I just beat FFXII! Here is my review.

[Scarlet]

There were a few threads that were made recently beating a Final Fantasy game. I've created a thread where you can post about your review on the game.

If you have beaten Final Fantasy XII for the first time...Please post your Final Fantasy I reviews here.

If you beat Final Fantasy XII already and still want to write a review, then go ahead.

 

[Stella]

i beat it and i didnt think it waz anything special. it reminded me of star wars in a way with all the war and saving the empire stuff! i honestly didnt understand half of the cutscenes because i got so bored listening to that guy go on and on about the same thing. the final bosses were super easy too. i beat them 1st try at level 50. the best thing about the game were all of the sidequests. they were really fun. and the graphics were awsome. but the story waznt nearly as good as it could have been and the characters didnt have enough development i didnt think. if i had to rate it i'd give it 5/10 stars because it had just about as many things wrong as it did rite.

 

[Mickey]

Storyline: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Extra Bits: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10 (the good cutscenes rock, but all else is awful)
Character Development: 3/10
Difficulty: 6/10
Replay Value: 7/10
Average: 7/10

 

[Dazz]

This by far is not the best Final Fantasy but it was pretty good and was a HUGE improve ment on FFX and FFX-2, lets hope the improvments continue for FFXIII

 

[Judge Zeckt]

since this is the only ff i have played so i dont know how different it is from the rest but it is the reason i joined the forums so in my opinion it is a great game. good storyline, exellent cutscences and overal good battle system with the gambits. it also gave a great gaming experience

 

[Grand Lethal]

Storyline: 6/10
For what it was, it was very good ... but it could have been better.

World Setting: 8/10
I love Ivalice. Easily one of my favourite worlds. Its just so expansive and rich.

Sidequests: 7/10
The hunts were cool, but they got really repetitive, and there weren't many other non-hunt sidequests.

Character Development: 4.5/10
The characters do develop ... just not a whole lot. The development is too little and far between.

Graphics: 8/10
I actually preferred the character renders in-game as opposed to the FMVs. The FMVs this round didn't seem to be as high a quality. The Bahamut scenes were brilliant, though.

Gameplay: 8/10
The License Board was a huge improvement over the Sphere Grid. And the Battle System rocks ... despite the fact that it can delay itself if overloaded with commands. I don't usually like mixed-classes for my characters, but this game really made it necessary.

Music: 8/10
I adore the music. I find so many memorable scores. Some minor places could have been more interesting though.

Replayability: 7/10
There are so many ways to play this game, with all of the possibilities of classes and optional quests, it really is customisable.

Difficulty: 6/10
It was difficult at low levels, but once you start to become more powerful and get the better weapons and spells, it becomes rather easy. The Pharos was a nice challenge, however.

Average:
7/10

 

[Basch]

I think Vaan, as the main character should play a much bigger role. I felt that he wa just...there, the game should focus more on him, is what I think...

 

[Dean Winchester]

Storyline: 7/10
Vayne saved the storyline, Ashe killed it...


World Setting: 9/10
The game can be quite extensive in terms of, well just walking through it takes half of the game. Greatly done, and it's not just a world map with random areas, it's a whole world.


Sidequests: 6/10
A pain, excessively repetitive...but some were fun

Character Development: 3/10
The storyline could have been developed even if Vaan weren't there...
and Penelo was just dragged along....meh...


Graphics: 9/10
Good, though they could have been better. I loved the summoning Espers scenes.

Gameplay: 7/10
The License Board was cool, but who needs a permit to wield a freaking sword? It's like saying:

Person A: You can't go to the bathroom until you gain the necessary License.

Person B: NOOOOOOOO

Music: 9/10
The music was good, some of them will be worthy to remember. The Final Battle song was cool


Second Chance (play again) : 6/10
Erm no...once is more than enough....

Difficulty: 5.5/10
The game is quite easy for experienced RPGers, and the Battle System makes most battles a piece of cake. Though I admit the Pharos Challange was quite entertaining.

Overall Rating: 8/10

 

[Misty]

I have a really huge fatass review that will be completed soonish, so could I put that somewhere seperately?? or should i attach it as a word doc?

 

[Scrutator]

I would stick it in as a Word doc but manybe give a cut down version of it for the lazy sods. If you make a new thread it'll most likely be closed by a trigger happy mod.

 

[feca mudic]

well so far i think vayne is a decent character but also so far ashe is jus tthe clumbsiest thing you will ever see no kidding. Though i have not gotten a game over yet i havent beaten the game either, and im just excited to beat it this will be the second one i have beaten and im going for IX, VIII, and VII so review so far 8/10 and also who is better :vincent: or :vivi:

 

[SapphireStar]

This thread is for those who have completed the thread. It was alittle off topic and please dont ask random questions in someones thread. It has nothing to do with the suject at hand.

 

[Soul Saver]

Well, I finished it today and this is what I think~

Gameplay: 7.5/10
I'm not sure what to think about the lack of random encounters. The active dimension battle system makes it more like KH or some other hack and slash action game than Final Fantasy.. well not quite, but it does not seem so much a tactical RPG as previous FF games. In fact, gambits take alot of the work out of it. The magicks system is quite ruined by ADB. You don't have to think carefully, the characters just auto-cast. The gambits system is far from perfect, and the fact that you have to buy them and wait to get the better ones practically ruins the purpose of alot of Magicks. You could say that by selecting wait while you issue commands and turning off character gambits you can make it more like previous FFs, perhaps, but I'm not convinced. You can switch freely between characters, but XII's battle system just doesn't play that way.
Marks/sidequests can be fun, but there's just too many.

Character Development : 8/10
Character personality is ok, but there is not much depth explored at all. There are only really two properly developed party characters- Balthier and Ashe. That said, they are great characters.
I'd say that the license board and idea of any character being developed any way you want them to detracts far away from the style of most RPGs. It can be fun levelling up and buying new items and equipment, but I don't like the idea of having no pre-defined classes. No Black Mages, Knights, and Chemists? Too freelance, IMO. The characters don't have strong images as a particular class, only their clothes give you a clue. The main party hardly ever use weapons, and never use magicks in storyline cutscenes. Licensing is just absurd, basically what Julius Argexis said. XD

Story: 8.5/10.
Evil empire, lots of politics, powerful judges, it all fits together. Whilst there's too much in the way of politics, the villains are quite good. There's alot missed out in the way of character background, etc. Shame. And the ending is perfect.
Very little romantic tension, for shame.
The story is a litle lacking in depth and detail, etc, but it makes up for it with good theatrics , e.g. Judge Bergan's speech.
Some great characters, but it's depressing that only two of them are party members.

Music: 9/10.
I love some of the battle and area themes in some places, but there are also those which can be tedious and annoying.

Graphics: 11/10. Its graphics are very advanced, no flaws there. Though it doesn't matter as much as having a strong story.

Replay value: 8/10. Lots of places to explore, lots of items to be had, but some parts are so mind-rapingly boring that I'm not sure I want to play it again.

Overall: 8.5/10.

 

[Takk]

Takk's Full FFXII Review ~Part One~

Final Fantasy XII​

Rated [T] for Teen
Contains Violence, Some Political and Religious Overtones, and Half-Naked Rabbit Chicks.​

Available exclusively for the Playstation 2.​

For the sake of those who do not wish to read spoilers, all spoilers will be written in the spoiler bars…

Spoiler

these spoilers will still be easily read, but this will allow you to skip over that which you do not wish to read, while allowing other to not worry about breaks that warn of spoilers ahead…

so consider this the spoiler warning as there will be no other.​

​

There is something to be said about a franchise that spans twenty-eight games on ten systems (soon to be thirty-four on twelve), two movies, three anime titles, and a multitude of published works, such as novels and manga. Especially considering this particular franchise was started by a company that was just about to go under. I’d say that’s one hell of a success story, by anyone’s standards!

Well, in 2006, the most recently released numbered title in the franchise, Final Fantasy XII, was released, and quickly received some of the best reviews any Final Fantasy game had received since 1997, when Square Enix (then Squaresoft) released the legendary Final Fantasy VII to an unexpected world wide reaction … but this one happened to create the most mixed reactions amongst fans of the franchise than any other before it. Thus the question is presented…

Is the game really all that good, like those who review games for a living claim, and some fans support?
Or is it just hype for the innovations, and are all those angry fans, who knock it so emphatically, right?

Well… the answers to these questions are simple… yes… and yes… confused?

Well, that’s what I’m here for.

​

You’ll realize the moment you begin that this game has, by far, some of the best graphics any game has to offer… at least for the last gen systems (which included the PS2, XBox, and GameCube, in case you didn’t know). Sadly, however, you won’t get to see these amazing graphics very often throughout the game, as most FMV sequences within it are done with just the regular gameplay graphics… so even though there are well over six hours of cutscenes, you’ll get to see the really great stuff for maybe a total of an hour, or so (if that).

This is actually one of the chief complaints about the game, as I’ve noticed, and though it didn’t bother me much at all, I have to admit that the angry fanboys are right on this issue… the staple of badass cutscenes in badass graphics was mostly lost in this installment… not that the regular graphics are poor.

That said, however, the cutscenes are still badass, especially during the latter half of the game.

​

Fortunately for the player, this game makes up for its FMV issues with its extremely innovative gameplay.

Using what is called the Gambit System, the player can set up each of the playable character with instructions of how to fight, heal, and generally act during battle. With this system, it is even possible to set it up so that you would never have to actually think about any fights, save for boss battles, but I find that to be a lame option, and personally think that anyone who does such a thing isn’t a real gamer, anyway.

Personally, I liked to leave my party leader Gambit free so that the game would be more fun.

Oddly, though this actually created some problems later in the game, specifically in a location called Giruvegan, while I was leveling up my secondary group to level 50 before I went to face the final boss. Likely a glitch of some kind, When I would have my party leader, who happened to be Balthier at the time, attack, rather than continuing his attack until the enemy was dead (which is what they’re supposed to do, even without Gambits), he would shoot once and stop, forcing me to select the attack command again, but it didn’t bother me too much, because it never happened in any other location.

Overall, the battle system in this game is amazing. Its fluent, entertaining, sometimes challenging, and truly open to many strategies, all variant upon how the player likes to play the game. That said, one thin I can’t stand about the battle system is how the espers work, and how summoning essentially has become a waste of time, in my opinion, anyway.

​

See, regardless of which esper you decide to use, it is always the same… you summon them and all your allies are gone, save for the summoner and the esper. Not bad in theory, especially considering this is exactly how it was done in Final Fantasy X, however there is a major difference between the two, and that is the new battle system.

As great as the Gambit System is, it creates massive problems with summoning. The espers aren’t one hit wonders (like in Final Fantasy I-IX), and they aren’t controlled by you (like in Final Fantasy X), instead they are run entirely on Gambits… but you don’t even get to set up those! Basically, summoning is reduced to a method of distraction if you need to heal the person you’re having summon, and even then, it would just be easier to take control of them and have them run off a bit while the battle is still going and cast some healing magic on themselves. Not only would that be easier, but it would be faster, and less complicated.

But don’t worry too much about this flaw. Replacing the limit break type attacks (as seen in Final Fantasy VII-X) is a little something called quickening attacks (yes… quickenings).

​

Quickening attacks are mist abilities, not amazingly found underneath the summoning option. Essentially what they are is one hit extreme attacks, performed in cutscenes with the character selected. But since they don’t require a special meter to fill (Final Fantasy VII) or your life to be low (Final Fantasy VIII) in order to use them, but rather just work off of your MP, they are a surprisingly efficient replacement for your traditional summon.

And what’s more is that quickening attacks can be chained together. During the quickening attack, you are given the chance to choose another quickening attack from another character, or the same one depending on how many quickening the character has, and how much MP you’re using for the current quickening. But even if you’re out of MP, you can sometimes land a Mist Charge option on a character, which will boost the MP to its max, and allow you to select their quickening again.

The catch? As you do more quickenings in the chain, the faster the timer empties, and it can prevent you from selecting another quickening for the chain. But as long as you can manage a chain of three or more, you are almost guaranteed what is called a wide area attack. Its sort of the topping of the cake, as it attacks all foes in range, rather than just the one selected.

A good chain from high level characters can deal upwards of 30,000-50,000 damage, making boss fights a whole lot easier, but you probably wouldn’t want to use these attacks on anything but bosses, as they do tend to greatly drain your MP, and do far more damage than any regular beast needs done.

 

[Takk]

Takk's Full FFXII Review ~Part Two~

​

Now, the story is something that I’m kind of disappointed in, and here’s why… its not complete.

The story is one of truly epic proportions, with some great potential, and what you experience of it is absolutely magnificent, but there are gaps within it. And I don’t mean plot holes, or anything like that, I mean there are just gaps that are never properly explained. Most notably, there is a two-year period between the prologue and the introduction of the main character. A two-year period that is only explained by saying that

Spoiler

Ashe is a resistance leader, Vossler has been protecting her, and Vaan’s brother died after bearing witness against Basch.

Sure that’s enough, but it leaves a big hole, and it really just bugs me. I’m not saying I would like to be shown all that happened during that time, but a bit more dialog on the matter would be nice.

Now, some would go on to complain about the ending and how it doesn’t really end the story, because it leaves it open. This complaint I don’t agree with for two reasons… first, the story is over and done with. It’s the one-year-later-epilogue that is open ended… and second, there is a little game called Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings that literally begins at the exact moment the epilogue ends (I’m currently playing that, look for a review to come). So that’s not even an issue.

Also, there are other little things within the character development that should’ve been fleshed out more. Most notably is some of the main characters’ motivations, namely Vaan and Penelo. Its stated early in the game that Vaan wants to be a sky pirate… but his motivations passed just ending up there are mostly unexplored… he’s mostly just like a tag along to the other characters, and I don’t think that’s appropriate for the main character. And what is even worse is that Penelo’s whole reason for being there is that Vaan is. So Penelo is literally just a tag along of a tag along… and that’s just pathetic.

But not all of the characters had bad development.

​

The other four main characters get at least a fair shake at good character development, but you will notice that throughout the game, some are developed a whole lot better than others, and sadly, even some with good development don’t have as much as you’d like… or more truthfully… Basch didn’t have as much development as I would have liked.

Spoiler

Basch’s story begins in the prologue, as he is the only playable main character of the game that is a part of it. You see him kill his King and then mortally wound Vaan’s older brother, Reks. Later, you find him in a prison where he is being visited by the Judge Magister, Galbranth… someone who has a very personal relationship with Basch. After you reluctantly free him from his cell, he tells you his side of the story, and that he was actually captured, and that the man who killed his King and Vaan’s brother was, in fact, his own twin brother, who just happens to be Judge Galbranth, of the Arcadian Empire.

Then we get much of nothing for him in terms of character development until right near and literally at the end of the game.

Spoiler

You have a confrontation with Galbranth during the second to last mission objective, and there is some alright development from the words spoken by Galbranth that sort of flesh out a little of Basch’s history, but serves more as development for Galbranth, himself, who has had some interesting character developments himself, by this point in the game. Now, as long as you have Basch in your party during the boss fight that follows, there is a cutscene between the two brothers that is kind of nice. And then right before the final boss onslaught, you fight him again and you get some more decent development for both Basch, and his brother, not to mention a great bit about honor and serving those who are worthy, which leads to a cool moment in the epilogue, but I won’t say what it is, exactly.

So he had decent development, but not really as much as one would like.

Ashe had some alright character development, as well, but it mostly had to do with

Spoiler

her dead husband, and her royal lineage,

rather than her actual character… but then, such development didn’t really bother me. Fran had similar development, but hers was just enough to interest you and then pull the plug.

Spoiler

You go to her home and discover some things about her past, and her family. But you’re only here for a moment, and the whole bit gets slammed with a joke that, while funny, wasn’t a good end to her development.

Now, Balthier probably had the best character development in the game, and I reckon it had a lot to do with who he was and where he came from.

Spoiler

Balthier doesn’t seem like much at first… he’s just a brash, arrogant, vain sky pirate by all accounts… but when you reach the Phon Coast on the way to Arcadia, there is a cutscene that is a discussion between him and Ashe. The discussion is mostly one sided, and it plays into Balthier’s history greatly. He tells her about his shocking past (and, yes, it is shocking)… his previous occupation, and most importantly, of his father. It is this connection that gives him some of the best development, because his father turns out to be one of the lead bad guys, one whom you must fight twice, and pushes the story along almost entirely.

Thus Balthier was fleshed out fairly well by the end of the game… and what he does in the final cutscene, though I won’t say what it was, truly showed what kind of man he was, and why he was such a great character.

Anyway, that’s enough of that!

​

One last thing about the game is its openness. Taking queues from Final Fantasy XI, and MMORPGs in whole, I reckon, this game has a very open ended format. There is a direct story line, but it only encompasses maybe a fourth of what can be done in the game. Between hunting, running side quests, the optional espers (which there is reason to get at least five optional espers, even though summoning sucks in this game), and everything else that can be done in the game, there is definitely plenty of material here to keep you occupied for well over a hundred hours. That said, some of it is extremely frustrating, but what’s a game without a challenge?

This is actually another thing that some people complain about, but its one I think is unfounded. If you have a problem with side quests, and the like, just don’t do them! Don’t bitch because there are so many and you want a 100% game. This is actually one of the better things about the game, in my opinion. Because it creates a lot of continuing gameplay and thus the game purchase is worth more.

That said, its time for my verdict and final opinion of the game in whole (finally).

​

This game receives a solid 4 out of 5 pieces of manufacted nethecite… I really wanted to give it a perfect score, but to do so would be to unfairly overlook the flaws in the story line, character development, and summoning… that said, it is a truly a wonderful game that you will not regret putting forth your money to obtain. If you’re a long time fan of Final Fantasy, you will more than likely be quite pleased with this game, as long as you can allow yourself to keep an open mind while learning an entirely new battle system… as for everyone else… well, you’ll probably enjoy it even more than the long time Final Fantasy fans.

And there it is… my extremely longwinded review of Final Fantasy XII.
Thanks for bearing with me throughout it.​

 

[ListKeeper]

I finished the game again recently and wanted to write a review.

A final fantasy game that reverlusionised the games in most peoples oppion but in mine it only made a good game only a little better. This game couples good graphics and great game play with a compelling storyline that gets gamers wanting more and makes the game kind of adictive but highly enjoyable.

This game gets a 9/10 from The Hunter. (Note I have NEVER given a 10/10 before)

 

[BalambFish]

I was disappointed after playing 12, it was the worst for me.

Storyline: 6/10
The plot was the most basic among all FF's. It didn't have a twist to it. It was too plain. I could literally tell how the game was going to end after the first two hours of playing. It didn't have those mid-game introductions to bring the story to a whole new perspective (i.e. Jenova, Adel, Kuja). btw, did anyone notice that there was no love story involved?

Gameplay: 7/10
It was good for square to deviate from the turn based system but I do not think they performed this one well. With all the gambits, I just set it and watched TV or read a book. The licenses were not helpful at all. What's the use with having the same board for all(not sure about the int version). They should have used the boards for making specific jobs like thief,mage,etc.

Graphics: 10/10
Square always perform with the graphics but great graphics is never enough for an RPG.

World Map: 9/10
The scenery was great especially when I ran around for hours looking for marks,rare marks, and leveling up. Although I felt that there were too many places to walk through before getting there.
The cut scenes were great with the quickenings and espers but after using them too much, they become too long.

Characters: 7/10
They could've done a better job with developing Vayne's character. he's supposed to be the main bad guy right? They didn't focus on him like the attention that Seifer,Seph,and Kuja got.

Sidequests: 6/10
At first the idea seemed cool, but with more than fifty marks, rare marks and extra espers all in all, you begin to ask why you need to hunt them down.

Music: 9/10
The FF series has always produced music worth listening to.

Replayability: 5/10
There's no new game plus and repeating is too dragging.

Difficulty: 6/10
For an experienced RPG gamer, it's too easy.

All in all: 7.2/10

I still can't figure out how they pulled a 40 with Famitsu!

 

[Hippie Kev]

I finished XII a few weeks ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, the scenery being the biggest enjoyment factor, most probably.

Graphics - Simply amazing, well done Square.

I would've liked to have seen more cut scenes with the professional finish, (FMV's?) as opposed to the repeated use of game-play graphics in the short movie sequences.

The scenery was great. I loved the unique feel of each area. A more gradual transition between areas might be a potential area for some improvement. Suddenly going from forest to beach to desert isn't the most realistic experience

Music - Good work, definitely back on the right track

The music was entertaining and exciting in the right places. I have to say that I feel VII and VIII had the right level of dramatic music. This made you feel as though you were experiencing a fantastic adventure/action movie first hand. For some odd reason, the music in X and X-2 became really tame. Saving the world to a very passive soundtrack just really diminishes the entire experience.

XII seems to be getting back onto the right track. More dramatic and exhilarating music made the game much more entertaining for me. While I still feel it has a way to go, it was still far better than that of it's 2-3 most recent predecessors.

Story - Believable and realistic, rather predictable.

I found the story to be quite fast moving in the beginning, only to level off and slow down further along the track. I suppose the main reason for this is because you only really get the opportunity to go on hunts and level up, further down the track.

I was really hoping that the history of Ivalice would be more developed but it wasn't meant to be. Also, the fact that the story completely side-steps the mighty Rozarrian Empire seems strange at the very least.

Once you have established the basics of the plot near the beginning of the game, you can basically predict the ending fairly accurately. I didn't really feel that there were any major plot twists, perhaps a few are debatable.

In favour of the story, it is believable and realistic. It's not something that would be completely unrealistic in a real world situation. I suppose this is because Square moved away from a "saving the world" situation to a "political dispute" situation.

Characters - Great looking but it's skin deep

These characters had the potential to be amazing. They were fantastic looking, the graphics the most realistic by far. Also the token non-human character creates the opportunity for story development.

Like most people say, the characters are somewhat under-developed. There isn't a lot of back story into each of the characters. They also just seem to be filling the necessary niche's that are convenient for the the main story.

Misc

I just found this game overly easy. The bosses weren't hard, the final battles were ridiculously easy, especially given my low levels (55 for all characters). I didn't even need to dip into my reserve members once! Increased difficulty would've been good motivation to be a bit more clever in gambit set up and general strategy.

Gambits were a great addition to the game. Also the fact that they're optional removes any basis for complaining about them.

I think everyone rejoiced when the random battle screens were taken off the charts. Being able to see and engage monsters on your own prerogative was immensely satisfying.

A sort of World Map again! Well done Square. After having both X and X-2 being highly linear and restrictive, I thought we had waved world maps goodbye forever. However XII brought the world map back. I think the obvious next improvement would be to reinstate vehicles on the world map. Let's go back to being able to directly fly an airship and land it on the various locations in the world. Manual travel was definitely a big plus for me.

The little extras such as the bestiary information were great. It helps add to the overall feel and story of Ivalice. I fancied the idea of getting that information from the monsters you encountered. It seems logical, which is great.

The end of Kev's review :wink:

 

[Darkness_Arises]

I thought it was more a 9/10 only bc it was the first rpg i actually took my time in doing although yes the story line could be better but i think it only makes you want the next ff game to be better and if we get wat we want all the time it gets oring so think on everthing not just one certain aspect like i enjoyed the espers and the hunts granted some were way to tough but it only made you work on it that much more so i as a newly devoted rpg fan rate thsi game as a 9/10

 

[Misty]

​

WARNING: SOME PARTS CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE!​

FFXII: Best Final Fantasy Ever?
By Yours Truly, The Amazing Lisa.​

9am, February 23rd, 2007 - The marking of a truly remarkable day. Why? FFXII had graced European shores at last, and to me, this day felt like Christmas once more. I was at Prince Quay up in the town centre, conversing with someone about the game itself. The stores to GAME then opened, and several people went in, me behind my old college friend, vigorously rubbing a copy of FFXII on my way in - it felt so good :3. I was offered at the counter the limited edition launch title guide along with some freebie stuff, but that would be an extra £17.98 to the game itself. So I just bought a DS Lite Bundle (with Bart Simpson on it) and FFXII.

When I arrived at college, I desperately wanted to show my good friend Sandro my amazing purchases. He had slept in the bastard, but he had confirmed over the phone how great FFXII was. Eventually when he arrived, I got out my copy of FFXII at the “Comfy Chairs” area in the Robert Blackburn building, and licked the front cover right in front of him.

I will now tell you about the places I have been to over the next few weeks/months/years, and about the characters I have encountered. Just because I want everyone to know about my amazing experience with maybe the most sexy FF title to date. Yarly.

May 2nd 2007 - Finally completed the game, 102+ hrs done, still not officially done everything, will do 2nd time round. You can now expect a full review.

June 13th 2007 - P.S - I am also in the middle of my 2nd play through.

February 3rd 2008 – Only recently got back into playing my second playthrough because of past issues.

June 2nd 2008 - Finally finished this bitch. Yeehaw!

Characters:

Vaan - “Don‘t just assume he is like a major main character“:
..He isn’t seriously. Sure, for the first few hours of the game, you pretty much have to have him in your team, but not as a leader. Neither is he annoying - sure, he says some things which do seem a bit silly, but he isn‘t a complete idiot - he‘s always on the go, not too overexcited, and he‘s a role model for a lot of orphans living in Rabanastre. He‘s also well known by a lot of people generally in his home town, and I can see why so many people would like him. Voice, well, it’s not my favourite voice for sure. Sounds a bit generic, but I can’t imagine him having any other kinda voice. It suits him pretty much. His quickenings are impressive, more appealing them some of the others I’ve seen. Though he didn’t have a completely massive role in the story, I could see where he changed. When you met Vaan at the beginning, he was angry, hurt upset with Basch’s supposed betrayal, and for what he did to his brother. Who wouldn’t be? As you progress through the game, Vaan realises that revenge isn’t an answer, it’s not going to bring back those you lost, who you held so dear to your heart. He learns to move on and focus on his future at the end of the game, as you can see when he has his own airship and a new journey in sight.
Rating: 8/10

Penelo - “The lovely little lady who isn‘t the next Yuffie or Rikku“:
Thank the Lord this is not another Rikku or Yuffie. A rather mature and not so giggly girl. She’s not all “OMFG, I NEED A SUGAR FIXXX PLZZZZ!!” The only thing I do not like about her..isn’t really a character design/personality fault, it’s more of an in-game fault - her voice..at most times sounds really muffled. It’s the only character in my opinion who seemed to have this problem. To me she seems very relaxed, she doesn’t seem to over exert herself. She’s not the most exciting character, granted, but she still appeals to me. Her quickenings unfortunately, were a tad dull, even though I liked Intercession.
Rating: 7/10

Ashe - “The ignorant bitch“:
Right from the start her attitude bugged me. She was only nice when she wanted to be. I can understand her being all uptight and what not, due to how she was raised, and with what happened in the past, but still, I never liked her. Take for example, whenever she talked and Vaan would say something - she accused him of interrupting. The poor lad - he never “interrupted” her. Half the time, she’d stop speaking, and Vaan would say something. Seeing as she had stopped and Vaan didn’t want to ACTUALLY interrupt her while she was speaking, it only seemed proper, and he did so because he was being polite. But no, Vaan had apparently done something wrong each time, and whenever she bit at him, I felt like giving her a slap. Silly woman. Apart from that, her character was strong, although at time she was in doubt. Of course she would be - the Empire was massive, and of course someone like her, with not a whole lot of support when you think about it, was going to have doubts. The Resistance just wanted to kick the Empire back to where they think they belonged. Personally, I never liked her, mainly because of what I mentioned, however, being professional and not biased haha, she’s not your traditional shy girly princess. She’s a fighter, her attitude is rather brash, not all flowery and cutesy, more..well, you know what I’m getting at. Design wise, her style of clothing was practical, though that little pink skirt thing whatever you want to call it, came across as way too short. She’s in no way a slut, this is just me commenting on her style of clothing haha.
Rating: 7/10

Basch - “The guy all the Mothers would want their daughters to marry“:
Basch amazed me. He did not retaliate at Vaan when the young boy constantly distrusted him. The numerous times Ashe spoke ill of him, when she was right in front of him, and even she slapped him, he never said anything. He kept his calm. His words never spoke of wanting revenge against the Empire, he never spoke of wanting to blatantly destroy those who had wronged him. Incredibly apologetic for things he hadn’t done, his hopes, his honour as a Knight still shined on. Basch never seemed to brake, though at times he probably felt very low while imprisoned. He was a gentle, kind hearted man. Someone anyone could look up to for a role model, perfect father figure I guess. He loved the people, and it most have broke his heart (it certainly broke mine), when people still believed he was the traitor, the one who slew King Raminas. I just hope Ashe tells the people of Dalmasca that Basch wasn’t the traitor they all thought him to be. He deserves that little bit of peace at least. Design wise, I’ve come across many people who thought at least the piece of clothing that was plastered on his chest could have been done without. To me, this flattened Rubiks cube or whatever you want to call it, didn’t really phase me. Personally, as long as I saw some chest, I was happy. His voice fitted him well too. Though Basch doesn’t come across as “moody” or “cool” as all these other main characters, there’s a lot to like about him. He’s not a psycho, he’s respectable. Some may argue that once Basch joined the party, he never really spoke much, and that his backstory wasn’t developed enough. For instance, the history between him and his brother, when it turned sour. To me, you got what you wanted to know, you got what was needed for you to follow the story. Generally, I find that with every game, you always have to do some extra research on characters from other games to get a general feel of their profile more.
Rating: 10/10

Vossler - “Not a bad looker, considering he is 38 in the game“:
I could knock ten years off this guy. Why the heck SE made him 38, I don’t know. Despite being a bit ruthless in his actions, he was a good man deep down inside - he was very loyal. If I put myself in Ashes shoes, I’d have been angry at his betrayal, but as they were speaking, Vossler and the princess, Vossler seemed so positive that a solution had been reached at last. You could tell in his face though when Ashe commented on his trust, that it was not an ideal way of ending problems. Having to betray the person he’d spent so long trying to protect, no one likes the thought of doing such a thing, but for some people, desperate times call for desperate measures. I can see why some people would dislike him, his arrogance and betrayal being certain issues. He was quite a good physical fighter, and had an awesome sword - was quite large from what I remember. Pfft..I can see someone making a rude joke here about what I wrote lolz. It really is a shame he died. I half expected him to survive and help with the restoration of Dalmasca, remain as a proper character in the party, but that wouldn’t seem logical on the menu page and the license stuff, seeing as he never had a grid. Plus, you’d need room for guest characters that would come along further in the game. Or he could have remained alive, you know, still fighting as part of the resistance. Oh well. Things don’t always go my way *cries* Still, he was one of my favourite characters, and probably my favourite guest character anyway.
Rating: 10/10

Migelo - “Every fucker in Rabanastre seems to know him”:
One NPC in particular mentioned that all you hear these days are things about Migelo. Migelo is one popular bangaa, and owns the Item shop “Migelo’s Sundries” in Rabanastre. One thing I noticed about this old guy is that he likes a good drink, which I thought was rather cute. Though you really don’t get to see him speak so much not far on in the game, you could already tell he had quite a character. He had an army of orphans who would do loads of chores for him, even though they slacked off a bit every once in a while. Doing his best to impress the consul when he was introduced as the one who would be managing the food for the party that night, seemed as if he was trying to get into his good books on purpose, but Pennelo says something along the lines of Migelo having to do this. Not because he wanted to, but because he had to keep the peace pretty much as it was. Migelo appears to be the only elderly bangaa during the game, as the rest appear in their prime/youth whatever you want to refer it as.
Rating: 8/10

Rabanastre NPC’s - “Everyone gets along so well“:
The ideal country where no one seems to be racist. These people are awesome. There’s just so many you can speak to it’s unbelievable. I feel sorry for those poor saps who live in Lowtown - fight against the Empire chaps! Imperial forces would generally give people grief, which would make life really stressful, and not really enjoyable. These guys also had plenty of interesting things to tell you as well, so it was well worth talking to a lot of people.
Rating: 9/10

Vayne, - “He has lovely hair. I wonder what shampoo he uses“:
At first I thought, nah, that voice doesn’t suit him. It seemed too..non manly at first. You get used to it eventually though, and it’s the kind of voice you’d expect to hear from someone in a royal family. Vayne has charm. He wins the crowd over at the first FMV you see him in, by using some awfully convincing words. However, he is very cold. He’s not a good boy. He knows what he wants and how he can get to it. Take for example the murder of his father, and successfully placing the blame on the Senate. His becoming Emperor gave him a great power boost - he had complete control over the army - the Imperial soldiers welcomed him as their new leader. He still has Bergan to back him up, Zargabaath who follows the Empire but isn’t an asskisser like Bergan (Ghis being at that this time now dead). Drace was the only to challenge him, but Vayne wasn’t threatened - as if she would be able to stop him. To silence her, he called for her execution. He easily controlled Gabranth, making him do the horrible task. He’s calm, very confident in himself.
When you face him for the last 3 major storyline battles of the game, you’ll see some excellent special attacks. He’s one of the very few, if not the first FF boss to use martial arts skills in a fight. His final form can be a pain, especially if you’ve not taken the time to train your party appropriately - even I had trouble taking him on for the last fight - his piercing magic attacks could do some serious damage to you. Thank the Gods for all my main party having Bubble belts.
I suppose this guy is one of my favourite villains, as he just comes across as being different really. He wasn’t too emo, had a miserable life etc. I like him as much as I like Rubicante and Ultros, and those guys rock. However, there’s a part of me that thinks..was Vayne really a villain? I try hard not to call him a villain all the time, as he doesn’t always come across as being your generic villain. He wanted countries to be at peace, but under his leadership alone. When Vayne was dying, he said to Venat to search for someone else so that the rogue occuria could still fulfill it’s ambitions - this alone hints that instead of fighting for power, he gave Venat the option to leave.
Rating: 10/10

Cid - “58 and looking amazingly fucking sexy“:
The first Cid villain ever in a Final Fantasy! Which makes a welcome change. I suppose my favourite Cid before XII was VII’s, but the Compilation ruined the image of him for me. There weren’t many other Cids which seemed to catch my attention, IX’s maybe. It was refreshing to see Cid portrayed as a villain, as it showed another bold new side to SE, one that could be pulled off successfully in my eyes. Though he came off as a bit batty, (which I personally adored haha), he had a great character, his facial expressions were a joy to watch especially when he taunted Ashe during their first meeting. He had a way with words, and for a character approaching 60, he was quite dashing. Though his special attacks when you took him on in a boss battle probably weren’t as graphically over top as Vayne Novus’ and The Undyings‘, he always came up with some sort of quirky line, which made him all the more likeable. Just seeing him using some sort of massive machine gun cracked me up. During his last scene, it appeared to me he and Balthier had made some sort of peace. His final words, though they stung Balthier momentarily inside, I do believe contained love for his son. Cidolfus probably missed him an awful lot, but because of his obsession with nethicite, he may never have admitted it. L
Rating: 10/10

Venat - “The genderless being”:
Ah yes, the floaty Undying creature who is seen as a heretic by the other Occurria. Venat helped Cid become further involved in nethicite, and Cid’s obsession with it proved to be fatal eventually. Vayne was affected by nethicite, as was Bergan. One does wonder, if Venat had never come into Cid’s life, would things be different now? Was Venat deliberately messing about with the minds of humes, or did Venat truly want to free the Humes?
Rating: 6/10

Judge Magister Ghis - “The Judge everyone loves to hate. Those people are retarded however“:
Quite possibly, one of my most favourite FF characters to date. Strange you may think, but I also may think you be strange when you claim Balthier as your favourite. He had quite possibly, one of the best VA’s ever in a videogame, and probably one of the better character designs for a minor villain - the way they made his face animate during cut scenes made me go weak at the knees. Though I do not like the colour Gold often, I just fell in love with the armour. His helm was pretty awesome. Through this, I have found him to be a rather handsome character - sure, he isn’t like super young, or super “kawaii”, but..looks don’t always have to be important in liking someone do they? I also believe he had the potential to be a much larger threat, as he wanted to further his ambitions by using the stone he had got off the party after they had been to the Tomb of Raithwall. He wanted to become Emperor, as he detested Vayne, making a comment in one cutscene about blood alone can not make an Emperor. He may have been a bit foolish in testing the stone on the Leviathan, however, it wasn’t as if he knew that was going to cause his death, and the death of so many others. When you face him in battle, he can be tough, especially if you are low on health, items and MP - making a big run from the cell where you released Ashe to where you faced him was a challenge. Taking on or trying to escape the Imperials was not easy, especially if you wanted to conserve your energy. There were a lot of lines he spoke which I really liked, however, this one seems favourite at me "As for YOU my dear..THE EMPIRE REQUIRES YOU NO MORE!".
Rating: 10/10

Judge Magister Bergan - “Another nutty bastard who is completely badass”:
When you first got a look at his face, you could tell he was mean and nasty. It was like he was constantly snarling, he resembled a ravenous pitbull. He was the only Magister to believe in Vayne completely, the one who used his strength to throw Drace single handedly - he also orchestrated the attack on Mt. Bur Omisace when going to retrieve Larsa. He was truly bloodthirsty, and probably never cared much for being kind to someone. The guy who voiced him did a great job in bringing out his wicked side, and his speech before the party faced him had me hooked - the way he said “Hark!” made me squee. Part of me wanted to see what he looked like when he fell after he was defeated. Seeing as the nethicite inside him probably screwed his body up, it would have been interesting to see the after effects of defeating him!
Rating: 9/10

Judge Magister Drace - “She stood up for what she believed in. Poor lass got stabbedy stab stabbed in the end”:
I wonder if she always had doubts about Vayne. She was right in that Vayne was to be doubted, as he had killed his father, but had she chosen a wrong time to try and arrest him? Had she acted too soon? Personally, she should have done something else, rather then to try and take him on head on. Maybe joined the main party, who knows. Both she and Gabranth could have dealt with things more appropriately. But alas, things don’t always go the way I want them to.
Rating: 6/10

Judge Magister Zargabaath - “Voiced by Simon Templeman. Nuff said.”:
He was a good man, a good Magister who never seemed to lust for power or blindly follow someone. You could doubt that however, when it came to Drace. Though he pleaded for her death to be stopped, he could not prevent it. He was loyal to the Empire, but from what we saw he never came across as a complete ass kisser. A part of me thought he was weak, but if he stood up further to prevent Drace’s death, he would have too probably met his fate at the hands of someone else on Vayne’s side. Nevertheless, he was a good Magister, one of the more sensible ones, someone who never lusted for power, someone who probably didn’t have any issues concerning his past. The only one to survive out of the Magisters, I suppose Zargabaath would have been happy that Larsa announced himself as the new Emperor. Though you never saw him speak or interact any other way with the child, one could probably imagine him enjoying being under the rule of the young emperor, someone who was not tainted like Vayne was.
Rating: 8/10

Judge Magister Gabranth/Noah Fon Ronsenburg - “The judge magister everybody loves, and with good reason.”:
So much must have been going on in this mans head. Basch, he truly did hate with a passion, right until the very end of the game. With him having more time on screen playing his role, more people are going to vote him rather then vote for someone who was only on screen for a short period of time. He was completely different from Basch too - he was weak, allowed himself to commit horrible crimes - I.e. the killing of King Raminas and Drace. He let himself become Vayne’s lapdog, instead of fighting back. My only wish for this character, was that he stood up against Vayne, without endangering his life, protecting Drace. To only realise sooner that all hope was not lost, and that he need not be angry at his brother. He only really achieved his peace in the end on his dying breath, which was quite sad, as he deserved to live again, reclaim his honour and life, to carry on protecting Larsa. To only make amends during his last moments of life, instead of living and rebuilding the lost relationship with Basch. He was a tragic man, someone who really didn’t deserve to die. The only other issue I have with him in the game is that it would have been nice for more info as to how their relationship got so sour.
Rating: 8/10


Larsa - “Why do people always assume that Larsa was a girl? Since when do girls sound like him and dress like him?”:
What a cutie. Such a lovely well educated child – it’s a shame quite a lot of children his age in the real world are stupid, abusive, nasty etc etc. He’s very sophisticated, and has a heart of gold. He does his best to try and get his point across to his brother, and stands up to him right at the very end. Even though he eventually grows to dislike his brothers actions, after you first fight Vayne and defeat him, he runs over to his brother, trying to see if he was ok. He wishes for peace, the best for everyone really. When he joins you as a guest, you’ll him for his potions more then anything. Say you are low on items, and you don’t have enough to quickly heal someone, Larsa will automatically heal any weakened character up. Kinda handy that, seeing as his supply is unlimited! Despite the Empire being fierce enemies with Rozzaria, Larsa has a great friend in Al-Cid Margrace, a member of the Rozarrian royal family.
Rating: 8/10

Halim - “DON‘T GIVE IN TO THE EMPIRE HALIM!”:
The narrator! His voice probably took a lot of getting used to more then anything. This guy does the narrating at the beginning of the game and throughout, describing specific events along the way. When you first go to Bhujerba, you’ll see that he’s managed to keep the place neutral, thus not turning it into another Dalmasca. However, it becomes more apparent that the Empire does have a little influence on Bhujerba, using the Lhusu mines as an example. Despite the Marquis handing you over to the Empire, and resisting somewhat in helping you, he detests the Empire and leads the Resistance towards the end. He cares deeply for Ashe, and she also cares for him, calling him “Uncle”. Not sure if he is her actual Uncle, or just a close friend of King Raminas who she has simply just come to see as an Uncle like figure.
Rating: 8/10

Fran - “The viera with a nice arse“:
I just love what she wears, she has such a cute voice too. She’s an outcast of Eruyt village, where the viera there shun any of their own kind who leave the woods. Which is kinda sad really. Some of the viera who have left the woods are still don’t think much of the humes, some see the good side in them, whilst still learning to get close to them, others don’t seem to have a race problem, and fit in quite well. Fran is very accepting - she chose a human as her partner, and has no problem integrating with the rest of the group. When she meets Ashe for the first time (who is currently Amalia at that point), she shows sympathy at the loss of her comrades. Though emotion is not really evident, she meant what she said. She is also wise, and knows many a great things. In battle, her defense can be a bit low, but she can have great mage abilities, and has a higher MP then some characters.
Rating: 9/10

Balthier - “Lyke, omg, I wear rainbow rings”:
If you don’t already know, I do NOT like this guy at all. He bugs me so much it’s unbelievable. Not hard to see though why people do love him, as he appears to be quite the popular one. He has the looks, the smile, a smart mouth too - he also sees himself as a leading man. From my point of view, though he has the potential to be the leading man, Basch deserved that role - Basch‘s presence proved far more important. I never used to dislike Balthier. He was always one of those who I thought was simply, “ok”. From whatever point it was, my like for him just went downhill. Maybe he was just too full of himself for me to actually care about him? Oh well. His past was somewhat interesting though, what with him being Cid’s runaway son - the tearaway who hated being a judge, who wanted his freedom. If I were to give him a rating, he wouldn’t get anything. On a professional outlook..
Rating: 8/10

Al-Cid - “The pervert”:
You always get one pervert in FF games - Edgar in VI, Zidane in IX. This is probably XII’s equivalent. He’s quite funny, and he kinda has like a Spanish accent. In my opinion anyway. The chest hair is quite attractive, kinda makes you want to stroke it, if you’re into that sort of thing. His little assistant is always on hand to put his glasses either down her bra, or somewhere on her top - she speaks very little, in fact, you don’t hear a peep out of her. Al-Cid can come across as having the hots for Ashe - he uses cheesy chat up lines to make himself look all godly. Ashe doesn’t seem all too impressed really throughout. She either a) still thinking about Rasler b) thinking about how hot Balthier is. His personality can come across as annoying, but he is an all around nice guy, who genuinely wants to stop the war, and he is probably the only Rozarrian who is hoping to do so.
Rating: 9/10 (extra point for having chest hair)

Reddas - “The only man probably ever to exist, who makes pink pants look so good:”
He made an awesome exit. A previous Judge Magister going by the name of Judge Magister Zecht - when he took a trip to Nabudis, the nethicite he had pretty much destroyed the area, and he was presumed “missing” or simply..dead. He was well thought of, as shown by Bergan for example - Bergan considered him a fine warrior. Reddas appears to be one of the very few “main” characters in an FF game to be a black man - the only major/main character to be non white would probably be Barret in VII, or if you want to consider Kiros and Raijin from VIII, feel free to do so - black characters/other ethnicities are usually among the minority in a game. Reddas lives for justice, and wants to put a stop to Dr. Cid’s plans, especially after he witnessed the destruction of the Leviathan. He becomes the last guest character in the game after you return from Giruvegan, and helps you through the mighty Pharos, and also helps you to take on Dr. Cid and his special guest. Like Vossler, he can also use Telekinesis to hurt flying foes.
This great character also runs the port of Balfonheim, a place which was run with violence, until he turned things around. Many people appreciated his actions, however, some people were not too fond of what had become of the port, but I do believe they were in the minority. His henchmen consisted of the busty Elza , the short bangaa Raz, and the energetic Rikken.
Rating: 10/10

Ba Gamnan and his cronies - “Balthier’s best friends”:
Was Rinok the only female bangaa to be seen throughout the game? Maybe, maybe not - you could have spoken to any bangaa NPC and thought they were male and they may have actually been female! Ba Gamnan has three cronies altogether, each one of them vicious. They could have played a more important role in the game to be honest, as they could have been great rivals to fight every so often. The only times you get to see them are in Lhusu Mines, when you are running away from them, and if you do the Belito hunt - you HAVE to fight them all in the Sandsea (Monid helps you out). I think they have fitting voices too - cruel, especially Rinok. She has this witchy type voice, kinda like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz. There’s not much else I can say about these guys, other then I would have liked them to have more screen time.
Rating: 7/10

Emperor Gramis - “Done in by his son. Ouch”:
Truly think of this fellow as being manipulated by the senate. They all insisted they was working for the good of the country, but it seemed to me now that the current emperor was on his way out, they’d do their best to try and get the emperor to believe what they say. I can’t say that I thought too much of Gramis during the game - he wasn’t much of an Emperor, very weak, while Vayne pretty much could have been Emperor just by the way he acted. It doesn’t help that he was dying though. I don’t think he was a bad chap either. Manipulated as he was, I’m sure if he had met Lady Ashe, something could have been arranged - he never came across as evil, he came across as a reasonable emperor who you could come to some sort of compromise with.
Rating: 5/10

The Senators - “Bunch of creepy old men”:
The words “twisted politicians” comes to mind. Hm, since when are politicians NOT twisted? Hahaha. I’m glad when Vayne got rid of them to be honest, after the emperor was assassinated. They’re a bunch of boring bastards.
Rating: 3/10

Imperials - “Gunners, rooks, Judges and all that shit”:
The vast majority weren’t the loveliest of people, and to add to that, some of them had less then interesting..voices. Many had poor interpretations of a cockney accent, and I suppose the good Imperials, the ones who were less stuck up, didn’t speak at all. Some, because they had power over citizens in Dalmasca, would often think they were better then common folk. Me thinks the citizens of Dalmasca should have caused an uprising and taken on the Imperial bastards. Chances that Archades would come over and flatten them once more would be a definite cert. On a plus side…they did look after the town, though their attitudes were shit. They made sure no monsters got into the area, and kept trouble down I guess. Though the suppression of people…eh…was another thing that didn’t make them people you could really respect.
Rating: 4/10

Archadian NPC’s - “Stuck up bastards”:
That, and they all looked the same. The children have a terrible attitude about lower class people - it’s like “don’t touch me peasant!” . Something like that. Though you had genuinely civil people, the whole place felt uncomfortable to visit because of how things were at that time. The children, some of them, were even worse then their parents. Old Archades was pretty much full of people who suffered because of events happening in New Archades – you’d hear all sorts of stories about people warning you, and of stories where people lost everything. It was your emo town/area of FFXII. Even more so then Rabanastre. Well, the outside anyway. It might just equal the really bad atmosphere in Lower Rabanastre.
Rating: 5/10

Bhujerban NPCs - “Hiho, hiho, off to work we go..”:
It’s like a country of miners. There seems to be several groups of people in general though – your standard miners, and the drunkards who have a great love for Bhujerban Madhu. Around Bhujerba you will spot a lot of tour guides, some soldier like people (forgot their names…), and more Moogles then usual – Moogles are famous here you see because of their great work – great machinists in other words.
Man, I think it’s so bloody awesome at last they’ve got some decent recognition. Previous Final Fantasy’s, they’ve had somewhat minor parts. IX, they ran a Mognet Service, and acted as save points which was damn awesome.
In XII, they run a lot of shops, and outside of Bhujerba, they act as members of the Cartographer Guild, selling you maps! Neat
When you’ve got your Miners going to well..mine, there are people assigned to them to protect them from monsters in there. Which is good thinking, seeing as there some nasty beasts in there – you get a lot of bats and undead folks, which can be bloody annoying.
Bless the wine loving Bhujerbans overall for me – hah, there needs to be more drunken Bhujerban events 8D
Rating: 9/10

Eruyt Village NPC’s - “Vieras > Humes lolz”:
Their attitude kinda stinks, they only receive word from “The Wood” which tells them what to do. It’s like this lot don’t think for themselves, or have been made into believing this word given to them so much, that they really don’t think anything else is better then them. Remember when Jote said that Ivalice belonged to the Humes, and the Wood belonged to the Viera? Well guess what missy – Ivalice is meant for anybody, any race. The Wood is simply a place where Viera live. It’s not a world separate to Ivalice, so Viera should be able to explore THEIR world, and not be imprisoned inside some bleeding forest. Bah, their general “up-their-own-arse” attitude is as bad as some of the upper Archadians. There are few inside Eruyt who are what you consider nice, and not so cold, Mjrn especially. The Vieras that live outside the Village, and in the wide world, also have a more open attitude towards humans and other folk, which is all good.
Rating: 7/10

Jahara NPC’s - “What the hell where they playing? Chess?”:
I was so desperate to see what these guys looked like, I always did my best to zoom in on their masks so I could see any facial features, if I was allowed to that is. You could consider this race living in Jahara, the Garif, very traditional, they live the old ways, following old folklore and stuff. They’re a proud warrior race, and generally, very accepting of people who come to visit them. Though you technically don’t see any females, I don’t think it has been confirmed anywhere as the Garif being a male only race. Maybe, the women Garif are in a separate village, or further beyond the part of Jahara where you only see the men, the area your party goes to. Now to move onto the whole chess thing - seriously, take a look round, and you’ll see some Garif either on their own or with a friend, playing some type of board game similar to..Chess! Which I thought was pretty cool. They’re better then the lot in Eruyt that’s for sure - they even trade things with the nomads in Giza Plains.
Though they worship the Gods, they’re a genuinely calm, nice race.
Rating: 9/10

Giza Plains NPCs- “FFXII’s official Cockatrice ranchers”:
These guys can never go hungry - look at the stock they have - a whole army of cockatrices! You don’t really know if they’re going to actually eat them, so..they may just be using them for other purposes, who knows? I wonder sometimes,when the rainy seasons come, where on earth do all the cockatrice go to? You can’t exactly bring a whole herd into Rabanastre and look after them easily. Hm, maybe theres somewhere nearby where they stay for the duration? Seems like a reasonable solution.
They live in an area surrounded by strong monsters, and yet they cope pretty darn good.
They’re a very resourceful bunch, use what they can. Think of these folk as your gypsies of the FFXII world.
Rating: 8/10

Balfonheim NPC’s - “Where’s the Rum gone? Looks like I’m going to have to go to Bhujerba for some of that Madhu..”:
Haha, full of bald men and bangaas. There seems to be two groups of people in Balfonheim – those supporting Reddas, who have loved the reformation of their town. Thanks to him, Balfonheim is more organized and respectable. Then you have those who preferred it how it was like before. In general, I seemed to have spotted more supporters, then nay-sayers.
People here are hard working, always doing something. You get a fair few folk constantly running, and the usual lot in a local pub.
You’ll also notice supporters and nay-sayers in separate buildings - feel free to go in and chat to them. You’ll spot a lot of people working, either running about carrying things, always on the go. Where do they get their energy from? I suppose they need to keep fit in order to keep that pirateness about them haha!
Could do with a bit more variety pirate wise. If anything, most just looked bald…
Rating: 8/10

Mt.Bur Omisace NPC’s - “They must be cold. Lack of clothing apparent.”:
This lot have the worst luck in the world. They’ve either had their lives ruined by violence, or are sick of the world as it is for any other sort of reason, so they’ve decided to take to the Holy Land. They’re provided with food and drink, and given peace.
Later on in the game, they get attacked by the Archadians. One particularly sad moment is when you see a child crying for its mother who was hurt badly – you can see her in the background moving on the floor slightly. You come back later…and well, yeah. Not nice. :/
For some crazy reason, you have a rather anti social Viera staying there. Being emo. Complaining about humans. Ugh, look love, why did you bother coming here if you’re going to be like that? GAWD. I know humans aren’t perfect but sheesh >_>
Ahem..anyway. If you look around pretty much as you come in, to the left side of you, you’ll see a copious amount of tents. These are the “homes” of the new people living here. It sucks that so many have to come through the treacherous mountains, filled with blistering snow and wild monsters.
Moving onto the religious residents here, you’ll find that there are numerous male and female Kiltias spread about. As well as…some rare Numou, who are religious figures too. Often looked up to. One in particular, after a certain event, will give you an item which you will need for a rather awesome optional quest later. So, make sure you talk to the Numous whenever you can until you get said item
Rating: 8/10

Dalmascan NPC’s nomads in the Estersand and Westersand - “We roam free~”:
Fancy living next to a dinosaur roaming the Estersands and living near an open area full of wolves and cockatrices. Some of these nomads are pretty damn hardy aren’t they? If I was a nomad living near a bleedin’ dinosaur, I’d be running away somewhere. Haha, these people totally have balls. They’re part of a sidequest too later on, well several – the quest in order to get into another side of Barheim, which would lead you to Zalera, an optional Esper, the Cockatrice hunt, and a crazy quest to do with the rather odd group of Cactuars!
They’re an interesting bunch to some degree, but they are a bit dull. Harhar.
Rating: 8/10



Nalbina Fortress NPC’s - “Those darned Imperial dogs work us too hard. Bitches”:
Now you really didn’t get to see everybody in Nalbina. Those you did see were shifty, working their asses off, or being lazy. The shifty folk where the market stall people. The lazy…well, they were sat on their arses. What do you expect? Then there were the workers, who worked very well. You had the ones who hated the Imperials. Lol, one interesting character was this Bangaa in hiding, kinda like hiding a corner. Talking to himself he was. I was like…wtf mate? I was just generally having a run around, when I saw him. I think he petitioned a hunt. Been a while now since I’ve remembered what he said to me.
Hm, I really didn’t think much to a lot of the NPC’s here. Though I thought Jovy was a cute character J
Rating: 5/10

Phon Coast NPC’s - “We’re the Hunt Club groupies!”:
The people who were here generally seemed to be together in groups, all up for the love of the Hunt. I think it would be so awesome to actually go hunting with one of these groups. You wouldn’t be alone, and you’d always have someone there to heal you when need be. Uh…it’s kinda like that with the main party you have in XII, but, just..a bit different. This lot don’t have to worry about certain people gaining power in an unhealthy way and causing yet another war.
Cor, I’d well go down to Phon Coast.
Rating: 10/10

Mosphoran Highwaste NPC’s- “Wut? I got fired?! L ”:
Only several people are here – some travelers, a researcher, and a couple of tourists. Not to mention a bangaa tour guide. There’s one poor Bangaa who puts up a petition for a right beast of a Hunt – srsly, you should have seen the size of Braegh – I was like “WOAH, THAT’S A BIG HORSEY”. Initially, this Bangaa, had been separated from his partner, after being attacked by this monster, and if you visit his partner who’s at the Phone Coast later on, he says that his partners fired. How nice! Yup, he well isn’t pleased. L
Apart from that fellow, this small lot of people are a bit dull. Oh well.
Rating: 5/10

Those random souls who helped you while you were out exploring -”Let me cast protect on you dude“:
God bless that bangaa at the beginning of the game who would gladly help you out by casting various spells. That Garif too – beware of the wandering one earlier on (the one who’s in the same area as that rare game croc) will attack you if you heal him I think. Not sure. Once spotted a Garif in the Giza region. He didn’t attack you though if you healed him.
Ah, you have some rabbits too hiding in a little area – they’ll heal you, but don’t return the favour. They’ll start attacking you, so it’s best just to wait until they’ve been nice to you, then kill ‘em.
Rating: 10/10



Places you can go to:
Rabanastre - “What a nice starting town to explore in”:
This place hit me in the face when I first got to explore it. Very large, such detail used everywhere. I thought it was full of history, interesting people. Probably one of my favourite places in XII. You’ve got Lowtown, which has the Garamscythe Waterway, and outside of Lowtown, you’ve got regular shops to go and visit, as well as the Market Area and Clan Hall. If you come back every so often to the Clan Hall and speak to Montblanc, he’ll give you numerous awards, depending on how many hunts and bosses you’ve done.
There’s 3 different exits in Rabanastre – you’ve got the West exit, which leads you into the Westersands. They’re a wee bit tougher then the Estersands, but not by much. You’ve got the South, which leads you into the Giza Plains. You can usually tell what the weather is like once you reach the south side exit. There should be a Seeq round that area who tells you what the weather is in the Plains at that current moment.
Lastly, the Eastern exit leads you into..well..the Estersands! The area where your first official Hunt took place.
Rating: 10/10

Dalmasca Estersand/Westersand - “Oh noes, evil dinosaur up ahead. Lolz, I can take it on level 2 fo shure”:
This sure got troublesome when there was a sandstorm brewing. The Estersand was the easier part of the sands area, obviously, seeing as you had to do a compulsory hunt there. The Westersand was tougher, not by much, but it was. The Westersands were a bugger for sandstorms – and they still are . Once you do a hunt later on, well, do a side mission, sandstorms will disappear, but not completely. You’ll need a sandstorm for one of those bitching Entites.
There’s a point too where you get to do a side quest which enables you to cross over to a slightly tougher part of the sands - monsters there are just under level 30, and can hit hard if you go there very under levelled. Visiting this area is a requirement in the Barheim Key hunt, which involves a hidden “treasure“.
Rating: 10/10

Garamsythe Waterway - “Where the rats have fat eyes”:
I made a mistake once going against some monster in there which were totally more superior then me. You see, depending on how far you go in there, you’ll get attacked by enemies nearing their level 40’s. Not good stuff. Something I did once before, and purely by accident.
Thought I’d go do a bit of innocent exploring, but I got a nasty surprise. Ohai, a monster! Oshit, I ded D:
The Waterway is a tricky place to get around too, kinda like some main dungeons/area – get a decent map otherwise if you do not have a decent sense of direction, you’ll get stuck. A lot of paths look very similar, and it’ll probably piss you off. You get yourself an Esper in here too, but make sure you save beforehand. This particular Esper uses an annoying Sap field.
I personally cannot offer any advice on this Esper, as I’ve not had the chance to face him yet!
Rating: 7/10

Ogir-Yensa/Nam-Yensa Sandsea - “Watch out for the rare game now”:
That fire entite too if you consider that a rare game. It’s sneaking around in an area that seems to have plenty of circular areas, pretty much near the top left of your screen. Check your map, and see which area it lies.
Pretty much the whole place was abandoned by humans a long long time, which explains why you so much old, worn out machinery etc - the Urutan Yensa pretty much dispised outsiders, so they were left to rule that place on their own. Hence why you see so many scuttling around.
Other then the Urutan, there’s not an awful lot of other creatures on the ruins. Just Alraune mainly - you can come across the creatures that the little folk ride too, but they’re not common.
There are some other beasts in the desert only bits, but not on the actual abandoned stuff.
Both areas look the same too, there are no major physical differences.
Rating: 10/10

The Tomb of Raithwall - “Psycho Wall squashes j00!”
Word of warning before taking on a certain something which seems to be guarding a specific spot - Save. You should figure out what I’m talking about once you get far enough. Well, technically there are 3 things you should be looking out for - a big orange thing with four arms, and two…demon walls!
You’ll encounter the first one pretty much after entering the Tomb. Go down some little steps, and you’ll see something, a monster like image embedded into a small stone wall - walk along the long path in front of it, and it’ll come alive! Your first Demon Wall isn’t compulsory, but the second one is - be prepared, because you only have so long to fight it, before it squashes you!
Annnd when it does squash you…it’ll give you the evils. It really freaked me out when it did that!
Rating: 10/10


Giza Plains - “Making sunstones ftw”:
I liked how this changed between the rainy and dry season. I thought that was pretty nifty. Well obviously most places experience weather changes, but, this was the first real area that you could encounter which experienced them. It was neat too, seeing as you’d only get certain monsters in one season - say Dry would have Hyenas, Werewolves and Rainy would have frogs, Woolly Gators and those tough tortoise which where in a secret area.
Though it might have seemed boring to some, but I quite enjoyed making sunstones
Don’t know why, I guess it was because I liked exploring the Plains quite a lot, and meeting with the folk living there.
Rating: 9/10

Zertinan Caverns - “You make the mistake of going in here under levelled, you’ll get done up the arse”:
Yeah go in early, and come across monsters which are far more powerful then you, prepare to meet your doom! You can wander into Zertinan from various locations, and if you don’t have a good map or the Technick Libra handy, you’re a bit screwed quite frankly. Also, you’ll come across an optional Esper, who is probably one of the easiest optional Espers to tackle really. However, when you go against the Esper, undead will be arounded the area, so don’t go in there without having proper training. Eventually, Zertinan Caverns will be nothing to you, but you can still find some tough hunts, rare game in there as time progresses. Next bitch of an area you would have to worry about would be Nabudis. That place can be brutal.
Also with this place, there’s plenty of sand coming from all over - I don’t think you can get a map of this place, I never could whenever I went exploring inside of it. Just be careful of some spots, keep an eye out for monsters near traps, because if you see a monster, you’ll go straight for it unless you have Gambits turned off.
Rating: 10/10

Jahara - “Where everyone seems to be like a chess fanatic”:
The area gives an arid feel, very dry, lack of grass etc. They do have a running stream though, just near the entrance to Jahara, and the Ozmone Plains not so far away. You could compare this area to how the Native American Indians lived many years ago. No solid housing, just lots of tent like accomodation. Though they do trading with the people of Giza, Jahara citizens seem to be cut off from the rest of the world. In a way, like the Viera, but they do not stop people coming into their homeland, they welcome them, and are still involved with other folk, like I’ve just mentioned.
Rating: 10/10

Ozmone Plains - “Watch ye behind, you’ll get ganged up on”:
Yeah, there’s several areas which can be nasty - especially the area where you would come upon the lvl 99 red chocobo. Watch out for massive gangs of Mesmenir, Black Chocobos, Zaghnals, and Mesmenirs. The whole area while having the same sort of designs, is different in each section - you also have these weird ruin like things every so often. No idea where they came from, other than that they maybe previous remnants of another civilization. You’ll sometimes see wandering around, Garif warriors. Whatever you do, upon first visiting Ozmone Plains, and you are near enough Jahara, don’t attack the Garif walking around - he’s an important character in the village so to speak.
Rating: 9/10


Giruvegan - “Light switch somebody?”:
It’s..incredibly dark. The whole place freaked me out, and was not easy to maneuver around – every time you got to the bottom of a ramp, you’d come face to face with a couple of Behemoths with big bastards of swords (hohum, Bastard Sword. Yeh. See what I did there?), waiting to carve you up or Mythril Golems, guarding a switch you have to activate. The Golems aren’t too hard – just cast Protect on yourself and Reflect, so to bounce back their magic and save yourself from their heavy physical attacks.
Word of warning - get Vaccine before entering this place. The Malboros that are wandering around like to inflict this status on you, and it’s nasty, VERRY nasty. Caused me major issues first time round, when I was a bit under levelled - I failed quite often getting further into Giruvegan because of this. Second time round however, I’m a bit over levelled, and nailing those Malboro freaks!
Manoeuvring around can get a bit puzzling, so make sure you have a map of the area, or if you cannot find the map urn, look in the guide if you have one, or go on the internet.
Sometimes you think you’re getting somewhere, and then you realise you’re going in completely the wrong direction…
Rating: 9/10

The Feywood - “Bit foggy out here”:
The mist runs thick throughout, but not terribly filled. There’s plenty of Cerberus and other wicked creatures that fill this, including those little Mandragora type beasts. The wolf like creatures will gang up, but what you really need to worry about in the ganging up department is the Mirror Knights, especially if the rare game version of them is floating around. They will attack in groups of 5-6, and are a pain in the ass to deal with, as they repeatedly deal you heavy blows - they will chase and chase too, so make sure you heal plenty, and if youre running low on energy, go into another area. Heal up, then head back to them for they’ll be waiting.
This place is very tricky, especially in the second part of the wood after you beat Rafflesia - the mist runs extremely thick, and you’ve have to move through it all carefully to avoid enemies. It scared the shit out of me too. Sometimes I’d be like – omgomg, what the HELL is that? It’s almost like the floors are covered with snow - it’d be interesting to see what the place looks like if Coming across a beserked Behemoth was probably the worst thing – I mean, you’re low on MP and health, and there’s a freaking purple steroid pumped beast just rampaging. It’s kinda the last thing you want you know? Hehehe..at the same time it’s part of the fun, knowing that something like that is after you! They are especially weak to Ice are Behemoths, so if there is a group together…Blizzaga them all!
Oh, also got myself spooked out by that Girvegnus beast. You know, the freaky mist like creature with eerie green eyes. You just know its nearby when all you see are two bright green dots
This place really does kick ass overall, I remember coming through here under levelled, shitting myself, because I didn’t know where the monsters were. Such an entertaining area, thoroughly loved it <3.
Rating: 10/10

Eruyt Village - “Where everyone lives like Tarzan”:
Tree village lol. I’m guessing the part you see, is only part of the whole establishment, because you see some places boarded off, or you see further parts of the village elsewhere.
Bear in mind, this is just one Viera village, there are separate clans apparently in the Woods. Males too, are also rumoured to live separately, away even further into the Woods - and are less likely to come out of hiding.
Eruyt is really pretty in design, and the Viera all seem to be like…in the land of daydreaming - you’ll see several Viera just standing and looking out into er, wherever, those meditating. Suppose they’re keeping in touch with the Wood, because the Wood talks to them. Haha. Why I find that a funny concept I don’t know. You’ll see some areas cornered off, and a Viera nearby should tell you why such spots are like that. You can also got near where Jote “lives”, that’s further on in the village. Shame you don’t get to see what it’s like inside. Drat.
Rating: 9/10

Golmore Jungle - “The jungle which houses a massive pain in the arse:”
This place is incredibly dark too, and the local inhabitants seem to blend in well with the surroundings, apart from the obvious Hellhounds who have this mysterious glow emanating from their bodies.
On your standard route, you shouldn’t come across the Hellhounds. But if you drift further away from the area where Eruyt is, just be careful when you some strange glowing shapes. These guys will gang up on you if numerous ones are nearby.
Once you’re done with Eruyt, you continue down a path which will lead you to where Elder Wyrm lives. Now, he can be hard, especially if you don’t have many curative items/magic to heal status problems caused by his Sporefall. This boss IS optional, but the other route you can take is, troublesome itself. It’s littered with much tougher Coeurls, and a Diresaur towards the exit. Once you escape, and leave the Jungle, don’t move, stay right where you are.
If you are equipped with Libra, you’ll know why. There’s a trap right in front of you, unavoidable if you barge right on.
The next are you will be in will be the Feywood, and you need to exit post haste, to your left, as this area is a lot tougher at this current stage in the game. Keep moving left, running/avoiding monsters, and you will be on the Paramina Rift.
Rating: 10/10

Paramina Rift - “Can I have some mittens plz”:
Very very cold place - think of it as a harsher place then FFX’s Mt. Gagazet. One part of the Paramina has a tricky ice like crossing, with Garuda like birds flying over it, not to mention it’s littered with traps. Be sure to use Float !
This place also a rather strange Elite Mark to tackle - called the Trickster. When you see the poster petitioning it, it just looks like a regular white chobo. It isn’t, it is huuuuuuge! And, invisible.
I remember coming out of Mt.Bur Omisace, and going to tackle this thing. I was like…well, where are you? Then this massive invisible shape just sprung into full view and I was like WTF - bitch caused me problems too, arg.
You get some pretty cool dragon like beasts round here, a mandatory variation, and your undead skeletons.
Rating: 7/10

Stilshrine of Miriam - “Some other holy place”:
A place somewhat similar in atmosphere to the Tomb of Raithwall. Probably a bit more epic though, for one reason. Well, maybe several. There’s 2 Espers here - one is storyline obtained, and is kinda quirky. I always have to take this particular Esper out with Quickenings. Then there’s the optional one, but you come back to that later.
When I did come back for this later Esper, well, to see where it was, I was greated by two huge Reaper monsters. They’ll hit you with some epic magic, so make sure you have something to deflect the magic. Often I’ve jumped when teleporting, and they’re there. D:
One other thing - the statues. Oh man, they’re so funny. You’ll be walking past some epic man statue sat down, when the damn thing gets up to attack you. You have to tilt the camera angle up, so you can see it’s face, otherwise you only get to see its legs lololol. Then there’s the Facers. Just…huge stone faces that “jump” constantly to get to you. A giant face. Wanting to attack you. I’m not surprised if these things give people nightmares.
Lastly, Nightmares. Ohhohho, you only get one at a time, but they’re so awesome to look at - so dark, scary looking. They’ll stand for a moment where you go near them, but then they’ll teleport to an opposite direction D=.
Dammit, when I finish one thing, I always want to talk about something else. Ah yes, something which I didn’t know existed - a secret area! Only discovered this during my 2nd play through. Near where you find the Nightmare, walk past the two headless folk, and hug/run right next to the wall, on your right side - you’ll find a secret entrance. Thar, you shall find Oilings, stairway, then another entrance - cast Float beforehand. You shall soon see that it’s a wise idea.
You should by now have found a blue save crystal. So phew, you can save. Eh, not so simple. This damn thing is a crystal bug, so beat that bitch down the best you can, THEN you can save.
Good grief, I love the Stilshrine so much. <3. So much to discover and enjoy <3
Rating: 10/10

Mt.Bur Omisace - “Refugee City”:
The main place of interest here is the temple where the Gran Kiltias resides, or does his work. As you come into the main area, you’ll notice to your right a small collection of Tents - this will be where the refugees live. I reckon this is a bit of a dangerous area to live, for as you make your way through Omisace, you’ll find that you can fall easily off the path, and crack your head on something and possibly kill yourself - I was like, wtf, you need barriers man. You’ll notice numerous priests walking around, as well as a small group of Nu Mou. They’re like well respected..er, people. Wise and all that. You’ll find yourself an anti-social Viera, who really needs to change her attitude towards humans or sod off. She’s constantly criticising them, and you wonder, erm, what you doing here then love? -screams-
The atmosphere is quite depressing, even more so later on. There seems to be an ever increasing amount of people coming to the place, and I think the holy folk are starting to struggle with numbers. So yar, this area I don’t particularly love.
Rating: 6/10

Bhujerba - “A constant uphill struggle”:
The first obvious thing about this place is that it is a sky city - yes, a place of living..in the air!
If I lived up there, chances are I wouldn’t last all that long - I’d probably fall off the bloody edge! Weeee -lands on Phon Coast-
Haha! Anyway, the main focal point of Bhujerba is obviously those giant wing like things coming from the Marquis estate, but also the Lhusu Mines.
This area has one of the most entertaining mini games too - making people get drunk, wonderful idea. Pretty much once you make a person get drunk - they collapse. Teehee.
The landscape in general is pretty hilly, because you have to walk up and up a fair bit.
I would hate to live there, simply because a) I could fall off the side of Bhujerba and b) I’d die from exhaustion. Reckon it would be a great way to keep fit though.
Rating: 9/10

Lhusu Mines - “The first taste of skeletonism”:
Several areas in here have this mysterious glow, obviously these are the parts where you do the whole digging for magicite. The Lhusu Mines will be a place as well where you get encounter the best Hunt/Elite Mark - all I’ll say is that you’ve seen him before, especially if you’re a regular player of Final Fantasy games. Memorable music will also be played during that battle too, stirring up nostalgic feelings .
In Lhusu Mines itself, you’ll generally come across different types of undead soldiers, bats, slavens - once you access further parts of the mines, you’ll come across tougher foes.
One particular area of the Mines itself early on while give you a great place to train, level up, build up a whopping chain, and get lots of loot to sell at a decent price.
Another hunt I should mention which could get pretty hectic is the Antlion one - that takes place in here. You get the main Antlion, then all it’s babies! You’d better watch out, because the parent likes to cannibalise. Imagine that, eating your own babbies D:
Rating: 9/10

Balfonheim Port - “People sure love running here”:
Right near the coast, and full of activity. At the entrance to Balfonheim, there’s small groups of people hanging about, a chocobo stable. Make your way into the port, and there’s numerous side markets, selling the usual Gambits, Magicks etc. There’s an area which overlooks the sea, and it seems to have a bar near to overlooking the sea too.
In some of the building, well in two specifically, there’s two groups of people - Reddas supporters, and Reddas nay-sayers. In general, you’ll meet and pro-and anti supporters on your travels, but it seems they collectively gather in a certain area.
There’s a long road going up to where Reddas resides, and there’ll be people running about, fishing etc.
Rating: 8/10

Cerobi Steppe - “Lots of grass”:
Just outside of Balfonheim. They’re loaded with Bandercouerls and more Bellwyverns. Bandercouerls are a weird greeny colour, no change with the wyverns. Great place to level up too, as when you go through the various sections of the Steppe, you’ll come across tough, high hp based Ringwyrms, as well as those giant tortoise, plus some more flying creatures.
Rating: 9/10

Tchita Uplands - “More grass”:
An area inhibited mostly by Coeurls and Serpents, and the occasional Malboro Overking. A great place to steal some loot to sell at great prices - Coeurl Pelts and Spiral Incisors from your Bellwyverns. I always had a habit of collecting tonnes of loot, and making my way back to the Phon Coast to sell it all. I got lots of money in the process <3. The terrain is similar to Cerobi also. You’ll also come across your fair share of snake like creatures too, some who are wondering around away, not necessarily popping up out of nowhere like they usually do.
Rating: 9/10

Sochen Cave Palace - “Are you sure this is a palace?”:
Very dangerous place, considering it is a palace. Underground palace that is. Once you beat the Mandragora party, you can advance onto the next area, which should have a Save Crystal. However, this is a horrible Crystal Bug. Once you’ve battered it, you’re A-Ok to save.
You’ll find mostly the Undead folk floating around, as well as the several types of aerial beasts. Then, as you go into the Waterfall area, there’s lots of headless creatures walking around – expect to be ganged up on. You’ll meet more as you work your way through even more doors. Slight change of scenery, but make sure you don’t go the wrong way!
Hiding somewhere in Sochen is the Hell Wyrm, a ferocious and tough beast. Optional though, so you do not have to tackle him.
You will however…have to fight a potentially annoying storyline boss. I won’t reveal anymore about him, just in case you’re eager to find out this information yourself
Once you’re done with the boss, make sure you stock up on Maggotry Flesh. It’ll bring a fair few Gil, so you’d get a good bit of dosh from selling 99 of them. Forbidden Flesh are worth more, but they’re very rare, so I wouldn’t spend ages looking for them unless you were lucky in finding many quickly.
Rating: 9/10

Archades - “The country where everyone seems to have an attitude problem”:
You have your two main areas of Archades - Old and New. In the old, the less fortunate people live, they’re poor as well. You can tell from the surroundings, and once you get into the posh side of the City, you can see how much it differs from the Old. Tall sky scraper like buildings, lots of moving vehicles, too many shopping places. There’s different levels of Archades, and you need “chops”, valuable pieces of information in order to get to the higher levels. I was like…what the hell for? If you can’t go where you want even in your home, why bother living there? What a ridiculous system.
You get to visit Draklor Laboratory too. Which can be rather confusing, if you have don’t keep looking at your map from time to time. To get to certain areas, you have to close/open different coloured bulkheads, and then work a route round.
Ah, you’ll be joined by numerous groups of Imperials too. Ganging up on you repeatedly, as ever.
Overall, Archades graphically is just immense. But the whole chop business and..well, certain attitudes of people there make it less fun to enjoy.
Rating: 8/10

Phon Coast - “We’re all going on a summer holiday..”:
This area has plenty of sand (yey for beaches!), and the Hunters Camp is on the coast. This area is full also of great to steal as well - Pointed Horns, Bundles of Feathers, and Quality Hides. Be careful too, if you happen to see a rather odd collection of Treasure Urns. Why? Amongst them is a treasure chest you cannot get, due it being one of those needing to be left alone in order to obtain the Zodiac Spear later on in the game. Those chests in general are pretty crap, so best leave them alone. There’s plenty of walking space in Phon Coast, and it’s a great place to level up at.
Once you meet a certain group of Bangaas at the camp, you’ll get asked to hunt specific rare game that drop trophies. The first one being near the 16 chests itself. Kill it, bring the trophy back to them, and they’ll have another natter with you.
Be sure to check out the noticeboard too, for any new hunts that might have appeared!
Thoroughly enjoyed this area because of what’s stated above – it also had some mighty epic music that made me feel “LET’S GO HUNTING FOLKS!” Teehee!
Rating: 10/10

The Salikawood - “Lazy fuckers”:
This place leads to two very deadly areas, once you have defeated a certain non storyline boss. While you’re here first time round, the main objective of this section is to whip some lazy Moogles into shape - well, get them to work anyway - it‘s compulsory, you have to do it. Once that’s over and done with, you can quite happily carry on into the Phon Coast, which appears next.
In the optional area of the Salikawood, difficulty doesn’t change all that much. You’ll get your first sighting of Baknamy, and these are the easy ones. They’re on their own, and don’t hit for much. It’s the ones described ahead you’ve got to watch out for.
Scenery wise, you can guess what this place looks like. Given it a higher rating, based on the optional boss and routes.
Rating: 9/10

Necrohol of Nabudis - “BAKNAMY ATTACK!”:
Very weird, contorted place - go in here under levelled, you’re done for. Baknamy in here pack quite a punch, and attack in groups. They can dodge attacks too, quite easily. I went here previously, and vacated the area once I realised how deadly it was. Now I’ve come into my second play through, in order to get all Techniks, as Telekinesis. I’ve not gone far enough to give a real good description of the place, other then, just be careful of the monsters in there - some are very nasty, and some in particular love to drain a characters MP right down to zero in an instant. The whole place is dark, eerie, kinda twisted looking. Probably one of the last optional areas I’ll be taking myself too.
Rating: N/A

Nabreus Deadlands - “Foggy. Full of dead stuff too.”:
Misty, very much like the Feywood, if only a bit spookier. Quite a few undead beasties, and you’ll get jumped by undead skeletons once you hit a certain point - there’s a hunt you take on in the Deadlands, and there’ll be constant skeletons coming out of nowhere, which gets seriously annoying - especially if you’re trying to heal and all the guys including the hunt monster gang up on you. That being said, as long as you’re at reasonably strong levels, there’s nothing else to really worry about in this place. It freaks me out whenever an undead spook comes up out of the ground, or is hiding in the grass and jumps me. L
Rating: 8/10

Mosphoran High waste - “Oh, look at all the fountains”:
You could only go into the Highwaste from Nalbina when you got rid of those two guards. It’s got plenty of twisty paths, and a hidden esper along the way. I eventually got all these fountains working, and thought “I’m at a reasonable level, I could quite happily take on this Esper.” Gets into fight, Esper goes “LOL, SCATHE!” -White beam of something rapes my current team-.
Near most of the fountains are some travellers, a researcher or two, and monster wise, some Humbaba armed with fat swords, nasty Seeqs if you go into the right area, an occasional fire elemental, plenty of Worgens, plus some other beasties.
You can enter this place several ways, the earliest time you can do so is if you freak out the Imperial at Nalbina. Go near him on a Chocobo, and you’re free to go into Mosphoran. But don’t go attacking the monsters unless you have a death wish.
Rating: 8/10

Dreadnought Leviathan - “I remember the moment when I was buggered by 4 Imperials, all at once.”:
Probably one of my most favourite things to have gone to on XII. It’s quite funny, just running through those red beams when you had no other alternative, and having countless guards on your ass all the time. It was not fun when Hoplites came along though – they were tough, and I often struggled everywhere I went if one was attacking my group.
After picking Ashe up, this was pretty much the last point you could save before going to face a boss - for some, this particular boss was a challenge. Some people were under levelled when coming to this fight, so training a bit more was inevitably the only other option. Some people even had Quickenings at this point, so they whupped them out.
Anyway, the journey is kinda long, all the way back up to where you originally left off. Make sure you buy from the Merchant on the Leviathan, lots of potions, just to be on the safe side.
This was such an awesome area for me - it was funny in a way just seeing swarms of Imperials just come up on you out of nowhere when you crossed a red beam 8D.
Rating: 10/10

Nalbina Fortress - “Where’s the rest of it?”:
When you initially walk up to Nalbina, you get a short FMV scene, showing you how big the Fortress really is. You don’t get to explore that much of Nalbina though – you’re pretty much just walking down a street full of stalls, some lazy people and Imperial Guards. Then you come into an open area, with some more market stalls. But that’s all you get to see. Then there’s the Aerodome, where an Imperial Guard will take you into.
Though it wasn’t a real important area of the story, there was just so much more you could visit.

Rating: 5/10

Barheim Passage - “Where you first meet a hairy Basch”:
I remember coming here, and wandering off into a specific section when I came through a different entrance. Man, I had no idea the monsters could be that strong, so I quickly came out - it‘s great going into these new areas, only to find out the monsters can just nail you right there and then. Sometimes I‘m just sooo lucky. This area what I had explored, was part of the route what you had to take when finding Zalera, the rather disturbing optional Esper. You kinda need the Barheim Key to get through this locked area.
The path is long to Zalera, and you’ll be facing lots of undead beasties, bombs too. Save at the save crystal, and be warned - the oncoming battle uses a Timer.
Rating: 9/10

Sky Fortress Bahamut - “Where rooks > you”:
Another place with a horrible map. Luckily, you don’t have to spend too much time trailing floors. But, be prepared for some nasty contact with the strange machinery there – I had Bubble Belts on, but still I nearly got battered by some nasty dark magic. So, be warned – either train yourself up a fair bit before going in there, or run like hell! You will get ganged up on too, as usual when floating around Imperial based areas.
You’ll get to fight a certain someone for the last time too, so enjoy that battle
I won’t spoil anything else for you, because, I’m nice like that. This is pretty much the last “dungeon” you’ll come across storyline wise.
Rating: 7/10

Henne Mines - “Hey, this is where Mjrn goes nutty”:
Lmao, Mjrn is so funny when she’s possessed - the way she just moves/runs along is like
-am zigzagging- . Not so funny, when she kinda disappears behind Tiamat, a rather annoying boss. He isn’t that hard to take on, more of annoyance. Taking down his HP can be hard.
This is where you find the toughest Esper too of them all, good thing he is optional. I’ve yet to take this thing on, so I can’t tell you where to find it, but what I can say is that he is a bit of a short arse. He’s quite small, but packs a punch.
You can also get into a small area of Henne Mines through the Feywood. All you can see are a few bats, and you might think - yeah, they don’t like that tough. Whatever you do, do not underestimate these guys. They’re level 64, and can obliterate your team quite quickly if they’re not levelled well enough.
Another thing that will annoy you is when you’re pressing switches to get to other parts of the Mines - you get a ridiculous amount of Flans just dropping on you from above. I could never take on these guys, I just made a run for it because they can overpower you. This applies to the stages early on, I don’t know about the optional routes.
Rating: 7/10


The Ridorana Cataract - “I hear you fight Yiazmat in the Coliseum here..”:
This is only like a little area to be quite honest, before you go into the Pharos itself. I remember coming on here and seeing some Mantis like creatures as well some Malboros, then seeing a giant Dinosaur. Not thinking it was a rare game until I discovered that fact when I selected to attack it, I was a little bit nervous 8D
Sounds a bit odd, but my favourite but my favourite spot was the Coliseum. At first, if you don’t have Libra on, it’ll look like a big circular space, purely empty. Whack Libra on, and it’s a trap filled hell hole .
If you’re someone who doesn’t use Technicks…be sure to use Libra. Heck, you should use it all the time anyway!
Rating : 7/10

The Pharos - “Are we there yet?”:
I liked this place, mainly because at one point, early on, you had to give up an ability, like the attack command, or the magic command. Kinda makes you think - hey, bit of a challenge here, so I have to change my tactics. However, if you had chosen to get rid of your map, things would be relatively easy. You could print off walkthrough sections, read them or just have your guide nearby. Or, you could just figure out your next path by yourself. I don’t think it would have been too hard, plus, giving up either one of your abilities would hurt because if a specific enemy came along, who say was resistant to magic, and you’d just given up your attack, well…you’d be stuck.
This is the longest dungeon of the game, or the last proper one – and it’s where you fight multiple bosses, some rather nasty ones, and obtain your final storyline based Esper of the game.
You had to be careful when solving certain things, because you could mess up when trying to build a bridge, and accidentally kill monsters you weren’t supposed to, and if you touched the wrong statues, you’d get transported to areas where lots of enemies would just gang up on you.
This place was also kinda creepy, and for some parts, I was a bit on edge!
Rating: 9/10



Monsters - Rare games inc
Could have done with a teeny bit of variation, but it didn’t bother me all too much - at least different species had features which you could tell where different from other types - previous ff games just had a colour palette switch. Rare games were a nice challenge, and taking on enemies such as the cute little mandragoras and Saurians, really made me excited. Having monsters gang up on you was fun too, as well as challenging. Monsters sometimes attacked each other, and occasionally cannibalised a lesser species - take for instance the Saurian in the Estersand - it would cannibalise Wolves to increase its power/level. Which was dangerous if you were under levelled and mistakingly attacked it. Some of the monsters had a weird, mysterious look to them - Giruvegnus, with its big green eyes, and the Aeronites, who didn’t seem to have a face, if you took them head on. Or even the hellhounds in Golmore Jungle, whose eerie glow seemed to be the only thing you could spot from miles away. Sometimes, I’d jump, or be wary of my surroundings - a rampaging Behemoth beserked was not something you wanted to cross, plus Vipers and the Undead who liked to surprise you as they came up from the ground. If I had to choose a favourite breed of monster, it would have to be the Cacti, Behemoths, Bunnies and Mandragoras species. Cacti - for their dopey looks while asleep, and their strangle entrancing way of walking. Behemoths - for their powerful look. Bunnies - the tails. Oh my god, the tails. Mandragoras - It was like a species of monster resembling that of possessed dolls. Something like Chucky. Hm, but Chucky was fat and ugly, Mandragoras plus other kinds were just adorable.
Rating: 10/10

Music
Yus, Nobou Uematsu didn’t the music for this game. I wasn’t particularly too bothered. The whole music issue was something that was of little importance to me. Some people said the music was poor - which is absolute bullshit to put it simply. Yes, you have every right to say the music didn’t appeal to you, that you preferred Nobou’s style more. To say that this music was poor whatever - it isn’t. It’s fully orchestrated, brilliantly done pieces, all professional and shiz, so when you’re talking about music in the future, look at what you say before posting. I doubt many gamers will know a lot about Sakimoto in general, so even though you may not have thoroughly enjoyed what he did, give him a chance in future projects, instead of always sticking to Uematsu as your No.1 composer. I wonder if anyone actually knows of many other game composers with talents other then Uematsu? Something I always wondered myself. I urge people to explore and whatnot.
My personal opinion? A very memorable, different soundtrack, with some amazing pieces that fitted the scene very well. I can remember names of songs too, which is pretty amazing when I think about it.
Rating: 10/10

Sidequests
Plenty to keep the hunt enthusiasts at bay - including Yiazmat, with its amazing 50million HP.
That’s not something I personally attempted first time round, but I will do during my current second playthrough. Quite excited at the prospect on taking something on like that, but I’ll be shitting myself at the same time.
A fair few of your Espers are optional too – Adrammalech being in the Zertinan Caverns, Ultima being in the great Crystal (where’s there no visible map. Hohum). Some will have certain conditions when you fight them, such as not being able to use Items (Exodus), and not being able to attack (Zeromus). If you want somewhere to start Esper hunting, try Adrammalech – he’s the easiest, though when you go to fight him, beware the Zombies!
There’s a fair few shorter ones too, like the Viera Dating Agency, Fishing, Hunting down the Cockatrice of Giza – trust me, catching the one in Rabanastre can be very annoying. I know this from personal experience. If you want to nail everything, get yourself a Guide and dig deep!
Rating: 10/10

Gameplay - Quickenings, Gambits, No random battles - the whole “No gil coming from monsters issue“ too:
Ever wanted to get somewhere, and you were low on HP, had very little MP/items left, and you got yourself into a battle and got your arse well and truly kicked? Yes, extremely shitty feeling hm? Well, FFXII no longer has that agony of coming across a breaking screen every 5 seconds. Maybe you’re thinking - yes, the whole game is going to be a piece of cake~ Hrm, er, no. Enemies will gang up on you, and if you don’t level up and use your LP wisely, you’ll be down and out in no time at all. You can flee from groups of enemies, however, that doesn’t always work - it will do after a while, but if you’re unlucky you’ll get hurt. But it’s not too much of a problem. What’s the harm in killing off a few extra monsters, for all that EXP and loot?
Moving onto gambits - gambits are pre set moves you can give to your characters. Say you want your character to automatically do something like, heal an ally/themselves once their HP goes below 70% - you find the gambit which relates to what you’re looking for, and put it in a set position, once you’ve modified it. In other words, the first half of the gambit would be something like.. “if HP < 70 %..” you’d have to choose either a cure magic or item to go into the second part of the gambit to make sure it works. To also have it work, you must turn it on. If you don’t want any gambits on, just turn them off from the gambit menu or battle menu. Gambits can come in handy for some boss battles, or regular battles even - I once got past a nasty boss with a good few gambits - but problems could occur along the way, such as an unwanted status problem affecting all your party, making you change your battle plan, or some other type of sticky situation. You can always interrupt your gambits, do whatever you want, and get back to them soon after. I never really use them myself, I like to manually attack, because If I go wrong with an attack for example, I like recast the move I originally wanted. Pretty neat, saves you wasting the wrong spell on an enemy for example.
Quickenings are next on the menu - think of these as your limit breaks. Each character gets them, they get 3 in total, each one getting stronger along the way. Seeing as I am a nerd, I am going to name them all.
Balthier - Fires of War, Tides of Fate, Element of Treachery
Ashe - Northwains Glow, Heavens Wrath, Maelstrom Bolt
Basch - Fulminating Glow, Ruin Impendent, Flame Purge
Pennelo - Intercession, Evanescence, Resplendance
Vaan - Red Spiral, White Whorl, Pyroclasm
Fran - Feral Strike, Whip Kick, Shatterheart.
( Above quickenings in order)
Graphically, they are totally awesome - Pyroclasm and Flame Purge, along with White Whorl, are pretty much a good kick in the face. They are the most mindblowing I think. You may think differently haha. Anyway, Quickenings will use up your MP, maybe all of it, depending on your chain, and what ranking of quickening you started off with first - the higher the chain, and the higher the chance of stringing together different ranked quickening (for extra damage to mention), will also bring about “concurrences”, which is like a powerful attack which kinda finished off your chain once you’ve ran out of time. Yups, you have a time limit in which to do as many quickening as possible. Your most basic concurrence is Inferno, and your more powerful ones will be ones like Black Hole, and they can be hard to get. I won’t get into how you get different concurrences, because it’s kinda pointless really - that, and I don‘t know off the top of my head all the names . All I want to do is tell you a little about them, what you need to know really.
Over past times, I have often come across some players complaining about lack of money, and how expensive things can be. Well, they’re not expensive, and money is not hard to come by. Just because monsters no longer drop gils, doesn’t mean FFXII is crap/a lot harder in terms of being able to get certain things. FFXII has a somewhat decent economy - you kill a monster, you could be rewarded with loot. A key note to those who want lots of money, fast - build up a chain of monsters. This involves killing the same type of monster, over and over, and along the way, earning loot, which can range from Feathers to Behemoth Steaks - until you can earn no more of that item. Once you hit 99 of that item/piece of loot, go to any shop, sell it all, and you’ll get your moneys worth if you stocked up on something rare/valuable. Selling loot also opens up more bazaar deals, where you get special items which you help you get rarer items when fighting monsters, and item packs where you can get a few Phoenix Downs for example at a cheap price.
Also, if you build up a chain of at least 50, you get a Sky Pirates Den medal! Sweet eh? Also, the more you chain on a certain monster, the more chance you have at getting better weapons with better attack, or armour with better effects - it happened to me before, and I well appreciated the weapons I gained! (This actually concerns my second play through haha)

The Storyline
Some people were disappointed/annoyed with lack of discs and complexity, but to me, it’s something I’ve been looking for - many a time, I’ve had to just sit there and watch a cut scene about some character that I couldn’t care less for. The story did have epic value for me, character deaths, quite a lot actually, some dramatic - Drace, Vossler, and most importantly Dr. Cid and Reddas. Ok, characters deaths annoyed me, but if they have to happen, then one must grin and bear it yesh? There were twists, I liked them, the storyline in general was something I expected. No emo characters made things more enjoyable too. Only a few minor quirks with the whole game though - more Judge action would certainly have been appreciated, and maybe a few last touching moments between Larsa and Vayne. The ending was satisfying, gosh, it nearly made me cry. Why did you have to die Noah ;_;
I will admit that this game does not have the biggest of storylines, but for me personally, I need a mix of good storyline and fun, non storyline based adventures. FFXII, for me, was a good mix of things. When I look at my copy of FFVII, and think about whether or not I should play it, I always shake my head - too much story, and not enough non storyline based activities I could really enjoy.
Not much I can add to that really, pretty much summarised everything I had to say <3 - a lot of storyline information can be find in character analysis’ I have done.

Overall Rating
Kept waiting so long for this, good grief, I nearly died when I heard it was being put back until February. I was so not disappointed - fresh new type of gameplay which I completely failed at first, then got used to, and adored. No more random battles, just plenty of trying to escaping from pursuers! Which was fun, and realistic haha. It’s the only FF I have ever played which made me want to start another file on the same day of completion. Very few of the characters irritated me, I loved the majority of them, and fell in love with particular people. If you know me well enough and have read this review, then you know of whom I speak. Graphics, beautiful of course. Voice acting - fantastic. Story - just my cup of tea. Side quests - the best I have ever come across. Soundtrack - Brilliant, loved the introduction of another composer - not too picky I am. Influx of sexy males - well appreciated. I’m such a perve :3
There’s also plenty of references to previous games in this, so keep a lookout for them.
Of course you know what I’m going to give this.
10/10. Minor little imperfections don’t affect this score really, where the positives in this game, certainly, TOTALLY, outweigh the negatives.



It's took me long enough to do this, and I've finally got it up.