Well, it’s done.  I stayed up until 1:00 this morning and finally put Final Fantasy XII to rest.  Total gamplay hours: 72:32.

On the whole, I enjoyed this installment in my favorite video game series.  At first, I HATED the battle system, but as I progressed in the game, it became pretty interesting and became a formidable weapon in my hands as I cut through the pathetically weak enemies which I encountered.

The plot was not as good as some, and at times I felt as if I had missed gigantic sequences of storyline as characters, events and other random factoids were presented as if already well-established.  One interesting aspect of the storyline is that it was not as single-protagonist-focused as other FF games.  Although the player begins with Vaan, the story quickly transforms into an epic about another character (the Lady Ashe), while still drawing into the narrative the lives of several others.  Although the storyline felt rushed at many times, it was engaging and satisfying on the whole.

Typically, I finish most FF games in about 30-35 hours.  The reason for the over two-fold increase on this installment is multifaceted.  First, with most games, finishing the game is my only goal.  More >