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After 12 games, countless spin-offs and a 13th title on the way, you might expect the long running Final Fantasy franchise to now be out of ideas and to be frank, a bit stale. Probably one of the few epic and lengthy games left on the nearly outdated hardware of the Playstation 2, Square Enix welcomes us to a new Final Fantasy title with seemingly fresh and fruity ideas that will surprise fans and new adopters alike - and at that, probably for the better.

Japanese RPG's are slowly becoming the same, with almost no room for improvement or innovation, and the most difference you'll get from one or the other seems to be either a different set of characters or story. And you might expect the same with Final Fantasy, as each game seems to be the same but with a different set of clothes, save for the online exclusive XI, but even that has ties to previous games. But this is what sets Final Fantasy XII apart from the rest of the pack. It's like a whole new ball game.

Opening the game with the now standard CG fare from Square Enix's delicious CG factory, you are thrust straight into the hands of a basic tutorial which will hold your hand from talking to NPC's all the way thru your first few fights. The tutorial, however cumbersome, will definitely come in handy to newcomers as well as old fans alike, helping players understand the various new elements introduced into the game. Complex to the novice user, the new elements will soon become like clockwork as you become engrossed in the game.

Set in the mythical realm of Ivalice, FFXII is European inspired in looks and filled with Final Fantasy staples such as airships, moogles, chocobos, and a vast landscape covering various different geographical tastes. The usual, per say. But this time, the fantasy with a political flavour influenced story line, and varied characters practically pulls you into the game and wants you to keep playing on. The story itself puts you in the shoes of a teenager, Vaan, who dreams of taking to the clouds as a Sky Pirate. The story also follows a handful of other characters as well, ranging from the staple princess with an attitude, to a charismatic, thieving sky pirate, as well as a hardened warrior. These characters set out to free their country of Dalmasca from the hold of the Archadian Empire who took it over with a forceful hand, employing a form of dictatorship over the nation.

The characters are odd to say the least, but interesting and quirky enough to remain unique to this game. Vaan is a good natured kid, although naive at times, tends to be on the thieving side of things. He is your staple lead and is essential to the plot. Typically, what comes with the good natured kid is his sidekick-esque childhood friend, Penelo. She somehow gets swept up into the fray of things and tries her best to look out for Vaan throughout the story. The charismatic Sky Pirate, Balthier, shakes things up a bit more and adds his smooth talking and airship, the Strahl, to the mix, alongside his rabbit-eared Viera companion, Fran. The stubborn, yet strong willed princess, Ashe, and the disgraced captain of past, Basch, round off the interesting band of characters. The plot unfolds nicely though the use of extensive CG and cut scenes, as well as written dialogue that is to say the least, well written.

The main difference in FFXII that sets it apart from the other Final Fantasy titles is the MMORPG inspired battle system. No more tiresome jumping to a separate battle screen, as now the world is your battlefield. The free roaming world, normally found in MMORPG's such as the previous Final Fantasy iteration, Final Fantasy XI, as well as current mainstream titles such as World of Warcraft or Guild Wars, is graphically inspiring. The only waiting you'll have to do is waiting for your attacks and magicks to be charged. Even then, by the time you may have disposed of a monster in FFXII, you may just be starting that fight in a previous title due to the loading of the battle screen. The new battle system will leave you thinking more strategically about how you are going to go about fighting these battles, rather than what specific attacks or abilities you will assign to your characters individually. It makes you think more about the larger perspective, rather than the smaller fights in previous games. However, some people may feel this entire system to be very similar to “grinding” in many MMORPG's, which is noted as being tedious, but worthwhile. This new and radical change in the battle system is quite a risky factor for Square Enix, potentially losing long-time fans of the series, however it seems to have paid off.

Included with the battle system is the unique Gambit system, which basically lets you assign commands to each of your characters which will occur automatically depending on various factors in battle, varying with importance. For example, you can set a Gambit on Penelo to cast Cure on any characters who reach below 50% HP. Of course, there are a range of other commands such as, Magicks, Technicks and other various combinations, in which you could essentially create walking killing machines from. But wheres the fun in that?

The Gambit system isn't always foolproof, and you may want to step in at times. With a simple tap of the X button, combat will freeze and you are greeted with a familiar blue box with the list of various actions you can do. The standard Attack, Magicks, and Items are located here to use at your disposal, as well as the Mist feature which allows you to use Quickenings and Summons. R2 gives you the ability to Flee from any combat, reminiscent to previous titles, apart from you have to actually run using your analogue stick, and of course, away from the enemy.

Replacing X's Overdrives, and the Limit Breaks before that, XII features a new special attack feature. Quickenings. These high powered attacks have to be unlocked from the License board, limited to 3 per character, and at the cost of your MP they can be used and chained together to create a huge combo delivering massive damage against your enemy. Each individual Quickening has a Tier, 1 through 3, each more powerful and MP draining than the previous. Once your MP meter is full, you can then unleash a Quickening from the Mist menu at the touch of a button, and whilst your character is unleashing a devastating attack, you can then combo on another Quickening from another character who has them unlocked. But you have to time it right. A timer and bar ticks down, giving you around 3 seconds or less to hit a button to create another attack to combo. It isn't all fun in just hammering down the X or Circle button, there will be times where you cannot select either a Mist Charge or a Quickening. Instead, you will have to press the R2 button and hope lady luck is on your side to grant you either another Quickening or Mist Charge, which then allows you to use a higher tier Quickening. This basically equates to a mass load of damage, especially in the high number combos. The Quickenings make boss battles all the more fun and engrossing than just letting your characters mindlessly attack from the Gambits you have set.

After battles, you are given the usual Experience points, and new to the series: LP. License points are spent on the License Board, which is the next step from Final Fantasy X's Sphere Grid. Sporting a chessboard-esque look, the license board then leads the way to gaining new abilities, weapons, armour and magicks. As the name implies, the License Board only allows you to gain Licenses to use these items, such as swords and shields, and extending from this, you have to buy Technicks and Magicks from the respective shops or merchants to be able to use them in battle. However, this is merely a one off cost for each magick or technick, and for each individual you merely need the respective License. The License Board itself contains other various goodies, such as raising your attack power or health, or adding more Gambit slots. Different to FFX, where each character had a guided path into what sort of character they will become, or currently are, each character in Final Fantasy XII is not specifically assigned a certain role or class. You, the player, decide this, as you may decide to make Penelo the axe wielding powerhouse, and Basche a magical wizard-esque character. Characters are not bound by paths they may take in the License Board. Each character starts off in the same place, so you can decide which specific area they may go into, which is a fresh outlook from the tied down characters in X.

Ivalice is shared by both Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance; each game takes place during different times in the same kingdom. Final Fantasy XII is inspired in both looks and in musical values from both games. The European feel echoes through each character and building, as well as individual races. The music, although not the strongest in the entire series, gives players a feel towards the previous Tactics games, and to those who have played them may note down various musical melodies that they recognize. As well as characters, such as the Moogle Montblanc and his various siblings, who are located throughout the game. Voice acting lends itself to the game, boosting the efforts found in Final Fantasy X to a new level of professionalism, the voices suit the characters almost perfectly. Some people may find Balthier a bit annoying at times, due to his quick and charming manner speech, whilst other people may find Fran miscast, due to her strange stutter felt dialogue.

Going back to Montblanc, being the most dominant out of his siblings, he leads Clan Centurio, a place where you can accept various side-quests to hunt down monsters for additional Gil, equipment or items. The Clan Centurio quests are not compulsory, but if you want to take a break from the game's main quest, you may be able to take these additional quests to help level your characters and gain additional Gil and equipment. On this note, Gil in the game is sparse, with monsters and enemies not dropping a whole lot of Gil, but rather more loot. Reminiscent of World of Warcraft, you are able to sell this loot to any shop, and in return you get money and you may gain access to specific Bazaar items, which are often rare and virtually priceless. Of course, this requires you selling certain items you gain certain goods, and as a result only certain items are therefore available from this.

The game graphics are impressive to say the least, and looking back at early PS2 titles, you wouldn't expect the machine to boast such a vivid looking world in the shape of FFXII. But Square-Enix have created a wonderfully crafted world, that takes the PS2's hardware to the limits and shows us just how good a game can look with the right team on the reins, pushing both the hardware and themselves to the brink. Of course, some of the drawbacks that they had to make are slightly lower textures on some models up close, but this is rarely seen, and at the distance you see the models at it's hardly worth mentioning as the game itself alongside the characters look stunning.

A game isn't a game without drawbacks of course. As usual with many RPG games, you will find yourself tediously killing monsters over and over for a good few hours or so just to get the LP or Experience you need to get that new skill or level, which then detracts from the actual game play and story. This in itself is a major frustration as the main factor of any RPG game is the story, and in FFXII, it doesn't really have a particular direction. It starts off promising, and then declines as you gain more party members until you finally get all six. Each character, although interesting, seems to have their own particular story and reason for being on the adventure, whilst circling the main events of Princess Ashe and her attempt to reclaim the throne. The way in which the main story is told, however, is done well to an extent, through narration and cut scenes, but there were points where I became extremely confused to what was going on exactly. The characters are well thought out, but the reasons to how they add to the main story, I have no idea. Penelo seems to be a last minute character, compared to Ashe or Basch who have a back story and main motivation, where as Penelo seems to be rather misplaced within the whole cast, and then only serves to be rather an extra in a play compared to the starring role which is what generally the main party members should be. Some of the other minor characters serve more purpose to the story and party aid than Penelo herself, such as Larsa, but this is rather a minor niggle, seeing as you can pretty much shelve Penelo and leave the rest of the main game to the other party members should you choose to.

Minor problems aside, Final Fantasy XII is a magnificent game, that appeals not just to die hard RPG fans, but due to the more relaxed battle system, the more casual gamer as well. The story, although weak in areas, is well written and boosted by the excellent voice acting and CG. Strong graphics, controls and addicting gameplay for the now aged Playstation 2 make this title worth picking up and dusting off your PS2 for the last time before retiring the console. Definitely recommended.