All it really does is make me want more...
The most obvious topic that needs to be discussed about Final Fantasy XII is the new combat system. It focuses more on the roles of the party members and the general plan of a fight, instead of past installments' "loading down your party with the best spells and equipment, and playing the battles by ear." The gambits, more than anything, imply that your characters need to serve a role in the party much like in an MMO. The problem with this implication is that something else prevents you from really creating those roles: the License Board.
The License Board, as you know, is your means of character development. You need a license to use a spell, equip a sword, or up your HP. So, essentially, this is how the game would have you create differing roles in your initially similar characters. In my opinion, there are some flaws in its execution. There aren't enough stat boosts to really help define a character's purpose, whereas, for example, FFX's Sphere Grid had several paths to take a character down, each with an emphasis on different statistics like magic power and accuracy. In FFXII, I had a hard time believing my magic-focused Penelo was a full-fledged mage; she merely had more spells, which I could have spent 20 minutes to earn the License Points for anyone else. Basch wasn't a better frontman because I'd worked on his HP and Defense; he just had licenses for better weapons. In the end, I felt like my best bet was just to max everyone out just like the older games, therefore eliminating that "open-ended, tactic-heavy" feel that the combat system worked so hard to deliver.
My secondary complaint is about the story and the elements in it. I've always felt that one of the things that makes a Final Fantasy story great is the love story beneath it. FFXII went for a totally political plot that dealt with characters' values and loyalties. I was willing to go with it for a while, but it just wasn't the same without truly diverse characters with different origins and dreams. What really got me, though--and this is going to sound stupid--were the Tolkein-style unnecessarily exotic, lifeless names of the people of places of Ivalice. I don't know who fell in love with the short "A" vowel all of a sudden, but I nearly wanted to play with a pencil and paper in order to keep up. Between Vaan, Ashe, Basch, Balthier, Fran, Ba'Gamnan, Rasler, Raminas, Vayne, Larsa, Dalmasca, Rabanastre, Archadia, Rozarria, Amalia, and "Al-Cid" (they just couldn't leave that one alone, could they?), I just didn't care after a while who was who or where I was.
Very quickly off-subject, I'm glad there's no more forced party leaders, but I think I'm ready for my new armor to start appearing on the characters as long as Square wants to give me that feel of true customization.
Complaints aside, Final Fantasy XII has shown me that Square is still in their prime, and has lots up their sleeve. I can't even imagine how action-intesive FFXIII's combat is going to be, and I just hope that the right ideas move forward from here, and are separated from the ones that don't really work.