The Not-So-Final....
I've been playing Final Fantasy 12 for the past week, off and on. My first impressions run a little something like this: the plot-line seems even more involved and convoluted than normal (this is not necessarily a bad thing). Though it's claimed to be set in the world used for Final Fantasy Tactics, I've yet to see any relation, geographically, genealogically, or otherwise, between the two. They'd have been just as well off not bothering to posit a link between them. Not that it really detracts from the game much, but it has been a trifle jarring. What, Ivalice? Where?
Most of the characters seem like the pretty standard lineup: fair-haired, precocious male main character, fallen from favor yet tough and optimistic female lead, male lead's obligatory female friend, rogues-with-a-heart-of-gold and a wardrobe to shame even the royals, scantily-clad and improbably (for Final Fantasy 7, read: oh, dear god, how did they ever think they could get away with so blatantly defying the laws of physics?!) proportioned female character, etc. In short, nothing new here.
The combat system is certainly taking some getting used to. The auto-battle thing is great, without question it speeds up some of the more mundane battles, but for tougher fights, where the boss characters move fast and you have to move faster, even it doesn't seem to keep up, to say nothing of invoking all of one's commands completely manually. Sure, it's easy to get your characters to heal each other when they fall below a certain HP threshold, but when I want to cast an offensive spell to get that little extra damage that might just save my hide, it feels like it takes forever, with the speed the action flows at. The seamless transitions it makes for are quite nice, though. No more reverting to 'battle screens' and such.
The setup whereby characters learn new skills, spells, or abilities is a nice touch, too. It's somewhat reminiscent of Final Fantasy 6, in that you can customize what kind of role you want each of your characters to fill. Do you want traditional Final Fantasy roles, with the male lead being a semi-heavy, speed-based fighter, and the female lead the living heal potion? Fine. Or, do you want to craft your male lead as a healing type, and set up your female lead as a speedy fighter/thief? No problem. Anyone can potentially learn anything, with the exception of quickens and summons, and I find that I like that quite a bit. It lets you breathe a little life into what are otherwise standard Final Fantasy archetypes that are beginning to show their age.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Oh, and a word or two about the abandonment of most traditional summons' names, in favor of new ones, while tipping the hat to them with the airships Ifrit and Levaithan? Nice touch.
Most of the characters seem like the pretty standard lineup: fair-haired, precocious male main character, fallen from favor yet tough and optimistic female lead, male lead's obligatory female friend, rogues-with-a-heart-of-gold and a wardrobe to shame even the royals, scantily-clad and improbably (for Final Fantasy 7, read: oh, dear god, how did they ever think they could get away with so blatantly defying the laws of physics?!) proportioned female character, etc. In short, nothing new here.
The combat system is certainly taking some getting used to. The auto-battle thing is great, without question it speeds up some of the more mundane battles, but for tougher fights, where the boss characters move fast and you have to move faster, even it doesn't seem to keep up, to say nothing of invoking all of one's commands completely manually. Sure, it's easy to get your characters to heal each other when they fall below a certain HP threshold, but when I want to cast an offensive spell to get that little extra damage that might just save my hide, it feels like it takes forever, with the speed the action flows at. The seamless transitions it makes for are quite nice, though. No more reverting to 'battle screens' and such.
The setup whereby characters learn new skills, spells, or abilities is a nice touch, too. It's somewhat reminiscent of Final Fantasy 6, in that you can customize what kind of role you want each of your characters to fill. Do you want traditional Final Fantasy roles, with the male lead being a semi-heavy, speed-based fighter, and the female lead the living heal potion? Fine. Or, do you want to craft your male lead as a healing type, and set up your female lead as a speedy fighter/thief? No problem. Anyone can potentially learn anything, with the exception of quickens and summons, and I find that I like that quite a bit. It lets you breathe a little life into what are otherwise standard Final Fantasy archetypes that are beginning to show their age.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Oh, and a word or two about the abandonment of most traditional summons' names, in favor of new ones, while tipping the hat to them with the airships Ifrit and Levaithan? Nice touch.