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Who ever imagined the twelfth installment in the Final Fantasy series could be such an intensely controversial game? This is your standard fare Square Enix production -- not a new cause celebre Take 2 title with the sort of satirically over-the-top criminally violent undertones that has morally perplexed legislators and equally satirically over-the-top concerned citizens pounding the halls of Congress with calls for action. What gives? After eleven prior entries, not to mention nigh inummerable spinoffs, haven't we gotten the hang of this series yet?
Nevertheless, in spite of (or perhaps because of) our nativistic familiarity with this series, controversy seem birthed by each new revelation emerging during Final Fantasy XII's seemingly neverending development cycle -- and many of these controversies seem to have taken a life of their own, growing to almost mythic status. But, ah, we're a rational and scientific civilization, aren't we? Not one given to bouts of superstitious fancy. And so it seems warranted that such myths exist solely to be dispelled by a more critical eye. Let's have at them, then, the twelve most endearing and bemusing myths about the game. We'll start with the first four:
1. Final Fantasy XII dropped the ATB System: In addressing this myth, we must first dismiss the unspoken assumption it makes: the ATB system is not as traditional an element of the Final Fantasy series as many would like to think it is. It has made up the core of the combat engine in IV through IX -- about only half of the series. I through III used a purely traditional turn-based approach, and that style of combat returned in X.
With that out of the way, let's cut to the root of the problem with this persisting myth: it's wrong because, whether the ATB is a necessary convention of Final Fantasy or not, the system IS present and accounted for in XII. Despite the largely reiterated claim that FFXII abandons this convention in favor of strictly real-time gameplay, it simply isn't true -- XII is as much driven by active-turn battling as prior games. Each character has a turn gauge that fills up after an action, depending upon the character's speed, and when it is full a new action can be undertaken. The turn gauge can also, just as with prior games, be influenced by time-based spells like Haste or Slow. And finally, depending upon whether the long-present series option of Active or Wait is selected, combat will freeze entirely as a player shuffles through menus. It's the same ATB we've known and loved for six prior games, folks.
2. No More Fantasy: Somehow, somewhere, someone seems to have gotten the idea that XII eliminated the fantasy setting that the series is rooted in, and for this the game is to be vilified. While previous Final Fantasies have all embraced a middle ground between medeivalism and low-level technology, XII, critics say, sheds this pretense and grounds itself fully in the realm of science fiction.
Oh really? Hogwash. XII is as medieval as they come, even moreso than the oft-idolized IV, the sweet nostalgic child so oft remembered for its fantastic design. XII takes the concept of medievalism and carries it further than any prior game was willing. It embraces the age in ritual and ceremony, in speech and verbal affects, in titles and political arrangements. The world of XII is one ruled by kings and emperors and knights and even the odd marquis here and there. XII even latches on to the idea of medievalism in combat -- look no further than the knights, lances held at the ready, riding armored chocobos into conflict like warhorses, or at the Judges, with their ornate suits of armor. The presentation and context of the world is as medieval as it gets.
Further, XII has technology, certainly -- but it's not scientifically-driven technology, it all operates based on magical designs and sources. Another name for this might be, in a word: "magitek." You know, the same concept that drove the narrative of Final Fantasy VI, one of the games XII is supposedly so distinct from? Think of XII as the embodiment of VI's War of the Magi era -- or as the place VI's world would've wound up in only a mere handful of years had Kefka not intervened in its development. Yes, that's some Brave New World we're entering. Uncharted territory.
3. Is there a game in this FMV?: Some critics of the game have grasped hold of the tired old line, trotted out frequently ever since the advent of the PS2 Era, that the object of their criticism is not even a game at all: it's just an extended FMV movie. Praise is due only to the glitzy graphics and lots of flashy movie sequences that leave little in terms of actual substance.
Sure. That's a valid criticism of a lot of games (Xenosaga Episode I comes to mind). But Final Fantasy XII is not one of them, and anyone who lodges this particular complaint reveals himself a poseur that hasn't even played beyond the first city in the game. Let's cut to the chase on this one: XII hasn't many cutscenes, FMV or otherwise, and the CG movies the game does offer are typically as short and even more to the point than my dismissal of this ridiculous criticism. Let's put it another way, shall we? XII has the lowest cutscene to gameplay ratio of any entry in the series since, and including, Final Fantasy VI. It's not an endless barrage of movies buoying the run time of this game, it's the incredible levels of character customization and the massive dungeons.
4. Too Little Story: While some argue that Final Fantasy XII is too much movie, too little game, others hound it through the exact opposite approach, stating that there's just no story there at all. They want epic narratives, so the tale goes. The problem is, Final Fantasy XII delivers here as well.
To understand the fallacy of this complaint, it's important to acknowledge the error of a commonly accepted, but grievously inaccurate, assumption that has become a greater philosophical truth amongst gamers over the years: story equals cutscene, and cutscene equals story. What I said above is true -- Final Fantasy XII offers a lower ratio of cutscene to gameplay. Nevertheless, it is not true that as a consequence the game offers less story. It's unfortunate that modern gamers have allowed lazy and uncreative developers to pigeonhole into their brains the notion that only through the fixed, rigid, linear presentations known as cutscenes can narrative be exposed.
It's not true. It never has been true. And any gamer willing to open his eyes and explore the world of Ivalice that XII offers will find more than enough narrative strength to satisfy any plot-seeker. Talk to the vast number of NPCs wandering Rabanastre or Archades or Bhuzerba and you'll find a wealth of detail on the world, its citizenry, its customs. They provide information on the political figures and on the heroes themselves, on the villains and on the war, on the cities as they stand and on the overall history that led to the game's current-day. They talk about how its people feel or what they're thinking -- in short, functioning as the subtext and relayer of finer points for the overall story. And as each new event transpires in the tug-of-war tale, the words of these NPCs change to reflect the altered conditions of their world.
XII also provides another sort of narrative drive, the kind driven by exploration, by feeling a living world unfold. This sort of exploration-based storytelling may feel more acquainted with Dragon Quest than Final Fantasy, but it makes for powerful storytelling nonetheless. The story of Final Fantasy XII is subtle and restrained, true, oft relying on more intrigue than "let's destroy the crystals for our king, oh no, he's evil, time to stop him!" -- but it's no less epic or vast because of this different manner of presentation. It's a shame some aren't willing to look fairly at that.
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