At first glance, Final Fantasy XII doesn't seem to be your traditional Final Fantasy. In lieu of random encounters, monsters and enemies are actually visible in-game, and when encountered, there's no pause in switching to battle as characters draw their swords and ready their spells. With the battles occurring in the same 3D world as exploration, characters no longer stand in a line as they battle foes, close-range swordsmen crowd an opponent from the front and sides, long-range archers stay behind and deal out their damage from a distance. And since we're talking about an actual 3D world, not just 3D characters running on top of a pre-rendered 2D picture or animation, the camera can be freely rotated at any time for a look at the surrounding environment.

But as the old saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. While the above may sound like rather drastic changes to a franchise that, outside of the online-only Final Fantasy XI, has remained relatively unchanged across its ten offline-only iterations, Final Fantasy XII still retains the core gameplay, and the core battle mechanics of the series.

For example, let's take a closer look at the new Active Dimension Battle system. Some have expressed concern that the 3D world and battles would cause XII to play out like more of an action title than a role-playing game, but this isn't an issue as the system doesn't allow players to dodge attacks with physical movements. Like past Final Fantasy titles that would only allow a character to act once their Active Time Battle had filled, XII likewise has a similar system. Once an action is selected, a bar next to the character's name begins to fill up, and once full, the character will perform that action. If that action involves a target that's out of range, the action will be performed automatically once the target is in range.

In other words, though players can attack an enemy, run out of range and wait for their next attack to charge, but when they go back to the enemy, that enemy will still have a chance to attack before the player's next action. Alternatively, if a targeted foe starts to run off when your attack is charged, once they're back within range, you'll attack before they have the chance to perform their next move. In essence, it plays out just like the old Final Fantasy battle system with just a few cosmetic changes. Orders are doled out from the traditional battle menu, the only difference being that the menu can now be pulled up at any time.

However, that's not to trivialize the combination of combat and exploration as a minor change, as it serves for a far more cohesive experience. Gameplay is no longer broken up into chunks of adventuring interspersed by random battles that occur with unpredictable frequency. Instead, battles taking place in the same realm as the exploration feel far more natural, one can see the foes well in advance and know that they will soon be engaging in battle. This also makes it easier to avoid battle if one so chooses, as they can literally run past a foe, very useful when needing to reach a save point, be it because of low health or due to something outside of the game.

Something else Final Fantasy XII introduces are Gambits. Essentially a way to automate combat, Gambits allow players to preset character actions for a variety of situations, with one early example having main character Vaan automatically cast cure on any party member whose HP drops below 70 percent. When first introduced, Gambits are limited both in the number each character can have assigned and the conditions under which actions can be performed, both aspects that can be expanded upon throughout the game.

The nice part about Gambits is that they allow players to focus less on micro-managing each battle, which can get tiring after encountering the same type of enemy multiple times, and pay more attention to overall battle strategies and abilities of the party.

Another feature of the Gambits is that they don't make the game any less challenging, approaching a boss with the same set of Gambits used to clear out a dungeon often doesn't result in victory. In order to defeat many of Final Fantasy XII's bosses, Gambits must be adapted, and possibly even turned off, as weaknesses are discovered and exploited and new strategies come to light.

It's also worth pointing out that, outside of the few guests that temporarily join the party for story-related reasons, players are never forced to use Gambits. Much like previous Final Fantasy titles, it's entirely possible to go through the entire game manually issuing orders for every character during every battle.

Moving beyond the battle system, the world of Final Fantasy XII is huge. There's simply no other way to describe it. Whereas other games in the series have provided the illusion of walking around in cities and venturing out into the world, the cities here are so packed with people and the surrounding wilderness is so large that venturing through it genuinely feels like exploring a virtual world. Already, we've been distracted from the main storyline so that we could pursue several monster hunting sidequests.

Much like its combat system, the story of Final Fantasy XII doesn't first appear to be traditional Final Fantasy fare, seemingly focused more on politics than magic. But just like the combat system, a deeper look reveals several familiar standbys. Set in a time of great technology and magic, the world is filled with not just Humes, Final Fantasy XII's term for humans, but Viera, Hume-esque creatures with tall rabbit-style ears, Moogles, Chocobos, and numerous other species.

Yet unlike other Final Fantasy stories, the plot of XII doesn't seem to have an easy solution. Final Fantasy X's story was about defeating Sin. Final Fantasy VII was about defeating Sephiroth. The main villainess of Final Fantasy VIII was rather obvious after a few hours. The resolution of all these tales was with the defeat of the main bad guy, but without giving too much away, over ten hours into Final Fantasy XII and there's no clear cut bad guy. There are bad people, sure, but not one person whose defeat would immediately resolve the situation, and it'll be interesting to see where the story goes from here.

All told, it's just one more incentive to keep playing, and that's something we can live with. Simultaneously taking the franchise in a new direction and retaining its old mechanics, Final Fantasy XII is shaping up to be the sequel many hoped it to be. At the same time, we're only ten hours in, meaning there's still a significant chunk of the game ahead of us, and who knows what that holds. Regardless, we'll be sure to let you know in the days surrounding Final Fantasy XII's North American release on October 31st.