Final Fantasy XII

After four long years of waiting, Final Fantasy XII is finally here. I am a big fan of the Final Fantasy series, and the last one that I played was Final Fantasy X. This is the one of two video game franchises (the other being Halo) that I am willing to 1. pay full price for (I generally get my games from eBay at a discount) and 2. invest many hours trying to beat it. So far, the game has been excellent.

At first, the revamped battle system felt a little awkward, but I quickly got used to it. This is the first game in the series that does not take you to a separate battle screen once you encounter a random monster. Also, the game has a built in AI called Gambits that takes the menial micromanaging out of the game, which is great. The only thing that is kind of irritating is the licensing system - instead of your characters being able to wield new weapons due to their levels, the game instead "makes" you to take out a license before your character can wield that weapon or cast that magic. Still getting used to it.

As for the graphics, it's awesome. They really squeezed all of the processing power out of the PlayStation 2 to generate the graphics, which is presented in 480p. Who needs a PlayStation 3 when this game looks pretty darn close to high definition? I would not be able to tell if this game was in 720p or 1080i, it's that good. Also, the loading times have been reduced and are now almost seamless.

I just started the game two days ago but so far this might be the game of the year for me.