Final Fantasy XII

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I first saw Final Fantasy XII. It almost seemed like a mix between Lord of the Rings and Star Wars when I first watched the opening sequence. One of the things that struck me immediately was the new combat system. Obviously there are major differences from one Final Fantasy to the next, but they finally did away with turn-based combat in this installment of Final Fantasy.

As it turns out, I rather like it. There are some obvious flaws, because you can set things up in such a way that you don't really have to touch any buttons, but I liked the idea of having all the monsters visible on the map instead of random encounters at various intervals.

I found the storyline impossibly difficult to follow, but maybe that's just me. The world is huge, and I thought that was pretty cool. In some ways it can be tedious and confusing trying to figure out where you need to go and what you need to do next, but obviously they put some thought into the design, because there are certain 'shortcuts', even when you're getting around the various cities.

This isn't really an official review, since I haven't actually finished the game yet. I've put in about 30 - 40 hours of gameplay, and even though I was still enjoying it, I stopped playing it altogether for some reason. I don't know why I do this sometimes, but I don't always have the endurance or determination to finish a game all the way through. It's actually been a long time since I've played it, but who knows? I might pick it up again.