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As the future of Ivalice hangs in the balance, the mighty
Arcadian Empire edges ever closer to war with its old enemy
Rozzarria. Lying between them, the tiny kingdom of Dalmasca
celebrates a royal wedding and the promise of future prosperity...
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. He
is about to learn that the freedom he craves is not easily
won, and that to realise his dreams, he must first realise
the dreams of a nation...
Final
Fantasy XII takes place in a world called Ivalice, in
an age when magic is commonplace and airships fill the skies,
crowding out the heavens. A world of many races, the humes,
bangaa, viera and, of course, moogles, all call Ivalice home.
War
was on the horizon. Seeking to strengthen its base of power,
the great Archadian Empire had been invading and subjugating
its neighbouring kingdoms one by one. The small Kingdom of
Dalmasca was one such kingdom. When the occupying Archadian
forces established a new consul in Dalmasca's Royal City of
Rabanastre, it caught the attention of Vaan, an urchin living
on the streets. To Vaan, the Empire was a hated enemy who
had taken the life of his brother his last surviving family
member.
Vaan
hatched a plan to sneak into the castle housing the new consul
and unburden him of one or two of his treasures. But before
he would have the chance, Vaan got far more than he bargained
for; a resistance movement of former Dalmascan soldiers rising
up against the Archadian Empire was launching an assault.
Amid the ensuing confusion that engulfed the castle, Vaan
saw something he could scarcely believe. There, among the
members of the resistance, was the figure of the sole remaining
heir to the Dalmascan throne, the Princess Ashe, who'd been
given up for missing...
Our
story follows Vaan, Ashe, Vaan's friend Penelo, the sky pirate
Balthier, his partner Fran and many more on an adventure through
Ivalice that traces the mysteries behind the Archadian Empire's
invasion.
Final Fantasy XII moves the franchise to new heights
with a new look and complete overhaul of the gaming engine.
The cut sequences of the story are also worth a mention. Some
of which are incredibly beautiful.
The
new "Active Dimension Battle" (ADB) system gives players the
freedom to move seamlessly around the environments attacking
the enemy or exploring the surrounding area at will. I have
to say that I much preferred this style of combat over the
other, more stagnant style that was common in previous Final
Fantasy games.
The
new Gambit System combines the strategic subtlety of classic
turn-based battling with the immediacy of real-time combat.
Allowing the player to assign instructions to party members,
the Gambit System enables the party to act intelligently in
battle without the need for user intervention. For example,
if you want a character to act as a healer, you can instruct
them to use a Cure spell whenever an ally's health falls below
a chosen level.
The game's Licence Board gives allows the ability to customise
each character's skills and abilities. Random battles are
a thing of the past as you can now see foes before engaging
them. Each type of monster has its own territory and behavioural
patterns. Some foes will leave the party alone unless provoked,
while some enemies will fight amongst themselves or prey on
weaker monsters.
My
only really moan is that it is not possible to change the
camera options so if you are not used to using your controls
with the up and down reversed this game will be next to unplayable.
That
is really an unforgivable aspect to overlook - especially
when the game is so well polished in all other respects.
Not
only will Final Fantasy fans warm to this game, but
I'm sure that a whole new generation of fans will spring up
- with those who found the previous games too hard to get
into finding this offering a lot more palatable.
Nick
Smithson
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