SquareEnix may be more open to making sequels to their hit Final Fantasy titles in the post-Sakaguchi era, but most of these sequels make most folks wonder if it’s worth the bother. That’s largely because whenever a sequel is made, SquareEnix seems determined to change the genre of the game.
Final Fantasy X-2 featured a very different battle system, and of all the sequels made so far from Final Fantasy VII have strayed into areas like action games, shooters and just about anything but what made the original Final Fantasy title from which they sprang so successful. In other words, not one of the sequels has been a true RPG.
Final Fantasy XII – Revenant Wings for Nintendo DS is no exception. Rather than a traditional RPG, the game, which revisits the corner of Ivalice that is home to Vaan, Panelo, Balthier and Fran, is a real-time strategy title. While the storyline is worthy of the Final Fantasy moniker, the Command-and-Conquer game play feels out of place in a world full of chocobos and red mages.
The game is divided into 10 chapters, each consisting of about five battle maps, so the Ivalice of this sequel has plenty of open, residential and commercial real estate to take place on. The maps sport a good deal of variety and graphic detail.
The real problems begin with the game camera; it’s hard to manipulate and rarely at the best angle to see everything you need to see from a strategic standpoint. Also, the game ramps up the difficulty level extremely early on, tossing a level of challenge at gamers who may not be RTS veterans into a very deep, frustrating level of challenge.
The game has some aggressive AI as well, so Final Fantasy XII veterans who grew accustomed to only being challenged during boss battles may not be completely at ease with how smartly opponents challenge him or her. Although released on a very mainstream platform, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is a hardcore gamer’s delight, something that may scare off many mainstream gamers.
Of course, the graphics are as good as one would expect from SquareEnix and make just about all other DS titles seem weak efforts by comparison; that said, the game looks only like an average PSP title.
In the final analysis, some RTS fans may dig the hardcore RTS aspects of Final Fantasy XII – Revenant Wings, but that is a small portion of the audience who fell in love with the series’ PS2 swan song title. While not a failure on the level of Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, one can say with relative confidence that Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for Nintendo DS is not the kind of thing most fans of the original PS2 title were expecting, nor is it a game most of them will want.