Details
Title: Platform: Release Date: Genre: Pros: Cons:	Final Fantasy XII Playstation 2 16 March 2006 (JP) 31 October 2006 (US) 23 February 2007 (PAL) Role-Playing New combat system, impressive graphics, plenty of freedom Perhaps too much freedom for some, combat system can sometimes lead to "sit-back-and-watch" sort of battles, not so much emphasis on the story.

Review

As war looms on the horizon, the Archadian Empire begins a campaign to subjugate its neighbours. The neutral kingdom of Dalmasca shares their fate.
Two years later, a Dalmascan street urchin named Vaan looks to the heavens and dreams of leaving his fallen homeland to live the life of a sky pirate, free to go where he will. However, he gets more than he bargains for when he encounters Ashe by chance, and soon finds himself joining in an adventure to defeat the Archadian Empire and restore the fallen Dalmascan Kingdom.

The one thing that was obvious to me was that the graphics are in low resolution, meaning that you'll see lots of jagged outlines of buildings and people. But despite this observation, you can't help but admire the huge detailed areas that you travel. The best example is of the city of Rabanastre, where your adventure begins - high buildings, and plenty of people and very little, if any, lag. It's clear that the graphics pushes the PlayStation 2 to its limits. The characters themselves are very detailed especially in-game.

The music is up to the standard expected of Final Fantasy games. The background music for each area is rather memorable, such as the upbeat tunes of the city of Rabanastre, or the mysterious atmosphere portrayed in the Golmore Jungle, or the dramatic music when you fight an Esper.
The voice acting I thought was pretty good, and each voice actor was a good choice for their respective characters, rather than a mixed batch of good and not-so-good voice acting. The voices do match their characters' backgrounds also, such as Basch's knigh-like accent and Balthier's casual, yet charming voice - fitting for a pirate. Even the villains aren't excluded, such as the Judge Magisters' very royal and upperclass accents, which are suitable for such law enforcers and military commanders.

The gameplay of Final Fantasy XII is what stands out. The biggest change from previous Final Fantasies, is that there is no transition from exploring mode and battle mode - both are now one and the same. As you explore an area, you can see enemies from a distance and you can choose if you wish to avoid or battle them. However, if you don't wish to battle the enemy and you get too close, the enemies will pursue you to start a fight.
Since battles are done in real-time instead of turn-based, this game has come up with a feature to more easily control your characters known as 'gambits'. What this means is you assign characters certain commands to perform when certain conditions are met, and once in battle, they'll carry out the commands without you having to manually select them and choose an action for them. It's great when there are plenty of enemies attacking you, but depending on how dependent you are on gambits, it can sometimes lead to you just sitting back and watching your characters fight the enemy.
The levelling up system in Final Fantasy XII is similar to the sphere grid system of Final Fantasy X, but goes further. The License Grid as it is called, determines not only what spells and abilities characters can use, but also the type of weapons and armour they can equip. It gives the player plenty of freedom with how they want each of their characters to develop.

One thing I noticed with this game was that the overall feel and theme of this game was that of western-european air to it, rather than the asian feel of Final Fantasy X. This game also has a medieval feel to it, along with the combination of futuristic technology to create a rather interesting world. Oddly enough, this game draws some parallels to various other mediums, the most obvious of which is Star Wars, though the creators have revealed that while it does draw parallels to Star Wars, the inspiration behind this game wasn't primarily from that particular film, but rather more from other mediums, with the game's story, technology and characters coincidentally feeling similar to Star Wars.

For Final Fantasy fans, if you can keep an open mind and not set your expectations to very high for this Final Fantasy game, you won't be disappointed. I highly suggest playing this game at least once just for the sake of the new combat system, as it is quite a change from previous Final Fantasy games. However, if you are looking for a game that's heavily loaded on story, then this might not be what you're looking for. All in all, I enjoyed Final Fantasy XII, and fans of Final Fantasy and RPGs in general should give this a try

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