"So You Never Played FFXII? don't worry, I didn't either."

Intrology
This game is pretty much a sequel to the Ps2 game, FFXII. It takes place 2 years after the happenings of FFXII. It takes place in a whole new world, Lemures, which is right above Ivalice. A few of the characters from FFXII even make a reappearance so maybe you will get to see your favorite character again =). this game is pretty much Age of Empires meets Final Fantasy (Which I'm sure that's fun into the ground, so let me make it better and say it's RTS meets RPG/FF). The battles are pretty much the saving grace of this game from getting anything lower than the score I gave it. Just know if it wasn't for the fun battle, it would have gotten a lower score.

But the good thing is you don't need to play FFXII to play this game =D

Story
Like I mentioned earlier, it takes place 2 years after the events of FFXII, so I have no idea if it has any continuation since I never played that game. But it starts out with a story of its own like any game should. Starts out in a small town, the characters Vaan, Filo, and Kytes want to go become sky pirates, hijack a ship and our story begins. I won't spoil anything for you, but I will say that the story is not deep, but it's not shallow. Some very interesting things happen, and there are even some events that happen without you even expecting it to. I'd say the best thing about this game was everything revolving around the Agyels, but at the cost of spoiling anything, I'll let you experience it for yourself. In fact, one of the main characters in the story is actually an Agyel, and my personal favorite character in this game. Anyways, it has a very nice, original story line and doesn't get stale at any point. It's just not as deep as previous FF titles released.

Characters and their development
The story starts out with your main characters, Vaan, Filo, and Kytes, and along the way others, like Penlo and Llyud, will join. I personally thought this game had one of the better rosters of characters of any recent game I've played. Some characters don't come till late in the game, and I'm not going to spoil who some of them are. but I will tell you that the Agyel you get is one of the most interesting characters in any game I've played. His character and development is one of the most remarkable, and he ranks right up there with the best as far as characters go. This game has some good character development, not great but good. Llyud (the Agyel) is the one who has the most. Just know by the end of the game when you get everyone, it will be very hard choosing who to put in you party. I know I had trouble.

Music
Not much to say. Recycled music from FFXII. Nothing really stood out. This is one of the low points of the game IMO.

Gameplay
the way you play this game is by exploring the new world, Lemures, in a ship that you hijacked in the very beginning of the game. You will go on missions to proceed in the story. It is separated by chapters (each chapter has 4-6 missions) and there are 10 chapters. there are also many side missions to do which will also go towards the completion percentage. Some of the extra missions can help you obtain rare items for forging weapons, and you may even acquire new, stronger weapons. Side missions are unlocked after you complete a chapter. also, if you have beaten a mission, some of the locations in the game feature melee and summon battles to help boost your Exp.

To obtain new weapons, you will find books after certain missions, these books can help create stronger weapons than you can buy based off the materials used. you learn new abilities by leveling up, and you level up by gaining Exp. from battle.

The Battle Ground
This is what I enjoyed most aobut this game.. The battles. If you love using your DS's touch screen, this game has plenty of that. you start out with 5 characters on the field and the Yahri (I'll explain later) you selected for the battle. Your stylus is your control. You slide your stylus across the screen to select a group, or you just tap on a character to make a command. Every character has a list of skills and attacks they can do, and you can either set the gambit (which allows them to automatically do it) or you can select the command yourself. It is probably wise to set a gambit, and while the command is loading, you can select other commands.

The battles are Real-Time-Strategy and you have a limited ocntrol over your characters. You can only control their skills and where they go, but they attack on their own. Also, in battle each character is limited to what they can do (IE: Vaan can't cast magic, Penelo can't attack, etc) and this will require certain strategy.

Every characrter also has a certain way of fighting, and they're divided in three categories: Flying, Range and Melee. flying is strong against melee, but weak against magic. Melee is weak against flying, but strong against Range. Range is weak against Melee, but strong against flying. trust me, knowing this will help greatly in choosing Yahri and which characters do what.

You use the D-pad and face buttons very little. I used the X-button to select my entire group because it was easier than sliding the stylus across the screen.

The Yahri you selected will be assets in every battle. some of them may need to be a certain style (flying, melee, range) or be a certain element (Ice, fire, etc) to help defeat enemies quicker. you're only allowed 2 level 1, 2 level 2, and 1 level 3 in each battle. so choose wisely beforehand.

Some of the battles are easier than others, but then some are hard as crap. I know I had trouble on a few missions and it took many upon many tried to beat. Some battles may even require you to time out, go back to where you started and rebuild. but no mission can't be beat. I know I sweat bullets when it came to the hard missions, but once I had a strategy down, It got done.

Yahri
Yahri's are these little creatures that help you in battle. Some are better than others. the way you unlock different Yahri is by obtaining Auracite from battles, and using it to unlock them on the Ring of Pacts, Much like FFX's sphere grid. Some can only be obtained by defeating them in battle, which can be pretty hard later in the game. Having the right Yahri can determine the outcome of battle. I loved using Yahri.

Overall
Overall this game is a must have for RPG fans. I really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed getting over 30 hours of gameplay. It has great replay value seeing as how you unlock a secret ending if you get 100%, which is worth it. the characters were great, and story was okay, and the battles were fun. Even supplied some nice difficulty for you experts out there. the music could have been better. but all in all, I'm satisfied with this game. And I hope you will be to. I tried to avoid any spoilers.

I hope my review helped those who didn't know whether or not they should play the first FFXII. I didn't and I had no problem understanding this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/08

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