FFXII is the new instalment in the Final Fantasy series and does a pretty good job meeting with the fans' expectations
Our story begins a few years earlier, upon the marriage of King Raminas' daughter, Ashe, with lord Rassler. Future looked prosperous. However, at the same time, the archadian empire decided to start a world domination campaign over Ivalice, taking down anyone who dared to oppose its mighty army.
After being a spectator of a brutal battle that ended with the fall of one of his neighbours, King Raminas takes precautions in order to restore peace among kingdoms, and finally gets summoned for a reunion with Archades' leaders.
Recks (Vaan's brother) and Captain Basch are sent along to assure the King's protection. However, something terribly unexpected happens changing the lives of Ivalice's inhabitants...
FFXII, in my opinion, offers a very mature and ambitious plot, which represents a nice change from its predecessors. The characters are easily likable, each one in its particular way and it's interesting to see how each one of their pasts are slowly unveiled. Graphics - People don't realise when they first play FFXII but this game has made a significant jump from FFX. When walking around you have the option to zoom in and out on your character, according to your needs. It's when you actually get close that you see the level of detail that the designers of Square-Enix (SE) have put into the game. The game's middle age / futuristic theme (very Star Wars look alike) was well explored offering us bigger, better and ever more beautiful scenarios.
Gameplay - Welcome to the future of RPGs and let me introduce you to the revolutionary Gambit system. For those of you who still haven't played the game here's a little tutorial. Gambits work like IF clauses. A character will do a certain action only IF certain conditions are met. For example: you decide to use a gambit to cure an ally and you choose the condition "HP (Health Points) bellow 50 percent". The character that has this gambit activated will cure his ally only IF his ally's HP is in fact bellow 50 percent. Simple right? Simple and useful since it allows you to think more strategically.
This system combined with real time battle (yes, that's right, turn based combats are history) really keeps things flowing nicely.
My opinion is that the Final Fantasy saga was needing this upgrade and XII was the perfect opportunity to test it before entering the PS3.
I would say SE still has to work a little more for future instalments, but it is definitely going in the right direction. I guess time will tell.
Sound - The soundtracks accompanying Final Fantasy games have always been very good. Here, there is no exception. Also, the voices have improved from FFX, with the actors sounding more natural than before.
Longevity - The game is quite big, as usual, so it's assured to keep you busy for quite some time. It also offers you a great number of sidequests, which represents a huge additional value to the game.
For all of you who still remain sceptical, I would like to tell you that Final Fantasy XII may very well be one of the last titles worth buying for the PS2. If you still haven't got it, I recommend you to run off to the stores right away and grab a copy.