Final Fantasy XII - Asian

» After the intro, two options are presented: New Game / Load Game. The music continues to play to crashing crescendo...

» Start a new game and various options may be set before embarking on a grand adventure. A second intro starts with the flutter of a flock of birds.

The Year 706 - Old Valendian - Royal City of Rabanastre where the citizenry are on their appointed rounds and living their lives. Two bunnies walk through the crowd, people are at the market and the whole scene has a Star Wars look and feel. A grand procession is going through the city while the crowd below cheers and petals plummet from the sky. It's a wedding procession and the happy couple is paraded before the throngs on a carriage and the scene eventually shifts to inside a church - they kiss and birds are shown once again flying through the sky. Scene shift to the urgent gait of a guy who joins an assemblage of armored prognosticators who are learning of the incursion by Archadian forces on a table length video screen which tracks the movement of troops on the warpath. Ships are shown zooming across the screen and converging on Dalmasca. The groom from earlier is presented with a sword by the king as his bride looks on and he raises it up in a call to arms as the masses echo his call. Airships are shown fluttering off to defend the kingdom.

Dalmasca - Nabradia border: Star Wars reminiscing redux as airships and armies mass for war. The camera pans from the skies to scenes of ground level carnage as warring soldiers are shown close up while fires burn in the background. Riders on Chocobo rush into battle and charge their foes as materia blows up in the sky. The camera shifts to a view of magic users in an elevated area but they're soon carved up by enemy warriors. Ships course through the sky and the tide is turning against the defenders. Two archers trade arrows but one of the arrows hits the groom from earlier while his handler pulls him up onto his Chocobo. An Airship blows up overhead and plummets downwards and handler runs away on his Chocobo as the battle is lost.

Scene shift:
Back home, the new bride is wearing a black veil as she looks at her dead groom inside a funeral casket . As if to signal more death, black birds lunch on the corpses of the dead and ominous skies cast a grim pallor over the scene as massive airships fly overhead.

» Another introduction starts afterwards which explains the situation and why Dalmasca was targetted for domination. The empire of Archadia is situated on the red continent in the north of the map while Rozarria is situated on the southwest portion of the map. Between the two is the Archadian city of Nabradia which borders the principality of Dalmasca. Since it allows for entry into Rozarria, it is a prime location to mount a massive attack against Rozarria. Square's spelling of the countries on the map is as follows:

Archadia
Rozarria
Dalmasca

» A man's voice intonates and a hero wakes up in a sweat and looks up to see the handler from earlier. His vision is blurry and wavering but he gets up and the text that appears is the Nalbina Fortress - North Ward. The handler asks the young man his age and he says 17. They discuss things and enemy warriors rush in for the kill but they're sliced down and the Dalmascan soldiers rush off. After this, a tutorial begins which asks you to swivel the camera with the R-analog, move around with the L-analog, backtrack conversations with the TRIANGLE button, converse with fellows and open doors by pressing the O button.

» Afterwards, the hero is given the chance to battle an enemy soldier. A red line arcs from hero to enemy but you won't get a chance to cut him down since your action bar is slow to fill. Your fellow Dalmascan warriors carve him up quickly and move on. You are not able to attack at will but must wait for the action bar to fill up before an attack automatically executes.

» An enemy ship later descends and provides fodder for your little troupe of freedom fighters. Other encounters are triggered as the group makes their way out of the fortress. At one point, you'll be given the chance to save your progress to memory card at a blue crystal near some stairs. We noticed that up until this point, we had spent 22:50 on the game.

» In the previous encounters, you're not given much chance to attack anything since your Action Meter fills slowly and your fellows in arms are quick to hack and slash. As they make their escape, there's one scene where you're given the chance to fight three enemy soldiers in hot pursuit by yourself to learn a little more about how the fighting system works. At this point, you're on your own for a little while - eventually you'll reach a room where a lot of dead bodies are prone on the floor. As hero makes his way through the chamber, his eyes rest on the king who has been killed on his throne. After the hero collapses to the floor, more soldiers rush into the room and capture the handler who they are pushing to the floor. The scene is viewed from hero's perspective as he wavers and slips into unconsciousness. After struggling, he falls to the floor and darkness takes over.

» Scene shift and Vann is battling rats with fiery red eyes. Two sword smacks does each one in and he is greeted by a tomboy friend who carries a big satchel.

» 706 Old Valendian - Two years after the fall of Dalmasca - things appear to be normal as soldiers harass a fruit peddler and Vann runs through the streets. Vann and friend are in the city and once control is handed over to the player, a world map is located on the upper right corner with green dots representing people that may be interacted with. NPCs who can't be interacted with won't show up on the map at all. If you walk down the bridge, there's a horned humanoid creature who is having a very spirited conversation with a little lad who chuckles from time to time and jumps up and down. The creature also holds his belly when laughing and chuckling. Vann may stand there for an hour and the two characters will chuckle and repeat their routine ad infinitum.

» Although many NPCs roams the streets, only the ones with white smiley faces over them may be spoken to and interacted with.

» The city is beautifully decorated with big urns which hold ferns, ornate stonework for the columns and buildings, and everything has a rich and substantial look to it. There's also an overwhelming feeling of enormity to the city as new areas may be entered which offer massive buildings and more people to interact with. The floor of the city is also made of different tiles and stonework with interesting patterns to them. The city is mottled with texture and warmth. The costumes and outfits worn by the creatures in the game are also overly elaborate and again, the designers appear to have studied at the Star Wars school. There's a fair amount of exploration to do in the city and you'll eventually find a SHOP which contains armor, shields, and customers milling about. Just browsing... There's a gal trying out a shield attached to her left arm, a guy staring at a suit of armor, people holding conversations, and even an area that's blocked by chains while a creature and a human talk behind the red chains.

» When roaming the enclosed areas, the camera gets a little convoluted. For example, in the shop if you walk around, the camera follows Vann from a lower-to-the-ground behind him and that's all well and good. However, if you head into a corner of the shop, the camera perspective changes to an overhead close-up view of Vann's head.

» NCS basically agrees with Famitsu's review of the game but the camera may get a little wonky from time to time. So far, that's our only niggle but we'll post more impressions as we delve ever deeper into the adventure.

NCS Sound Bite
After warring for years, the empires of Archadia and Rozarria are at an impasse. Archadia is situated in the land of Valentia while Rozarria hunkers down in the realm of Ordalia. Instead of mongering without movement, Archadia tries another tack by invading the neighboring principality of Dalmasca which sits in a strategic location between the two warring kingdoms. After the king is killed and the kingdom lost, Princess Ashe runs away to fight another day and joins up with the Dalmascan resistance to eventually reclaim her throne. In the midst of abandoning her kingdom, Princess Ashe runs into an adventurer named Vaan and the two conspire to change the course of the world.

From the publisher
Youth and princess fight against the oppressor to rebuild home country!
The military superpowers, Arcadia and Rosarian empires which control the Valentia and Oredria continents respectively have been involved in a long drawn out war. In order to gain the upper hand in the conflict, Arcadia invaded and took over many surrounding countries, amongst them, the small Dalmaska reign. To do her part for the country, Dalmaska’s Pricess Ashe joined the resistance, and met with Vaan in the process. The main character Vaan is a cheerful youth of the Hume race. Originally a citizen of Dalmaska, in his pursuit of freedom and to avenge his brother’s death, he became an air pirate, flying freely in the skies of various countries. How will the story develop and what is the future of the world?

Game Features, Recommended Points
The Final Fantasy XII that gamers crave and delayed many times is about to make its grand debut. This time, the same world view and race settings used in GBA’s “Final Fantasy Tactics Advance” are used, allowing for a seamless transition. With 3 years’ development time, the game’s rich story depicting the struggles of characters trying to achieve their aims against the backdrop of superpowers slugging it out will surely meet gamers’ expectations. Elaborate adventures are waiting in this most awaited RPG masterpiece.

Totally no dead spots, instant effective use of all new combat system!
This game uses the all new “Active Dimension Battle” system, and not the random encounter system used in predecessors. This system combines the normal field and battle screens into one, allowing one to shift the camera 360 degrees in both situations, allowing the player to grasp the relative positions of all and distances, and then use various commands effectively to conduct the most efficient attacks.

Vivid character portrayals! Epic poem-like music!
The game’s characters have been enhanced to let the player fully understand their emotions in the real time rendered plot animated sequences, replicating the well-acclaimed Matsuno (Ysumi Matsuno) style of detailed plot enactments. The game also supports Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound throughout, allowing the player to enjoy 5.1 audio effects with the correct sound environment supporting Dolby Pro Logic II. Music is not to be overlooked with world famous violinist, Taro Hakase working together with veteran series’ music composer, Hitoshi Sakimoto on the theme song, and with Taro Hakase involved in the presentations itself.

NCS Notation on the Asian version of the game
1) The Asian version of the game has a different distribution mark on the back of the DVD insert - the game is distributed within Asia but the language used in the game and the manual is still Japanese.

2) The Asian version of FFXII also includes an additional specs sheet which details the game controls in English and Chinese.

NCS Game Notes on the FFXII Demo from DQVIII (USA)
* The demo introduces gamers to the story of a world called Ivalice. Watch the opening cinema which shows the nation, bustling city streets, and odd creatures and inhabitants including a pair of bunnies. Information on the tyrannical Archadian Empire which is invading other nations is also presented.

* The main character is reminiscent of other androgynous Square heroes with chiseled features, a willowy frame, and aspirations to be something greater. In this case, a Sky Pirate. Airships, cute creatures, and more drama appear to be on order for FFXII.

* Once the intro ends, a playable demo version may be enjoyed. Two modes are available:

WAIT MODE: for thinking players / The Phon Coast
ACTIVE MODE: for thrill seekers / The Stilshrine of Miriam

* In the Wait Mode, the action takes place on a beach where the stage objective is to beat the Rockeater. The game offers the following hint: "Slepnirs hate mandragoras! Make your approach when they're distracted fighting each other." Players control a party of three made up of Vaan, Basch, and Penelo. Move them by using the L-analog while the X button brings up the action menu for ATTACK / MAGIC / SUMMON / GAMBIT / ITEMS. To flee from battle, press the R2 trigger.

* Enemies on the beach include large piranhas which not only swim in the water but swim on such shallow water that they appear to be floating across land. Yes, it looks odd but remember that Square can do no wrong. Do not question, just play. It's also pretty weird to watch armored Slepnirs which are basically battle steeds battling a group of munchkin-like Mandragoras.

* After selecting a battle command or a magic spell, one has to wait for the action meter next to a character's name to fill up before the attack is acted out. While the meter is being filled, one may move the character around to dodge counterattacks. We would have preferred a direct-control attack system but we can get used to this control scheme as well. It's something new.