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It feels wrong to be rude about a Final Fantasy game but this one deserves it. Having finished it last night I was left disappointed by the overall experience.
There were some good things; I thought that the Hunts were an excellent idea, the scenery was pretty and some of the fights were pretty interesting (Demon Wall - for example). However it was well below standard in many other ways. I found the characters dull, the character development practically non-existent and the main character in particular began and remained as just some guy. Balthier was all right, I guess, but he was pretty much the only one.
The plot was linear and lacking in suspense. It quite evidently wanted to be Star Wars (a random quote from the end was "He's our only hope") and the Strahl was clearly the Millennium Falcon in disguise. A couple of times it looked like the Judges were going to go all interesting... but they didn't. There was no mystery to it and it was difficult to care about the good guys or hate the bad ones. Plus it's much too long - I mean the core game is much too long (side stuff can be as long as you please). Oh, and the music was unremarkable (I think that only Lowtown stood out for me at all).
( A bit more detail with medium spoilers and comparisons to earlier FFs )
All in all, it's not that bad a game. Had it been recommended to me with a different title (making it comparable with Wild Arms 3 or Star Ocean 3) then I would have been pleased with it and recommended it. Unfortunately, I expect far more from the FF label than that.
I expected FFXII to be my favourite game of 2007. It isn't. Shadow Hearts II was better, Dreamfall was better and we're only in May. But... if you don't have specific expectations of anything called Final Fantasy and want a roleplaying game you'll probably enjoy it.
There were some good things; I thought that the Hunts were an excellent idea, the scenery was pretty and some of the fights were pretty interesting (Demon Wall - for example). However it was well below standard in many other ways. I found the characters dull, the character development practically non-existent and the main character in particular began and remained as just some guy. Balthier was all right, I guess, but he was pretty much the only one.
The plot was linear and lacking in suspense. It quite evidently wanted to be Star Wars (a random quote from the end was "He's our only hope") and the Strahl was clearly the Millennium Falcon in disguise. A couple of times it looked like the Judges were going to go all interesting... but they didn't. There was no mystery to it and it was difficult to care about the good guys or hate the bad ones. Plus it's much too long - I mean the core game is much too long (side stuff can be as long as you please). Oh, and the music was unremarkable (I think that only Lowtown stood out for me at all).
( A bit more detail with medium spoilers and comparisons to earlier FFs )
All in all, it's not that bad a game. Had it been recommended to me with a different title (making it comparable with Wild Arms 3 or Star Ocean 3) then I would have been pleased with it and recommended it. Unfortunately, I expect far more from the FF label than that.
I expected FFXII to be my favourite game of 2007. It isn't. Shadow Hearts II was better, Dreamfall was better and we're only in May. But... if you don't have specific expectations of anything called Final Fantasy and want a roleplaying game you'll probably enjoy it.
