Tea Shop BeLoved

Uh oh… the Square fanboy cap is coming on…

It has been far too long since I first laid eyes on the first teaser. I remember going nuts over this promotional poster back in 2002 (Original poster with “12″ logo on it). I went through graduate school. I lost hella weight. I gained hella weight. I got my Bachelors. I moved out of the house. So, finally, Final Fantasy XII is in my PS2.

A lot of my gaming habits and preferences have changed vastly since then, but alas, it’s like coming home again. For as much poking and teasing I do to Square and Sony, I still buy their products and Square is behind a number of my favorite games (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Final Fantasy VI). I’m (still) at 98% or 99% in Kingdom Hearts 2 and I squealed like I bishoujo when I saw that Children of Mana for the DS was out also today. So even though World Heroes and Art of Fighting for the SNES and X-Men: Children of the Atom and Street Fighter Alpha for the Saturn came in the mail today, my “big deal” game was Final Fantasy XII. I’m such a hypocrite!

I have yet to actually watch the collector’s edition disc, but I anticipate it to be good. I’ve played every Final Fantasy game in the main series except for IIIj (which come out in a couple weeks) and XI (which is a MMORPG). I have beaten all of them, except IIj, IIIj, and V.

[For those unfamiliar with what the "j" stands for, it's referring to the Japanese version of the game. Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III in the US are actually Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI, respectively. By the time the original Final Fantasy game on the NES was released in the US, Final Fantasy IIj was already out in Japan. So in order not to screw people up, re-numbering was in order. Remember, back in the late 1980's and through the mid 1990's, people didn't care about RPGs--it was a niche genre. It wasn't until Final Fantasy VII came out that RPGs were jolted into the mainstream, despite the popularity of SNES, Genesis, and Sega CD RPGs, such as Lunar, Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star, or Breath of Fire.]

Anywho, I’m actually playing through the opening tutorial as I’m trying all this… I can tell you now that the camera isn’t all that great and there are plenty of jaggies. However, Ashe is still fucking hot and the opening FMV (YouTube; English version) was probably one of the best FF sequences I’ve seen since maybe Final Fantasy VIII (YouTube). I was very Star Wars-ish I thought. Also, very November Rain-ish. Watch and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m excited about the story though. Reviewer have been saying that this is probably the deepest and darkest Final Fantasy narrative. Plus, there are supposedly a number of surprises throughout the game. The battle system from the demo awhile back SUCKED, so hopefully that’s fixed up now. Another thing that is looking good is the setting. Gone are the southeast Asian designs. I’m glad things look gritty and European again like Final Fantasy IX. It’s not like everywhere I go there is water and it looks like Sagat’s stage.

Anywho, whenever I eventually beat the game, I write something up about it. Thus far, it’s getting great review (surprise, surprise -_-;;), but we’ll see how things go. I probably won’t have much time to play until at least Friday afternoon/night or this weekend.
PS: I’m looking for a cheap copy of the Collector’s Edition version of Resident Evil 4 for the PS2… Anyone see one?