I got "Oblivion" (XBox 360) late and despite a few tentative forays into
"Lego Star Wars II" (also on the 360), "Loco Roco" (PSP) and a few others
I've been playing it pretty much non-stop since I got it - just under 200
hours at last glance.
I wasn't actually going to even pick up Final Fantasy XII right away: I've
got a stack of un-played games and was going to take a break and finish off
some weekenders (platformers, adventure games, etc) before getting sucked
into another epic Role Playing game.
Then my Mom "surprised" me by sending it me (she picked it up at one of her
wholesale clubs). My son wanted to see it (he likes watching the openings)
so I slapped it in Wednesday night before bed time.
I'd love to say that I've not stopped playing... but I've got a life. I
will say that I've not played "Oblivion" since.
I was able to put in a good five hours today (it rained all day here)
bringing my total play time, so far, up to about 11 or 12 hours so I think I
can talk about it realistically.
The game really doesn't grab you and shake instantly you like some others,
although it start off with a nice action sequence to whet your whistle.
Nearly all of the complaints I'd heard about the game are, in my opinion,
unfounded.
The main character DID look effeminate and odd in pictures. But a well-cast
voice and some very effective (and masculine) animation work and you simply
don't come to that conclusion when playing.
The combat is NOT on "auto-pilot" at all unless you want it to be. If you
do however there are incredibly rich options for this which eliminate nearly
all the tediousness of "regular" battles.
The combat is NOT action oriented although it may look like it when watching
the game: it's still essentially turn based but with full freedom of
movement. The same rules and strategies apply to this game as previous
games but the end result is actually much more fluid and beautiful.
The lack of a "world map" hasn't hurt so far (admittedly I've uncovered very
little of the world). Locations are connected by discrete areas similar to
the way they were in "Final Fantasy X". There are plenty of options for
fast travel (teleport stones, airships, etc).
The lack of random battles is well-appreciated. Instead each area is
populated by hordes of baddies which you can choose to attack or not. Never
again will you fine yourself "circle-walking" in an attempt to trigger
random battles.
All of the voice-work and most of the writing so far as been superb. The
story is more serious this time out, but still both clichéd enough not to
disappoint fans of the genre and original enough to satisfy. So far, at
least, it's also understandable (if a bit on the political side): there have
been no mentions of "the planet" or "spirits of the nether planes" or any of
the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo that tended to populate the previous games.
The character design is somewhat subdued compared to previous games but, I
think, better for it. The graphics, overall, are probably the best the PS2
has to offer (with the possible exception of "God of War"). The menu and
text-heavy screens (bestiary, tips, etc) are especially well done
(sharp-edged and clear) and even seem to give the XBox 360 a run for the
money.
Like any Japanese RPG the story is directed and set (there's no real
"role-playing" in the pen-and-paper style) but then again if you've played
any "Final Fantasy" or "Dragon Quest" game (or any of the hundreds of
imitators) then you knew that.
On the potentially negative side the game is more complex than previous
entries. Many common actions now have multiple steps. For example monsters
don't generally drop Gil (money) directly as they did in previous games.
Instead they drop "loot" which can be sold for Gil.
New skills (spells, techniques, etc) and items (armor, weapons, etc) must be
both purchased (or found as treasure) and the correct "License" for that
item gained via "License Points" (earned from killing monsters). Without
both you can't use the new skill.
The License Board (where you buy licenses) is rather hard to navigate and
plan on (since only the licenses adjacent to already obtained ones show
detailed information), but not disastrously so. Each license only opens up
two or three new items so you'll be buying a lot of licenses just to make
use of items found as treasure.
The whole system works surprisingly well, but it is cumbersome and
potentially confusing.
On the plus side you can purchase any license adjacent to any you already
own so quite quickly you'll be able to pick and choose from many available
licenses (unlike the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X which was much more
linear).
The gambit system is both surprisingly powerful and surprisingly simple to
employ (or ignore completely). Gambits allow you to automate the actions
(reactions really) of your characters. A gambit consists of a "target"
(either a physical thing like "Closest Enemy" or "Party Leader" or a
situation such as "Any Ally's HP fall below 70%" or "Party Leader is
blinded") and an "action". The action is any skill, spell or item available
to the party (for example "use potion" or "cast cure" or "cast thunder").
Gambit targets are purchased from shops or found (I've bought several dozen
but there seem to be well over a hundred in total). Gambit slots are added
via the license board (each character starts with three or four slots).
Gambits are applied in priority order and can be disabled completely or
disabled individually and per party member. At any time during battle you
can assign an action to any character which will override gambits for that
turn.
If you disable gambits you're in the traditional gameplay mode: each
character's actions have to be specified each turn. If you enable gambits
many of the more tedious elements of game play simply disappear.
For example I've got one of my characters set up this way:
+) If any character's HP fall below 60%, cast cure on them.
+) If any character's HP fall below 40%, use a potion on them.
+) If any character is blinded use eye drops.
+) If any character is poisoned cast Poisona (cure poison).
+) Attack the enemy being targeted by the party leader.
+) Attack the closest visible enemy.
Remember that these are prioritized from top to bottom. In practice this
means this character will first cure others (or themselves) until they run
out of magic points then start using potions. They will also cure several
status effects. Lastly they will attack whomever the party leader ("me")
attacked or, lacking that, any baddie close by. That last one is disabled
when I want more control and enabled when I'm just wandering around and
leveling up.
Also note that gambits apply the party leader (the character you're
controlling) as well. You can set up your leader to "attack closest enemy"
and all the other members to "attack enemy targeted by party leader". You
then just move your party close to an enemy to engage.
(Games like "Kingdom Hearts" or "Summoner" feature similar, much simpler,
systems which can only be applied to NPCs. In Final Fantasy XII the system
works for everybody.)
The game doesn't "play itself", rather it allows you to define a very
personal style of play and apply that automatically. At any time you can
assign a different action to any character. This is essential in boss
battles which require more thought and strategy.
The gambit system makes routine battles much more streamlined while taking
absolutely no control or capability away from those that would rather
micro-manage.
So far I've no real complaints about the game. As noted many aspects are
more complicated than they need to be, but also more realistic because of
it. Doesn't it make more sense to kill a wolf and sell its pelt than it
does for a dead wolf to drop money on the ground?
I'm not fond of the mapping system (I think it could be much clearer) but
it's no worse than any other game's. The camera is actually pretty fluid
but often ends up too high or too low as the terrain changes: an adaptive
camera would have been nice.
The script is written in a quasi-Shakespearean style that's sometimes hard
to read (although it sounds great spoken much of the dialog is still read).
But all of these are minor, niggling points which don't rise to a level
where they detract from the game.
Between the main story-line, filling out the license board, doing all the
special hunts, finding all the rare beasts and all the other things to do I
think I know exactly where I'll be spending my next hundred or so
game-hours.
Jim Davis
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