Final Fantasy 12 -- Initial Impression and Series History.

I have a couple weeks before the next big game of the season arrives so I figured I'd attempt to knock off another one of the major titles clogging up the backlog. I'm going to just bite the bullet and jump back into the currently less than appealing waters of the Japanese RPG with Final Fantasy 12 for the PlayStation 2 via the PlayStation 3. I'm going to be playing the game making use of the PlayStation 3's emulation enhancements. Meaning I'll be playing with the upscailing set to full screen and the smoothing turned on and that's going to impact my impressions of the graphics and the like. Final Fantasy 12's development is famous at this point. It spent more than its share of time in development hell. Development began in 2001 with Yasumi Matsuno of Final Fantasy Tactics fame as producer and director. Early on he was forced to step down in both roles with the reason given as poor health. It's widely believed he essentially had a nervous breakdown. A new producer and director were assigned and the game resumed development and the game was eventually released in Japan in 2006 after many course changes during development. The game took double the standard three-year development cycle. One of the game's largest critics is none other than series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi who has gone on to state that he finds himself unable to finish the game and he regrets the loss of Matsuno. Final Fantasy 12 has seemingly split the Final Fantasy fanbase like no other title before it. It's way too early for me to see on which side I'm going to land with the supposedly radically different Final Fantasy experiment. But I can give you some perspective with a rundown of my opinions of each of the games in the long-running series. Final Fantasy for the NES is a good enough beginning. I've played through it roughly three times in various forms over the years. It wouldn't rank in my top five 8-bit RPGs though. I first attempted to play the disastrous Final Fantasy 2 with its initial western release on the PlayStation. The game features one of the more stupid design choices with its unconventional experience system that uses a trade-off system based on weapons, armor, and spells used rather than traditional experience. It's a truly annoying and game breaking system in my view. Just like Final Fantasy 2, I didn't really play through Final Fantasy 3 until its initial western release last year on the Nintendo DS. This faithful remake updates the graphics and translation while remaining true to the plot and events of the original. The ugliness of the 3D of the NDS and the decidedly old-school play mechanics made playing through Final Fantasy 3 more of a chore than a fun and rewarding experience. Time had just moved on too much for Final Fantasy 3. Final Fantasy 4 wasn't my first RPG by any means. So I don't look back upon it with undying love and devotion the way too many fans do. It's a good game, not a great one. Solid story and decent early SNES graphics and a long quest make it good. Just like Final Fantasy 2 and 3 I didn't get around to truly playing Final Fantasy 5 until its initial western release on the PlayStation. Final Fantasy 5 is a really good game featuring a much expanded and superior version of Final Fantasy 3's job system. The story here is decent, but it takes a back-seat to the job system. Strange thing about Final Fantasy 5 was how import snobs referred to it as the greatest thing ever when it was a Japanese exclusive. Strange how it became something much less than that once anyone with a PlayStation and now Game Boy Advance could experience it. Final Fantasy 6 on the Super Nintendo represents the absolute pinnacle of the Final Fantasy series. It's nearly perfection. Amazing graphics and sound with characters to actually care about and a classic mad clown villain and a lengthy quest with more than a few hidden surprises. Final Fantasy doesn't come better than part six. Final Fantasy 7 is another case of Final Fantasy 4 syndrome. Again it's hardly my first RPG so I'm not looking back on it with the undying love and devotion. This is one of those games that was good at the time but I've sort of come to despise because of the idiotic fanbase that adores it. Most of them too stupid to even comprehend the story. Final Fantasy 8 was another decent game from a the system point of view. The battle system with the drawing of skills was worth the effort. Final Fantasy 8 unfortunately furthered the trend begun with Final Fantasy 7 of Square heroes being whiny pussies too concerned with the existential why of it all instead of just being a man and getting the job done. Final Fantasy 9 was an all around good game with a return to classic Final Fantasy. So much so most so called series fans missed the connections to the original game entirely. Final Fantasy 10 bored the hell out of me. I put in roughly forty hours before abandoning the game a boss or twobefore the final boss. I just couldn't will myself to complete it. I couldn't deal with the most irrelevant characters I've ever seen in an RPG any more. I had no interest in Final Fantasy 11 not being a fan of the massively multiplayer online role-playing genre and all. Apparently that's for the best as Final Fantasy 11 is considered one of more exclusive of the genre. Meaning it's extraordinarily difficult to jump in and get started with a community of high level snobs with zero interest in helping you along. That brings us back to Final Fantasy 12. Hopefully it's a return to the good Final Fantasy. We shall see...