Megalosaro
Banned
Years after release, Final Fantasy XII remains one of Final Fantasy's most controversial titles. It has become a symbol of the decline of the Final Fantasy franchise, a prelude to the terrors of Final Fantasy XIII. Subjected to a particularly long and dramatic development cycle, the wait for Final Fantasy XII was long and agonizing for fans of the franchise. Many gamers skipped Final Fantasy XI due to the nature of it's gameplay, as it was seen as a spin off rather than main series entry due to it being an MMO (a complaint later echoed against Dragon Quest X). Furthermore, gamers were hesitant to embrace the game, as it was the first game in the series to be be released without the guidance of series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. While many people belief Sakaguchi would have worked on Final Fantasy XII had he still worked at Square Enix, this is a mistaken idea. In truth, development began on Final Fantasy XII long before his departure from the company. It was Sakaguchi himself who hand-picked up and coming designer Yasumi Matsuno to helm the project. Although Matsuno would quit the project midway through, citing health concerns, the game's story and concept work was already complete, and Hiroyuki Ito, the creator of the ATB battle system, was appointed to finish the project.
Post release, the game was critically acclaimed, but panned by long time fans of the franchise. Nearly every aspect of the game was criticized by fans, from the story and characters, to the music, to the gameplay. While Final Fantasy XII is by no means a perfect game, these criticisms usually subject to extreme amounts of hyperbole, or untrue entirely. The fact of the matter is Final Fantasy XII is one of Square Enix's final achievements, worthy of the praise critics initially heaped upon it, including its 40/40 from Famitsu.
The Story
One of the most unfortunate myths surrounding the game is the idea that Basch was supposed to be the main character, but was swapped out with Vaan last minute in order to appeal to Japanese fans. Like all myths, there is some truth to the myth, but not to the degree people exaggerate. While it is true that focus testing did occur, it happened very early on before the game's design document was even completed. This means the game's story was still in a conceptualized state and quite nebulous. After focus testing finished up, the findings were incorporated into the game's design. This means that Final Fantasy XII's "final draft" of the story was written to include Vaan.
Final Fantasy XII's story is full of fascinating themes. One of my personal favorite themes centers around the main villain, Vayne, who I find to be one of the best characters in the franchise. At surface level, he seems like the typical power hungry tyrant, there are several details regarding his personal story that are fascinating.
Vayne is a man who has several problems he is trying to solve at the same time. His biggest concern in the story is the power struggle his nation is facing regarding the nation of Rozarria. Both his nation, Archadia, and Rozarria are super powers. At the point in which the game begins, war between Archadia and Rozarria is all but a foregone conclusion, so Vayne and his father begin positioning their country to be in a better situation in the oncoming war.
This means invading two smaller countries: Nabradia and Dalmasca, where our heroes are from. This ensures a sort of buffer for Arcadia, to better protect the mainland from a potential Rozarrian invasion.
Another situation that Vayne has to deal with is internal strife within his own kingdom. The emperorship in Arcadia is a democratically appointed position and there are checks and balances put in place. One check is the Imperial senate. In all of their attempts to prepare the country for the upcoming war, Vayne and his father has had their hands tied by the senate. So of course, his father and him have to deal with that.
And finally there is an even larger scale problem that Vayne faces. Vayne learns from Dr. Cid that the destiny of humanity has been manipulated by otherworldly beings. He wants to liberate humanity from those beings which have fashioned themselves as Gods. And while he does so in a manner that would definitely set him up in a good position, his concern is genuine. This can be seen through his final scene with Venat, right before he becomes the Undying. He's not some megalomaniac. He's actually trying to help humanity, while at the same time help his own kingdom. He has chosen to take a heavy burden on himself, and it is interesting seeing him react under all of that.
So yeah, Vayne is a great villain, because he is almost an anti-villain. He is well-intentioned, but goes about his actions in bad way. The prices he is willing to pay to resolve the struggles he faces is just too high of a price.
The other characters are all great as well. From a player character perspective, I would say Ashe is the closest thing to a main character in this game. We'll get to Vaan in a bit, because I want to talk about her first. Ashe has quite a few motivating factors going on as well. There is this on going dialogue throughout the game where everyone always questions her motives, even her self. What does she want exactly? Does she actually want to liberate Dalmasca, or does she just want revenge for her father and her husband? Furthermore, what lengths will she go to to achieve her goals. Like Vayne, is she willing to sacrifice thousands, maybe even millions of people? Is she willing to let herself become a pawn of supernatural forces who want to maintain the status quo?
Vaan, on the other hand, is a very different character. His character is kind of similar to the character of Nick from Great Gatsby, or Lockwood from Wuthering Heights. He is the prospective character. He represents the common man, and how they are affected by the actions of all of these high minded people. He has his own dreams and ambitions, but because of the war and occupation, he has become a street rat. He lost his family in the war and now makes a living killing rats in the sewer or running errands for local shop keepers. Within the larger context of the story though, he has a much bigger role. His job is to bring everyone together. Without his actions, Ashe would probably be executed as a traitor, Balthier would just go around pirating, and Basch would be in jail still. Furthermore, he serves as a moral anchor to Ashe, as she struggles with coming to terms with her problems.
If I were to criticize one section of the game, it would be the section of the game where the party travels to the Archadian empire following the events at the stillshrine of miriam. The story becomes a little bit TOO thin at that point, but everything before that point and everything upon arriving at Miriam is AAA.
I could write an entire essay on while FFXII's characters and story are amazing, but I want to move on. If you guys want me to elaborate on anything though, I'm ready to go hardcore. Just let me know.
The Music
I'm entirely convinced the reason people hate this soundtrack is because it's not Uematsu. That's too bad. Uematsu is great and all, but that is no reason to disregard the amazing soundtrack that FFXII has provided. Hitoshi Sakimoto 100% knocked this soundtrack out of the park and it is EASILY one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard for any piece of medium ever. And the shear number of songs on here is astounding, especially since every track on here is well crafted. Furthermore, Sakimoto proves with this soundtrack that he is a genius sound engineer. Sakimoto used synthesized instruments for this game's soundtrack. That's so impressive to me, because the quality is amazing. Don't believe me? Listen to the soundtrack on MP3 form. Each song has so many layers, full of interweaving leitmotifs and themes.
Here are some of my favorite songs from the soundtrack:
Nalbina Fortress Town Ward:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g_XAtbQr8I
Nalbina is the town that was attacked at the beginning of the game, where Ashe's husband is killed. Two years later, the town is slowly rebuilding. This song does such an incredible job portraying that sort of steady optimistic determination the people of Nalbina have.
Barheim Passage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vKDM1sTEXc
Sakimoto is a genius at composing wonderful atmospheric pieces. This piece is my favorite. It captures the the atmosphere of Barheim Passage wonderfully. It gives a sense of mysterious wonder to an abandoned train tunnel, and is a big chunk of the reason Barheim is my favorite dungeon in the entire game.
Time For A Rest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUp46wc9d0Y
Gameplay
When people talk about FFXII's gameplay, they often mention it is basically an offline FFXI. This is untrue, and shows that that person hasn't played FFXI. The only similarity it has to FFXI is that you can walk around between attacks. In truth, FFXII's battle system is very much like that of FFVI or VII's, just without all the dynamic camera work for attacks . It's a pretty standard ATB battle system. Yes standard attacking is automated, but is that really that big of a deal if you don't hit X as much, only when you want to do a special attack? I don't think so. If I had one area I would improve FFXII's battle system, it would be in regards to battle field positioning. As the game stands, there is very little point to moving characters around the battle field, outside of getting them within range for Area of Effect spells. It would have been nice if stuff like topography and elevation also played a role.
I've heard many people criticize the game's gambit system. Why? The gambit system is amazing. It can help relieve repetitiveness so much. Because the game "plays itself"? Hardly. I don't care how good you are at setting up your gambits, there is no way you can program it to think of every situation that would arise. Besides, it's kind of like playing a football simulator in a way. Much of FFXII's challenge comes from setting up your party for upcoming situations, so in this regard setting up gambits would be akin picking a play before each down in Madden. It still requires player interaction for situations that are unpredictable. The Zodiac Job System version makes the gambit system even better by allowing players access to every gambit at the beginning of the game, making the system even more useful.
Post release, the game was critically acclaimed, but panned by long time fans of the franchise. Nearly every aspect of the game was criticized by fans, from the story and characters, to the music, to the gameplay. While Final Fantasy XII is by no means a perfect game, these criticisms usually subject to extreme amounts of hyperbole, or untrue entirely. The fact of the matter is Final Fantasy XII is one of Square Enix's final achievements, worthy of the praise critics initially heaped upon it, including its 40/40 from Famitsu.
The Story
One of the most unfortunate myths surrounding the game is the idea that Basch was supposed to be the main character, but was swapped out with Vaan last minute in order to appeal to Japanese fans. Like all myths, there is some truth to the myth, but not to the degree people exaggerate. While it is true that focus testing did occur, it happened very early on before the game's design document was even completed. This means the game's story was still in a conceptualized state and quite nebulous. After focus testing finished up, the findings were incorporated into the game's design. This means that Final Fantasy XII's "final draft" of the story was written to include Vaan.
Final Fantasy XII's story is full of fascinating themes. One of my personal favorite themes centers around the main villain, Vayne, who I find to be one of the best characters in the franchise. At surface level, he seems like the typical power hungry tyrant, there are several details regarding his personal story that are fascinating.
Vayne is a man who has several problems he is trying to solve at the same time. His biggest concern in the story is the power struggle his nation is facing regarding the nation of Rozarria. Both his nation, Archadia, and Rozarria are super powers. At the point in which the game begins, war between Archadia and Rozarria is all but a foregone conclusion, so Vayne and his father begin positioning their country to be in a better situation in the oncoming war.
This means invading two smaller countries: Nabradia and Dalmasca, where our heroes are from. This ensures a sort of buffer for Arcadia, to better protect the mainland from a potential Rozarrian invasion.
Another situation that Vayne has to deal with is internal strife within his own kingdom. The emperorship in Arcadia is a democratically appointed position and there are checks and balances put in place. One check is the Imperial senate. In all of their attempts to prepare the country for the upcoming war, Vayne and his father has had their hands tied by the senate. So of course, his father and him have to deal with that.
And finally there is an even larger scale problem that Vayne faces. Vayne learns from Dr. Cid that the destiny of humanity has been manipulated by otherworldly beings. He wants to liberate humanity from those beings which have fashioned themselves as Gods. And while he does so in a manner that would definitely set him up in a good position, his concern is genuine. This can be seen through his final scene with Venat, right before he becomes the Undying. He's not some megalomaniac. He's actually trying to help humanity, while at the same time help his own kingdom. He has chosen to take a heavy burden on himself, and it is interesting seeing him react under all of that.
So yeah, Vayne is a great villain, because he is almost an anti-villain. He is well-intentioned, but goes about his actions in bad way. The prices he is willing to pay to resolve the struggles he faces is just too high of a price.
The other characters are all great as well. From a player character perspective, I would say Ashe is the closest thing to a main character in this game. We'll get to Vaan in a bit, because I want to talk about her first. Ashe has quite a few motivating factors going on as well. There is this on going dialogue throughout the game where everyone always questions her motives, even her self. What does she want exactly? Does she actually want to liberate Dalmasca, or does she just want revenge for her father and her husband? Furthermore, what lengths will she go to to achieve her goals. Like Vayne, is she willing to sacrifice thousands, maybe even millions of people? Is she willing to let herself become a pawn of supernatural forces who want to maintain the status quo?
Vaan, on the other hand, is a very different character. His character is kind of similar to the character of Nick from Great Gatsby, or Lockwood from Wuthering Heights. He is the prospective character. He represents the common man, and how they are affected by the actions of all of these high minded people. He has his own dreams and ambitions, but because of the war and occupation, he has become a street rat. He lost his family in the war and now makes a living killing rats in the sewer or running errands for local shop keepers. Within the larger context of the story though, he has a much bigger role. His job is to bring everyone together. Without his actions, Ashe would probably be executed as a traitor, Balthier would just go around pirating, and Basch would be in jail still. Furthermore, he serves as a moral anchor to Ashe, as she struggles with coming to terms with her problems.
If I were to criticize one section of the game, it would be the section of the game where the party travels to the Archadian empire following the events at the stillshrine of miriam. The story becomes a little bit TOO thin at that point, but everything before that point and everything upon arriving at Miriam is AAA.
I could write an entire essay on while FFXII's characters and story are amazing, but I want to move on. If you guys want me to elaborate on anything though, I'm ready to go hardcore. Just let me know.
The Music
I'm entirely convinced the reason people hate this soundtrack is because it's not Uematsu. That's too bad. Uematsu is great and all, but that is no reason to disregard the amazing soundtrack that FFXII has provided. Hitoshi Sakimoto 100% knocked this soundtrack out of the park and it is EASILY one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard for any piece of medium ever. And the shear number of songs on here is astounding, especially since every track on here is well crafted. Furthermore, Sakimoto proves with this soundtrack that he is a genius sound engineer. Sakimoto used synthesized instruments for this game's soundtrack. That's so impressive to me, because the quality is amazing. Don't believe me? Listen to the soundtrack on MP3 form. Each song has so many layers, full of interweaving leitmotifs and themes.
Here are some of my favorite songs from the soundtrack:
Nalbina Fortress Town Ward:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g_XAtbQr8I
Nalbina is the town that was attacked at the beginning of the game, where Ashe's husband is killed. Two years later, the town is slowly rebuilding. This song does such an incredible job portraying that sort of steady optimistic determination the people of Nalbina have.
Barheim Passage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vKDM1sTEXc
Sakimoto is a genius at composing wonderful atmospheric pieces. This piece is my favorite. It captures the the atmosphere of Barheim Passage wonderfully. It gives a sense of mysterious wonder to an abandoned train tunnel, and is a big chunk of the reason Barheim is my favorite dungeon in the entire game.
Time For A Rest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUp46wc9d0Y
Gameplay
When people talk about FFXII's gameplay, they often mention it is basically an offline FFXI. This is untrue, and shows that that person hasn't played FFXI. The only similarity it has to FFXI is that you can walk around between attacks. In truth, FFXII's battle system is very much like that of FFVI or VII's, just without all the dynamic camera work for attacks . It's a pretty standard ATB battle system. Yes standard attacking is automated, but is that really that big of a deal if you don't hit X as much, only when you want to do a special attack? I don't think so. If I had one area I would improve FFXII's battle system, it would be in regards to battle field positioning. As the game stands, there is very little point to moving characters around the battle field, outside of getting them within range for Area of Effect spells. It would have been nice if stuff like topography and elevation also played a role.
I've heard many people criticize the game's gambit system. Why? The gambit system is amazing. It can help relieve repetitiveness so much. Because the game "plays itself"? Hardly. I don't care how good you are at setting up your gambits, there is no way you can program it to think of every situation that would arise. Besides, it's kind of like playing a football simulator in a way. Much of FFXII's challenge comes from setting up your party for upcoming situations, so in this regard setting up gambits would be akin picking a play before each down in Madden. It still requires player interaction for situations that are unpredictable. The Zodiac Job System version makes the gambit system even better by allowing players access to every gambit at the beginning of the game, making the system even more useful.
But seriously, it is in no way similar to XIII. Which just goes to show that sometimes BOTH extremes can suck.