Final Fantasy XII : Review

Final Fantasy XII is the 12th installment of Final Fantasy series, published by the infamous Square Enix. It took place 10 years after the end of Final Fantasy X. This game can be played from PlayStation 2 engine. This game applies real time battle system, where 1 hour in real life means exactly 1 hour in the game.

 

Vaan Ratsbane

 

 The player starts with the protagonist of the game, which is Vaan Ratsbane. This game takes place in a world called Ivalice. Throughout the game, you will play in a team of no more than 3 people; it can be less than that, you can even play single handedly. 

 

 Throughout the game you can only play a character, but no worries since you can always swap from one person to another as 'leader'. By doing this enables you to change the tactic used by the entire team, as well as how your team's supposed to act in a battle.

The picture above is called "Gambit". You can set them however you like, and the number shows the list or priority. For example, based from picture above, you set the player named Vaan to do 6 things in battle as condition and situation call for it. Here is the explanation:

1. This is the 1st priority. Vaan is to cast Esuna (White Magick) whenever one of the members get Confused.

2. When the #1 is done (or when there's no one get Confused), Vaan is to cast Steal (Tehnick) any enemies that are still fully healed (100% HP).

3. When #2 has been fulfilled, Vaan is to Attack the enemy that is targeted by Vaan's party leader.

4. After whoever it is that Vaan's party leader is down, Vaan is to cast Cure (White Magick) to anyone in the team that has HP less than 80% of her/his full HP.
5. Last thing, now is the time for Vaan to finally get selfish; Vaan is to cast Protect (Green Magick), then Shell (Green Magick) to himself.

How Magic Commands appear in battle mode

Magick, like weaponry and armory, can be acquired through purchasing in stores all over Ivalice.

 

 In Menu, the player can change the Party arrangement, look up into everyone's Status, equip the members with weapons, armors and accessories. The player can also look up into the World Map, since this game allows you to roam around in the huge continent right in the middle of the story line, without even changing the story. There are more than 20 countries (cities) you can go to, not including the secret passage such as caves, underground tunnels or secret plains with strong monsters keeping you busy.

The best part about equipping weapons are that the characters can wield weapon that is not theirs to wield in the first place. And more than often, the character designated to one type of game may not be actually fitted to wield it. For example, a character is the only character begin with a gun. Turns out someone else is better suited to wield gun than him.

 

There is also something called License. This License Board has hundreds of squares, each squares representing spells, weaponry and armory with its own License Points (LP) that has to be fulfilled so that that certain spell or weapon or armor can be used. You must have enough LP and LP can be earned by defeating enemies.

To put it simply, you can buy Confuse spell from any store, but you won't be able to use it until you have "checked" the square in License Board with Confuse spell listing on it.

As usual, Square Enix applied the theme of Quests that can be taken throughout the game. The rewards varied from money to items. Through some items might be useful (like Potions to heal etc), some of them are items that can't be used in battle. These items may lead another quest to appear once you earn these questionable items, and another items from that will result to another. A lot of quests are related to each other, and most strongest weapons or toughest armors are acquired through these quests.

Like any other Final Fantasy games, there are also Summons. There are more than 10 Espers to be summoned, 1 to 3 Espers can can be paired to each character. There are certain Espers that need to be acquired first to get through the story line.

Scenario

There was a war waging on a world called Ivalice between 2 super power empires, which is Archadia and Rozarria. A small kingdom located right in the middle of Ivalice got caught in this war, resulting to one of the main protagonist, Vaan's loss of his older battle in one way or another. After that, Dalmasca fell under occupation of Archadia Empire after a last-minute treason of Archadia Empire who tricked the King of Dalmasca to "give up" the reign. Because of that, the throne of Dalmasca has been under Archadia, for the true heir has been announced to be dead while in fact she was up and about outside the Palace, joining with the Resistance to build power to get back the throne.

Throughout the game, the story lines hinge on her drive to avenge her kingdom.

Classification

Nama Game : Final Fantasy XII

Publisher :  Square Enix

Developer : Square Enix Product 

                    Development Division 4

Patform : PlayStation 2

Price : $49.99

Release Date : August 9, 2007

Genre : RPG

Theme : EPG, Adventure, Real Time Strategy, War.

ESRB Rating : Teen

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Victory Condition :

1.       Victory if the player can defeat the boss enemy at the end of the game

2.       Game over if all the team members (in party battle or reserved) are defeated

Player Control :

Battle

1.       Player can steal opponents’ belonging during battle

2.       Player can escape from most battles

3.       Player can use special skills (magic & summon)

4.       Player can use items on battles

5.       Player can move around the opponent freely for better position

6.       Player can change leadership during battle

7.       Player can play all characters in the team (of 3) freely one of a time

Adventure

1.       Player can move character freely to areas in city

2.       Player can enter all areas and cities

3.       Player can use items when off battles

4.       Player can take (normal ) quests from any taverns

5.       Player can take difficult (and unique) quests from the guild as long as number of normal quests taken have accumulated to be enough to take guild’s quest

6.       Player can take more than one (1) quests at a time

7.       Player can interact with any non-player characters (NPC)

8.       Player can upgrade weapons, magics and technics from shops all over the world

9.       Player can fulfill any squares in License if player has enough License Points (LPs) required

10.   Player can join guild at the beginning of the story

Reward :

1.       Money from winning battles

2.       Loots from winning battles

3.       Money or items from stealing from enemies
4.    Money or items from chests, vases all around the world

4.       License Points (LP) from battles

5.       Experience Points from battles

6.       Increasing rank in guild whenever the number of  quests accumulated to be enough for the requirement

Challenges :

1.       Random encounter depending on the places

2.       Quests appear depend on the progressing story

3.       Quest with unique requirements (limited time, certain condition, certain occasions)

4.       Timeline in battles caused by speed

5.       Escape is not allowed when encountering boss enemies, hidden enemies or special enemies

6.       Different areas from rainy season to dry season

7.       Different enemies from rainy season to dry season

8.       Enemies getting stronger as story progresses as well as depending on different areas

 

I vote for this because this game applies real time battle mode, thus challenging me since there are multiple bosses that requires to be defeated under a certain amount of time. The theme of Finality and Destiny as well intrigues me since it means not everything can be achieved; the best weapon can be earned after a series of related quest to be done, so that means it can be easily missed. I also like the fact that you can roam around and get to one of secret caves, even though the story line at that point hasn't got there yet. The Quests are also entertaining since it's not only a matter of fighting-and-attacking the enemy; some if not most of them requires certain tactics to be used such as that we need to patrol the area for certain amount of time first before the Quest Enemy appears. Or that members of the team need to be close to being dead first to make the enemy appears.

Last but not least I like the story line, on how a group of people that used to be strangers but come to know each other to face their fears and obstacles, all in one purpose which is to free the Occupied country out of their Oppressor.

Author: 

Aliya Rahma Najihati

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