Review: Final Fantasy XII

After my review of Final Fantasy XIII-2, I theorized that it wouldn't be long before we saw another direct sequel. Turns out I was right. But since that experience left me battered and bruised emotionally, I decided rather than wait for the (hopefully) final installment of the saga of the Farron sisters, I would go through older Final Fantasy titles in order to remind myself of why I enjoy them so much in the first place. My recent reviews of The Legend of Zelda franchise have moved forward down the official Zelda timeline. In the Final Fantasy series, however, the settings are completely separate worlds with no chronological order, giving me no clear direction with which to work. But I figured it would just be easiest to go in reverse order of the release of the major installments. Plus, if I went down that road, the next game up contained that one superboss I could never get to... Therefore, I hooked up my old PlayStation 2 slimline and returned to the world of Ivalice and Final Fantasy XII.

Oh, yeah! It's my old friends, Swashbuckler and Bunnytits!

In the six years and change since I bought XII on the day it was released (I even shelled out the extra dough for the Collector's Edition!) I had yet to visit the final dungeon. It seems strange that I never finished a game that I enjoyed playing, even if it wasn't my favorite title in the series. It's just that the dungeon right before the end is about one hundred floors, and the game's real challenges stem from defeating optional bosses and acquiring rare items which have nothing to do with the main storyline. Speaking of, this is also the point in the story when things start to go a little batshit insane, although I do have to give the developers credit for not tacking on some needless trip to outer space (spoiler alert!) or something equally stupid. But in the interest of completion, I finally beat the last boss, watched the end credits, and now I can safely say that I wish I had never gone back to this game.

I should have left you under the TV stand, covered in dust. :-(

More after the jump...

I don't want to get too negative, because it is a good game, so I'll start breaking it down by admitting something that undeniably works in XII's favor. There is a lot of content. And I mean a LOT. In fact, I can't remember a more expansive world in a single-player Square Enix release that's largely available throughout the entire game. And while that alone isn't terribly exciting, a fair amount of it can be rather challenging. The knock I always hear about this game is that the system of automated commands you can assign to your characters called Gambits makes the game boring. Gone are the turn-based or Active Time Battle systems, as XII is an open-world setting with no random encounters. As you travel, you see and fight enemies in real time. It is rarely challenging, but then again neither is mashing an attack command for trash mobs in a turn-based system.

Once access to more complex Gambits is available, you can essentially travel, fight, and collect loot using only the left analog stick, and barely paying attention while you do. And while that is true if you plan on sticking to the safer areas or are over-leveled for story content, there will always be difficulty in battling through dungeons like the Great Crystal or the Subterra, or climbing the ladder of the Hunt Club, the game's best and most expansive side quest. The challenge is also derived from acquiring the best weapons and armor, finding the locations of and defeating rare monsters, and sometimes just grinding away at one particular task until the random number generator is kind enough to reward your perseverance. Honestly, there are so many little nuances and tricks to finding everything in this game that I'm not sure it can be done without help from the internet, the Brady guide, or another outside source. Whether or not the player chooses to go through all that trouble is personal preference, but it's nice to know it's there if one ever wants to stray down that rabbit hole (not a viera joke, I swear).

The Hunt Club: Fucking up your Gambits since 2006.

As I said before, the multitude of content works to make XII an enjoyable game. Unfortunately, by the final act, the side quests and rare items are more of a draw than the story. I enjoyed the early stages of the game's main plot, first painting a portrait of the game's heroine, Ashe. After the player takes over, we then see the city of Rabanastre (Dalmasca's capital) and eventually the world of Ivalice come alive through the eyes of the orphan boy, Vaan.

Ashe, who I believe to be the main character, is the princess of the small, independent kingdom of Dalmasca, which is located between two warring empires and under siege as the game begins. In the game's prologue, Ashe loses her young husband to the onslaught of the Archadians, an empire to the northeast. She then must suffer as her father is killed during the peace negotiation, and finally is forced to abide an occupation of Rabanastre by the Archadian Empire. Many believe her to have committed suicide, but later in the game we find her to be very much alive (a common theme in XII) and burning with a desire to inflict revenge upon Archadia. Her history is intriguing, and offers the possibility of developing into something well-rounded and nuanced, but I always felt that she plays the same notes through the entire story. She is conflicted only when she sees visions of her dead husband, but otherwise she is intent on acquiring power and using it to banish Archadia from Dalmasca, if not to destroy them entirely. She is a strong, capable character, but without other development or shifts in tone, she lacks the three-dimensional trait that I look for in a main character, and thus was a bit disappointing.

Ashe has definitely read Sheryl Sandberg's book.

On the other hand, the default main character is Vaan, a child of Rabanastre. Vaan's only remaining family, his older brother Reks, was severely wounded in the Archadian siege, and his eventual death gives Vaan the same motivation for revenge that consumes Ashe. But while he is an orphan, he has many friends among the other poor children in Rabanastre's Lowtown, most notably another orphan, Penelo. He also has an independent spirit, and dreams of becoming a sky pirate, which is more of a treasure hunter than anything dealing with actual piracy. His role in the story is to be a foil for Ashe's journey. They have both lost so much to the war with Archadia, but while Ashe is drowning in anger and doubt, Vaan remains positive and optimistic. They share a scene in the town of Jahara where Vaan assures Ashe he will stay with her and see both of their journeys through to the end, which creates a solid bond between these two central characters. As for Vaan's loftier goals, the story leads him out of Rabanaste and lets him see the world, and even meet a few sky pirates. Vaan's dreams are coming true throughout the story, but he rarely loses focus on supporting Ashe and freeing Dalmasca. Although his actions aren't as integral to the story as Ashe and others, his role as protagonist works well, and it makes sense that the player watches the story unfold from his perspective.

He may seem like Tidus v2.0, but Vaan is pretty solid.

The main cast is rounded out by four others, who each add something in their own right. While playing through the game, I figured I would like Basch the most. He is a proud and loyal knight of Dalmasca, who in the game's early stages is framed for his king's murder and presumed executed for the crime (fake deaths everywhere!). Once rescued from imprisonment, he provides the party with an experienced warrior and a mature voice. In that regard, Basch very much reminded me of Auron, my favorite character in Final Fantasy X. However, like Ashe, he remains static throughout the story. Robbed of his honor and unable to serve his king, he will stop at nothing to protect Ashe and reestablish Dalmasca's independence. Basch does have a few interesting twists at the end of the game, but by that time I was already bored with him. I feel like there was potential for more, and before the game's release there was talk of the main protagonist being "big and tough," possibly alluding to Basch. If this is true, it means his character was scaled back in favor of Vaan, and I feel like it was a missed opportunity to highlight Basch's journey from knight to prisoner to renegade. Instead, Basch just sort of blends in with the background.

Basch's unkempt beard: awesome. Everything else: meh.

Penelo, Vaan's partner in street urchin-ry, adds even less. She helps keep Vaan grounded, and her unlikely friendship with Larsa, the Archadian emperor's son, begins the party down the path to a peaceful end to war. But otherwise she's pretty useless, aside from being eye candy for fanboys. Speaking of eye candy, fans who like an older, taller, vaguely furry woman will love Fran. She is a viera, the humanoid race blessed with rabbit-like features that allow them to sense and communicate with nature and the natural phenomenon of Mist. All magick is fueled by Mist, and concentrated areas of Mist are highly volatile, something to which Fran is sensitive. She also knows much about the lore of Ivalice, and is the only character who can lead the party to Eruyt, the viera village, so she is very helpful. But more importantly, Fran is Balthier's companion.

Hmmmmlooking good, ladies!

Ah, Balthier. Finally we arrive at an interesting, charismatic main character. Balthier is a veteran sky pirate, complete with his own airship, and has gained notoriety by collecting his fair share of rare and valuable treasure. He also plays the part of "the leading man" rather well, with plenty of confidence and swagger to spare. In my review of Final Fantasy XIII, I pointed out my distaste for Snow's constant boasting about playing the hero. Snow lacks the wisdom to make a solid plan or the experience to execute it, and I found him insufferable. Balthier, on the other hand, has spent his entire life one step ahead of the Archadian Empire and his sky pirate rivals. His aid to the party is invaluable, he has the ability to guess his enemy's tactics, and he's pretty handy in a fight. In my opinion, the main difference between arrogance and confidence is results, and Balthier succeeds as a character where Snow fails. As if that weren't enough, he has the most interesting backstory of any main character. Throughout the game, there are many hints Balthier has a particular reason to stop the Archadians, their imperial royal family, and their head scientist, Dr. Cid. What happens between Balthier and his enemies, and the story behind their past, are the best plot lines in the game. While Ashe and Basch can be overly serious at times, Balthier is the perfect well-rounded character the party needs.

I'll forgive the earrings -- he is a pirate, after all.

When the main party can't carry the story by itself, you want a lot of strong supporting characters to pick up the slack. Luckily, XII delivers in spades. Right off the bat, we meet Vaan and Penelo's adoptive father, Migelo. He is a bangaa (another humanoid race, resembling a lizard) who gives odd jobs to all the orphans of Rabanastre. He, along with the rest of Vaan's friends, always make Rabanastre feel like home. Also in Rabanastre is Montblanc, the moogle who runs the aforementioned Hunt Club. Despite his dangerous line of work, Montblanc is cheerful and supportive of the party should they choose to take on the club's most difficult hunts. Once the party reaches Eruyt, they eventually meet Fran's two sisters, Jote and Mjrn. The dynamic between the three sisters is tense, but also familiar to anyone who has experienced competition with or the disapproval of their siblings. It gives Fran, the most silent member of the six, her own interesting thread in the story. With Ashe wishing to bring about peace to warring nations and spare other smaller groups the same fate as Dalmasca, you also meet various leaders and heads of state. This is where Square Enix really flexes their creative muscles, presenting over-the-top characters without breaking the setting's believability. At one end of the spectrum, there's Anastasis, the leader of a religious sect in the mountains, and Great-chief Uball-Ka of the desert-dwelling garif tribe. They typify the slow, sage-like elder, and only help the party through their counsel. On the other hand are Al-Cid Margrace, the prince of Rozarria (the Archadians' rival empire) and Reddas, the leader of a town of pirates called Balfonheim. Both are brash, charismatic, and men of action. Reddas even joins the party as a guest character for a time, although he's not terribly helpful in battle. Another guest character is Vossler, Basch's old war buddy.

Based on his "armor" I bet Vossler is into some pretty kinky shit.

Vossler believed Basch to be guilty of treason, and after Dalmasca fell he abandoned his post and went underground with Ashe. The scenes between Ashe, Basch, and Vossler are very good, and we don't see enough of them together. The remaining guest character is Larsa, the boy who befriends Penelo early in the game. He's the son of Emperor Gramis Solidor or Archades, and he is nominally an enemy, but he sympathizes with Dalmasca's plight and seeks Ashe's aid to bring about a peaceful end to both the occupation of Dalmasca and the war between Archades and Rozarria.

Unfortunately, his older brother Vayne is bent on going forward with the offensive, and developing massive weapons based on the power of Mist. Vayne is extremely ambitious, and he proves to be unaffected by the rules of the Imperial Senate or the pleas of his little brother. At the command of Vayne and House Solidor are the Judge Magisters, an elite group of soldiers who act as both a police force within the empire and generals overseeing sensitive military missions. The Judges provide the party with a group of formidable enemies throughout the story, and I thought their design and execution was one of the game's strongest elements. Vayne also enlists Dr. Cid, who develops the weapons of Vayne's aggression. Even though they work together, Cid seems to have his own ideas about what he and the empire hope to achieve. Cid and Vayne make for a great pair of villains. Vayne is ruthless, calculating, and sees the world has his chessboard, while Cid is focused on his work to the point of obsession, and every discovery is another achievement to be celebrated. The two of them working as one is terrifying, as Vayne's ambition combined with Cid's manic genius would know no limit. The complexity of the antagonists helps the story progress, as the party must act quickly to stop Vayne from all-out war with Rozarria. Unfortunately, as the game progresses towards its climax, it becomes apparent that another entity, more powerful and sinister than Vayne or Cid, is really pulling the strings. Final Fantasy games love the bait-and-switch move for final bosses, and even though this one isn't too bad, I think it added to my lack of desire to finish the main story line. When I finally did, the payoff was pretty underwhelming.

It seems impractical, but all of the Judges' armor is badass. Also, I think Vayne crimps his hair.

Welp, that was a lot of info on the characters and the story. As I said before, the scale of XII is huge, and it takes a while to unravel all of the threads before the final act. It also makes for more challenging gameplay, as the optional items and bosses take skill and patience to complete. I play every Final Fantasy title with the goal of 100% completion, which I define as unlocking every spell and ability, acquiring at least one of every item and piece of equipment, finishing every side quest, and defeating every enemy. There are some who take it to ridiculous levels, such as having 99 of every item, but one is enough for me. That said, some of the tasks in XII are mind-numbingly tedious. The most obvious example of this is Yiazmat, the final mark of the Hunt Club and the hardest superboss in the game, and possibly the entire Final Fantasy series.

Get comfortable, because this will take a while.

Yiazmat has over 50 million hit points, which considering every one of your attacks caps at 9999 damage, takes a long freakin' time to whittle down. Oh, and he also two special moves that cause instant death, as well as his normal attacks have a 5% chance of causing instant death. I didn't use any speed strategies, just a tank and two damage dealers with normal equipment, but it took me around four hours to kill the son of a bitch. None of the other enemies, including the optional Omega Mark XII and the Esper Zodiark, gave me nearly as much trouble. As for all the other stuff, it was pretty easy once I knew the tricks, but I had a hell of a time acquiring one rare weapon, the dagger Danjuro. It's a very low percentage drop from a unique enemy, a flying imp called Larva Eater. It took me about a week of killing Larva Eaters and no other enemies, pausing the game when I had to sleep/eat/work/have a social life (because saving or killing another enemy type would reset the chain and higher chains mean higher drop rates), and holding back the urge to smash my television set. In terms of my investment spent spawning and killing it at maximum chain, the whole endeavor ended up being about ten hours of actual gameplay time and over eighty kills to get one Danjuro. The dagger itself isn't even that great of a weapon, but I'll be damned if I didn't equip it on Vaan for the rest of the game. Why? Because fuck you Larva Eater, that's why. I did feel an odd sense of accomplishment once I got the drop, however. It's the sort of reward that makes me enjoy most Final Fantasy games. None of them are particularly difficult if you have the patience to farm some game-breaking shit or the strength of will to suffer through terrible drop rates and the cruelest of random number generators. In that regard, I have to admit that my Danjuro rage was the product of my own play style. I hated the ten hours I spent on it, but the gratification of finally receiving an elusive weapon made it worth my trouble. Square Enix is not alone in this sort of reward system, as most games now have online achievements for the completionists in all of us. It's just that Square Enix usually makes at least one or two of these "achievements" a real pain in the ass. At some point in the future, I want my Yiazmat and Danjuro achievements linked to my PSN profile.

I feel conflicted about this little nugget right here.

Technically speaking, XII closes out the PlayStation 2 era with a bang. First and foremost, the orchestral soundtrack is a work of art in and of itself. Every town, every area, and seemingly every moment of the story's progression has its own unique track to enrich gameplay. It grabs hold of Final Fantasy fans quickly, as "Demo Movie" (which begins with the familiar "Prelude") and "Final Fantasy [FFXII Version]" set the tone for a wonderful listening experience. In my opinion, the best part of the music that it fits the style of Final Fantasy Tactics, which shares the setting of Ivalice. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto has worked on nearly all of the titles set in Ivalice, and the coherent style really connects the games together.

Each city has its own track, with one of my favorites being "On the Riverbank", which plays at several outposts and towns scattered throughout the wilderness. As for zone themes, XII has a unique requirement. Because of the open-world style of play, there is no difference between exploration and battles, and thus no battle theme plays when fighting most monsters. The zone themes have to capture both the feeling and character of the area, as well as the battles that take place there. Luckily, the tracks work very well, especially "The Dalmasca Westersand", "The Phon Coast", and "The Forgotten City". When in need of a true boss battle theme, XII delivers with the excellent "Boss Battle", "Flash of Steel", and "Battle with an Esper". And since he makes an appearance as a target of the Hunt Club, I have to mention Gilgamesh's battle music, "Battle on the Big Bridge [FFXII Version]". Where the soundtrack lacks, however, is with character themes and interludes. The only one that stands out to me is "Respite", which plays after certain tasks have been completed, and is a joy to listen to. As for characters, Ashe and Penelo have their own theme, and the others have short melodies present on other tracks. But none of them are terribly good or recognizable, and it really hurts when listening to the soundtrack. Also, most of the expository scenes have very forgettable music, which I assume is on purpose as not to detract from the voice acting. With the voice acting itself, Square Enix grew leaps and bounds in between Final Fantasy X and XII. Because the language of Ivalice has a medieval feel, the actors had a difficult task in sounding natural, especially since the script got a little melodramatic at times. Each major character pulls it off though, and Gideon Emery's performance of Balthier is especially good. I'll even forgive Bobby Edner and the "I'm Captain Basch!" scene, as that mini-game is awkward all around.

As usual, the graphics are exceptional. I know it sounds strange in a world containing giant magic rocks, bunny women, and lizard men, but everything is done with a sense of realism. The history of Ivalice is present throughout almost every location, and the many zones are never bland visually. The character design is also very well done. Tetsuya Nomura's gratuitous belts and zippers are nowhere to be seen, as Akihiko Yoshida was the character designer for XII, and I greatly prefer his style. Between the soundtrack, voice acting, and visual production, XII is a great technical game, and holds its own within the rest of the series.

Final Fantasy XII is a major achievement for Square Enix, particularly in terms of scale and innovation. By presenting its first single-player, open-world title and a massive setting to explore, the development team created something fresh and different, while still connecting to the history of the series. However, I feel like this game missed several opportunities to really make the story and characters stand out, especially with Ashe and Basch. The final result is a good-but-not-great overall experience, and one that (after six years of waiting to see it all) is a bit of a letdown.

The Basics		The Rest
Gameplay	8/10	Open-world Concept	8/10
Characters	7/10	Judges	9/10
Story	6/10	Lighten up, Ashe!	2/10
Sound	9/10	Random Number Generator	4/10
Graphics	9/10	Completionist's Wet Dream	9/10
Score	39/50	Score	32/50
Final Score: 71/100