Final Fantasy XII

What is there to say about a Final Fantasy game at the beginning of its impending review? It's almost a redundant exercise really. Fans of the series will buy the game regardless, and everyone else will wonder what all the fuss it about. But you see; I have an ace up my sleeve.

This is the first Final Fantasy game I've spent more than an hour on. (Please note I have been placed under a witness relocation program for fear of the reprisal that statement will bring from hardcore Final Fantasy fans).

But seriously, this really is the first game in the series to ultimately capture my attention. Perhaps it's just the series' time in my gaming life, or maybe it was the need to write this review. It could be that I feel slack for having never given the series a chance, or maybe I just wanted to be able to join in the months of FF discussion my friends and colleagues are going to be partaking in. Whatever the case may be, I've sunk my teeth into Final Fantasy XII, and I'm hooked.

Now, you might wonder why someone with little experience with the series is allowed to review one of the more anticipated entries. Truth is, while never having spent more than an hour on any of the past games, I have always been fascinated by them. To this end, I can assure you I know and understand the formulas that go into making a great FF experience, so the hardcore kids out there, who've already bought this gem, you can probably stop reading now (unless you want to go over my analysis with a fine tooth comb), for the rest of you - the aforementioned people who want to know what all the fuss is about - I'm here to fill you in.

To begin with, it's important to know a little about what makes a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game. You may remember the movie a little while ago - the one that nearly bankrupted Square forcing their partnership (in some degree) with Enix (best known for their Dragon Quest series)? Well, the movie showed one side of the Final Fantasy foundation that has been a hallmark since the series went 3D(ish) with FFVII - Full Motion Video. It's the very reason we never saw a Final Fantasy game on N64 and only PSOne and PS2, because of Nintendo's decision to remain cartridge-based until GameCube. Final Fantasy story sequences have always been stunningly produced proving their CGI team is one of the best in the world, and these beautifully animated sequences always correspond with a deep and involving story.

Final Fantasy XII has stunning FMV in spades, and it also has - arguably - one of the most action-packed intros to the series yet. It's also one of the most multilayered stories Final Fantasy has ever seen; full of mature themes, political undertones and characters facing the realities of war, life and death. This marks a new step for the Final Fantasy series, a step in a more mature direction where each of the game's characters brings with them the burdens of bad decisions, of failure and deceit and of facing the consequences of past actions. Here we have a game with more humanity injected into every major character it feels more like a moving novel than a videogame (save for all the levelling up, stats, battles and items). But this is FFXII's ultimate charm, it takes foundations and hallmarks from the series and injects new life into them, offering an all-new experience, something even jaded FF players should be able to sink their teeth into without complaining too much.

But story and CG aren't necessarily elements with which the Final Fantasy series can be forever changed, this is something better left to gameplay mechanics, and thankfully the game throws you into the thick of the biggest change of all, right from the outset.

Prologue. We're taking control of Reks amidst a dangerous battle. After a chaotic CG intro, we open our eyes as a young soldier under the command of the decorated leader, Basche. Here the game holds your hand through the most dramatic change to Final Fantasy since the series went 3D - the battle system. First and foremost, enemy encounters are no longer random. What you see is what you fight. Moreover, you're no longer whisked into a battle screen with a turn-based menu breaking the fluidity of play. "What!?" I hear veteran players scream. "Then how the hell do we battle?" Quite easily, actually. The game keeps moving, the camera never changing from the game-world as you seemingly attack enemies in real-time. A string leading from you to your chosen target keeps you aware of exactly where your blows are landing while a small sub menu reveals itself at the foot of the screen. You can manage your party and attacks on-the-fly from this menu and your actions are played out via a timed bar, once this 'Action' meter fills, your character will perform the required stroke, be it healing, attacking or empowering, it all still takes time, like a turn-based system, it's just a lot more organic and obviously borrowed heavily from MMORPGs.

But the changes don't end there. Once your party comes into effect, you can issue "Gambits", these are action commands you can utilise for the characters you're not in control of to ensure they're prioritising their actions throughout encounters. A Gambit can be anything from attacking the same target as the leader to healing any ally whose health has dropped below 50%. There are countless Gambits available to both purchase and win throughout the game, and toying with different combinations of them (each character can have up to 12 in place) can issue you a winning formula. However, bosses, dungeons and certain enemies have been designed in such a way that no one Gambit blueprint will carry you through the game unscathed, so it's important to be shifting them up as often as possible to ensure your party's survival and ultimate success.

Another new addition to the game comes in the form of licenses. As well as gaining experience points in battle, you'll also gain points that can be used to acquire licenses. The licenses relate to abilities that range from types of armour and weapons you can use, to different abilities and magics. Essentially it works like an ability tree and the extensive nature of the licenses means by the end of your massive journey you may have directed any one of your character's strengths in one specific area more than anything else. You may have groomed a healer, a tank and so on, based solely on what licenses you decided to unlock throughout. It's a deep system, that much like the game's Gambits, will require some experimentation on your part.

All of these new additions to gameplay work incredibly well around the ensemble cast of characters within the game, and you could be forgiven for thinking the story revolves around the young orphan Vaan (younger brother to the aforementioned Reks), but the further in you get, the more each character's place within the story becomes as equally important as that of our young thief.

Two years after our prologue featuring Reks, we take on the guise of Vaan who uses his brother's death as a means to steal from the Empire he blames for Reks' death. All of this is a result of the Archadian Empire invading the peaceful Dalmascan Empire. During the struggle the Dalmascan King is assassinated after he signs a peace accord that will allow Archadia full occupational rights to Dalmasca. Much unrest surrounds this signing and upon hearing the news of her father's death, his daughter, the princess, takes her own life leaving the people of Dalmasca at the mercy of the Archadian Empire without a leader of their own.

Vaan uses a banquet, held to invite peace to their new overseers, to rob the Archadians, however, his plan is also joined by a band of sky pirates and a resistance movement. As you'd expect, their paths all eventually cross and it isn't long before he has teamed up with a select group of people in a quest far bigger than any of his thievery trails could ever have been.

And this is a massive quest. We're talking the 100 hour range for the roving Eastern RPG nuts out there (if you decide to partake in the game's myriad of side-quests and missions, that is). Hunting marks alone for money and stature can take you across the game-world for hours and hours on end. And speaking of the game-world, the realised landscape of Final Fantasy XII is as stunning as it gets on the ageing PS2. Each city you visit is full of life and grand European-esque architecture. There are as many in-game cinematics as there are pre-rendered, and while there is a marked difference, the in-game stuff still looks better than it ever has in the series.

The voice-acting and the game's overall script are also incredibly well-handled, with dynamic dialogue being thrown around some of the more mature characters in the game. While the game's soundtrack is moving, graceful and full of energy - the perfect accompaniment to the game's deep and involving story that begins and ends on the epic scale of things.

With all of that said (I actually could go on even more, but I won't), it's difficult to find fault with this masterpiece. Square Enix has made serious changes to the tried and tested Final Fantasy formula here, and to great success. It's also difficult to see a time the series will fall back on those old formulas in the face of what FFXII offers, the series feels changed forever after just a few hours with this stunningly crafted game. If I could pick one problem with the game, it would be that it unfortunately finds itself at a cross roads in gaming where the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 are the new shining stars. It would have been nice if it could have been shifted to PS3 and presented in high-res, but then, given how many people out there have PS2, I could be wishing an early grave on the game based on the PS3's high price-point. Wanting fresher visuals aside, Final Fantasy XII is as perfect as Eastern RPGs get and a game worth losing your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/children/friends over - make sure you enjoy every minute of it.