Reception
The Ivalice of Final Fantasy XII is considered a Japanese take on the Star Wars galaxy by a GameSpot reviewer (in turn, Star Wars was considered an American take on Japanese jidaigeki samurai films, specifically Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress). Even with the established fantasy setting, the airships and air battles gives the world a science-fiction feel. Adding to the "galaxy far, far away" mood is the mingling of different races within large cities and the political unrest between the rebellion and the Empire. Because the characters primarily traverse on foot, the world of Final Fantasy XII feels vast, and reviewers enjoyed sightseeing because of the impressive visuals. In turn,
Eurogamer praised the "beautiful architecture and interaction of the various races" in Final Fantasy XII and noted that there was a "melancholy feeling" to "wandering the barren wastes" of Ivalice. In their review of Final Fantasy Tactics, IGN called the battle areas "extremely well designed and detailed to perfection", singling out the churches as especially beautiful. GameSpot was similarly impressed with the wide varieties of "beautiful" terrains to be seen in Ivalice, from swamps to castles to "anything else you can think of". PSXExtreme praised the feel of Lea Monde in Vagrant Story, calling it "excellently lit" in a style that brought out the "dark and moody" feeling of the game. They went on to say that the game's "great visual presentation will go down in the books as one of the best looking games".
Editorials from the gaming website RPGamer.com outlined several similarities between the Catholic Church and the Church of Glabados portrayed in Final Fantasy Tactics. One editorial noted that it was a controversial move by the developers, as if the church institution "in fact worships a demon, and is evil from its god on down". However, another editorial mentions that such controversies failed to recognize the church in question is the medieval Roman Catholic Church, and that historically such institution is known for its flaws in the past.
Read more about this topic: Ivalice
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)