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Chris Carlsson's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
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| [February 21, 2008 03:17:20 AM]
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Final Fantasy 12
Gameplay 2:
The next hour has shown me a good deal about how the game will progress. I have naturally been leveling up by killing beasts in the desert adjacent to Vaan's hometown of "Rabanastre." First, however, I was introduced to the bounty system in the game. Vaan has recently become a mercenary, and is taking jobs from the local tavern to kill specified enemies in the desert, and probably other areas. This other dimension of gameplay is really appealing as it progresses a story, even as they pointlessly murder hundreds of monsters for hours on end. Now, instead of running in circles around a save-point waiting for random battles to occur, like I would in a classic turn-based RPG, I can actively pursue a target and achieve a goal while I kill monsters along the way.
Another interesting feature to Final Fantasy 12 that I have noticed is the fact that even two hours into the game I don't have a party. Classically fights are won by assigning one party member to be the healer, another to be a fighting magician, and your main character to be close range fighter. In Final Fantasy 12 I am acting as all three at the moment, and I am forced to tread carefully, as I have a very limited supply of health, magic, and especially money as this is still an introductory sequence to the overall game.
While fighting I have to keep an eye on my "action gauge," health, and perimeter of oncoming enemies. It is easy to lose if you are fighting more than one enemy at a time, so it is important to time my attacks in such a way that I attack a reasonable amount of enemies at once. The "action gauge" tells me when I am able to attack again, and resets once I have finished attacking. These different gameplay features allow me to improve my character's aspects in more ways than just strength and health, like expedited gauge regeneration and attack radius. This also allows for wide array of items and power-ups.
Design:
An interesting, and infrequent design feature to the game is the addition of a "license" system. I earn LP's (I think it stands for learning points?) from battles, and after a given number of LP's I am able to purchase new licenses. Each license lets me wield a different weapon, or cast a different spell. These items are sold at local magic or weapons shops, and can be fairly costly. This feature seems frustrating, however. I have very limited choices of which licenses to purchase, and therefore it can be very difficult to find the weapon or magic that I am looking for. For example; After killing my first bounty, I received a shield. But I cannot use the shield because I don't have a license for it, and It may be another 50 fights before I find the correct license to purchase. This feature is indeed different, but so far it has caused me nothing but grief.
On another note, the game is seemingly very story driven. If the myriad of cinematic sequences didn't clue me in, it was the introduction of at least ten characters, that I will probably form some kind of attachment with. If used in moderation, this heavily story-based game will give me more and more incentive to play the game for the thirty or fifty hours that it will demand. If they reduce the rate at which cut-scenes interject into my gameplay, this feature should add a lot of depth and intrigue to my experience.
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| [February 21, 2008 02:30:22 AM]
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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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Chris Carlsson's Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 20 February, 2008
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