Final Fantasy XII Hands-On

Getting backstabbed by someone you trusted never felt so good

Tags: Categories: PS2 Previews, Previews

Posted by Jake McNeill on Jun 3rd, 2004


While there were many games that impressed me this E3, Final Fantasy XII simply blew me away. While this could probably be attributed to numerous features of the game, like the incredible bar-raising graphics or the radically different battle system, what thrilled me the most was the game’s incredible plot, endearing characters, and a presentation that finally seems to refine Square’s signature brand of cinematic brilliance and better infuse it with the gameplay.

What follows is a rundown of the game’s opening. I should probably start by giving you some warning disclaimers. Those who want the game’s plot to remain fresh should stop here, as there’ll be spoilers throughout this preview. Also, I should apologize in advance if I don’t get this exactly verbatim, as I’m running off of memory. That said, let’s get to it:

The game begins from a POV shot looking up at Basche, a knight of Dalmasca, blurry at first, but improving as the daze wears off. We now see that this was the perspective of Reks, a young recruit in the army, and apparently lone survivor of his attachment after enemy forces ploughed through. As Basche tries to get him up, he calls over his men to let them know he’s found a survivor.


You see, the land of Dalmasca is being invaded by the Archadians, a warring nation with a superior army. Reks’ party had been a part of their last defense of the castle, but had easily been trounced by the invaders. It was a hopeless cause from the beginning, but Reks volunteered to fight for his country and his king.

“How old are you?” Basche asks him.
“Seventeen,” Reks responds.
Basche sighs sadly “No one that young should have to fight a war.”


It should be noted that the character models are outright incredible, particularly in their realistic movements, extremely expressive faces, and quite possibly the best in-game lip-synch ever seen in a videogame. While the game still featured Japanese voice acting at E3 (with English subtitles), the characters’ faces and actions were so expressive and human, that you could easily read even the slightest emotions that the characters had. While other RPGs shown at E3 touted far more eye-catching effects than those I saw in this game, this attention to subtle detail was a sight to behold, and arguably far more impressive.

Basche, talking with his troops, observes that with the castle overrun, the enemy will undoubtedly have captured the king, and are probably forcing him to sign a treaty surrendering the country to them as they speak. However, once such a treaty is signed, the Archadians would have no further use for him, and his life would be forfeit.



Deciding there’s no time to lose, Basche sends half of his men to hold back pursuing attackers, while the rest decide to make a last-ditch effort to save the king. Basche asks Reks if he’s still strong enough to fight, and Reks gets up to help Basche’s men get to the king. Observing that Reks is obviously a rookie, Basche takes him under his wing, giving him battle tips and watching his back (in other words, he leads you through a tutorial).


Here, we get the first taste of the game’s battle system. I’ve seen multiple descriptions for it, but the one that seems the most appropriate to me is an observation made by fellow staffer Ludwig “Chu!” Kietzmann: It’s a lot like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Well, actually it’s kind of like a cross between KotOR and the Final Fantasy games of old.

Finally taking a hint from most other modern RPGs, Final Fantasy’s enemy encounters are no longer random. You see them just like any other character, and can generally avoid them if you so choose. Furthermore, when you do engage enemies, combat no longer takes place on a separate screen. Rather, as an enemy approaches, a line appears onscreen linking them to you to let you know they’re attacking you, and when you come in range you go at it.


Characters in Final Fantasy XII fight using the ATB from previous games, but now when a character’s turn comes up, they automatically take a swing at the intended enemy, provided they’re in range. This helps speed things along and keep them moving as you’re generally attacking most of the time in most RPG battles anyways. However, players can pop open menus at any time to change a character’s next action or target if they want to change how they approach a battle, and different characters naturally have different abilities, to make for some variety and strategy.

Going through a few waves of the enemies’ knights, Basche, Reks, and the few remaining men following him work their way through the cavernous halls of the castle to a staircase. As they work their way up the winding staircase, they’re still hounded by numerous enemies that have taken up pursuit. Knowing they must hurry to reach the king in time, Reks shouts out for the others to run ahead while he stays back to keep their pursuers at bay.


By now, the battle system has become simple, and even fighting alone, it’s a simple matter dispatching the enemies. At this point, I’m hoping the game will add more complexities to the battle system later on, because as it stands, it’s a tad too simple. However, the demo does make mention of some customizability later on, including the Gambits, which act like macros for automatically instructing your team how to act. For now, though, it’s hard to make a final judgment on it either way.

Again, a warning: Major spoilers ahead

After dealing with the enemies, Reks runs back up the stairwell to catch up with Basche and the rest. Finally getting to the throne room, Reks’ look turns to one of sheer horror, as everyone is dead. The king sits a slaughtered bloody mess on the throne, and the bodies of Basche’s men litter the throne room. The silence of the scene is broken only by Reks’ gasps of terror at the sight of the scene, until he turns around to come face-to-face with Basche.

“You… Why? Why have you done this?” Reks asks with a look of shock and disbelief.
“The king meant to sell Dalmasca to them. His majesty was a traitor.” Basche solemnly replies.
The camera pans down now, and we see that Basche has stuck a knife in Reks’ chest.



Quite frankly, by this point I was blown away by amazement at the twists and turns the plot had taken… In the game’s intro sequence. I suppose, in retrospect, it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise, having known that the game is being directed by Yasumi Matsuno, and developed by much of the same team he’s worked with over the years to produce games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story (two excellent games, I might add), which also shared the same themes of political intrigue and betrayal. However, the fact that such strong plot has effectively created as breathtaking an opening for a Final Fantasy game as was ever made by CG is an astounding feat.

Shortly after gutting Reks, Basche is surrounded by Archadian troops. As Reks slumps to the ground and his life slips from him, his fading eyes see the Archadian soldiers scornfully take Basche into custody, as his murder of the king has made their takeover of the country a great deal more complicated. Basche knows he’s outnumbered and gives himself up, but yells out in defiance for all to hear (well, all who aren’t dead) that the peoples of his country will persevere.

As his vision fades to darkness, Reks uses his last breath to call out to his brother.

“Vaan…”

Now we zoom ahead two years. In the time since the takeover, the kingdom has settled into a relative stability with the new ruling faction, although there’s still some friction brewing underneath the surface. The Archadian troops have come to be a kind of police force of sorts, but are extremely corrupt and often abusive of the people (Think the SS with big suits of armor). However, otherwise life does go on.


In the middle of the Dalmascan city Rabanastre’s brightly-colored marketplace, we see Vaan, the main character of our story. He’s chowing down on a star-shaped Paopu fruit (the same one that was in Kingdom Hearts) when he spots a group of Archadian knights giving a shopkeeper a rough time after he weakly reminded one of them that they hadn’t paid.

Vaan, seeing an opportunity, runs past the group, bumping into one of the knights and yelling “sorry!” as he runs off. Of course, a few seconds later, the knight realizes his money has been stolen, and the group tries to take up pursuit, but can’t get past a huge, lumbering oaf of a creature that’s now cluelessly standing in their way.


Rounding a corner, Vaan stops to get a look at his money when suddenly it’s snatched out of his hands by Penelo, a young woman that’s a good friend of his. He weakly responds with “Hey, that’s mine!”, but she’ll have none of that, and lectures him on his thievery. Apparently, Vaan originally had lofty goals, along the lines of Robin Hood’s “steal from the rich and give to the poor” schtick, but he’s since become far more cynical.


As he’s trying to explain himself, he realizes that Penelo is counting the money herself, but when he protests, she counters by telling him he owes it to a local shopkeeper named Migelo (a mutual friend of theirs) anyways. As they argue, their squabbling is cut short when Vaan spots an airship floating quietly through the skies.

Vaan stares up in awe, dreaming of someday becoming an air pirate, sailing the skies and living a life of true freedom. Penelo just stares at him with a look of admiration, and perhaps something more. It’s a bit uncertain at this point if Vaan and Penelo are just friends or if they’re romantically involved, although the latter would make for an interesting change of pace from the “hero meets and falls in love with heroine” stories we’ve come to expect from the Final Fantasy series. Heck, I’m not sure if Princess Ashe was even in the E3 demo.


Anyways, from here we’re given the opportunity to explore Rabanastre, which is one of those requisite “huge, sprawling, labyrinthine” cities. Going around and talking to people, we eventually get to the game’s first fetch quest in the form of an Archadian deserter who wants to leave the city with the help of a local shopkeeper. Naturally, the shopkeeper has dropped items of great importance somewhere in town, and as they’re needed to help this guy out, they recruit you to find them, as they feel you’d be a bit less conspicuous than them.

About here is where many players at E3 got stuck, and I’m afraid to say I’m one of them. Sorry, guys, but I couldn’t find the stuff that stupid shopkeeper dropped. Oh well. By the time the game is released GameFAQs will undoubtedly reveal it’s something obvious and simple that’ll make me feel like an idiot for missing.



Anyways, it wouldn’t have really mattered, because shortly after this a Square Enix employee tapped me on the back and informed me that I needed to give other people a chance to play. In her defense, I suppose I had been playing it for an hour or two. Even so, it seemed as though I’d barely scratched the surface of what the E3 demo had to offer, and I’m frothing for more.


What of Fran and Balthier? They were in the demo, but all I can really tell you about them is that Vaan knows them by the time they’re in the prison scene where Vaan freaks out at a corpse (the one that was in leaked vids a while back).

Man, this pisses me off. Damn E3 for being only 3 days long. Damn the guy at Square Enix who decided to fill the E3 demo with hours of good stuff that I wouldn’t have time for. Damn the hordes of fans that crowded Square Enix’s booth and made it so hard to get at the game in the first place. Finally, damn Square Enix for making a game so damn good I was tempted to blow off other games to spend all my time there instead. How dare they… Wait, why was I complaining?

Your Ad Here

No comments on Final Fantasy XII Hands-On

Post a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Your Ad Here