Not for everyone, but very rewarding for those who stick with it.
Gameplay: Final Fantasy XII's battle system is based off of the system of fighting used in XI. The enemies are present on screen, whilst wandering around the particular zone they were assigned to. The entire game is really based on teamwork and the trust you have to put into the other players to do their jobs, which sometimes is a real pain in the rear. For instance, hitting your opponents grants you Technical Points (TP) and once your TP gets to 100%, you unleash a Weapon Skill (varying upon which type of weapon is currently being used) and if another compatible skill is used after about 2 seconds and within 5, another effect appears, called a skillchain, causing extra damage. Also, as with every Final Fantasy there's the main story. XI has several stories that tie into everything (The 3 nation stories, the main story and the Treasures of Aht Urhgan story). The main story spans the first set of rank missions for your particular nation (1-6), then it leads into the Rise of the Zilart expansion and then into the Chains of Promathia expansion, and finishing up with 3 quests after CoP completion.
Graphics: They're pretty good on the PS2 and the X360. PC is a different perspective, because with any PC game, the graphics vary depending on the setting used. It can be real ugly, or real pretty.
Sound: The sound effects themselves are pretty well done. The music is just epic, for an MMO. The music does tend to sway the emotions of a particular setting, whether it be in a cutscene for a progression of one of the stories, or if the player is traveling through an unexplored area. It's nice that Square does implement new and different music for some of their holiday events, namely the Christmas and summer events.
Value: Well, it depends really. The players are charged monthly and by the amount of content IDs owned. $12.95 for the first and $.99 for each additional. With the Vana'diel collection, it's easier paying for the first month of play (collection comes with base game and all expansions plus one free month of play).
I highly enjoy this MMO. It's fun to meet whacky, weird, intelligent, whatever types of people that play the same game. New friendships can sprout here and there and usually is actual friendship, not the "make me a high lvl item in craftslol" or "ur totally highlvl lets go kill stuff and get tresurlol" types.
Wanna contact me inside FFXI (not that anyone really cares)?
Name: Thar
Server: Lakshmi