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Rating: 
-
Started playing this game again recently, and it is still as enjoyable as it was when it first came out. I still get distracted by the Hunts and sidequests. The only thing that I still don't like is the fact that the characters stats will pretty much be the same because of the License Board. Sure, one may have a bit more magick power, or higher strength, but in the end, you can use the same 3 characters and never really have the need to switch them out. Other than that, excellent graphics, great story, great voice acting, great game.
Rating: -
The latest Final Fantasy was released two years ago guys! I think its about time for FFXIII dont you think? Anyways back to the game. Although I think this is the one of the weakest ones in the series, I still think it deserves
5 stars. Why?? I'll tell you step by step.
Story/Plot: It's very different from previous Final Fantasies in my opinion. but it definitely caught my attention. First of all, dont think you'e gonna get good characterization in this game because its definitely not happening. The story of Final Fantasy XII is, well, political. It starts in the middle of an ongoing war and a lot of different government and powers come into play in the story. Oh and by the way, the summons (called Espers) dont really go into the story all that well, and most of them are completely optional.
Graphics: In my opinion, there's really nothing new in this section. It just looks like Final Fantasy X to me. But there is a positive side! The voice acting is soooooo much better in this one. It's perfect to me so hehe YAY!!!
Music: Well, since Nobuo Uematsu didnt have a full collaboration in the music this time, to me it sounds.....mediocre compared to the others. But still, the music is really good and the music in the Feywood is personal favorite.
Gameplay: This is where a lot of FF fans got turned off of FFXII. The random battles were completely taken away here and you have full control of your characters in the battle field. As in you can move your characters when they are attacking. Get it? The Battle System is still turn-based but its kind of based on an MMORPG. The Gambit system is another new innovation and its fits in perfectly to the new ADB system. Basically, its how you program the A.I. of the characters you are using in the battle field. The license board kinda reminds me of the sphere grid. I didnt like this very much cuz you have to get a license to equip a weapon and learn magics. After you learn a license, then you have to buy the things you got a license for!!! WTF??? Honestly, I hated the license grid.
Difficulty: Its not very hard to me actually. I'd say about 8/10.
Basically this is a good game to play, just dont expect to play a familiar FF because its far from that.
Rating: 
-
This was a very interesting game that could have been a lot more interesting, but is still well worth playing.
First the good.
I enjoyed the old world influences in the armor, dress, and technology. This game had an interesting mesh of future and past that I absolutely loved.
The political storyline with all the complicated alliances and allegiances was also very interesting (potentially) as were the characters with their entangled paths and similar yet different histories. So much potential.
Side-quests were fun.
I enjoyed bounty hunting and all that came with it-earning Gil, being able to collect ingredients to be able to buy new items at the Bazaar, prizes, etc...
And going after the Espers was challenging.
So, the good was in the design and in the sidequests and in the potential. The bad was that the follow-through was just not there in the story and character development.
There was not so much any main character with one story as much as a story where separation between each character and something or someone they'd held dear in their past was the main character-and that was fine. The separation in Invalice because of the war was the theme, and the different paths the characters and others around them took in dealing with the war was the real tale.
However, there were so few scenes, so little actual story reveal, so little character development, that one could really miss this altogether unless observant, and lead to misreading characters and what should have been poignant sub-stories.
The fight system belongs somewhere between good and bad. It was interesting, and had upside.
Setting "gambits" made it fun to let your people run into the enemy and see them automatically take off and steal or cast thunder or what have you.
But that was also the bad of it.
Being able to set the protocols for your fight in advance meant that unless it was a challenging fight (which became few after visiting the same areas several times) you could put the controller down, leave the room, and your team would fight while you were gone with absolutely no involvement from you.
It also meant that if your gambit proved useless partway into the fight (let's say your person just keeps trying to steal long after the enemy is empty-handed) you then have to change the gambits mid-fight...sort of defeating the purpose. So it's a mixed bag there. Convenient, frustrating, interesting, boring...
And then there are the Quickenings, which are pretty much random, slot-machine like Limit Breaks that can be chained together (if you are lucky) with other party members Quickening skills to perform Mist Chains.
I did love playing this game, which is why I give it four stars, but hated it too. Still, all in all, I'd recommend to anyone else that enjoys rpgs and especially Final Fantasy to invest a few hours in this as well, and enjoy the roller-coaster ride of emotion that you will inevitably endure. Have fun!
Rating: 
-
Where to start? I'm rather dissapointed with this game. At first this felt like a good game, but after playing it through, I've decided it's really rather mediocre and inferior to its predecessors.
Graphics (9/10): Excellent. The graphics are pleasing to the eye. The only negative in this department is that while the graphics are good, some of the landscapes were dull and boring. Imagine slogging through a desert wasteland full of dirt and sparse plants for a good long while. While there were some really interesting places to look at(like the Forest where Viera live), other places were very large and boring. One of the most interesting places was outside Giruvegan (the reflective fog effect was awesome).
Music (7/10): Well, the music wasn't so bad that it made my ears bleed, but neither can I remember any of the tunes. I'm not sure exactly what this implies for the music rating; probably that the music is rather mediocre. Not really bad, not really outstanding either. Voice acting was good also, with the exception of a certain female lead who sighs alot in an irritating manner.
Battle System (6/10): Unlike other reviewers, I didn't hate the battle system. I prefer the regular turn-based games more, but I adapted to the AI controlled team members. My main complaint was really the license grid; it allows you to choose just about any move for anyone. While this lends to customization in the extreme, it left nothing really unique about any of the characters other than their physical appearance. With the lack of compelling personalities (more on that later), it really left my choice of party rather dull and lackluster. I really would've prefered there be at least one thing unique about each character that would've influenced my decision of who to use (like the unique limit breaks of FF7).
Gameplay (8/10): The controls were not bad, the menu system wasn't to annoying. The only thing that keeps this from a perfect score was the fact that being chased down through extremely large environments by a pack of wolves while trying to desperately escape was not too fun. I'm not against having no random battles, it just would've been nice if they'd given you a better escape option. Maybe a "run" command that'd keep the enemies off your back for a little while... Another item to add under gameplay is the number of sidquests and minigames-which is excellent. I only wish there were more sidequests that didn't involve battling enemies. It gets tedious after awhile. Something nice like the Chocobo Hot & Cold game from FF9 or the card game of FF8 would've been nice here.
Characters (5/10): Yawn. Just the sheer boringness of these characters is mind-numbing. Vaan might as well have not even been there. Was he even the main character of this game? It's just so hard to tell. He plays no major roles in the story really, other than to narrate. Penelo serves no purpose either. I find Ashe to be very unlikeable, which is too bad because the main story focuses on her a great deal. She sighs and wines alot, and I found it difficult to feel bad for her or want to help her regain her kingdom. Her personality just wasn't really endearing in any way. Basch is okay, but not really well developed. Fran has very little dialogue and little personality too. Balthier is really this game's saving grace. He is witty and humorous. If only the backstory between him and Fran had been explored at all. I kept waiting for interesting character development and backstories on these people, but it never really happened to the degree that was needed to make these people interesting.
Story (7/10): The story is rather lackluster. At times, it felt like a giant fetch-quest. My biggest complaint is the introduction of an extremely interesting plot twist involving some glowy spirit/god things that never went anywhere. I kept expecting more to happen involving these. But no, the game just ends without resolving much about them. I was so shocked when the game ended just like that. I kept thinking to myself "shouldn't there be more here?"
Overall (7/10): Note, this is not an average, it is my subjective score of this game. Overall, this isn't a terrible game, it's just not the best either. I would easily recommend FF7, FF8, FF9, and FF10 over this game, as each of those is definitely better. However, if you've already played those and are looking for something new you could buy this game. It IS worth owning, but if you're fast at completing RPG's, you may want to rent this one instead.
Rating: -
I'd probably call this the second best game in the Final Fantasy series (VI is still at the top). In some ways XII comes across as a blend of Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy Tactics, but with a unique spin on the Active Time Battle system of previous games.
Active Dimension Battle is not actually as different from ATB as some reviews would have it. Each character still has a charge time meter that must fill before they can act, except you can choose actions in advance and "queue" them, rather than waiting until the meter fills. What really gives battling a different flavor is the Gambit AI system. Rather than choosing every action manually, you can set up Gambit conditions that allow the characters to automatically choose their next action based on what's going on in the battle. You can also break in at any time to manually override a Gambit action. With a well-planned Gambit setup, you can basically just steer your party from one enemy to the next and let them fight it out on their own. It sounds boring, and maybe it is for some people, but I found it very satisfying to watch how the Gambits I chose played out. The License Board ability system works great. My only wish is that the characters were more distinct from each other. Early on you'll need to make strategic decisions about how to spend your limited LP, having one character focus on learning spells, another on building offensive strength, etc. But towards the end of the game, you'll be earning so much LP that every character can learn everything, making them indistinguishable and removing that element of strategy.
Production values are top notch. The graphics are some of the best on PS2, and the art design is the most lush and detailed of the series. The script and voice acting are the best the series has seen, with the only problem being the sometimes excessive audio compression-- with as much voice work as it has, the game really should have shipped on two discs. The music is strongly reminiscent of Tactics, with most pieces being more atmospheric than melodic. It works great in the context of playing the game, but it's not as memorable as some previous Final Fantasy soundtracks.
The best thing about this game is the world. It's definitely the deepest and most immersive of any game in the series. NPCs go about their business in a believable way, making the cities seem alive in a way that JRPGs don't usually achieve. There is a ton of background information to be found on the history, culture, and inhabitants of Ivalice, either from NPCs or the in-game Clan Primer. Final Fantasy XII is one of those games that rewards you based on how much you put in to it; you could just focus on advancing the main story if you wanted, but you'll miss a lot of wonderful stuff that's there to discover just by exploring and interacting with the world.
Where the game falters is in the story and pacing. It starts out great, with engaging characters and an intriguing premise. It's a lot like Final Fantasy Tactics in that it eschews a lot of traditional JRPG story elements-- your party spends as much time reacting to events as shaping them, making you feel like just one of many players in a larger political drama. The story is "messy" in the way Tactics was. Characters and subplots that seem important get abandoned, events take surprising turns with no foreshadowing, not every villain gets the neat comeuppance that you'd expect. It's toward the end of the tale that things accelerate to an uncomfortable pace, with the game seemingly rushing you through a series of uninspired dungeons toward an abrupt ending. The game's difficulty is uneven by design-- you're free to explore much of the world early on, including areas with monsters much stronger than you. It's a nice touch of realism and reinforcement that Ivalice is a living world that doesn't revolve solely around your party's progress, but it doesn't always work. The Mark Hunts in particular become bafflingly unbalanced towards the end of the game; every Hunt seems either embarrassingly easy or level-99 difficult.
Overall, though the story and pacing could have used some more fine-tuning, XII is a fantastic game, one of the best in the series and easily one of the best games on the PlayStation 2. If you like JRPGs at all, you need to own this.
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