All good things inevitably come to an end.
Needless to say i was excited about the prospect of FF12. I read the reviews and was a little nervous due to the new fighting mechanics but i bought the game anyway ....
... and really wish i hadnt. There is, in my honest opinion, absolutely no features improved and infact very few parts of the game even measure up to the previous titles. The fighting mechanics is one of the largest problems. Gone are the days of thinking about what to do next, using your imagination to visualise the combat. Instead its all in virtual realtime where uninspired combat movements take away the fun and a lack of any real skill takes away from the longevity. I realise some people like the new combat system but i really dont. I think it is abysmal. But even that is not my largest complaint with the game. The storyline in all final fantasy games has been a large hook and reason to keep playing. They are normally interesting and yet simple, putting you in an idealistic character in an idealistic world. Im afraid for some unimaginable reason this too has changed. They have tried to mature but instead just over complicated a forumla which worked so beautifully before. I foun the storyline unineteresting and i just didnt care about the characters. I must confess that i did not reach the end of the game (i found i would rather do the hoovering that i had put off for so long) and so if the story line improves i apolagise but certainly for a long while it is just bland. This then takes me to the graphics. yes they are quite pretty and the engine is smooth but what they did with the graphics again fits in with the rest of the game. You find yourself travelling through forgettable places as a blocky and boring protagonist. The sound is as you would expect from a Final Fantasy game Im afraid i have very few nice things to say aboput this game and i have no doubts that there are many people who would disagree with me and even slate me for writing such a negative review. But these are my honest opinions and i stick to them
+ at a stretch, using a lot of imagination you can occasionally feel like your in a final fantasy game
+ you can send the game back
- the graphics are boring
- the storyline is no fun at all
- the combat mechanics are terrible
- is this the end of Square Enix? i hear i am not the only one with this opinion
- the game is not very good at all