Jason

Absolutely Teh Awesome.

Well, at least so far. It’s starting to grow on me. The battle system - using Gambits, is very weird at first. Once you get the hang of it, it gets suprisingly deep.

Verdict: Loving it!

More after the jump

Well, let’s start with the important stuff - Gameplay. As you have most probably heard, FFXII uses a semi-realtime turn based battle system. I think of it as a bit of a mix of traditional turnbased like FFX, and KH1+2. You still run around, but you command through the familiar turn based menu. This doesn’t sound appealing on paper, but it works out well because of the Gambits.

So what are Gambits? They’re effectively a priority action that you set for each character to use. At first, you may only have 2 Gambit slots - so the scope there is limited. For each slot you can set a Gambit, which is made of a combination of a target and an action. For example, a very useful Gambit would be to set the target to “Ally: HP<30%" and the action to "Cure". If the first Gambit target is not available, then the character moves onto the second Gambit, and so on and so forth. So, the order of Gambits sets up a priority for several actions. There is significant scope of different combinations, and you can use each character to focus on different roles in the party. You have your usual 'healer', 'magic caster', and 'fighter' types, but with Gambits, everyone can be everything, depending on the need. There are HEAPS of Gambit combinations. After 15hrs of play, I have attained about 1/10 of them all..... lots to collect.

At first, it took a while to get used to. You can set a command, and then have to wait for the action bar to fill before you perform it. This introduces the turn based element. Sounds boring, but with 3 people to look after, it can get pretty hectic. So, it's better with Gambits on - you find that instead of commanding each character for a certain action, you can change the Gambits themselves for each situation. For example, if you come across a boss that is weak against ice, you can get all your characters to cast Blizzard. The possibilities are endless. I guess I see the battle in terms of a higher level of decision making, rather than micro-manage each action.

Now the graphics. Visually, the in game engine is very impressive. There were a few moments that I had to double-check to make sure it wasn't pre-rendered. This game certainly knows how to push the PS2. Also, for the first time, a controllable camera! That's right - no more fixed camera positions and annoying hidden chests which can only be found by spamming the 'x' button. In fact, FFXII goes a step further and tells you when you're close to an object of interest. No more randomly pressing 'x' at every thing that looks like it can move.

The animation is not too shabby either. However, compared to animations in Zelda:TP, it does seems a little lacking. In any case, they do the job. The voice acting is also done quite well. There hasn't been many incidences that strike you that it is obviously a voice actor.

The story itself is pretty good. Of course, I am still only 15hrs in, and the story is still in full swing. I've noticed this time round that there are a lot more cutscenes. Gone are the text-box dialogues to drive the story. Most dialogues that move the story are now cinematic and voice acted. They did this in FFX, but it's more integrated this time and can really start to feel like an interactive movie.

The way to level of characters is not as annoying as I thought it might be. I have heard that the leveling system is like the sphere grid in FFX. I didn't really like the sphere grid..... it was rather annoying to have to move characters from place to place on the grid, and eventually learn all the same things. FFXII uses the License system. Each character has their own board, which you slowly unlock. Interestingly, besides needing lisences for using magick, you also need lisences for equipment too. In other words, even if you have the ultimate sword, you cant use it until you have the lisence to do so. Sounds like a pain, but in practice, it does give a sense of achievement, as well as hinting as to the next lisence/equipment to aim for.

Well, I just got my first summon (Esper), so I'll reserve comments on these later. There are things called 'Quickenings', which are related to 'the Mist' - which I haven't really figured out what it is. In fact, there are more than a few things I don't understand how to use yet. Oh yeah, they use the names for traditional summons like Shiva, Ifrit, Leviathon etc as ship names now.... >_< *shrug*

I should also mention that money is a lot more useful this time. In previous installments, you rarely had to budget, as you will usually have enough Gil to buy all the latest and greatest equipment when you come across them. Here, you need Gil for equipment and items as well as buying Gambits, Technicks, and Magicks (yes, they really are spelt that way). And so, it also becomes part of the strategy to decide what you need at the moment with the money you have. Oh yeah, monsters dont drop as much Gil as they used you. Most of the money comes from selling loot, or finding it in barrels - no treasure chests no more....

Speaking of monsters - no more random battles! Banzai! They do respawn after a time, but you now have to option to totally ignore them and run pass them. You definitely want to do this to some of the stronger ones. There are a few nasty beasts that are close to the easy ones you kill. They dont attack on sight, but if you get curious and hit it once.... you'll probably be dead before you can flee in time.... speaking from experience.

That's enough for now I guess. I'm enjoying it lots and can't wait to get back to playing. It's rather different from other FFs, but definitely in a good way. Quite a refreshing way to play an FF.