"Final Fantasy RTS Cometh"

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

Introduction

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is the newest installment to the Ivalice Alliance series of games, which originated from the first game ever to take place in Ivalice - Final Fantasy Tactics for PSX, recently ported to PSP as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. The other installments to this compilation include Final Fantasy XII (the newest installment to the mainstream saga), Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (an SRPG for Game Boy Advance) and FFTA: Grimoire of the Rift (a sequel to FFTA).

The game at hand is a direct sequel to FF XII, and follows Vaan on the quest to unravel a new, unknown realm of Ivalice universe, and fight a new menace alongside both new and old heroes. The greatest innovation in the game is that it is not a classic RPG, but a mixture of RTS and RPG elements. How did this experiment with genres go? Let's find out!


Story

The story begins some time after events of the original Final Fantasy XII. Vaan, now finally possesing his own airship, roams the skies with Penelo as his navigator. With the war having ended after the battle for Rabanastre, there seems to be nothing more to do than look for treasure and adventure, yet someday, Vaan receives a message from Balthier, who (as you may recall, if you have seen the ending of FF XII) got a hunch of a new treasure, namely one Cache of Glabados, and invites Vaan to take part in the search for it. The discovery of a flying continent other than Dorstonis is what follows retrieving the Cache.

Thus the new story featuring old staff begins. First thing that is striking just after the game begins is that Vaan is no longer a guy who simply gets dragged into stuff by others, and finally develops into a proper protagonist and leader (though he still lacks some common sense...). The other characters we get to command at the beginning of the game are, of course, Penelo (who as well finally gets some proper character development), and a bunch of known, yet little heard of friends of Vaan - Kytes, Filo (the war orphans from Rabanastre Lowtown). The other ones are revealed as the story unfolds.

The plot is surprisingly well developed - as we begin the game with a bunch of kids with design so much 'FFTA-ish', we would expect something rather immature and kids-directed... and this is when the game pleasingly surprises. The game, while not being the most mature and dark in the series, features certain amount of dramatism, and doses it well enough to keep a player interested in what happens next. Many parts of the story are also well tied to the original, thus keeping the story consistent with FF XII, and also somewhat more understandable for those who are aware of what went on during the war against Archadia.

Overall, the return to the world of Final Fantasy XII unfolds quite well, and while not groundbreaking, should satisfy most fans of the original game.

Story: 8/10

Pros:
- Vaan and Penelo finally seem like proper protagonists
- the story unfolds in a nice, steady pace
- the plot is consistently tied up to the original game
- pretty much understandable for players who never played the original FF XII

Cons:
- The story may seem blank during initial chapters
- not truly groundbreaking


Gameplay

For some time now SE has been experimenting with various genres while developing their non-mainstream games, ranging from shooter (Dirge of Cerberus) to cell-phone games (Before Crisis, FF VII Snowboarding), also extending towards CG movie (Advent Children). Now, the time has come for merger of RPG elements with an RTS game.The game, while not a classic RPG, does involves some elements known from it's predecessor, such as Gambits, Quickenings, equipping armor and weapons, and exploring various areas as well as interacting with met people.

But, let's review each RPG part more thouroughly. While equipping stuff and interacting with people are more than self-explanatory, the other elements deserve some attention. First of all, Gambits are no longer a complex AI-setting we know from FF XII, but simply a minor setting, which allows us to choose the ability a character will use whenever it is available for use. Some will welcome it with anger (what the...? We gotta do everything manually again?), and some will applause it (YES! No more auto-combat!). What should be mentioned is that while combat will proceed in real time, battles can no longer be won with little or no player input - constant control over a situation on the battlefield is one of the keys to victory.

The another thing worth mentioning are Quickenings. They are no longer MP-bent techniques dealing more and more damage to an enemy. Each character is now very specialized, and so are Quickenings - each character can learn only one after winning certain battles, and they are prepared by inflicting/receiving damage or healing, depending on a character. Each of them works differently - while Vaan's good ol' Pyroclasm indeed deals a lot of punishment to surrounding foes, Penelo's one completely heals the entire battle party. That said, each character can aid the group in a one-of-a-kind way.

The other thing, which is very close to that, is that you must forget about creating an all-powerful character, equally proficient in every weapon/technique/magic possible - in RW, everyone has an assigned role which they cannot change - for instance, Penelo cannot fight and is capable only of supporting your characters, and Kytes will cast only offensive magic. That requires you to proceed with great care, as lose of one character may devastate your (kind of hard to say it about a FF game) war effort - loosing Vaan may cripple your offensive capabilities, while without Penelo it will be impossible or much harder to revive the fallen. This feature adds a good deal of strategic depth to the game, making you make good use of available resources.

There is also a weapon synthesis system system, which is quite neat; while every weapon requires three types of material to be produced, there is a certain amount of freedom in the system, and that is due to the fact that forge materials divide not only in type, but also in quality - that said you can forge a powerful weapon with use of hard-obtained materials, or create a worse one, but at a much smaller expanse. That said, you can choose between quality or quantity.

The final RPG matter worth mentioning is so-called Ring of Pacts. It is a kind of Sphere Grid thing, which allows you to forge Pacts with various creatures, which will allow you to summon them in battle. The system is very self-explanatory, which allows you to make full use of it right of the bat, without worrying about messing up.

Now, onto the RTS stuff. The first thing that should be mentioned is how the battles are fought. As the battle commences, we see a battlefield from isometric perspective, much like in classic RTS games. Everything happens in real time - as two battle parties clash, the game doesn't switch to any battle screen. Commands are issued entirely by stylus and touch screen in a 'touch and click' way, which is quite convenient unless there is a lot of units on screen - if you command a large battle party, selecting a particular unit may be very hard, not to mention selecting target - especially that both allies and foes have a tendency to merge into large crowds, and so selecting particular target to heal or attack may be very problematic. Fortunately, there is a row of characters mini-portraits at the upper part of the screen, which makes it easy to select a particular hero. Despite the beformentioned flaw, the command issuing system is pretty neat and mostly gets the job done.

Combat, as it happens in real time, tends to be very frantic - while not especially fast-paced, limited Gambit system makes you do a lot of stuff manually, especially in the game's final chapters, when each character has set of abilities, yet automatically uses only one of them. That said, in some battles you just slide a stylus on the screen in a really frantic way, hoping you will do everything on time. This element is both a pro and a con - it really makes you think fast (all right, so what should I use now, and what a few seconds later), but on the other hand, is pretty tiring and may get tedious.

Tactically-wise, the game is OK. While truly advanced tactics are needed only in several missions, some amount of planning and strategic thinking is required to beat the game. The game rewards using actual tactics, which is a good feature. Unfortunately, is some missions, you may get an impression that the game is simply cheating on you - in RW, in order to summon an esper, you need a Summon Gate - and so does your enemy... usually. There is a number of missions where the enemy gets an alarming number of reinforcements simply for being out there. This may be pretty much irritating, as you struggle to capture every one of the Gates, only to find that limitations don't apply to your foe. Some people might find it challenging and making you make use of available resources, yet still it may bear a stench of cheating. Also, sometimes you have to defend a guest characters to succeed in mission - this tends to get ridiculous, as guests tend to charge into the most dangerous situations, with no regard to their life or your victory.

Gameplay: 7,5/10

Pros:
- Good, balanced mix of RTS and RPG elements
- Friendly, self-explanatory forge system
- Tactics matters, at least to some degree
- Simple, yet functional Ring of Pacts

Cons:
- Foes may seem to cheat on you
- Pretty chaotic at times
- bad AI of guest characters


Graphics

The game divides between exploration part and combat. Terrain presents the same quality in both cases, and there is nothing to complain about. Locations are detailed and colorful, and differ enough to make you feel that you aren't fighting in the same area over and over again. The locations are very varied, so you will get to fight at various locations, such as wastelands, temples, caves, volcanos, forests or tropical islands. Models of in-game characters and creatures are pretty reminiscent of those from FFTA, and aren't the best SE has to offer - characters on closer examination (especially during cutscenes) are made of big pixels, which is just plain ugly. Same goes for creatures. On the other hand, what should be commented on are Quickenings - while characters retain their 'blockish' look, the techniques themselves look quite impressive, especially Vaan's Pyroclasm, which derives directly from the FF XII attack. Unfortunately, spell animations aren't very impressive, but perhaps it is better in this case - they don't cover the battlefield so you can maintain good view of the situation.

Graphics: 8/10

Pros:
- Good, detailed terrain graphics
- Nice Quickening animations
- Neat character and monster portraits

Cons:
- Characters look just plain ugly


Music

In-game music is a combination of tracks from FF XII and the new ones. Music from FF XII dropped some of it's quality due to DS' technical limitations, yet maintained the original feel about them - that said, fans of the original game will feel right at home just from the scratch. The new tracks are pretty good, well reflecting different character of each scene and location. The only flaw is that there aren't many new ones. Other than that, the soundtrack is really a job well done.

Music: 8,5/10

Pros:
- Overall good, atmospheric soundtrack

Cons:
- Too little new tracks


Conclusion

Revenant Wings is not a perfect game, as it mixes formulas of two different genres and takes all the risks, but still, I can recommend it to most fans of the original game and those who would like to try something fresh and new. The story will keep you going, and number of bonus missions (which don't contradict the game universe) offers a certain amount of challenge. Revenant Wings may not fly as high as possible, yet still manage to carry Vaan and Penelo on a new, interesting journey.

Final Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/11/08

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