Final Fantasy XII lives up to its name and is a true sequel any RPG enthusiast should play.
THE BAD: The best weapons, techniques and magic come late game. A lot of walking and dungeon crawling. The Esper summonings are not very useful.
Final Fantasy XII returns to Ivalice and upholds the series's prestigious reputation.
GAMEPLAY is excellent. Although FFXII has a much different battle system than its predecessors, it is surprisingly good. The entire world of Ivalice is the battlefield and all battles take place in real time as you control a selected character. The remaining party takes action based on the orders programmed in the Gambit System. At first there is a lot of micromanaging of characters similar to SquareEnix's Kingdom Hearts; however, as the game progresses better gambits are acquired making battles move much more smoothly.
What's more, customizing is a big part of the strategy in FFXII. Theoretically, every character could be turned into exact duplicates of each, but it is much more useful and fun to have specialized characters. Moreover weapons, armor and accessories can be changed on the fly to better suit the many different enemies and bosses.
Final Fantasy XII is definitely a dungeon crawler RPG. There will be many occasions where hours are spent in one area before ever returning to town. Fortunately, there are many save spots to avoid anguishing demises.
GRAPHICS are great. The CGI cut scenes are impressive as expected of SquareEnix and the 3D graphics are sharp as well. In fact, there is a lot of attention to detail. The characters can be seen blinking, their mouths move while talking, and even their weapons are displayed during real time cut scenes. In addition, the many different locations in the game are all distinct and full of character. It really does make the world of Ivalice feel quite grand.
SOUND is exceptional. The voice actors are top notch and give an outstanding performance bringing everyone to life. The music and sound is full of classic Final Fantasy touches.
VALUE is superb. Final Fantasy XII is full of extra side quests that are worthwhile and stretch the length of the game. FFXII is sure to last about 40 hours, but completing all the hunting quests and collecting all 13 Espers can easily bring the total hours played well above 80 hours. Unfortunately, there is no New Game+, so once the quest is completed it's done.
OVERALL Final Fantasy XII lives up to its name. In the beginning, FFXII can feel very overwhelming. There is certainly a lot to take in, but the tutorial guide and map system do a good job helping you on the very long adventure. FFXII does a lot of new things, but many are actually for the better. This is definitely a true Final Fantasy sequel that any RPG enthusiast should play.