Final Fantasy XII (PlayStation 2)

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Description

Two powerful empires, Archadia and Rozaria, are at war. All they care for is victory over the opponent. In order to achieve it more quickly, Archadia invades the small kingdom of Dalmasca. The young prince of Dalmasca falls in battle shortly after his marriage to the beautiful princess Ashe. The king is murdered under mysterious circumstances just before signing a peace treaty with Archadia. The iron rule of the empire is established in the small country.

The player takes control of a young thief named Vaan who lives in Rabanastre, the capital city of Dalmasca. Through a series of events Vaan finds himself involved in the political struggle, hoping to avenge the death of his treacherously murdered brother.

Final Fantasy XII is set in Ivalice, a fantasy world which also served as a setting for Final Fantasy Tactics. The game differs from its predecessors in several core gameplay-related aspects. The game world is composed of vast areas with visibly walking enemies. There are no separate battle screens in the game; combat takes place in the same environment as exploration. Player-controlled characters can freely move during combat. Actions are still selected by choosing commands from a pop-up menu, and each character has a traditional ATB bar that determines when he or she may act; however, overall the combat resembles the "real-time with pause" system of Western role-playing games such as Knights of the Old Republic.

The player can issue specific commands to the party members, or assign to them combat strategies (called "gambits" in the game). New magic, abilities, and equipment are bought from stores or found in containers in the world. Before a character can use any of these, the player has to buy a corresponding license by spending license points earned in combat. These act like skill points, and can be allocated by the player manually on the character's license board.

In addition to the enemies and bosses found by following the story, the player can also accept "Hunts" posted in bars or offered to the player in conversations. These are optional encounters where the player has to track down and either trap or lure a very powerful monster before defeating it.

Screenshots

Alternate Titles

• "最终幻想12" -- Chinese title (simplified)
• "Финальная Фантазия 12" -- Russian spelling
• "Zui Zhong Huanxiang 12" -- Chinese title
• "Finalnaja Fantazija 12" -- Russian title
• "FFXII" -- Common abbreviation
• "FF 12" -- Informal name
• "ファイナルファンタジーＸＩＩ" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Final Fantasy games
• Final Fantasy series
• Gameplay feature: Hunting
• Games made into comics
• Ivalice Alliance series
• Ivalice universe
• PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits releases
• PlayStation 2 Platinum Range releases

User Reviews

Trying to build a bridge to Western RPGs	Cor 13 (171997)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; or, the plot Dickens..	lasttoblame (393)
This is Final Fantasy's funeral	Bregalad (916)
The best of both worlds	Melody (119)
Final Fantasy 12, good game, but not a Final Fantasy	Ben Burdick (6)

The Press Says

Jive Magazine	Jan 04, 2007	5 out of 5	100
EmpireOnline.com	Feb 23, 2007		100
Mansized	Jan 10, 2007		100
Nuts	Feb 23, 2007		100
GamesAreFun.com (GAF)	Mar 21, 2006	10 out of 10	100
UOL Jogos	Nov 01, 2006		100
GNT - Generation Nouvelles Technologies	Mar 06, 2007	9 out of 10	90
USA Today	Nov 09, 2006		90
Gamezine	Mar 20, 2007	18 out of 20	90
allaboutgames.co.uk	Mar 21, 2007	9 out of 10	90

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Er.	11	Indra is here (19822) Apr 10, 2013
EXTREMELY minor nitpick	1	Simoneer (30) Nov 23, 2010
Who else likes the battle system?	2	Joshua J. Slone (4617) May 24, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Final Fantasy XII appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

References

Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VII makes a cameo appearance in the game as a Mark. The music theme that plays during your fight is also the same. He still has eight arms and his personality hasn't change much either.

Awards

• 4Players
  • 2007 – #3 Best PS2 Game of the Year
  • 2007 – Best Role-Playing Game of the Year
  • 2007 – #2 Best Story of the Year
• GameSpy
  • 2006 – #3 Game of the Year
  • 2006 – #2 Console Game of the Year
  • 2006 – PS2 Game of the Year
  • 2006 – PS2 Game of the Year (Gamers' Vote)
  • 2006 – PS2 RPG of the Year

Related Web Sites

• FF-Fan (A fansite that offers all kinds of information on the entire Final Fantasy franchise, including walkthroughs, game media, discussion boards and fan art.)
• Final Fantasy XII (Official game website in Japanese.)
• Final Fantasy XII Official Site (The Official U.S. Square-Enix site)
• Final Fantasy XII Official Site (The Official European Square-Enix site)
• Wikipedia: Final Fantasy XII (Information about Final Fantasy XII at Wikipedia)