The game was developed by a new development team and this change definitely shows through. The entire game including the story line, art direction, character designs and music has a European touch to it and is quite unlike the other Final Fantasy games. That is the good news because the realm of Ivalice is quite a welcoming place in Final Fantasy XII. Final Fantasy XII has a nice straightforward plot and rather easy to follow until the ending when the storyline actually falls apart. However, this should not stop you from playing this game on your PlayStation 2.

The characters in Final Fantasy XII are quite ordinary and it is difficult to point out who the main character is supposed to be. Although the Vaan, the orphan, seems to be the main character, but Final Fantasy is all about Ashe, the princess. Unfortunately neither Vaan nor Ashe is very interesting.  Of course the audio does not come to aid with some embarrassing mispronunciations.

All battles in Final Fantasy XII take place directly on the field. However, there are 2 gameplay systems in this game. One is the License Board and the other is Gambit system. The License Board allows you to customize your fighters’ abilities. While the Gambit allows you to more or less program the artificial intelligence of your party. Once you get comfortable with Gambit, you can allow your party to fight enemies, steal the loot and heal itself while you just sit back and watch your fighters win.

Though diehard Final Fantasy fans might not like the setting, you can be assured that the thrills you get from diving into the dungeons and fighting endless optional quests make the game worthwhile. Do not let the unbalanced mist attacks, overpriced summon spells and troublesome camera turn you off.