The next installment of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XII, is due out this fall. Like many RPG players, I was very excited to hear this. I have been a fan from the get go and VI, VII, IX, and X are some of my all-time favorite games. I even found X-2 to be a fun game after I got over the initial shock of the girl pop intro. Then again, maybe I liked it because I paid $50 bucks for it and I damn well better. Anyway, I’ve played this demo several times in an effort to get used to the idea of a real-time Final Fantasy.
Gameplay
There are two levels in the demo, one in “active mode” and the other in “wait mode.” This just means that while you are choosing what action to take, the enemies can wait for you or be active. Don’t let that fool you though, the system is in real-time and hardly facilitates real battle strategy (I like my games turn-based). As far as I can tell, the only menu is the battle menu so I don’t know how you arrange your inventory or look at your stats or anything.
The level are filled with minor enemies and there is a boss at the end. You run around and encounter visible enemies. As you defeat enemies (in the same screen), the experience you gain is automatically accrued and the items you win are left on the ground where the enemy died. When you defeat the boss, the familiar FF win theme is played and the level is over.
The summon system is most closely related to that of FFX, where the summon spirit comes out and fights for your party while you disappear.
The camera was horrible IMO. It wouldn’t stay where I aimed it, which caused me to be a little motion-sick.
Story
What I know about the story comes from seeing the intro trailer and the scene after the second level. It is set in the world of Ivalice (coincidentally the name of the world in FF: Tactics, which by the way, is an awesome game) and it appears that a small kingdom is being overtaken by an empire. The playable characters appear to be a ragtag group of people whose camaraderie was forged by this war.
Graphics
Here is one of Square-Enix’s strong suits and one of the things for which they are best known. The in game graphics look great. One of the levels is set on a beach and the water and sky are absolutely gorgeous. The other level is in a very dark, detailed dungeon with creepy statues in it.
The characters look very detailed but they don’t seem to be a huge improvement over FFX’s in game characters, graphic-wise. The monsters are beautiful and incredibly detailed.
The FMV (full-motion video) graphics look stunning, as expected.
Overall
It’s hard to get an accurate portrayal of how this game will play out from the demo*. I want to know how the world map will work:
- *How do we get from place to place?
- *How do we save the game?
There are too many things left unanswered by the demo.
I didn’t really like the game-play but I am not usually a fan of real-time games. I think that my overall impression leans towards disappointment. I will probably wait until this game has been out a while and the price comes down before I buy it. Buy it I will though, because I am a sucker for anything with the Final Fantasy name on it.
As a person who has the actual game here is your answer.
Basically to get from place to place. You walk. Yes, walk. Of course, there’s an airship service in town that can transport you to other town for a fee.
As for saving. You save at a Crystal-like structure. Every time you approach one, your entire party is healed as well as the option to save. There are some special save crystals that make use of teleport stones that you’ll acquire throughout the game. These teleport crystal have an additional option of warping you back to town.
Personally I love the battle system, but that’s just me. So far, it is truly an epic game.
Hey, I like X-2 as well, it wasn’t all THAT bad. Yea there was some shock at the intro (along the lines of “What the heck have they done this time?!”) but the gameplay was quite enjoyable.
I like the new battle system myself even though I’m a turn-based fan myself. Also, I think that the main menu was turned off in the demo, perhaps to just the gamer concentrate on the battle system?
The new visible enemies are great, it just makes avoiding them when you’re in a pinch all that easier.
I too enjoyed the visible enemies but I am afraid that I didn’t find them very avoidable in the dungeon level of the demo. I still don’t know which I prefer. With visible enemies, even if you can’t avoid them, you know they are coming. At the same time, if you avoid them a lot, your characters don’t level up enough for bosses.
Torpy, you are probably right about the menu being turned off for the demo. When I think about it, it would make little sense for them to include it in a short demo. Still, the demo left a lot to be desired on my part but it didn’t instill enough curiosity in me to want to buy it right away.
I haven’t played the FF:XII demo yet so I can’t say either way how I feel about it. After Zingor played the demo I asked her to review it for me.
I was disappointed that she didn’t like the demo since I was really excited about the new FF. Zingor, in my opinion, knows her stuff when it comes to RPGs, and I respect her opinion. She’s the one who told me I would like Final Fantasy VII and X and lent them to me to play. I did in fact love both games and if I had the time, I would totally get into RPGs.
I prefer shooters and action games overall though, and if the fights are real time in the game I might really like FF:XII. The graphics are mind blowing, but I don’t know how I feel about “bunny girls”. Cat girls and fox girls are understandable, but bunnies? I don’t know if I could shake the thought of “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids”…
Why would cat and fox girls be okay but not rabbits? I think it’s all wierd if you look at them as animal type-humans. It’s new and interesting however, if you simply see it as another race of humanoid like orcs and elves or the dragoons from FF9. I think they look pretty cool myself and in the dungeon level, I switched that character to be the main one because I enjoyed watching her fight more (the action is kind of fast so I found I could really only focus on one character).
I think there’s enough room in the 1/2 human + 1/2 half cute animal kingdom for rabbit-folk too!
Oh, boy here come the PC patrol crying foul with anthro-racism! Just kidding guys.
In regards to cat and fox girls making more sense than bunnies, well that’s a matter of culture and opinion. How many times have women been referred to as felines in their mannerisms? For example, “She’s being rather catty today.”, or calling a fight between two girls a “cat fight”. Women have been called vixens since the early 1920’s, vixens being the female fox. That last one may be out moded, but it’s still used. Both critters are wily predators that ooze danger and slyness; apropo when crossed with dangerous women.
Bunnies on the other hand, aren’t too terribly bright, fast, or sexy. I realize that Hugh Hefner has the “Bunny Ranch” for his Playgirls, and maybe that’s partly fueling my negative opinion of bunny girls. I’ll give any anthro a chance, but they’re all going to be “dumb bunnies” until they can prove otherwise.
cool. i havent played the game yet, ill have to check it out.