(Image source: SCEA.)

We’ve certainly come a long way since the days of Pong when the only choices to be made were going up or, if it struck our fancy, going down. However, gamers are still restricted to far too few real choices these days. (Real choices are genuine alternatives and not simply choosing between killing something with a warhammer or a ninja sword.) It still feels like we’re only picking up breadcrumbs on pre-determined paths in order to find the next hoop we’re meant to jump through.

The exasperating thing about this is there’s generally only a few paths to be taken even in big-budget titles. Some games may boast of freedom of exploration and non-linear gameplay but often as not there’s only one method of solving a problem in those games: the method the designers’ thought of. As the joke goes, if said method doesn’t involve killing or sneaking, it’s an extraordinary game and should be given a Special Achievement Award.

Martin Cirulis railed against this in one of his classic Computer Gaming World columns. He wondered why he needed to find a key for the door in an FPS when he was toting a BFG. Shouldn’t he be able to blast the door to smithereens or blow a hole in the wall?

That was a decade ago yet the problem persists.

The Gamers With Jobs crew, in their most recent podcast, discussed The Bourne Identity, a game that straightjacketed players so tightly that it would actually remove weapons out of the player character’s hands when the designers insisted on a hand-to-hand fight.
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(Image source: SCEA.)

Final Fantasy XII gives the player complete freedom to develop party members as there aren’t any professions or jobs or character classes to limit you to specific skillsets. You can opt for skillsets common to RPG archetypes like warrior or caster but you can also create a spellcasting swordsman clad in heavy armour. There are no penalties in the game for casting a spell in armour and a spellcaster will wield a sword just as adroitly as a pure warrior.

Though the game manual suggests creating a balanced party of specialists (instead of a party of balanced and versatile characters), there doesn’t seem to be any impetus to go that traditional route.
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(Original image source: Square Enix.)

Square Enix loves cinematics so much it never passes up an opportunity for a cutscene in Final Fantasy XII. Pivotal story moments are depicted with them, of course, but there are other events that the developer considered cutscene-worthy. Boss entrance? Cutscene. Boss vanquished? Cutscene. New area? Cutscene. Special attack? Cutscene. Summoning an esper? Cutscene. Esper special attack? A comically over-the-top cutscene.

The cinematics are a visual treat thanks to the exotic-cool artistic designs but some restraint would have been nice. There are sequences in the game when cutscene after cutscene occur. Three is the most I’ve experienced so far. I know it was three because I had to skip thrice. I’d seen them already and I was only seeing them again because I had to replay after the party was wiped out by a boss.

To skip a cutscene, press the Start button followed by the X button. This, curiously enough, is undocumented in the game manual.