The History of Final Fantasy XII

Development began in December 2000, headed by Yasumi Matsuno, director of Final Fantasy Tactics, and Hiroyuki Ito, director of Final Fantasy IX. Matsuno provided the original concept and plot. The production ran about five years and cost roughly 4 billion yen with a crew of more than one hundred.

A year before release, Matsuno bowed out of both the producer and director roles, with health concerns given as the reason. The team was restructured: Ito and Hiroshi Minagawa became the directorial duo, Akitoshi Kawazu became executive producer, and Matsuno stayed credited for the original work, scenario plot, and supervision. Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was disappointed enough by the departure that he declined to play the game beyond its introduction. Why Matsuno left, what is documented and what is only rumor, is examined on this Library's question page.

Ivalice is a world of empires: Archadia and Rozarria at war, the small kingdom of Dalmasca annexed between them, and a resistance built around its princess. The story follows Vaan, a street orphan who dreams of the sky, into that resistance, which is why so much of a political war is seen from ground level.

The battle system, Active Dimension Battle, runs seamlessly in the field: enemies are visible, there are no random encounters, and the camera is the player's. The Gambit system is the famous piece: each character follows ordered if-then instructions the player writes, target, action, priority, so the party effectively runs a program the player authored. Growth runs through the License Board: no weapon, spell, or armor can be used until its license is bought with points earned in battle. Akihiko Yoshida led the art, Hitoshi Sakimoto composed, and Uematsu contributed a single song, the vocal theme.

For a decade the game's reputation sat split: a critics' triumph that a share of its own audience resisted. The Zodiac Age changed the verdict's center of gravity, because the job system version plays like the design the Gambits always implied, one character, one calling, a party built like a program with specialists.

It also closes an era on this shelf: the last numbered Final Fantasy made for the PlayStation 2, and the fullest statement of Matsuno's Ivalice, a world built across Tactics, Vagrant Story, and this game, that Square Enix still returns to.