they notice your party. Characters fight it automatically (I’ll talk about the fighting system in a minute), and once the enemy is dispatched, the fight is over. Sometimes an enemy will drop an item that you can pick up (which reminded me a lot of Zelda: Ocarina of Time), and experience is gained after each fight. Even though I had to get used to this, the system grew on me. Also, with this system, you are not simply assigned one player to control while you’re patrolling different lands. You have the choice to change which character you want to maneuver, which adds some variety into the game.

There are pros and cons to this – you can actually watch battles and enjoy it, but then again, you’re not really in control of your characters. They do all the fighting automatically. Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of playing Final Fantasy? The automatic commands that each character executes is optional – this feature can be turned off – but if the player decides to do this, the party members will stand idle in front of an enemy. Remember that the system is not turn-based, so the player would have to manually switch to each member and then execute a command, and the system is not a wait mode, so the enemy will not hesitate to attack. If you disable the automatic responses, you’ve got to be extremely quick with your hands and mind to strategically kill enemies. Good luck with that. And your carpal tunnel.

The Gambit System: As I previously stated, your characters may automatically execute commands previously programmed by the player. These are called “Gambits,” and they are essentially a wide variety of commands that are earned by each character and are comprised of a list of actions that are loaded into the character’s profile. For example, if the character comes upon an enemy, the Gambit system kicks in and the character will attack based on what is on the list.

1. Enemy – Attack
2. Enemy – Water if enemy is weak against water
3. Enemy – Fire if enemy is weak against fire
4. Ally – Cure if HP is less than 40%

If a character encounters a battle, his first priority is to physically attack. If the enemy happens to be weak against water, the character will automatically conjure the black magic “water,” and so on and so forth. However, priorities are key, and an ally won’t be healed right away if the priority is set at number 4. After Gambit lists increase, it gets a little more confusing, and you’re spending more time trying to strategically list out your actions rather than execute them yourself.

Because of this new system, I felt completely detached from actually playing the game...well...because technically I wasn’t playing it. It does have its perks, however, and battles are finished quickly. I must mention that the player cannot solely rely on the Gambit system alone at times, and once in awhile you can step in and execute your own attack manually. Sometimes you’re forced to turn Gambits off altogether - let’s say if a character has been blinded or poisoned and they’re still attacking mindlessly – but Gambits can also be used to automatically remove status effects and heal others, which is also helpful during the heat of battle.

Hunting: Some Final Fantasies had card games, Final Fantasy X had Blitzball, but this Final Fantasy has hunting missions. This is a fresh new idea that I found quite challenging and pretty fun. Hunting is more or less a sidequest - it's optional - but hunting for various monsters reaps hefty rewards in the end (and you're gonna need gil like there's no tomorrow...just keep reading). If a citizen is in peril (or if a Moogle accidentally loses his pet carrot), and needs something extinguished to clear the road ahead, they'll post Hunting Marks in various pubs across Ivalice. If you inquire after the post, they'll direct you to where the monster was last seen, and viola! You're on a hunt. It's literally a hunt - you'll have to wander around certain parts of Ivalice to find the thing - but again, it's fun and something new to experience.

Summons and Quickenings: Proof that once again, the developers have thrown most of the Final Fantasy tradition out of the window. We don’t see our usual Summons, such as Shiva or Ifrit, but instead we’re introduced to brand-new forces called “Espers.” Various Espers are obtained throughout the game, and each character can summon only three Espers total. There are only a few Espers that are gained as the game is played, but the rest are hidden and must be sought out if the player chooses. Similar to Final Fantasy X, once an Esper is summoned, the rest of the party members cannot interfere. Unlike Final Fantasy X, however, the summoner can fight alongside the Esper and even heal the Esper when needed. The Esper does not stay in battle long, however, and a small gauge slowly drains as you’re only given a certain amount of time to fight with it. If the Esper can continue fighting without being killed, the gauge will run down and it will perform a finishing attack, which is its most powerful blow. Afterwards, it will disappear and your party will re-form. However, calling an Esper is expensive in terms of magic points (MP) used. Just as a cure magic costs, say 8 MP, an Esper can drain your entire MP gauge. The more powerful the Esper is, the more MP it will use up.

[side note: The traditional names Shiva, Ifrit, Alexander, Bahamut, etc. of Final Fantasy hasn't been completely lost, however...if you play the game, you'll notice that the airships have been named after them instead, which I thought was kinda cool]

There are also special attacks each character can execute against stronger enemies. These attacks are dubbed "Quickenings" and can be a very powerful asset in battle. Quickenings are obtained after a character has progressed to a certain point on their License (explained later), and these also cost MP. Three Quickenings are assigned to each character, and the more powerful the Quickening, the more MP it will drain from your gauge. Much like Overdrives in Final Fantasy X or Trance in Final Fantasy IX, Quickenings are specific to each character and are lots of fun to watch once executed. There are no fancy button combinations to perform once a Quickening is engaged; just sit back and enjoy the show (and cry over your spent MP). Because Quickenings suck your MP dry, however, I ended up using them in emergencies only.

Gaining Experience: Characters gain experience by leveling up after a certain amount of enemies is defeated, which increases stats such as strength, speed, or magic. Even though characters can equip accessories to boost their stats, the accessories do not need to be worn a certain amount of time to learn abilities. Some accessories contain specific features that can help the character (such as “float,” resistant to poison, resistant to blind, etc.) and like in Final Fantasy IX, weapons, armor, and jewelry can be exchanged and worn amongst any character. However, there is a drawback towards wearing these accessories, and abilities are also learned in quite a different manner.

The License System: Okay. I had a love-hate relationship with this thing. With each character, you’re given a License. Contained within the License are abilities that can eventually be unlocked and learned as the character gains experience. As experience points are gained to level up the character, license points are also earned. Once you’ve earned enough license points (LP), you can unlock, say, “Cure,” which costs 10 LP. (I don’t know the exact cost, I’m too lazy to log into the game to check, but you get the gist of it). The license looks a lot like a big chessboard, and each square lists each ability and how much LP it costs. Your character is only allowed to unlock abilities that are adjacent to your location on the license, so obviously you can’t float across the grid and unlock “Firaga” until you’ve actually progressed that far. I really like this system because your characters are not assigned to any specific role – they can use any ability you assign them, and this essentially gives you the power to control which character does what in the game, including which weapons they use, which tactics they use, and which types of armor they can wear...which brings me to my second point.

On the other hand, I can’t stand this system because you have to learn the accessories before you can equip them. How dumb! Why do you have to learn how to wear gauntlets? (One of my favorite comics sums this up quite nicely: visit http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=214 and see what I mean) However, learning accessories isn’t as bad as you would think, since LP racks up pretty quickly – but you have to fight to rack up the LP, and if you don’t spend a lot of time fighting, you’re going to end up running around Ivalice with some pretty exposed (and weak) party members. Unfortunately, therefore, I found myself level-grinding an awful lot. For those who don’t know, level-grinding is basically wasting tons of time running around killing stuff just to gain more experience. It’s lengthy, boring, and it sucks the fun out of the game – and that brings me to my third point.

The level-grinding isn’t always done for the LP, but most of the time for gil. When enemies are dispatched, they don’t drop gil, as it had always been in the previous games. Instead, they drop items that are completely useless to your party unless you run into town to sell them (at a very low price). Earning and spending gil normally isn’t a problem, but in Final Fantasy XII it is a MAJOR problem. You would think that after learning an ability on your license, you’d be free to use it. Um, no. Not only do you have to learn magic and other abilities, but you have to buy them. This burns a major hole in your wallet, and party members are usually fighting enemies sans magic. Without gil, you can’t buy abilities, and without abilities, you can hardly fight. Therefore, more level-grinding ensues in order for your team to obtain items, sell them for gil, and progress throughout the game. Again, it just sucks the fun out of playing the game.

Graphics and Music: The level-grinding pain in the butt is diluted a little bit due to the graphics. This is where all the developers’ hard work comes through, and constantly being in battle isn’t so bad since it’s pretty amazing to watch. Each region is beautifully designed with intricate details, and as you run through a desert, for example, you can notice the winds pick up sand and swirl it around, or as you head towards the nearest hunters’ camp, a small oasis can be visible with a tiny trail of black smoke from campfire on the horizon. Cities that bustle with people are staggering, three-dimensional worlds as you walk through bazaars, peek over bridges, and hop from shop to shop. The computer-graphic cutscenes are, as always, great and wonderfully rendered, but I’m a big cutscene junkie and I would’ve personally liked to see more of them. Like I said before, the story was completely lacking, and I think that’s also a reflection of the minimal amount of cutscenes within the game.

The music matched incredibly well to each situation. Being a huge Nobuo Uematsu fan, I was skeptical that anyone could fill his shoes in producing memorable Final Fantasy score after he retired, but composer Hitoshi Sakimoto lived up to the standards quite well. The music itself is even more realistic than the score in any other Final Fantasy game; every track sounds like it was composed straight from an orchestra and not off of an electronic keyboard (I actually think it was, but I could be wrong). The score has a fresh feel with new sounds to it that goes along with the drastic changes made to the game, and it fits like a glove. I especially like how Sakimoto composed the Chocobo Theme, which always has the same tune but changes styles in every Final Fantasy game.

Overall: I had to play this game at least twice to really appreciate it. The first time around was disappointing because of the awful plot, but the second time around was just for fun and I admired the graphics and battle techniques much more. There are times I wish I hadn't dropped $49.99 on this thing, and I hope next time Square-Enix will do better, but I gave this game three stars because it is pretty fun, and the visuals of the game are worth seeing.

Recommended: Yes