Where to start with a game like Final Fantasy 12? If it’s not exactly universally recognised as the greatest game in this most storied of series – for shame – then perhaps you can at least lay claim to it being the quintessential Final Fantasy; divisive amongst the fans, subject to a tortured development and ambitious to the extreme. Forget airships, moogles and summons – that’s everything a Final Fantasy should be.
It’s been lovely getting reacquainted with some vintage late 90s and early 00s Final Fantasy via their re-releases on Nintendo Switch recently – and, if you’re of a certain vintage yourself and can remember one of the great dramas of 90s video games, there’s an illicit thrill in being able to enjoy the great PlayStation era games on a Nintendo machine – though it all feels like it’s been building up to this. Yes Final Fantasy 9 is a grand old thing, and yes Final Fantasy 10-2, that awesomely camp, free-wheeling spin-off, deserves a place at the top table, but really it’s all about Final Fantasy 12 finally going portable.
Oh how long I’ve waited for this moment. When the PlayStation Vita revealed itself as something of a powerhouse for playing through the Final Fantasy back catalogue – armed with an overpriced memory card, you could have the first ten entries to call wherever you might go, and also have space for essential detours such as Final Fantasy Tactics – I always left a little room aside in the hope that Final Fantasy 12 might join them. It never did, sadly, and when the Final Fantasy 12 remaster was announced without mention of a portable version, that dream was scuppered.
