(Image source: Square Enix.)

I had a long dungeon run in Final Fantasy XII today. This one saw the party seeking a mystical device in a king’s tomb. Ostensibly meant to determine royal heritage, the device’s true purpose is to facilitate an overblown cinematic sequence, the kind Square Enix is inordinately fond of.

I was once again left resentful of the save system. The end of the dungeon was a good two hours away from the start and there were no Save Crystals to be found in-between. The dungeon run began with a tough boss fight and ended with a tougher one but it was otherwise unchallenging. The prospect of replaying those two hours because I failed at the final hurdle left me wondering about the designers and the actual nature of their relationship with their mothers.

Thankfully, I managed to beat the final boss, a fiery esper, by the skin of my teeth. Five of the party were KO’d and the last was blissfully asleep so victory had to come courtesy of an AI-controlled ally down to his last sliver of his health bar. He struck down the boss just as the boss himself was about to deliver the killing blow.

Square Enix congratulated me on my narrow victory with an overblown cinematic sequence, which was awfully nice. Their mothers must have raised them right.

(Image source: Square Enix.)

Coming as I do from a PC gaming background, I’m used to saving wherever and whenever I like. If I feel the fan is not only about to get hit but completely smothered, I’m saving. If I’m about to take on a dastardly boss, I’m saving before the battle. If the bladder is about to burst and the game isn’t turn-based, I’m saving.

The reason I prefer to save and save often is I detest having to replay entire sections of a game. I play games for the challenge, true enough, but I also play games for fun. Going over the same old ground simply because I lacked the fallback of a recent savegame is definitely not fun for me. It’s especially tedious when there are no random elements to keep things fresh and unpredictable. Nothing sucks the fun out of the game quicker than the same combat encounters with the same foes for the same rewards.

I was rather unhappy when I discovered what Final Fantasy XII’s save system was like.
Continued…

(Image source: Square Enix.)

Mr. Postman delivered Final Fantasy XII (ver. Greatest Hits) today. I skimmed through the manual (thick by today’s standards) and put the disc in the PS2 to confirm the region 1 title played flawlessly on my modded region 3 machine. Then I thought it would be nice to see the opening cutscene …

About 25 minutes later, I was saving my first savegame and 35 minutes after that, I saved for the second time. My spell of Impulse Control failed. Damn.

Comfortable with the basic controls by this point, I exited the eastern gates of Rabanastre, the starting city, and made for the desert where walking cactii, wolves and my prey, that dastardly scoundrel of a fruit, the Rogue Tomato, stalked the hot sands. Spotting my mark, I unsheathed my blade and began the battle. Man against tomato, no quarter asked nor given. Vicious blows were exchanged and ultimately, I emerged victorious. Tales will be told generations from now of this titanic conflict, I wager. Fruit-Bane, they might name me in those stories. Or the Tomato-Terminator. Killer of Killer Tomatoes, perhaps.

Though bloody after the struggle … no, wait, sorry, it’s just tomato juice … I returned triumphantly to the city gates and cast a spell of Save Game once again.

It’s a very good start to what promises to be a very entertaining game.