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Rating: 
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For those that may critize what i am saying yes i have played a majority of the final fantasy games starting with at least final fantasy vII. this game was quite a waste of time for real and i really hope that the newest game coming out on ps3 is much better. first off this game lack serious relationship play. there is no way your gonna go out and save the world and risk your life with a whole bunch of folks and people you posiitively don't really speak to or no. there really wasn't any type of evaluation of each person's skills and they all seem edgy and jumpy with one another with only two characters really trusting one another and that was the two thieves in the beginning of the game. the graphics were great but the gameplay was horrible. you go on these everlasting quests and playing this game seemed more like being at work then getting away from your job. every town you came to there was another crisis. there was never any fun and the rewards you got after sweating was minimal. you had random people pop up in your journey and you never really knew who they were or the revelance of them being in the game for that matter. and even if sqauresoft decided, hey we aren't going to make this a love story like every other final fantasy, they could have at least built stronger relationships. i remember at the end when the pirate (can't remember his name now) told vaan about learning how to fly the ship in case he died, it was like the driest moment of the game because it had no emotion behind it. it was like...uhhh...okay. so needless to say even final fantasy x-2 held my attention way better than this one
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I will keep it brief since I don't want to waste anymore time on this game.
The story is boring whoever says otherwise is lying. It starts of good(Empire vs. Empire, tradegy and all that), and it gets your attention. However, the story just dies from there.The story fails to keep you interested with all that political rabbling.
The gameplay was interesting at first, but like the story, it gets dull. You run around for most of the game with a gambit system that requires very little action on your behalf. It is very easy to take advantage of the system and once you do it, it gets boring. Even if you don't it still is boring.
Story and gameplay make a RPG, and Square Enix failed miserably. The scores would be lower if it did not have the Final Fantasy name. It is beautiful and nice to look at, but that does not make a RPG.
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I played final Fantasy XII, and i got so hooked on it. This game is a must have for any final fantasy junkie. the way skills are learned, number ways of leveling up and setting up your characters anyway you want is a huge plus.
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To get the major positives aside first, this offering by the Final Fantasy franchise completely alters the battle system (which is really the key feature of the game) by making battles occur in real time. Not having random battles is a welcome addition, and I found the actual gameplay of this one as fresh as ATB was when FF IV was released. While each FF has been a treat to play, this is probably the most fun I've had actually "playing" one since FF VI and VII. It just seemed so much more action packed than any other one, and after the first few hours, the new battle system will suck you in.
Now, my multi-layered gripe...
Having played through each installment of the FF series, I've been privy to some of the greatest stories my generation has been offered. That said, when I play a FF game I expect a multi-faceted story with deep character development. Nearly every one has had its share of political intrigue and philosophical musing, and to a certain extent XII is no different. However, what becomes painfully clear only a few hours into the game (and I'm making my best argument without offering spoilers, mind you) is the so-called top billed character, Vaan--yes, the one who offers the narrative and serves as the eyes and ears of the player--is not really the main character. That role is filled by Ashe, a princess in exile. This does not seem like a major problem except for the fact that Vaan receives almost no development AT ALL. Whenever something major happens in the plot, Vaan literally stands to the side and observes while the other supporting characters do all the talking and make every decision. There were a couple major cutscenes that I can't recall if he even opened his mouth once. What kind of lead is that? He honestly does NOTHING throughout the course of this game. In fact, most of the characters you recruit in the party receive little or no development, aside from Ashe and Balthier, and to a somewhat lesser extent Fran and Basche. That does little to change that fact that the MAIN CHARACTER HAS NO EFFECT ON THE EVENTS UNFOLDING THROUGHOUT YOUR ADVENTURE. Had Vaan not been present in the story, the events would still have played out as they had.
Branching off from that, the story itself was unimpressive. Events kind-of happened, sometimes with little or no foreshadowing. The party makes its way across the world, fighting monsters and doing their own thing, while the villains go about their own objectives, and of course by the end there's a standoff. However, the events that the party goes through before had little consequence on what happens by that point. Only near the end of the game do they actually involve themselves in the actual story. It almost seemed like two separate tales woven into one, and by the conclusion they both come together somewhat conveniently.
That said, I loved this game. LOL! I found the main character to be the weakest of the entire series, while the story was underwhelming. However, the gameplay itself was a revelation of sorts, and made fighting monsters and leveling up fun again. Balthier pretty much steals the entire show--I'm putting him up with the best characters the series has to offer. Again, I'm going to say that this game is definitely fun to play, but don't expect a story along the lines of IV, VI, or VII...most of the characters are one or two dimensional, and things just happen without warning. Still, the production values, amount of material within the game, the new battle system, and overall playability rank it as the best RPG PS2 has to offer. Yes, FF X was great too, but took linear to a whole new level.
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I wasn't following this game pre-release, having moved mostly to PC games. But my wife got me this for my birthday about a year ago, and I really like it.
One thing I want to point out is that the collectors edition is probably not worth getting instead of the regular edition (shown on this page). The games will play out identically, but the collectors edition has a nicer case and a disc with a few videos on it. The "History of Final Fantasy" is rather boring and not well narrated, in my opinion, I don't remember any of the others.
As for the actual content of the game, though, it's great!
*Characters: I find the voice acting and dialogue content very well done, with one exception--the majority of the princesses lines are grunts. I'm not sure if she is indecisive or what, but it stood out as an oddity to me. Balthier and Basche, especially, though, have great lines well executed and make the cut scenes enjoyable.
*Plot: In general it will probably hold your attention. You have the impression of a well developed world. It did seem to me that it ended kind of suddenly, though.
*Graphics: Very good, imo.
*Battle system: I like the move to having enemies on the map. Some tactical elements are brought in, such as positioning for AoE spells, reminscient of Chrono Trigger, but since it is real time you also have to watch out for nearby foes. I found the scarcity of gil (money) a plus, actually, and the difficulty level of the enemies kept it paced pretty well for moderate difficulty with a little side-questing. The best aspect of doing battles this way, though, is that there is no loading times between battles, only when going into a new area. The Gambit system is intuitive and quite powerful if you want to go in and tweak it in response to the enemies of an area. This is actually a pretty good compromise of allowing you all the time you need to plan strategy (in the gambit menu) while allowing battles to be fast paced.
*Character advancement: All the characters are interchangeable at the start, and will end up so if you level enough. I don't like this as much as a system like FF 6, for example, with unique character abilities, but it has been an aspect of many recent FF games, such as 7 and 8. The FF Tactics team is said to have been behind the development of this game--that game is my favorite--but the job system doesn't come into play here. But it is still fun, as usual, to plan out your character's development ahead of time, and since I found myself fighting random battles for a few more LP, I guess the system overall is a plus.
*Treasure: They've done away with the illogic of animal carrying around cash, and replaced it with that of stealing a wolf's hide before he is killed to sell for money. Heh heh, well anyway, you take loot related to your slain Malboro or Cactus to sell, which opens up special item packages to buy. This system could probably be improved, since there isn't much strategy other than steal and sell, but it wasn't a problem. Treasure chests, though, I found to be generally worthless, random, I think, which can be done well but here is usually disappointing.
In short, I think that if you like console RPG's you'll like this; it lives up to the high expectations squaresoft has set for me.
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