30 best Final Fantasy games

Best Final Fantasy Games #7 – Final Fantasy XII

Regarding taking gameplay to a place in which it will never truly return to traditional turn-based RPG combat, Final Fantasy XII is the ultimate turning point in the mainline series. Though it carries familiar narrative tropes and fantasy setting styles from previous games, the active dimension battle system did away with random encounters, breaking a tradition established over years of releases.

Vaan and the sky pirates explore the kingdom of Ivalice as they seek to destroy the Archadian Empire. They do so with the player controlling just one character at a time, issuing commands and gambits (reactionary macros) in order to take down enemies and bosses in mixed-world arenas. Characters expand their growth through a series of licenses similar to the grid sphere grid.

Personally, XII has an embarrassment of strengths and weakness that make it a truly perplexing mainline game. While it was ambitious in its gameplay departures and first steps, its soundtrack is among the least inventive. The voice acting is excellent, and the characterization is superb, but it too often overcomplicates its message by throwing system after system at the player.

Nevertheless, its divisiveness shows the strength of its compelling allure, giving the PlayStation 2 a fond farewell with an excellent title worth checking out now on the PlayStation 4.