Square-Enix has one of the biggest game franchises in history with the Final Fantasy series. The latest game in that series, Final Fantasy XII, came out in the United States this past fall – I got my hands on the game in early January and just finished up a 100-hour trek through the game this afternoon.
No, I didn’t play the game for 100 straight hours! I played an hour or two per day for about a month and a half until I beat it today. I have to say though, for a game that has some pretty innovative and fun game-play – the ending was a little anti-climatic.
Generally, a Final Fantasy game gets REALLY annoying towards the end of the game because you beat the final enemy and then you have a super-duper secret enemy that you have to beat…only to be followed by a mega-massive, super-duper, kill-your-face enemy that actually has the balance of the universe in its hands. Thankfully, Final Fantasy XII doesn’t have that type of a garbage ending sequence! Actually, if you’ve built your characters up enough, you can breeze through the end of the game. This is a nice, good change for the series. My take on it is that if you get your characters to a maxed out level (usually 99), then why should you NOT be able to destroy any “bad guys” in the game?
But in terms of the actual story, I felt like the ending was not what it could have been. That being said, it looked great! The graphics were just amazing for a PS2 (makes me want to buy a PS3 when the next Final Fantasy comes out). If only the story matched the graphics, this game would be an instant legend.
However, if you’re looking for a good way to blow some free time and about $50, I recommend going out and purchasing a copy of this game. When you come to the end of the game, though, don’t be surprised if the game is over before you even know it!
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