Well, it was nearly a decade in the making, but I've finally played all
the way through Final Fantasy XII. I really enjoyed this game, but a
couple of grating flaws and shortcomings kept it from taking a place
among my all-time favorite RPGs (or Final Fantasies for that matter).
In general I think Final Fantasy XII succeeds in updating …
Well, it was nearly a decade in the making, but I've finally played all
the way through Final Fantasy XII. I really enjoyed this game, but a
couple of grating flaws and shortcomings kept it from taking a place
among my all-time favorite RPGs (or Final Fantasies for that matter).
In general I think Final Fantasy XII succeeds in updating the formula of
the series to a more modern style of gameplay. As much as I love the
classic games, the traditional Final Fantasy system of random encounters
with invisible enemies needed a refresh and thus I found the MMO-style
enemy encounters and battles to be a welcome change. I also appreciated
that the rigid transitions between dungeons, overworld, towns, and
battle screens of previous Final Fantasies, were scrapped in favor of a
continuous presentation that does much to streamline the experience and
create a more cohesive world.
These much-appreciated updates to the Final Fantasy format are
unfortunately coupled with my two biggest gripes with this game:
repetitive level design and a severe lack of difficulty balancing.
Several of the areas to explore in Ivalice felt barren and/or repetitive
in their designs. Areas such as the Yensa Sandsea, Giruvegan, and
Pharos Tower are all guilty of recycling the same few landscape features
over and over in a pattern that repeated entirely too many times,
making each of these areas feel like a real slog to play through. This
problem is further compounded by this game's lack of difficulty balance.
I generally found myself having a good time traveling along the primary
story path, taking on enemies and upgrading characters at what I
believed to be a respectable clip, only to hit very abrupt spikes in
difficulty. I imagine the game's designers intended for these spikes to
serve as incentives for the player to depart from the critical path and
spend time on side quests and hunts. However, I found that the rewards
and XP for completing these challenges were rarely significant enough to
make investing time in them worthwhile. Since grinding appeared to be
the most effective means to advance, I ultimately took the cheap way out
and set up my party's gambits such that my characters would grind all
by themselves and left them to auto-level overnight. While this method
was successful in allowing me to continue my play-through without any
further frustration, the fact that I felt the need to exploit the game's
systems in this way really speaks to the severity of this difficulty
curve problem.
Setting these mechanics issues aside, from a creative standpoint this
game is a much more well-balanced package. Playing Final Fantasy XII
gives the player a distinct impression that the world of Ivalice existed
far before the game takes place and will persist long after the credits
roll. The game's story of warring nations is far more grand than the
exploits of the playable characters themselves, which I found further
enhanced the sense of the place. While the plot is fairly one-note in
terms of its tone, I have to give it credit for touching on some
ambitious subject matter including coping with loss, redemption,
religion, and nuclear nonproliferation. It would have been nice if the
coverage of all these weighty topics had been broken up with some
moments of levity, but for the most part the story stayed bleak and
serious the whole way through. The six members of the party each have
pretty distinct personalities and have a few amusing interactions with
each other over the course of the adventure. However, while each
character was generally likable and unique, they were also all
incredibly one-dimensional. I would have appreciated some character
moments in which we would see Balthier momentarily lose his cool and
show some real concern, or perhaps have Ashe briefly take a break from
being crushed by the weight of her responsibilities to crack a smile,
but unfortunately that kind of character development isn't something
that takes place. I should also note that the musical score was very
pleasant and always fitting to the game scenario, but it didn't stick
with me the way some of the previous Final Fantasy soundtracks have. I
will say that the game's one vocal piece, "Kiss Me Goodbye" is one of
the better songs with English lyrics that I've heard in the Final
Fantasy series.
It's hard to neatly wrap-up my feelings on Final Fantasy XII, as I
absolutely loved the game for the first 60-75% of its playtime, only for
some jarring flaws to come to the surface in the third act. I found the
game's conclusion pretty satisfying and ultimately walked away feeling
positive, but with the distinct impression that there were some tweaks
that would need to be made for this to be a 5-star experience. I hope
that the upcoming Zodiac Age remaster of Final Fantasy XII corrects
enough of its issues to transform it into the fantastic RPG that it has
the potential to be.
