Final Fantasy XII

I was skeptical at first about a change in the traditional combat system that made the series for 10 games, but once you give it a chance it can really suck you in. If you disliked the turn-based combat of the previous games this should be a very nice breath of fresh air. Unfortunately Square Enix didn't really test how well this system holds up for the length of the game, which clocks well over 60 hours. About half way through, it really sinks in that you're letting your Gambits do most of the work while traversing lenghtly dungeons and extremely lengthly world-traveling segments. The change to Real-time battles angered a lot of the fan base that had been following each release from the very start. But Square Enix knows that you can't just keep beating a dead horse; it was time to innovate. But with innovation in games comes problems. 
 
While the combat still happens in real-time, you still give commands to your party members who then execute that command after a set amount of time has passed. Pressing X during a fight will pause the game bring up a list of commands similar to any you'd find in most Final Fantasy games: Attack, Magic, Item, etc. With This system it has the spirit of the Final Fantasy series without slowing combat down to turn-based levels. If you really want a real-time experience you can turn off the "pausing" when you're choosing commands. Which is a nice option but makes the game significantly harder if you haven't memorized where all the spells are in the list, and do not  have quick fingers.
 

Commands also need to be input way faster with the new system, and over the length of a 2 minute fight with some monsters can be a lot of commands. Fortunately there's a system called Gambits by which you can basically "code" your AI party members to execute commands if certain conditions are met. Like say maybe: Cast cure on someone who has less than 40% HP. While that sounds like you could potentially have the AI play the entire game for you, you can't be that specific with the commands. They exist to remove some of the monotonous commands like, Attack nearest monster.
 
This system was designed with some good intentions and is fun for about 30 or so hours. At that point you realize you are just repeating the same actions(with or without gambits) whilst traversing the dungeons and open world. The bosses can still be exciting requiring you to be on your game with healing and such, but those are not what take up a majority of the combat in FFXII. You spend most of your time fighting non-boss monsters, most of which require you to just run up to and let your Gambits choose Attack, and maybe cast a spell and then move on.
 

It's obvious the system could have used a "fast forward" button for some of the less intense fighting that is required. Square Enix also agreed with this as they added one to the International Release of the game! Enabling double speed with frameskip is a mode toggled by a trigger button in the International release of FFXII. Though the game's text is almost entirely in Japanese, the voice work still remains in English. So playing this version without a good deal of knowledge in the Japanese written language is a chore not worth it for most people. This release also featured a optional Class-based License board as apposed to the "Free-for-all" one included in the original release.
 

The setting of the game is in Ivalice, the world any Final Fantasy Tactics player would recognize from that series. And the conflict involves the City of Rabanastre trying to secure its freedom from the encroaching Empire of Archadia. You play as Vaan, an orphan trying to find some answers about whats going on in his hometown. Early on you meet your friend Penelo, also an orphan, who helps you with some chores and later helps you sneak into the palace to steal some treasure. Those are about the last events that centrally involve these two characters. The rest of the game follows the story of refugee princess Ashe, Sky pirate Balthier and his partner Fran, and a framed-for-murder soldier Basch. Vaan and Penelo are basically just following these other 4 characters around the rest of the game, watching things unfold. They contribute almost nothing to the main story which is odd because Vaan is made out to be the Main character of this game, being the first character you control after the tutorial opening sequence.
 

Towards the end of the game you start to feel like you want it to be over so you can see the ending. After playing for so long with this combat system and a story that feels like you're not a part of, you just want to get out as soon as possible. Unfortunately the ending doesn't do this game much justice. (Don't worry, no spoilers) The story has a pretty big climax or sorts with a few bosses, then just kind of lazily drifts off into nothing. To use a metaphor, it's like the story came home from a long day at work and slowly fell asleep on the couch. Without any real investment into any of the characters because of how Vaan and Penelo are just cast aside, you are left unsatisfied and feel like nothing was really resolved. The other characters go on with their lives, and all is well in Ivalice.
 
 
But I'll say it again, with innovation comes problems. Square Enix really did the best they thought they could with the battle system, and most of its problems were remedied in the International release. It's a shame they'll probably never port that one over with English menus, so we're stuck with this one. Then again, its story is still the same in both versions, so I can't say it's a better game than the original release. If you are a hardcore Final Fantasy fan though, there's still a reasonable game here, you may just have to have some patience and do some digging.