Just got finished playing through the
Final Fantasy XII demo that came with Dragon Quest VIII. First thing you see when opening the DQ box is the FFXII disc. Hell, the FFXII instructions are in the case, while the DQ manual is relegated to staying outside in the cardboard box it comes in, as if unworthy to share the same space. Ol’ Squeenix knows what people want, that’s for sure!
But if that is the case, why give us a Final Fantasy XII that reeks of XI, or as we purists like to call it,
Final Fantasy Online?
In the two scenarios present on the demo, both feel a great deal like playing the MMO version of the series. The graphics are almost interchangeable. . .the shoreline with the waves coming in gave me a strange feeling of deja vu from the beach in that game where I realized that in order to be truly effective I had to level up from 1 to 30 at least 3 times. No.
Two levels are presented in the demo, one in which the menu pauses while you make a decision, the other where the action continues while you are selecting spells and such. Both were called ‘stages’, with instructions and a goal you had to accomplish, shades of
Final Fantasy X-2. Yeah, Final Fantasy Dress-Up. So let me get this straight. Squeenix pulls ideas from the two least liked entries in the series among hardcore fans and just mixes them together? “Here, eat these sticks! No? Then eat this dirt! Still no? Ahhh, I know what you want. Sticks and Dirt casserole, coming right up!”
What it boils down to is playing Final Fantasy XI with two friends, only they never chat with you during the fight and never go AFK to check their email, which is MMO code for furious masturbation anyway. The story behind it all looks promising, but working through this ridiculous fighting system to get through it amounts to biting into a Reese’s Shards of Glass and Chocolate Cup to get to the creamy center.
If this is the direction Squeenix wants to take Final Fantasy, I’m done with it. It has been a great run with tons of wonderful memories, but I am getting off the ride before it derails, crashing to the ground killing everyone in the dining car.
