Final Fantasy XII: first impressions.
At last the expected one is among us Final Fantasy XII. I’ve been able to get the hang of it, and after spending a few hours trying this and that, these are my first impressions.
After a very beautifully made intro (in some passages it will seem to us to be watching a new installment of Star Wars), and lasting more than 7 minutes, we will find ourselves controlling a character called Reks with whom, thanks to the instructions of the Captain Basch, we will learn the basic movements. From the dumbest thing like walking, running or moving the camera to the way we face our fights. Let’s remember that the usual turn-based battle system has disappeared in search of a new one, much more direct.
Then we will have to face our first enemies, following a little tutorial plan, so that we get familiar with the controls. By the way, the enemies in this installment don’t appear out of nowhere when we least expect it. At all times we will see them and we can decide if we want to fight or pass by. If we are going for an enemy it is as simple as pressing the X button, selecting the Attack command, selecting our objective and accepting. At that moment a bluish beam of light will join our character with the chosen target and an attack bar will appear in the lower right part that, when completely filled, will make us attack. We will not have to enter any more commands, unless we want to change the command, since our character will attack the target again and again until he finishes it. It is convenient to hold down the R2 button during the battle, so that we fix the camera on our prey. Especially useful when there is more than one enemy.
Later we will discover the use of Gambits, which are nothing more than a series of action orders in battle with which we can program the characters. In this way we can dedicate ourselves to controlling the leader and let the rest of the team act autonomously in one way or another, following the guidelines that we have indicated in their Gambits. We can also deactivate them and give orders to each member separately in each battle, according to the consumer’s taste.
Soon we will get into Vaan’s shoes. With it we will be able to walk freely through the beautiful streets of Dalmasca, but obviously we will have to follow a series of indications / missions for the story to advance. Tremendous first mission to kill a Scum called the Lost Tomato. Apparently this monster is causing a stir among the locals, preventing goods from reaching the city and others, but the truth is that it is a little joke (or one more part of our learning) because the little tomato really has a joke. He’s a dwarf and in no time we’ll be done with him. After reporting our feat we will collect the reward.
Well, I will not continue to tell the story step by step because it is not the idea. Yes, I would like to talk about the Licensing system. To sum it up, I could say that a character can wear an armband among his equipment, for example, but he will not be able to equip himself with it unless he has the accessory license that allows it. To obtain licenses we will have to accumulate license points (PL) and then use them in a board in charge of showing them to us. In this board we will find them located by categories (Weapons, Magic, etc.) and each time we decide to acquire one, those that surround the acquired one will be unlocked. It seems a bit confusing, but in practice it is something quite simple. The licenses will help us to outline our characters and it is advisable not to cut them all by the same pattern. In this way we can achieve that the strength of that character is weapons and that of another is magic, to have a varied team capable of responding in any situation.
To finish a couple of notes. yes, graphically it is very nice, but it has a little problem: the camera. Sometimes it works really badly and we will find ourselves with uncomfortable angles that will make us a little dizzy. I have not seen that it is serious, but, as I said, sometimes it is annoying. So far it is the only negative point that I have found.
We will continue playing, this has hours and hours.
