Final Fantasy XII

THE BAD:
-The battle system is much like Kingdom hearts there are no random battles and most battle if you need to can be avoided this is good but when you do fight it turns to turned based.
-You play the typical weakling of the party who everybody really laughs at (much like Tidus off ff10)
-The storyline isn’t original and very predictable
-Very little mini games compared to what are normally in it
-A lot of movies which some may think is good but i say take a few out and use the extra space for more game play
-To replace the "sphere Grid" from ff10 they put a new thing in which is the same except its to use your spells and gear not really boasting your stats and is usually more of an inconvenience then anything else.
-No decent replay value most ff games have something great to play it again I don’t see it in this one.

SUMMARY:
So Square Soft gives us ff12 looking at the cover it looks like your generic ff game. When turning it on your hopes go skyrocketing by the great introduction. Then when you get in your first fight your hopes go crashing into the ground. Square put a Kingdom Hearts style of free roaming battle into the game so the battlefield is always changing, but unfortunately it’s still turn based and moving your character around the battlefield doesn’t help you in anyway. I say they should have picked one or make it so I can do something during the battles. The new sphere grid like feature is annoying due to the fact if you get an item of some form you can’t use it until you find the right "license" on this grid to use it. This can be annoying if you don't know were it is and waste points trying to find it, because unlike the sphere grid from ff10 you can’t see what skills are next so you can't make a strategy. I am tired of seeing people who look like other characters or act like other characters from other ff games can't square think of anything new? Your main character acts like Tidus, there is another lady called Lady Ashe and she must be Yuna's twin sister. I mean come on! Some originality would be nice and its not just the characters the storyline is your everyday corny ff storyline and lacks originality. You can only talk to certain people in this game why I don’t know and to top it all off they tried a new system called quickening this is much like the overdrives from ff10 but at first when you use them you have no idea how they work. It takes a few times before you understand how they actually work. By the end of the game you start to have a little more fun but it should NEVER take that long to get you to enjoy a game. Square Soft tried something new, and many I have heard love it, but not me I wouldn't play this game again because it's not worth the time and effort to do it all over again. If you compared this to any other Final Fantasy it has a good storyline like ff8 good graphics even better then ff10 or x2 and the world feels much like ff9 but all that doesn’t make a good game.

THE BAD:
- Storyline does not have that Final Fantasy flair.
- Little to no interesting character development.
- "Liscence Board" system for learning new abilities is a step down.
- Can be rather harsh on new players.

SUMMARY:
Though FFXII may not be the greatest Final Fantasy Square has ever produced, it is also not the worst, by far. For someone new to the FF series, FFXII may seem like an absolutely brilliant game, but those of us who have faithfully followed Final Fantasy since it was first released will notice quite a few changes to the game, for good or for worse.

First, the graphics and voice acting are just stunning, two traits that Final Fantasy is known for. Some of the CG cutscenes look like they belong on next-gen systems, and you almost always feel the emotion behind the characters voices, an aspect that is often overlooked by other games. Each character also has a unique personality, complete with varying accents, even though sometimes I felt they overdid it - Marquis Ondore sounds at times like he just learned to speak English. My only complaint is that the Moogles didn't get to speak!

The first thing players will notice that's new in this game is the combat system. Gone are the sudden, random battles that marked the FF series for so long. Instead, monsters are now free-roaming on the field, allowing you to see them before you encounter them in battle, and completely avoid fights if you want to. This was a huge step up for the series. Also, the combat itself is unique and innovative. Instead of issuing commands on a turn-based basis, you now control one character out of the three in the battle. You can switch between which character you control at any time, and the ones you aren't controlling will act on their own.

This is where the true genius of the battle system comes into play - gambits. Though the gambit system is tricky to get a hang of at first, as new commands open up, a whole realm of strategy becomes available to you. How it works is, each character has a number of slots available for gambits. For each gambit, you assign a situation (such as "Ally: HP < 50%"), and an action (such as "Cure"). Even about a quarter of the way through the game, you really start to see how much control you actually have. Since you can change gambits at any time, even during battle, you can instantly adapt to any enemy's fighting style.

But now, the cons... To me, the story was lackluster. I was expecting something along the lines of FFX's epic storyline, with plot twists that would leave you stunned. However, the plot in FFXII seems to revolve more around nations and politics than a grand, world-saving adventure. Also, most of the characters in your party really have no motivation. Two characters, Ashe and Basche, have a reason to be traveling, and the rest just seem to be along for the ride. Couple that with some poor character development, and you have a problem.

Also, the Liscence Board was a disappointment for me. I thought the Sphere Grid in FFX was great, and this seemed to be a step down from there. The big thing is that every character uses the same board, which allows for every character to learn every skill with minimal effort, which makes using every character unnecessary, unlike in previous games.

But overall, FFXII is still a must-have for any RPG fan. It will keep you playing for hours on end.