Omake » FFXII: RW Review

Here, I give my own opinions on the game Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. I won't say that you'll agree with me, but you're not the one who's running this website.

Story and Plot

I'll say this about the story and plot in Revenant Wings: it's an improvement on Final Fantasy XII, given the writing. While not the most innovative of the Final Fantasies, you can definitely tell that it was headed by the same director as Final Fantasy X-2, with its themes of tragic love that doesn't die with time and a feel-good ending. The execution itself is very different than Final Fantasy X-2, of course, but they share many themes without sharing skimpy outfits and Charlie's Angels-esque influences.

If anything, it's nice to see the original cast of Final Fantasy XII return and reunite, especially after the abrupt ending of Final Fantasy XII. However, the execution itself feels like it could have had a little more effort put into it; it's been a year after Final Fantasy XII, yet everybody is still wearing the same outfits; even Penelo is wearing the same exact outfit she had in the ending of Final Fantasy XII. Unfortunately, their personalities are mostly the same... despite being given much more dialouge in this game than in the original, it feels like. They talk a lot, but not much of it is used to expand their character.

The overall story is pretty satisfying, though. It brings up ideas and actually concludes those ideas, ulike in the original game where it felt like just as things were getting interesting, you can't delve into it because you're off to the next area. It's nice to see some closure to the mysteries brought up.

Gameplay and Graphics

I'm biased, because I absolutely adore the effect that 2D sprites have on 3D environments. The visuals aren't, like, uber-amazing, but the visuals fit the mood of the game. The FMV sequences are very well-done, though it feels a little odd seeing these characters in a more cartoon-y style after being used to the original designs.

As for the gameplay, there's definitely a learning curve as to using the stylud, and definitely even moreso if you, like me, haven't dabbled in the RTS genre of game before. However, it becomes rather easy to manuever after a while, even though it sometimes get frustrating that you're desperately poking around the battlefield because one of your characters is dead and trying to revive them ins't fun at all because ever other unit is right on top of them.

Supposedly, the North American version of the game is tougher because "Americans are more familiar with the RTS genre." The only real possible way they can make the game harder is if they basically crank up the levels of the enemies. Which is really stupid, but it doens't make the game harder; what it does is make you repeat older stages several times so you can catch up to the new levels. The gameplay is frustrating in that regard.

Sound and Music

Hitoshi Sakimoto once again composed the score... or did he just reuse everything from the original FFXII sans the theme song, which he didn't compose? The music sounds fine on the DS, and the use of it was done well (such as when you're in combat, the music is more mellow when enemies arne't near, but once an enemy is in range, the music changes), but having a few new tracks and arrangements would have shown more effort on his part.

Other than that, the sound was good. It wasn't distracting, but there wasn't anything new with the sound, nor any voice acting in this game whatsoever.

Overall

It feels like Revenant Wings had no real focus. It felt like it tried to be a Final Fantasy X-2 to Final Fantasy XII, be an RTS game, be familiar yet unfamiliar, cater to Americans and their violent ways by making it harder, trying to appeal to new gamers as an introduction despite being a sequel and blah blah de blah... it just feels very unfocused. If the game were focused, I believe that it would have been a much better product.

Not that it's by any means bad, it's just that when you're playing it (or playing through one of the stages ten times through for experience points) you're constantly reminded that this game could be so much more than it was.