"A Must-Have for FF Fans"

Quick Summary

With the upcoming multi-platform releases of FF13 titles, Revenant Wings (RW) is a sneak preview of how “side releases” of a main title would possibly look like. Here, the cast of the original FF12 (on PS2) returns via a RTS platform and in a lighter tone. Despite the change in genre, the fun is as much as what anyone would expect in a Square-Enix release. With fluent battle sequences, decent AI and sufficient difficulty level, RW is a must-have for all FF fans.

General Gameplay

Making a return to the familiar Ivalice, RW is spilt into missions. For each mission, you would need to clear a battle map by achieving specific objectives (for example, defeat all enemy leaders). On this map, your leader units would summon Espers to fight alongside you. Scattered around this map are summoning gates (which you need to capture before you can summon Espers), treasure boxes (which contain treasures obviously), food points (which serve as healing points) and resource points (where you gather supplies to forge new weapons).

As you clear the missions, the world map will start to open up. You will be able to re-visit the cleared battle maps for random melees. These melees will allow you to build up experience points for leader units and gather items used for weapon forging.

In addition, optional missions will be available, similar to the style of FF Tactics Advance. On board your airship, there will be a message board which shows optional quests. These optional missions will serve as side stories, offering some entertainment parallel to the main narrative. Of course, you may ignore these quests and focus straight at the story missions. Very often though, many would be enticed by the bonus treasures which come with the optional missions.

Slowly over time, the world map will be filled with numerous dots which represent battle maps which you may visit. There will be a friendly flag on the specific dot to show you where you should go for the next story progression. This is a minor but useful tool for busy gamers who may take a two-week break before returning to the game and realizing they do not recall where to progress next.

Comparison with Heroes of Mana (HOM) would be inevitable due to the proximity of release dates and similarity in gameplay. HOM would score better in terms of presentation, with a more serious script-writing tone and slicker artwork. However, when it comes to critical RTS elements such as battle sequences, AI and unit path-finding, RW will be the clear winner by miles.

Hero/ Leader Units

Familiar characters from FF12 return in RW, with Vaan as the main protagonist. Each hero unit is classified by three different unit types (melee, ranged and flying units) which follow the familiar scissor-paper-stone system. For those unacquainted with this system, here is a quick explanation. Each unit type has a specific strength and a specific weakness: Melee unit is strong against ranged unit, a ranged unit is strong against flying unit and the flying unit is strong against a melee unit.

All heroes also have their own list of specific spells/ abilities. Penelo, for instance, has a list of healing and support spells, while Kytes has a list of offensive attacking spells. Once a spell is cast, the hero will need to wait for some time before the same spell may be recharged and used again. This common RTS feature differs from the classic RPG system where the usage of spells is typically determined by a MP or Mana system.

On top of the spells, heroes have the Quickening power which is the same as Limit Break in earlier FF titles. As each battle progresses, heroes will gather “mist”. Once the “mist” hits its maximum, the hero will be able to utilize the Quickening power. Differing from character to character, Quickening is basically a super-charged spell/ ability. For example, Vaan's Quickening will allow him to inflict higher damage on opponents while Penelo's Quickening will allow her to heal all allies at one go.

Espers/ Summoned Allies

Like Heroes of Mana, your party will be able to summon creatures to fight for you. These creatures, known as Espers, feature familiar FF names such as Chocobo. Unlike HOM which require you to manage resource structures before summoning can be done, RW moves at a much faster pace. Once your heroes capture a summoning gate on the battle map, Espers can be summoned immediately. Thus, there is no need to gather resources in order to create buildings.

Similar to hero units, Esper units come in three basic types: melee, ranged and flying units. In addition, each Esper has an elemental type: for instance, fire or water. As per fantasy games, choosing the correct type to counter your enemies' weaknesses will be the basic strategy for all maps.

There is a wide range of Espers to choose from, but for each mission, you can only bring five different ones into the battle. The selection is done at the start of each mission. Also, more Espers will be unlocked as the game progresses. Odin, for instance, is a high level Esper which you will have no access at the start of the story. The unlocking of new Espers is done through a board system, which is like a giant family tree. Once you unlock one specific Esper, you will gain access to a new one which is inter-linked. Sound complex? It's actually more intuitive than it sounds. It will be no surprise if you find yourself addicted to the unlocking of Esper units and spend hours meddling with the board.

Weapons

As you clear missions, you will gather resource items. Back in your airship, you will be able to forge new weapons by combining these resource items. Resource items can be ranked into three quality levels: low, medium and high. Using high quality resources will, naturally, allow you to forge more powerful weapons. In addition, the blacksmith will ask you three questions every time you forge a weapon, in a style similar to Warren's in the excellent Ogre Battle (NES). Characteristics of your weapons will differ slightly depending on the way you answer the three questions.

Strengths

The strength of RW has to be its smooth battle sequences. Playing RTS can be a nightmare if one experiences slow-down in mission battles, bad path-finding and lousy AI. Luckily, RW delivers well in these important categories. Throughout my 30-odd hours, I seldom encounter any serious gameplay slowdown in battles. Path-finding is also very decent. Your units will seldom block each other and they will try to make way for one another whenever possible. AI is commendable and some missions will difficult enough for you to retry a couple of times.

Weaknesses

There are several minor complains, but these are not critical enough to wreak the entire gaming experience. The first has to be the perpetual problem on DS – the kiddish tone of the story writing and in-game dialogues. The second is the poor graphic resolution at the end-mission story sequences. There are times when you will strain your eyes trying to figure out what the characters are doing (are they doing a “high five” or smacking each other on the face?). For a FF title, I do expect a little bit more in this department.

Final Verdict

Critical RTS fans with no strong affection for FF titles may wish to find out more and think twice before any purchase because the kiddish presentation and the lack of innovation may be a turn-off. For a FF fan like me, there is no reason not to own the title. Final score is 8 out of 10.

<Review by ray_lightcaster>

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/07

Game Release: Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (US, 11/20/07)