Will just say it right here, I used AR cheat codes once I got to Chapter 9 to get through til the end. I heard that the game difficulty spikes right at the end and that the enemies scale in a ridiculous way. All I cared bout was finishing the story, so at this point I chose to avoid the tedium and grinding (which would not have mattered anyway) just to see the end of the game. Also used a speed-up hack to make things happen quickly. 'Kay so...

This is a cute game that deceptively looks like a Tactics type game but is more an RTS game. It's fun and I like the way it plays except for the fact that touch-screen controls are mandatory. Alas, 'tis a DS game. Lol

The summoning mechanic for your units is cool and I like the rock-paper-scissor style triangle of type advantages. I have no complaints about how it actually plays. The levels as well are fine and the objectives in them are also good. The one thing that bogs down the gameplay itself is the way difficulty is handled. Enemies scaling as your characters level up is always a bad idea to me. It removes the incentive for grinding. That's kinda the whole point especially in a JRPG series.

The story is also interesting and a good expansion to the world of Ivalice. I was interested throughoutand found that both Vaan and Penelo were significantly better-written characters. Vaan acts the way I wish he had in the original game and has more charisma with him. Penelo is written to be more spunky and it works for her. They have much more "character" to them. Llyud is a good addition to the crew. That being said, Kytes and Filo feel like the original versions of Vaan and Penelo like they're just along for the ride. Kytes is better than Filo though. FIlo was my least fav member of the crew and I never really paid attention to her gameplay wise either. For some reason they're not as egregious but still not great. Maybe it's because they still have more character with the dialogue they're given. It was nice to see the returning cast. Basch was actually pretty great and had a couple great moments.

Overall, this was a better experience than the original XII for the majority of it.