Favorite Fantasy (XII)

A floating, evil-eyed bomb beast!

I’ve traveled East Ivalice for over a hundred and forty hours now, searching for answers to my questions. The conflict brewing here has engrossed several neighboring countries, yet our adventure party has long since strayed from the heroism gig in order to plunder the depths of FINAL FANTASY XII. The free roaming atmospheres allow us to hunt those unique targets and tackle side quests at our leisure. In my opinion, it’s an RPG paradise… 

Unfortunately, my opinion counts for squat in the gaming galaxies. Many other players threw a fit about FF XII, forcing SquareEnix to re-re-revamp their gaming engine. The redesigned mechanics of Final Fantasy XIII (thirteen) appeal to the real-time action gaming crowd… you know, those dainty young minds that don’t like a lot of menus or turn-taking in their video games. I still can’t understand why those gamers want to play RPGs in the first place, or why a mega company like SquareEnix would appeal to them over hardcore role players like myself. I felt the recent changes were so awful and distracting, I didn’t even finish FF XIII. Instead, I returned to Ivalice in order to rediscover what makes this Final Fantasy game so great (in my unqualified opinion). 

Brother against brother.

Experiencing the storyline for the second time has given me new appreciation for it. It’s a dramatic tale of rival nations battling for supremacy, with the next generation of leaders torn between conquest and peaceful coexistence. The game was released shortly after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, so it has a ton of Star Wars similarities in it (much like FF XIII has a slew of Transformer similarities). Flying ships, advanced technology and magic fused together, stuff like that. I never found drama to translate well into video gaming characters; their faces look stiff and plastic to me, and at a time when emotional expressions are needed. This game does pretty well for a PS2 original. 

With that said, the play mechanics are what really draw me to the game. If you’ve ever played a Final Fantasy, you know how tedious it can be to maintain characters during battles. Since you come across a lot of the same enemies in an area, you find yourself performing the same actions over and over, casting the same spells, and healing party members continuously. It gets monotonous. 

A little help here, please!

But in FF XII, characters can be programmed with a series of prioritized actions they perform during battles. This is extremely helpful when it comes to removing status effects like poison and raising KO’d party members, but it also makes fighting fun. It’s like your party is backing you up as you fight. Critics say that these programmed ‘gambits’ allow the game to play itself, entirely removing the need for a player. I disagree with that. I still maintain characters and make crucial decisions during every battle… but my mind is free from other, more obvious decisions that play out automatically (like a character falling below 30% health and knowing she needs to replenish). 

The Phon Coast

Each region of East Ivalice is a series of area maps strung together, allowing players the chance to walk from one end of the land to the other, fighting, searching, and gathering experience. Enemies roam the terrain visibly, often providing the adventure party an opportunity for a strategic attack or even a stealthy pass when characters are inexperienced. 

And the land is beautiful! Breathtaking even, sometimes frightening or mysterious. The frigid mountain palace in the Paramina Rift. The steamy Golmore Jungles. Sprawling cityscapes such as Rabanastre or the foreign empire of Arcades. The designers meticulously crafted each area. No flat and cornered maps here, friends. There are little believable touches everywhere. My favorite by far has been the Feywood near Giruvegan: a haunted forest shrouded in fog and an oily, reflective mist. So mysterious… it’s fantastic! 

My crew, Balthier and Fran

Our party is currently roaming the Henne Mines, grinding like hell for experience, whacking at undead vampyr bats that don’t know when to quit. My strongest players are Balthier the sky pirate and his strange Vierra companion, Fran. They fight alongside Vaan, the plucky young hero who really has no depth or personality in this story and thus provides the perfect vessel to make him whoever you’d like him to be. I’ve got Vaan maxed at level 99, a feat I’ve never accomplished before in an RPG. I always get bored in the 70s. But the game play in FF XII is that addictive. 

With the numerous side quests and special hunts and leveling opportunities and optional espers to tame, over a hundred forty hours of play so far, I have no clue why SquareEnix panicked and drastically changed their engine to something so horrible. Perhaps it’s true that Final Fantasy fandom is divided into real-time whores and turn-based pussycats. And if that’s the case, we may experience a few more lurches before the war over this issue is finally won. Fair warning to real-time gamers: we turn-based nerds have a lot of patience, and we love to grind an issue endlessly. Let this one go.