Simply wonderful, best in series since VII
I have been playing FFXI and World of Warcraft since FFX and have enjoyed them. I was unsure about my RPG's being run with the same type of battle engine as FFXI. I was dead wrong, the battle engine lets you do more and not have to wait. I no longer sit there for 10 seconds waiting for combat to load. I just get near an enemy draw my weapon or cast my spell. I have started my review with the battle engine because that is what most people were concerned wtih when they talk about FFXII. The new liscence system is interesting. If you want you can give yourself and all of your charachters every ability. I know some people complain about the ability to wield an axe for 20 hours then swithc to a black mage and do just as well, but my response is, if you don't think thats a good thing then don't do it yourself. This game allows you to switch equipment and what your primary function is at will. This is a boon in my opionion.
The sound is nice and a little momorative of the old games, but different enough that it isnt overwhelming you as you play. The graphics with most FF games are wonderful. I am at work writing this review because when I am at home, I can't put down the controller. This game will have you playing for over 50 hours on the storyline alone, I have the game guide to show me where all the sidequests are and secrets and believe me, there is a lot more to the game than just the main storyline. When I finish this game, I may think this is better than VII, but that compare and contrast is waiting till I finish. Deffinitly buy this game, $90 well spent (special edition manual and game). *****************************************UPDATE******************************* Some additional review now that I have beaten the game. This game has two difficulties, the campaign difficulty, which is fairly easy, and the top rank sky pirate difficulty. To defeat the campaign, you could easily do it at 45-55, depending on how skilled you are at the game. If you are like me, then this won't cut it for you. The bosses along the main campaign are not overly difficult.
If you want difficulty try collect the additional espers. Long side quests with several mini bosses before espers. Getting Espers such as Chaos, Ultima, and Zodiak are going to require skill and much higher levels. The Last 3 espers are not easy to defeat by any measure. Once you have all the espers then you can start thinking about finishing the hunts level 7+. (side note to finish all the espers you need to do some of the hunts level 1-6). The hunts assist you in getting your level up to be able to do the Espers, at least the lower rank ones. Once you have aquired all the espers and think that was not challenging enough you can complete all the hunts and fight a boss who has 50 million hp. If you want to fight omega, he has 10 million hp. So there is a difficulty setting for those of you who want to do more than just go through a lower level difficulty set of bosses just to see the storyline.