While I play a broad range of games to review or preview, when I'm at home and relaxing there are generally only two types of games that I'll play: fighting games and RPGs. With fighting game, there are a handful of franchises that generally maintain a high level of quality, while everything else falls drastically short. However, RPGs are a completely different beast. There are so many different types of RPGs that I find myself disliking a good number of them.

To be more specific, anything action-oriented I'll usually pass on. That includes just about anything made by tri-Ace, and all of the recent releases in Namco's Tales series. I'm a turn-based RPG fan, and aside from a few exceptions, things aren't going to be changing anytime soon. I enjoy most of the strategy RPGs from Nippon Ichi and many of the traditional RPGs from Atlus are also nice. On the flip side of things, and getting to the point of this article, I did not like Final Fantasy X. It was a turn-based RPG, I liked the grid system that allowed you to learn spells and abilities, but I felt the game was far too linear and constricting. Final Fantasy IX has been my favorite title in the recent memory from the classic series.

When Final Fantasy XI hit the Xbox 360, I decided to give it a shot and found that I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I like to keep my MMORPGs and offline RPGs separate. Unfortunately, after getting my hands on an English build of Final Fantasy XII, my thoughts are somewhat mixed on the game. While other journalists are ranting and raving about how the game sets new trends and could potentially be the best title in the series, it reminds me far too much of FFXI, and that's just not a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

The one aspect of FFXII that most reminds me of FFXI is the battle system. Just like in FFXI, there are no random battles. You'll see every enemy before you engage them. Instead of the classic style where you control one character at a time when that character's turn has come up, the computer AI handles a good portion of the battles. Using the new Gambit system, you can instruct other party members to use certain commands during battle, even getting as detailed as telling them which commands to use first and what order to attack enemies in. However, it doesn't really feel like I have control over the characters. Instead if feels like I'm in a Final Fantasy XI party, but instead of playing with five friends, I'm playing by myself giving the computer instructions for the other characters. Although, for those who enjoy the FFXI party structure, but don't like MMORPGs, Final Fantasy XII should be right up their alley.

Even learning spells and abilities, earning money, and equipping new gear seem oddly familiar to FFXI. As you defeat enemies, instead of dropping money they'll drop items. You can then take these items to a shop in town and sell them to earn money. This is almost exactly how money is earned in FFXI. You'll get item drops from defeating enemies and take them back to town to sell at a store or put up in an auction house for other players to bid on. It's the same concept in Final Fantasy XII, except without the auction house for other human players since this is an offline game.

Learning spells and being able to use certain equipment also relates to Final Fantasy XI. In FFXI you can change your character's job class at will. The job class of your character determines the spells, abilities and equipment you can use. Final Fantasy XII modifies this system by using license points (LP). You'll earn LP by defeating enemies, just like you would earn experience points. You'll then use LP in a fashion similar to the grid system from Final Fantasy X.

License points will open up various squares on a grid that resembles a chess board. The slots you can open up with LP will allow you to learn new spells and abilities and equip new armor. Once you unlock something using the LP system, you still must obtain the item or spell to use it. For example, if you unlock Cure II using the LP system, you still need to obtain a scroll of Cure II before you can use the spell. This limitation is also in place for using new armor and weapons. Once you unlock the ability on the LP grid, you'll still need to obtain the item before you can use it. I related this directly to changing jobs in FFXI. You may have an item, but until you change jobs and reach a certain level with that job, you can't use the item. In addition, once you learn a magic spell your entire party learns it, just like in FFXI where once you learn a spell, all of your job classes that can use it will have access to the spell.

Creating Final Fantasy XII in the vein of Final Fantasy XI has its pros and cons. If you're a fan of FFXI you may be pleased with the offline experience FFXII provides. On the other hand, you may want that experience left to FFXI, with something new or possibly more traditional with FFXII. Of course the quality of any RPG relies greatly on the story, and I have yet to play FFXII enough to really get into the story. Brief gameplay sessions here and there just aren't enough. In the future we'll have a complete review and possibly another hands-on look at Final Fantasy XII before it hits the US this October.