G-pinions

There comes a point in incredibly hyped games where you ask yourself whether you're truly, legitimately enjoying it solely for what it is, or if the excitement and peer pressure, often the weight of the entire internet, is influencing your tastes just a bit. It happens in film and literature too of course, but oh how harsh and divisive the gaming community can be. I fell victim to such a circumstance over the last week, plunging headfirst into an experience I just ultimately wasn't desirous of - Final Fantasy XII.

I unequivocally adored Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9. Outside of Symphony of the Night, they are the only PS1 games that I actually remember playing, you know? The physicality of experiencing such epic adventures, in parts as well as I remember any of the many countries that I traveled to as a culturally spoiled adolescent. They provided characters and storytelling that I could fall in love with in a medium I was utterly open to experience in it's fullest. Final Fantasy X was enjoyed immensely as well (as my 74-hour saved game which I still hang on to would indicate), but partially just because of how fascinating it was to watch someone push the PS2 so far so early in it's lifespan - ultimately, it didn't provide any more of a generational experience than 9 did outside of the presentation.

Here we are at a nice round dozen, the long-due arrival of a game whose mere somatic existence arouses the spirit of adventure in my languid, Hexic-addled brain. Though I had just finished Okami (a tearful, indescribably rewarding experience which I won't get into now), I was ready to throw sensibility to the wind and start up a brand-new, lengthy adventure on the first day of perhaps the biggest month in gaming ever. And after ten hours of character-leveling, cactuar-smacking, sewer-exploring quasi-nostalgia, I came to a very sudden and decisive realization that I just wasn't into it.

I'm not sure if it's the game or if it's me. The new battle system is certainly a big change, a drastic switch to non-random, real-time battles. It's certainly a relief knowing whether a battle will break out or not for every inch of screen you explore, but the system seems frustratingly half-realized - you can't truly avoid most enemies, you still need to do a hell of a lot of fighting simply to level up, and when your movements are fully analog and real-time, it's annoyingly archaic to still have to choose 'attack' and wait for it to happen, rather than just tap the button to swing the sword yourself. I know I'm sounding like I just want an Action-RPG, but really I just want something that feels complete and instantly rewarding in whichever direction it's imagined.

I very much appreciate what they were trying to do with the License Board (buy licenses to use spells/equipment as you level up) and Gambit system (program your party to run their own turns and actions based on situational priorities which you set up), but both unintentionally rob the characters of their inherent individuality and battle role unless you purposefully fight it for the sake of doing so (not what's easiest).

I'm sure that there are many layers of strategy I would have discovered had I ventured a dozen hours more into the affair, but it's just not something I'm willing to do these days. That's probably a big part of the problem - if a game doesn't do something incredibly compelling or unique or fun in the first few hours (never mind ten), it's tough to justify risking more precious gaming time with it just to see if it starts entertaining you regularly at some point. Not to say that FFXII wasn't entertaining - the characters, voice acting, setting, story, graphics and general aesthetic were completely enthralling and phenomenally well-done, and it's unfair to mention them only in passing as I'm doing right now - it just wasn't fun for more than five out of every fifteen minutes. And when Oblivion lies a mere foot away from where I'm playing, a waiting world of immediate gratification, consequence and the afore-mentioned physicality, well, it makes the few archaic remnants of Japanese RPG conventions stand out all the more.

So it's over. The FF games don't ever really date themselves, so I'll pick it back up again when it's $10 and it's the dead summer days of 2011 waiting for the Adventures of Cookies and Cream MMO and Onimusha: Yet Again. I can now sink my teeth and my soul into Gears of War, Zelda, and by god possibly Resistance, without fear that I missed a must-play, immediately relevant Final Fantasy game. It will be waiting for me down the line when I'm good and ready, ever enjoyable when I'm in the mood/mindset for it - and that I'm truly willing to compliment Square Enix on.