In the last article, I discussed my initial impressions to the first seven hours in Square Enix’s latest incarnation of their most popular franchise, Final Fantasy XII which I’ll again refer to as 12). I buckled down in the last couple days and added some more hours to my total game play. I feel as though I am getting a better feel of what this game is about: I am grasping the battle system, I have a better understanding of the license and gambit features and the story is finally beginning to unravel. Join me now as I delve further into to this behemoth of a game….

Battle System

As I mentioned in the last article, the key 12’s battle system is not having to play at all. This is a concept that makes this game unique and a little difficult to grasp at first. All of the characters are controlled by the gambit system, a feature that lets the player customize how the specific character will act in a range of situations. Carefully managing the gambit system is the key to winning, poor gambit placement will find the player staring at the game over screen, something I found myself doing on more that one occasion. As the game progresses, more gambit options become available allowing the players to further customize the characters actions, but I have found the following gambit combinations to be quite effective in battle.

I make sure that all of my characters are able to restore HP when necessary, either through potions, cure spells or technicks. I have my main healer cast cure on any ally that is below 50% HP, then I have the other two members of my party use potions when any ally is below 30% HP. This generally keeps every member of my party with decent hit points. Also I set every member of my party to use a phoenix down when any ally is killed, thus restoring them back to life. I defend against status aliments in much the same manner, I have my party cast spells or use potions whenever a character is afflicted by a specific ailment. However, doing this greatly reduces the number of available gambit slots but more slots can be unlocked on the license board

I don’t have a wide arrange of offensive gambits at the moment so generally I have my characters equipped with the following. The party leader will attack the nearest enemy and I have the rest of the party attack the enemies that the leader is targeting. This strategy has been working for me so far, but I would like to make further use of my magical abilities as the game progresses.

The License Board

A character is useless with out licenses. Licenses allow the character to use weapons and armor, cast magic, earn abilities, improve stats, gain gambit slots and more. The license board allows for almost limitless customization. The player can choose exactly how the different characters progress and can customize them as s/he sees fit. For example, by acquiring sword and white magic licenses the player can create a paladin type character. Or by acquiring green and black magic licenses the player can create a war mage. The player can choose to create a focused character or a character that dabbles in a little bit of everything.

As I mentioned in the last article the license board is similar to Final Fantasy X’s sphere grid but I believe the license board offers more customization and lends itself to challenges, thus increasing the replay value. For example, trying to complete the game with a party of white mages or for an even harder challenge, without even using the license board at all.

Story

Finally the story is starting to pick up, but don’t worry I am not about to reveal any spoilers. It takes a long time for the game to get moving but once it does it becomes very interesting. There is vast array of characters both playable and non-playable, so it can become difficult to keep everyone straight. The story, while not entirely original, is still entertaining. I don’t want to give too much away but involves a powerful empire that has imposed its will on the kingdoms it has subjugated. A 17-year-old boy named Vaan emerges from the slums of one of these conquered kingdoms and hatches a plot to wreak havoc upon the empire, but he gets more than he bargained for when he discovers a princess who was supposed to have died over two years before.

The story has been progressing slowly, introducing all of the main players, good, bad and neutral. I have just now reached the point where I have 6 main characters in my party so I have to choose party combinations. One feature that makes battles a little easier is that characters can be switched in and out of a current battle, as long as they are not targeted. So, if one character is killed s/he can be swapped for another.

Hunting

Final Fantasy VII has chocobo breeding, Final Fantasy X has blitzball, but 12 has something entirely different, hunting. Scattered throughout out the land of Ivalice are boards that have “bills” posted. These bills have information regarding powerful creatures that need to be exterminated. Upon reading the bill, the player is given information to the whereabouts of the person that posted the bill. After talking to this person, the specific details of the hunt are given and the hunt officially begins. Upon successfully completing the hunt, the player receives awards based upon the rank of the creature defeated. The player has the option to join a clan, once a member the player can receive rare hunts and information on hunts already in progress. While not necessary to complete the game, the hunting side quest gives the player something to do between the main quests that can offer quite a challenge.

The more I play the more I am enjoying Final Fantasy XII. There is so much to do and the graphics are absolutely gorgeous, some of the finest on the PS2. The characters are really beginning to grow on me, Basch and Balthier being my favorites as of this writing. Let’s just hope the story keeps going strong, thus keeping things interesting. Look for part three of my Final Fantasy XII experience after about another 10 or so game play hours!