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lucem_ferre's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
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| [January 26, 2008 12:44:50 AM]
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GAMEPLAY
I’m having mixed feelings on these new ‘target lines’—long arches of colored light connecting you with another target that, depending on the color, indicate an enemy or friend. It’s great because it gives you fair warning of an attacker, or tells you when you’ve broken cover and been spotted, but in a melee-style conflict all those lines can be damn confusing. (You can select to turn them off, however.)
I thought that relatively strong female characters in this series had died with Aeris. (Why are video games lacking so sorely in this area?) Thank god for Ashe, who has confidence, realism, and a much less annoying personality on her side.
DESIGN
The new battle design is tripping me out. It’s still turn-based, of course, and in real-time, but you can actively move around, which makes me nervous. I feel like I should be doing more than just running around and waiting for my turn—like, oh, killing. Nor does the screen change to a separate battleground, as in just about every other FF title; you can see the enemy coming (eliminating the randomness), and you fight right there in the ‘normal’ world. I’m not sure if I like this better or not.
What I don’t like about the battle system is the automated thing they have going. Select [Attack], pick an enemy, and all you have to do from then on is keep an eye on your HP and use a potion if it gets too low. It feels like cheating in a not-satisfying way, and without much thought needed.
There’s a ‘License Board’ that’s reminiscent of the Sphere system thing in FFX. I’ve heard some people complain about it, but I prefer having room for choice in how the character develops. I really liked the Sphere thing, and there’s even more freedom here.
The environments are, in my humble opinion, AWESOME. They’re finely detailed, and the sheer height of the buildings gives a real sense of being in a heavily populated city. If the movie “The Fifth Element” could meet Star Wars, you’d get the city of Rabanastre, complete with non-human species and mercenary-like personalities. In FF7, you had the Germanic influence in Nibelheim, the Western style in Midgar, and the East Asian-like Wutai—here you have a desert, almost Arabic feel, and it’s definitely an interesting change. You can see a Greco-Roman influence in names like ‘Archadia’ and in the armor styles. (I’m sorry, but to me, this cultural thing is fascinating.) The use of rich color gives it the kind of brightly-lit, almost dreamlike atmosphere you’d expect in a fantasy world.
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| [January 26, 2008 12:07:26 AM]
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SUMMARY
The world of Ivalice is being torn apart by two large warring kingdoms, leaving the smaller kingdoms to be swallowed up or destroyed. After the murder of the king of Dalmasca—one of the lesser nations—its citizens are displaced and the country taken under imperial rule. Vaan (the main character of dubious gender), the Dalmascan princess Ashe, and other motley characters band together to form a resistance against the imperialists. Kudos for thinly veiled political commentary.
GAMEPLAY
Although there’s more cutscene than actual gameplay in the beginning, I was engrossed only a few minutes into it, and not just because the graphics were absolutely beautiful. It was very effective on an emotional level, using techniques like seeing through the character’s eyes, mimicking the chaos of battle with jarring camera angles, etc; I was crushed when the Playable Character Of The Moment, Reks, dies. Though there was a fair amount of textual info-dumping, a lot of it was also presented through a sort of montage-style cutscene that made a potentially dry storyline more interesting. A drastic improvement in voice acting, especially when compared to the cringe-worthy FFX, made serious scenes actually somewhat touching and sincere.
Also, with a greater focus on the characters than, say, FF Tactics, I didn’t feel like I was just nudging along a group of pixels for some vague idealistic purpose, but actively observing a more real person. (Vaan reminds me of a weird mix between angst-ridden Cloud and brash Tidus, with a healthy portion of Cloud’s Wall Market getup thrown in to make him look more feminine than Squall ever did. Fangirls, rejoice!)
Otherwise, I’m getting a little bored and waiting for Something To Explode. This game already feels like it’s more for those people fascinated with political intrigue and tactics, which I’m…not.
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lucem_ferre's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Saturday 26 January, 2008
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