The first reviews of the Final Fantasy XII sequel are out in Japan.by Anoop Gantayat
April 16, 2007 - One of the most highly anticipated DS games has seen its first reviews appear in the Japanese press. The quarterly Dengeki DS & Wii ****will go down in history (quick -- update the appropriate Wikipedia pages!) as having provided the first reviews of Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII sequel, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings.
Three editors from the six strong review staff shared scores and opinions on the game. Misawa, a super hardcore gamer who likes western games, gave the game an 85 out of 100. Wakasama, a super hardcore gamer who loves locking himself up with RPGs and simulation games and buys games on release day even if he doesn't have time to play them, awarded the title 90 out of 100. Finally Tarou Hayashi, a game fan who'll try out any genre but has recently found himself playing action and puzzle games, gave the title a 90 out of 100 and flagged it with a "recommended" mark.
The comments from the three reviewers suggests that Square Enix delivered a product that will be friendly for all.
Misawa praised the good flow of the mission-based storyline and the ability for battles to be both simple and more involved.
Wakasama noted that from a gameplay system perspective, the game is markedly different from previous FF games, but it still feels like an FF game. He was impressed by the large number of characters who enter the battle, which, he said, offers the player a feeling of being close to the action, so much so that he found it hard to believe he was playing a portable game machine. He also mentioned that while deep, the difficulty is such that the game can be played by people who don't normally play RPGs.
Finally, good old Tarou. This reviewer praised the game's balance, which he said is perfect for a portable game. The only bad points he noted involved difficulties in selecting areas of the battle field with the stylus. He suggested using buttons during battle.
We'll be getting our hands on Revenant Wings near the game's 4/26 Japanese release date, so stay tuned for our own opinions.
The three reviewed scores are: 85, 90, 90. And avg. score of:
88/100 (Not bad. Very impressive)
http://ds.ign.com/articles/780/780805p1.html
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Great news to me! Final Fantasy XII (aside from the storyline) was my favorite last-gen RPG, a very close tie to Dragon Quest VIII with Valkaryie Profile 2 coming in third. So I'm excited that these hardcore Japanese reviewers liked this game.
It looks like even though Square-Enix made the game accessible for newbie FF players, it still looks as that the game is still fun and challenging for FF veterans. Plus, it looks like a lot of fun.
I'm looking forward to this one for sure. The DS just keeps getting better and we don't even have Pokemon or Dragon Quest IX yet!
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