Thanks to Shueisha's Shonen Jump, the Leakiest Magazine On Earth (tm), the first few details on Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII have arrived a few days in advance of the game's planned November 19 debut. The third PlayStation 2 game in the popular RPG series, now in the hands of Vagrant Story director Yasumi Matsuno, features an interesting blend of familiar and original visual elements to reflect the franchise's continued progression.
Stylistically, the game looks much more like Final Fantasy X than expected. Though the new character designs are by Vagrant Story artist Akihiko Yoshida, rather than FFX's Tetsuya Nomura, the two lead characters still don't stray too far from the style of the series' more recent installments. Van, the male lead, could be a younger cousin to FFX's Tidus, while Ashie, the heroine, looks like Rinoa Heartilly's younger sister.
The few small screens of the game shown so far display a city (the one shown in the first FFXII image illustration) with many flying machines soaring over it, and a jungle environment similar to the islands in the beginning of FFX. A single battle sequence, on a beach fading into green forests, shows three characters in the active party party.
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