This is the first Final Fantasy that I repeatedly put down for weeks before being motivated to continue. I still need to prevail over the final boss. The reason for it being far from the best, primarily, is the characters. I mean, seriously, the characters were worst cast in the entire franchise. I had no connection with most of them; and only had a minimal connection with Fran and Balthier. Besides that they were so forgettable. It is key that a inal Fantasy has a solid group of protagonists and XII failed spectacularily in that department. I cared more for some of the villains than I did any of them. It's quite sad, tbh. The story was ok, but nothing too great; but the way it was told and the voice work was beautiful. The voice cast did an immense job on this game. The world f Ivalice was lovely, the battle sstem was good (I do understand people's qualms with it, though) and it had some gorgeous musical scores (although the OST, overall, was forgettable). One of the greatest things about the game was the Hunts sidequest. Loved that.… Expand

Some people prefer the classic Pokemon style controls. Some people prefer full-free control. If you like one or the other, you will not enjoy this game's battle style. If you decide, however, to look past the quite annoying battle system in this episode of the never ending franchise you may just find, well... the storyline also sucks. While it isn't as bland as some stories, this video game just doesn't reach expectations. Maybe it is because the story of, say FFX, set the bar so high, or maybe FFXII's story is just overall dull. I recommend NOT playing this game to FF fans and non-fans alike.… Expand

Boring... and boring... and boring. I can't believe my eyes when I read what most reviewers wrote about it. I have played through half of the game more or less (I checked a walkthrough to see where I was) before I really called it a goner. I couldn't play anymore. In short: the music is poor, the visuals are uninspired (just like the music) with shabby colours and strong pixelation but worst of all: the gameplay is extremely repetitive, unoriginal, incapable of keeping a person awake for too long. The characters are on par with few exception. Never felt anything for practically any of them (with the only exception of Balthiar). I should have stopped at Final Fantasy VII (92% for me), a real Masterpice. Instead the parabol had just started to go then reach abysimal levels, Final Fantasy VIII (78%), Final Fantasy IX (70%), Final Fantasy X (61%), Final Fantasy XII (42%). Sqauresoft Enix won't get money from me anymore.… Expand

It's a bit late to write a review for this game for I'll just hop in the wagon anyway. It's simple, it's like Final Fantasy XIII, the breaks boundaries when it comes to graphics and gameplay, but snoozes on plot and characters. The score for Final Fantasy XII is easily one of the weakest in the series, but to me gamplay is the heart of all games, and Final Fantasy shines by giving us a similar to MMOPRG style gameplay. I just want to say that I give props to whatever game that's willing to take risk so Square Enix, good for you.… Expand

This game is terrible; its high metacritic score is the result of the name of the game and the producer. In reality, this game is **** The problem arises on many fronts. Firstly, the main character, Vaan, sucks. Indeed, he, along with Penelo, were shoehorned into the game late in development because they had concerns that the original main character, Basch, was too manly for the Japanese. It shows. He is basically uninvolved with the story and uninteresting in general, and he basically stands back whenever story sequences occur and is completely irrelevant. He should never have been in there in the first place. Secondly, the pacing of this game is abominable. You run for hours and hours for a fifteen minute bit of dialogue, then do it again. At one point, you go through four or six huge areas just to get to the next plot point; it is simply awful and you lose all interest in the game. Thirdly, the gameplay is bad. The game is insanely easy and boring in its ease, and indeed, you can turn on gambits and cruise through the whole game - your input is barely required, really, and that is just bad. Fourthly, the bonus content, such as the extra bosses, are just meaningless grind fests with millions of hit points which take hours to kill but are uninteresting in being fought; they just are an endurance challenge, as they are not particularly difficult to beat, just incredibly time consuming. All in all, this game is bad, and marks the start of Final Fantasy games just not getting it.… Expand

Good things first. + The story is adequately complex with a number of turns, and it goes with the whole style of the game. Without going into detail, I think Square came up with something exceptional here. + You better believe the aesthetics were brilliant, cutscenes no exception. Square's usual originality was apparent in the world of Ivalice - the sandsea, for instance, or the Giza plains becoming a swamp/marsh. Besides Penelo, who I thought was a bit flat, the voice acting was superb. I liked the royalty obvious in Ashe's voice, the down-to-earth quality of Vaan's voice, and I fell in love with the uniqueness of Fran's voice. Going from FF10 to FF12 there is definitely more graphical detail and polish all around. + The gameplay was not what I was expecting, which is a good thing in general. It has more elements than most games: Multiple types of magick, many technicks, quickenings/summonings, and gambits. There are 5 things each character can equp, and each combination has advantages or disadvantage, such as a ninja sword versus a dagger/shield. The six characters can potentially use any weapon and gain any ability with the License Board, much like the Sphere Grid in FF10, but where the Sphere Grid forces you to differentiate the characters first (ie: LuLu learns black magic, Yuna learns white magic, Tidus gains strength/speed, etc.) the License Board lets you change up their weapons and abilities at virtually any point in the game. Not better or worse - just new and different. The fighting system is a fresh update as well. While the gambits could automate the fighting entirely, you have the option of turning them off, so no complaints there. Where FF10 had a passive, turn-based fight system, FF12 has an active, real-time fight system. Again, no worse or better. Both are refined. Now for the critiques. - The characters themselves were great. They were obviously deep people with complex pasts and stories to tell. That much was clear. But those stories never came to light. 30 hours into the game, I was still meeting new characters, and I was still expecting guy/girl to hook up or someone to reveal some shocking truth. There could have been a flashback, a description of some special memory, anything, please! Before the final battle, I was still waiting for something to happen. Then the game was over. Nothing happened. My favorite character was Fran. Why? You get to see the village she's from, you meet her sister, find out why she's with Balthier. Besides that, Ashe is a princess, Vaan's a citizen of Rabanastre, Penelo is a friend of Vaan's (or a sister? Idk!). And that's all you need to know about them. - I know I said the story was good, and it is, but not entirely. FF12 really piles it on at the beginning with cutscenes and a guy reading paragraphs, which is incredibly rushed. Then it's Dalmasca this and Nethicite that...and Nethicite this and Nethicite that. It's like Star Wars in many ways. Brilliant, but it makes you wish you had a friend there so you could whisper, "Uh...what's going on again? ... Oh, so nothing's happened still?" - I felt like I was fighting the same monsters over and over, just with different colors with different names in different places. Why a 6? The main reason I give FF12 a 6 and not higher is that after about twenty hours of playing, part of me wanted to quit. I'm putting 50 hours of my life into this game, basically spending 50 hours with the characters. I don't do that just to see the next beautiful city or a cutscene of old men talking around a table. I want to be immersed in it. Nobody spends 50 hours reading the Harry Potter series just to look at the pictures she puts at the start of each chapter. They want to know the characters, how they react to situations, how they came to be. Harry Potter is an example of good character development in addition to original and stunning surroundings. FF12 has the aesthetics, and it has good characters, but you never get to know them and it fails to bring you into the story. Besides that, I have few complaints. The gameplay is great, although it can become mostly automated, further disconnecting the player from the game. The visuals are great, and the music was good, though I expected more. FF12 is not your typical Final Fantasy, even if it does carry on features from previous FFs. It's a different style (think knight-era) which refreshes some of the same old typical things in Final Fantasy. Bottom line, it's worth a play through. But start playing this and then start playing FF10 and you'll see where FF12 is lacking (you'll also see spots where FF10 is lacking).… Expand

I like the visuals and everything about the game. It's the work put into it that leaves me catching some "z"s. I definitely think there is too much work for too little of a plot to actually spend my 80-100 hours of gameplay on.

A lot can be said about this game with comparison to its predecessors. The Final Fantasy series has always traditionally excelled in the areas that make a great rpg, particularly in bringing to life memorable characters and a compelling story. But in virtually every area where FFX, for example, succeeded, Final Fantasy XII categorically fails. At the heart of every story is a protagonist one can root for, and an antagonist to root against. This game has neither. In fact, the entire ensemble is lifeless and one-dimensional. At best, it glosses over Vaan's and Balthier's backgrounds as the convoluted plot flounces about like a headless snake. The voice acting is adequate, though the script itself is weak, and the dialogue, affected and clunky. Sound is one of XII's meagre strengths, with lavish sound effects and a reasonably well-written score (Dalmasca Eastersand's sweeping Williams-esque theme a rare treat). The graphics are also to be commended. Gameplay has suffered considerably in this overhaul of the series. I personally found myself plumbing through relentless waves of enemies without ever having to actually perform any action manually. It is as if they encourage the player to take as passive a role in the 'experience' as possible. And that ain't gaming, Joe. It is just proof that change is not always preferable (or necessary). Square Enix, you really dropped the ball with this one. Back to the drawing board, here's hoping!… Expand

The JRPG market has been dead and foul-smelling for a long time. Growing up in the 90's I first got my taste of their rpg's back when it was a fresh concept, with Final Fantasy IV and Phantasy Star I being my first, but it's a sad thing to see that their combat mechanics have changed in the way that evolution changes organisms...extremely freakin slow. In that time I've slogged through FF VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI and with each new addition, I've felt the same way about their new "changed mechanics" for their combat: It still sucks. I don't know if the developers had a hair up their ass this time, but whatever the case XII is a refreshing new look at this series. First for me is that the combat was actually fun and strategic, as well as engaging. The ability to program your characters routines, via the Gambit System, is an excellent addition to help alleviate the grinding that inevitably dawns on a JRPG, but is still flexible enough to allow you to take control of your characters at any moment. Options is the key, as options can be taken or left depending on your tastes. So you don't have to use the Gambits if you don't want to, but it will always be accessible if you change your mind. This is good. Many people seem to hate the characters, and I do agree Vaan is pretty annoying at times, but in XII the main characters are less obvious. You play through the view point of Vaan, but you'll quickly learn that two of the other characters that join you are the true protagonists of the story. This didn't bother me one bit, and I found the characters to be really different from previous Final Fantasies, and although Penelo seems kind of a throw back, most of the characters are very human and believable. The story is very in-depth and more of one about nations vying for power, politics, and grey areas for motivations, which are all elements that I love. The pacing is pretty fast at times, although there are moments where it does lag and lose focus, but I think it servers as a good moment to side quest to break up the constant advance of the story. These side quests are obviously optional, so you could just rush through the story as quickly as possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. FF XII is as close to a sandbox as you're gonna get for a JRPG, and I really appreciated their attempt to not conform to typical JRPG standards. This is probably the most western approach they've taken that I can recall. One of the things that makes this game shine is the voice over's, which are amazing when compared to pretty much anything. The quality of the voices and the accents are interesting (I can never get enough of Fran's accent) and it makes you look forward to those moments when the characters speak. I can't say the same about the music, however. It isn't bad, but it isn't the best of the series, and sometimes I don't even notice it's there. Overall if you are interested in a non-linear JRPG, with open exploration, great combat mechanics, an interesting and highly political story, and a mostly memorable (if somewhat small) main cast, then this will make you smile. It did for me and renewed my interest in a decrepit and ailing series. (Insert obligatory Final Fantasy XIII jab here)… Expand

I've read the reviews that claim this is amazing once you get inside, but I'm unconvinced and not inclined to bother. Very boring gameplay to begin; far, far, far too many beautiful but ultimately pointless and annoying cutscenes (skip 3 in a row, anyone?); and WTF? no option to invert the view controls. That for me is a deal breaker - it requires (I assume) virtually no effort on the part of developers, just a modicum of respect for the way my brain prefers to work. Can't rank it higher, no matter what others say.… Expand

This game hurts the team. Maybe not the Square team, but you know what I mean. Wasted 25 hrs to realize the game goes nowhere and is completely boring as hell. I could sit the controller down and have my dumb ai party beat the game for me without even leveling up. Old school rpg gamers, don't bother. Newbies to the genre (PS2 and up) and kids keep this crap going hard.

This is the worst FF I have ever played, it starts off ok, I wasn’t too thrilled with the new battle system layout but it was bearable. The characters are so boring and their lack of depth is only exceeded by the bad plot and it’s even worse villains, the main character is lifeless, I don’t even know why he came along for the ride because he wasn’t needed or really wanted by all the other equally as uninteresting main characters. I don’t know what Square-Enix were thinking when they thought it would be a good idea to put meaningless and unexplained traps everywhere in the game, they often critically damage all your characters if not kill half of them, or inflict debilitating status effects that may or may not be curable at the time of game play depending on your inventory or do both at once, oh and the only way you can see them is if you constantly cast magic to do so or take up one of your characters only accessory slots, is this really necessary Square-Enix? The leveling system was just a watered down sphere grid, and having all the characters able to equip the same weapons and armor just made them turn out all the same because why would you equip your characters with weaker options just because it’s a different style of weapon, the strongest weapons often offered just as much vitality and speed as the weaker weapons. The licensing system just seemed like a waste of time and didn’t really make any sense. Again, I don’t know what Square-Enix were thinking when they thought all the treasure chests in the game should have random amounts of gil varying between 1 and 100 gil, wow, how rewarding, this totally killed the “adventure” for me. There is 5 chests in the game that if you open them prevent you from acquiring the ultimate weapon in the game, there is no relation or clues between the chests and the ultimate weapon you won’t be able to get if you open them, I have played every FF and I am aware it is notorious for having treasure that you can miss but this was just annoying, if they think I will play the game again just to get that weapon they’re wrong. It is incredibly hard to master this game; it’s not so much challenging as it is monumentally monotonous, and when you do master it, you feel ripped off because you get little if no compensation for your troubles. The loot system was cool but ridiculous at the same time, you acquire loot by killing monsters, and then you sell it for gil, when you sell combinations of loot it activates a new section at every merchant where you can purchase new and rare items, which was pretty cool, however there is no info or clues or anything to indicate what loot combination to sell, what loot to get or where to get it from, it’s unbelievable, there is loot that you can only steal from rare monsters that only appear if you meat specific conditions in a specific area, and the list of conditions are crazy like for example, one of them you have to make some other monster chase you from one end of a map to another end just to make this other rare monster appear oh and you have like a 7% steal rate even with a thief glove equipped, so you sit there trying to steal for half an hour just to get one measly item of which you will need to repeat the process 50 times over just for that item, oh and you have to have acquired a specific item which allows that rare monster to appear, how the hell are you ever meant to figure this out? Again there is no info on what monster to steal from, where it is or how to make it appear, even if you do know how to find a monster, it’s often time consuming and hard to make it appear. All and all I could point out many horrible flaws and failings in this game for hours on end; these are just some of the hundreds that annoyed me particularly. This is a bad, bad game for so many reasons, and the only way you will conquer it completely is if you are impossible to bore, you like to cheat and use strategy guides (that’s the only way you will conquer it), or if you get locked in a room with it and a ps2 and nothing else for 5 years.… Expand

I did really enjoy this game. The new style of character management felt odd at first, but I really started to get in to it. Hence the rating of 6 I have given it. This rating also has to do with the greatest cinematography and general landscapes ever made for a game. I have played all the SE games and countless RPGs. However, I did place the controller down about halfway and looking back at that moment, I'm not sure if I will ever pick it back up. The moment I decided to place/throw the controller down, I spent multiple hours refining my experience in the game, increasing my equipment, leveling up, and conquering the gambit system. Low and behold, after about halfway thru the game (about 50 hours of game play) the story line never grabbed me or took me to my "Final Fantasy" world I come to love over the years. The story is lame and sorely needs cliff notes to understand it as it happens. There are times when a cut scene is over that I’m lost and it’s not until later in the game progression that I realize what the cut scene was about or who the characters are in the cut scene before. I can't express in words how sad it is for me to "dawg" on a Final Fantasy game. Overall, the game play is wonderful, but no need to play a game without a compelling story. Another thing to add to my review, are they trying to merge the FF series into a Platformer game? I like Platformer games as much as the next person, but if I wanted to play a good character management game that is in that realm, I would be writing a review for Kingdom Hearts II.… Expand

There is nothing I can say here that hasn't already been said, but I will echo the complaints of a shoddy battle system and an extremely disappointing story that relies upon pseudo-philosophical apologetics and apologists to power the hype-wagon that has sold the game so far. Very sad, really.

I want my 90 hours back. I have no idea how I managed to drain 90 hours of my life into this game. Its hard to even call this a final fantasy. The plot has you running across MMORPG like planes and killing the same monsters with your rabbit woman, or you 12 year old girl, or your whore girl who has a 7inch spandex dress on. The storyline absolutely blows, The beginning was the best and last. Once Vaan hits the scene its all over. The towns are cool and so are the dungeons, but I don't care if I have to save some pig thief by going into a crappy waterway and killing some flan to get some stupid item only to be rewarded with some other stupid item. Wait, i've played this before, O YEAH ITS LIKE A MMORPG.....BUT WITH OUT THE MMO, which is the only reason people play MMO's Think of WoW you control 3/6 people who have pretty much same stats and skills. I would call it more like a stupid step cousin of final fantasy.… Expand

If FFXII were called anything except 'Final Fantasy' it wouldn't be receiving nearly as rave reviews. What seems inventive about the battle system at first quickly grows incredibly repetitive and tedious, as all you're usually doing is watching your characters hack at enemies who are stupidly easy despite having way too high HP.

DO NOT buy this game if you are looking for a good/engrossing storyline, because you won't get one here, the story and characters are bland, the new battle system is good and so is the new camera system, some of the sidequests are also fun which is why I'll give it some credit but ultimately i found the game to be very disappointing, i bought it for the story, I don't think it was too much to expect a decent storyline from a Final Fantasy game but this one falls flat on it's face, there are no memorable characters here, no memorable scenes, the story is just boring, don't expect to be pulled by the story here because you won't be.… Expand

Final Fantasy 12 diverged in a lot of ways from past episodes of the series. The most glaring flaw in it that I can see is the story. Aside from FFX-2, which never was designed to present an ideal story in the first place, the story in FF12 has to be the worst since FF5. Don't get me wrong -- the story had enormous potential, and in itself, the plot wasn't that bad. It's the execution that was terrible. The final fantasy series is supposed to consist of roleplaying games. How can you 'roleplay', or better phrased, dive into the roles of the characters in question, when you receive virtually no background information about any of the characters? CGIs, which have always been an important tool for conveying character backgrounds and moving the story forward, are so sparse that they are hardly even noticed. This is in stark contrast to FFX. After completing FF12, I had 60 hours logged. If I were to estimate it, i'd say that only 20 minutes of that was spent watching CGI movies that propel the story forward. Is this really what an RPG game is supposed to be like? The story lacked all of the usual plot twists the most FF games have, and most importantly, it lacked the epic scope of most FF games. At the end of the game, I was sad to realize that I didn't really care what happened to the main characters. Balthier was probably my favorite since he was the most well developed and unique, but even that character was barely developed enough to warrant an RPG. FF12 actually closely resembles an online MMORPG than a console roleplaying game. So much so that the painstaking 'level grinds' and repetitive game play are enough to put you to sleep. Espers, another staple of the recent FF series, are all but useless. The same is true for magic. The 100 level tower toward the end of the game that must be climbed level by level is absolutely horrible. It consists of 50 floors, yes, 50, which all look identical and consist of nothing but slaying the same monsters and walking the same path to get to the next one. This is simply inexcusable in a console game. All in all, FF12 had enormous potential, but it no where near lived up to the hype, especially considering that it spent 5 years in development. The battle system was monotonous and boring, the characters were bland, and the story when it was understandable was so loosely thrown together that it leaves a person shaking their head in confusion. I'm giving the game a 6 merely because of the amazing graphics -- this was the game's only true saving grace.… Expand

The camera is inverted from the standard way other games use it. There is no option to change it, making this game impossible to play for me.

I found the game good at first. Seem to have all good points at the start, but has i progressed i found this game good graphically, but the story was terrible and very predictable and the fights became boring.

I found FFXII's battle system a little difficult to get used to at first, but later on, it felt really natural and easy to use. I love the gambit system. One of the most annoying things about these kinds of games for me is to keep having to click on monsters to kill them - this cut that out, but did not get rid of strategy, since I could essentially program my character's actions. I also love the inventory system and the fact that you can get loot, steal loot, or poach monsters to collect items to sell. I like the collecting aspect of games. However, I do not find the storyline to be rewarding at all. It is convoluted and confusing. I'm over half-way through the game and have absolutely no idea what's going on. I went to wikipedia.com to read up on the storyline, hoping that it would engage me some more (since I put so many hours into this game and would LIKE to enjoy playing it) but there are too many characters, too many obscure political plot points that I still just don't get it. I wish they had gotten the storyline better; the battle system is so great that it deserves a better story! Lastly, the music - I don't like it. The theme song reminds me of graduation music. Definitely not the best in FF's history, in my opinion.… Expand

FFXII is a strange game. If it was not called Final Fantasy, it would probably have received much lower scores. Graphics are very nice. The background music is great. The quality of speech is instead incredibly bad. It sound like they used an old mic. Now, let's talk about the game itself. I have played all the FF from 4 to X-2 and I must say the story of FFXII the worst so far and has all but fantasy in it. If you've seen Star Wars you will hate it. The world is huge and boring. The battle system is awful. It is true it can make the standard battles quicker but that means you will not play the game yourself. You can still control you characters manually but that makes every battle tedious and you will loose a lot of time as every time you select a command your action time is reset (and your party members will review their strategy according to what you do sometimes, so they'll also loose precious time). Boss fights are so messy! I got the best results when I did not pick any strategy and just mindlessly attack and cure. Attack magic and Espers are mostly useless. My espers generally die a few seconds after summoned so they deal damage close to zero. FF is famous for complicated side quests. Complicated or difficult is something (remember dodging lightnings in FFX?). Impossible-to-figure-out quests are something else. How the hell am I supposed toI know a monster is going to show up only if run like an idiot for 15 minutes with another monster following me? How comes the best weapon in the game is so easy to get (while the second best requires 20 hours of work) but only if you do not open some chests the guys in square enix did not want you to open? Else you can forget about it of course. This is not something you get with luck. You need a guide to enjoy this game. And then, will you really enjoy it if you need the guide? I am fed up with these impossible titles. If you want to play a good RPG, play Rogue Galaxy. If you want to stick with Square Enix, play Dragon Quest 8. That one has a good story at least.… Expand

Sadly, as good as the graphics were, this game did nothing for me. It was boring and confusing. I liked the 3D aspect to the dungeons, but at the same time this seemed to make production think the dungeons should be bigger, longer, and more painful. Plus the only reward to completeing these dungeons were long cutseens that moved the plotless plot along farther. The only reason I kept going was that I was clinging to the shred of hope that the ending would be good. As are all Final Fantasy endings thus far It wasn't.… Expand

Haveing played most games in the ff range and a player of ff11 for the past 3 years i can safely say that ff12 would be right near the bottom of my list! As soon as i started playing my first impression was that this game seems like Kingdom Hearts 2 with the kid charcter main leads and the poor story line. Also the battle system is similar to Kingdom hearts. im shocked to see some of the other peoples comments about this game im guessing people who have given this game 10 have had little or no experience in rpgs or perhaps are very easily entertained -_- this game lacks a decent story 1st and foremost and really doesnt allow the player to become emersed into the game unlike other ff games. i think that SE belived that by takeing the points from one of there most sucessful games of recent times, the MMORPG FFXI, it would work just as well. Im sorry to tell you this SE but it really doesnt work like that! it may be fine in FFXI to have secret chests in hard to reach locations containing rare equipment, it is also fine to have difficult to pop rare monsters! this works in a MMORPG because you have contant contact with hundreds of other players and can form big parties! However when you apply this to a normal RPG game how can this ever work??? To succesfuly complete this game you will need a guide which tells you which chests to open and what routes to take! On the other hand that said this game is really easy to complete and it insnt necessary to aquire all the items or all the best equipment! In fact this game only has about 30hours of storyline gameplay and perhaps only 1hour of that being enjoyable! Playing this game felt like a chore to me even though i completed it twice! ( the first time i completed it i thought id missed loads of the story out and perhaps my game had glitched....i wish it had) If your a huge FF fan like me then you will be dissapointed with this game it has no romance or flair just like the older titles. If your a KIngdom Hearts fan you may like it more as the game flows in a similar way. But personly i think KIngdom Hearts is a lot better than this. (p.s Dr.Avery i think you must have been playing a different game! the game you rate is not FF12 >.>)… Expand

I'm a FF fan but this gammbit system sucks like hell, materia system was awesome. If you are playing well you can leave the controller on the floor and do nothing and still beating the mobs. What the hell.

this game was a pain to play, it was just so boring for a final fantasy which i expected to be fun. if a game is not fun then whats the point to playing? the main part of a game is that it should be fun. i felt nothing for the main characters and i never grew attached to them like i have to previous final fantasies like ff9 or ff7. there was no love story no chemistry nothing.

The only Final Fantasy I have never bothered to finish. Dull with no real story and no characters I really liked/hated. I had no reason to believe in their quest for "whatever it was they were doing". Interesting battle system and looked nice but that was it.

To put it simply, if storyline and music is the big thing for you in a RPG, you probably won't like it. Really can't believe this is a FF. Played them all from oiginal versions of North American FF2 onwards along with square's other popular RPG titles, FF12 is the only one that fails to get me hooked. 40+ hours in and I can still switch it off and walk away with little to no hesitation. Don't see why those popular sites gave it such high ratings. Maybe graphics makes up 80% of their final score. Whatever it may be, they valued battle system, graphics, and customization above storyline. Pop the disk in and you'll see a mix of in-game movie clips - that you will all see again during gameplay, and remix of classic FF themes - seemed so lazy. The intro movie was actually great, but once the game really starts with your main character, it's done. All the exceptional stuff people loved about the previous FF's - especially music, storyline, character development - nowhere to be found in this installment really. Even though each character only has 5 equipment slots, shopping for equipment will drive you crazy - A combination of mass swapping between menus and interfaces, exiting shop interface to open up menus. People that gets high over the ability to customize - like putting in a different color case for your gameboy ipod or the likes - are probably the ones loving the license idea. To me it makes every single character the same blank sheet. One is, and can be, exactly the same as the other. No uniqueness. They're all FF6 Gogo's. But to be fair, the idea of selling loots instead of picking up gil directly from monsters is interesting. Picking up special equipment by selling loot is great too. But if this thing costs more than twenty bucks... you might have more fun replaying the old FF you love instead. Coming from someone that thoroughly enjoyed every other piece of square's RPG from SNES days.… Expand

When I saw that this was the second highest rated FF on metacritic, I couldn't believe it. Its not that this game is bad (unlike the melodramatic dross that was FFX-2), it’s just that there are so many dislikeable features that I was left feeling separated and hollow, instead of immersed and soaked in it. Everything above the actual game play, such as audio, visuals and story, was epic. The political backdrop that the game was set against should have reflected in the conflicts on an individual level. Vaan certainly did NOT take up this role, and is surely the worst FF protagonist ever, and had no place in the story. That role should have been filled by Basch, whose background could have fuelled another FF title by itself. The characters we are meant to identify with the most (seemingly Vaan and Penelo, as we spend a lot of time controlling them at the beginning), are the most dislikeable, as they are immature and seem to be content running around inanely playing with each other. The music…well, excellent as a standard…but the voice acting was hit and miss. Again, Vaan and Penelo’s voices made me want to frisbee the disc into the sun, but when I heard that… accent of Fran, which was basically an audio blowjob. Graphics? Good, but only in cutscenes. The playable environments were also pretty, but felt too big and took an annoyingly long time to traverse, which I would have usually enjoyed, were it not for what is by far my biggest gripe. The monsters. There are like, 10 different models, and the designers felt it was creative to take these templates and dip them into different buckets of paint, and called them unique. These faults, though, do not even compare to some of the gameplay errors. The gambit system; an excellent concept, but very poorly executed, unlike with FFXIII’s paradigms, where if you don’t constantly assess which paradigm is needed, you die. The gambits were superfluous. There were there, but didn't NEED to be utilised fully, and this is a common trait along with some of the other features of the game. The summons for example. I COULD have spent 30+ hours trawling around to collect them all, but I was so unimpressed with the ones I got from the story, that I didn't. They would just come out for 10 seconds and die. I killed the final boss with ease, without gambits, without summons, just spamming and curing, by far the easiest final boss in any FF…well maybe FFX takes the cake in that respect. It just all felt underdeveloped and under-tested, and reeks of laziness. There were billions of things to do, but in accomplishing side-quests and gaining summons, I felt as if I was degrading the experience unnecessarily, and I felt doing anything more would have lowered my opinion of the game further. You can polish and shine a silver platter, but if all you're serving on it is a big pile of poo, no amount of glimmer will distract you.… Expand

This was a terrible final fantasy got home after buying for 60 quid thought 2 myself the starts crap but it will pick up it never did terrible and the combat system is garbage auto running to the enemy when you even have long range weapons and summoning became pointless with the stupid quickenings bout a month later i went back to the same shop it was 20 quid square shot itself in the foot this time but i hope 13 is better.… Expand

Although i'm sure it's a very good game i can't get over the fact that they've completely changed the battle system! why fix something that wasn't broken! i personally feel that the game is too much of a mix between star ocean, knights of the old republic, and maybe a SCRAP of the old final fantasy games. as much as i used to hate random battles, i'm kind of starting to miss them because of ffxii's boring "i hit you, you hit me back" battle system. i just hope that in future ff games they bring back their origional methods of gameplay. but it's still pretty good.… Expand

It is one thing to be blinded by the pretty pictures, but the level of acclaim that this game has received is disconcerting. For one, it is such a vast departure from the series that one wonders how they justify giving the game the name "Final Fantasy," if not just to grant it a vehicle to sell the game. On another note, the game is, when not a blatant rip-off of FFXI in terms of in-game content (NMs, Elementals, condition-specific gear, etc etc) atrociously boring. There was never a moment when I ever felt completely in control of the action thanks to the modestly-tweaked FFXI battle system...only now there is no cooperation among other players, but (at best) a vague and frustrating AI system that only serves to strip the game's battles of what little strategy and challenge remained of the series since VIII. The narrative (or what little is present) sees fit to introduce characters with a modicum of back story, and then simply sets them loose to interact with other characters with no eye for development or growth. It is as if S-E had granted their audience a beautiful world, only to create characters as a secondary notion with grudging and haphazard acknowledgement of their necessity. We are granted snippets of scenarios which are supposed to come together to tell us what is happening in the world of the game. Instead, the "writers" have taken the more...unorthodox route of simply not caring. Villains are introduced and dispatched in behind-the-scene vingettes that supposedly add depth to the tale, yet serve only to confound and muddle the plot. Judges with no connection to the main characters are given screen time with no purpose than their removal in a later scene. Political intrigue, once the bread-and0butter of the FFT team, has been watered down and instead made into a series of unconnected events that could safely be removed from in game without the slightest effect on the story. And let's not forget the atrocious quality of the in-game dialogue! While the voice acting itself is superb, S-E has shown just how much regard they have for fans in the states with one of the worst-produced audio feeds in gaming history. Feedback, static and unintentional echos abound in a track so frought with errors that you would think they were transmitting a hidden signal to Saturn from our collective PS2s. Yes, a company that has so much advanced audio visual equipment at their disposal could only muster up as much during their year-long translation process. Another Post-Sakaguchi example of cultural disdain. Final Fantasy XII, at best, represents what is wrong with what S-E has become - experts at crafting a beautiful gift box, but unable to supply even the most trite novelty within. Whether it is running your auto-programmed characters through bland, uninspired missions or the fragmented manner in which they have presented their story, it is apparent that any hint of what made the series great is now gone, leaving it free to the more shallow fans of eye-candy and hype marketing to fill the void where once sat fans who appreciate quality.… Expand

My problem with this game is how incredibly boring it is. I played this game for 30 hours, hoping it would get fun and exciting, but no avail. Now I haven't touched it in 2 months, and will probably just hock it off for some store credit at a local game shop. Most of the time you aren't even fighting. Once the Gambit system has lost it's thrill, you will find that most of the time your characters will kill everything on the screen for you, leaving you to pick up loot, and fill up their license points. The only good fights are bosses who aren't nearly as hard as they could be. On top of this, non of the characters (besides Balthier and Fran, a Han Solo and Chewie ripoff) are really that interesting, and the droning story of two kingdoms going to war isn't that interesting to me either. I suppose this game was made for fans of newer online RPGs since it bears similarities to them. I would have more fun playing FF on my SNES or Playstation though.… Expand

Progress is a good thing - throwing random elements into a battle system and robbing it of any difficulty (aside from the annoyance you face when operating it) is not progress, it is laziness. SE, you can do far better than this, even if you have lost all of your real talent to MistWalker. I won't get into the story here, because others before me such as mdzN^^ and Jowy A. put it way better than I ever could.… Expand

Who knows why the critics acclaimed this title. It completely strips the "Final Fantasy" mood from my senses whenever I play this game. Don't get me wrong, the game is okay, but its so close to being bad. When I first popped this game in Christmas morning, I was slowly drained of my Final Fantasy high as the beginning text/scene droned on...and on... and on... I got the premise after the first minute for Christs sake! After the awful beginning scene was finished, I started playing and was shocked at how awful the camera was, not to mention how annoying it was to move. Later on I finally got to my first batte (if you coul call it that) and my allied killed the guy before I could touch him. Fun? Certainly not. Finally, I get to a point where I can kill someone and I am deeply bothered by the TERRIBLE battle system. I can't believe the critics praised this excuse-for-fun battle system! S-E has completely abolished the main engredient in games: FUN. They've packed it with gimmicky engines and a lackluster storyline and missions. Jesus Square Enix, first Dirge of Cerberus and now this? Get your heaed in the game!… Expand

If you lack the reading comprehension to read through a much better Final Fantasy (See 7--which is only incomprehensible if you are NOT paying attention) then FFX-XII are probably great games. However, in my opinion, those titles are popular entirely by their character design. Hey, we know you guys like to fap, but that doesn’t mean the overall game is good. If you really don’t care about spoiling the storylines, go to wikipedia and compare FF7 and FFXII. I really don’t have much else to say.… Expand

Final Fantasy has been ruined by "Change". No break screen? Final Fantasy's signature is the "Break Screen". Without that it isnt Final Fantasy. It's just a Knock off Star Wars Game with a Poor Storyline. How can people like this crap. Don't let good graphics blind your judgment.

If you have never played an FF before, you will like this game. If you have, you will probably hate it. If you have played ALL the FFs, you might like this game just for the sake of change. Overall, bad story, you don't care about your characters. They are all near-clones of each other so there is no identity. Gameplay is decent but magic and summons are underpowered to the point of uselessness. It's like an offline MMORPG.… Expand

Great game. Oh wait, did I say great? I meant boring. Sorry, I must've zoned out after hacking and slashing my way through 900 monsters only to be confronted with a cutscene that informs me where the next 900 are. Lots of potential. Poor execution. Try adding a story Square-Enix. Go on, take it back to the lab. If you add some plot I'll bump it up to a 6. Promise.

this FF game just didnt do much for me the story i felt was very weak . the voice acting was ok atleast. the combat system i didnt care much for it was almost like they where tryin to hybred FFXI into this . the summoning magic system sucked . i made it all the way to the final boss area and just got bored with it all and didnt feel like finishing it mainly because the story didnt hold alot of intrest for me and thats so key for me pushing foward. i thinki the only reason i made it that far was i was in denial that the story wasnt very good and wanted to believe it was really gona pick up.… Expand

I don't want to seem like I just hate the newer Final Fantasy games, but honestly, I really don't know how this game got the high scores that it did. Sure, the game is presented beautifully, but after a few hours in, this game begins to fall apart. The cast of characters in this game is definitely the worst of all Final Fantasy games. No one has a personality. If I had to choose a person who came closest to having one it would maybe be Balthier. Everyone's emotions for doing something in the story are told to you, either by the characters themselves or the narrator. No one actually makes you feel for their cause through their own expressed emotions or actions. As for the story itself... it seems like there's this big conflict going on in Ivalice, yet the characters are running back and forth in the desert, having no part of it. The music in this game starts off strong, but after playing the game for a while, they all seem to blend together and end up just as dull and lifeless as the characters and story. The graphics are its only high point, which are exceptional for a PlayStation 2 game. The new battle system they added is an iffy one, considering that you can get the game to essentially play itself. However, it was an interesting addition, but I feel that the Active Time Battle was fine, so there was no reason to fix/change it. The license system however, is just... awful. It gives you no sense of direction at all, so you could end up wasting points early on in the game that could affect the development of your characters abilities early on in the game. Arguably, Final Fantasy XII is the worst game in the series. (Final Fantasy XIII is a contender as well)… Expand

As a big Final Fantasy fan (played most including XI which is fairly similar to this game), I found XII to be very disappointing. What makes the auto-attack feature in XI tolerable is that the fun comes with playing and cooperating with other players and micromanaging other tasks rather than the basic attack. XII being a single player game lacks any of those other elements but keeps the battle system which requires very little to no input for your average random encounter (which there is ALOT of everywhere in between the cut scenes) While the story had potential the characters for the most part (except Basch) were extremely boring and uninteresting, Vaan is by far the worst main character in FF history. The License system (similar to the grid system in X) is a mess where players need to not only spend their points to unlock abilities, spells, and equipment but must also find a locations that sells that particular item or ability or whatever, and also have the gil to spend across many different characters. What ends up happening is needing to grind ALOT through extremely uninteresting battles that require little to no input. While every FF game has grinding, in this game it is excruciatingly boring. My advice is if you want to play a game similar to this one and have a PS3, pick up White Knight Chronicles, which while is not a perfect game by any means (pretty weak story) the gameplay is at least much more fun than how XII set it up. If you really want to stick with Final Fantasy pick up XI or XII:Revenant wings, XI essentially plays like XII: Online (read: fun) while revenant wings is a completely different game style that retains the same characters (also pretty fun). Avoid this game unless you're an absolute die hard FF fan, I've played through 3 5 7 8 10 11 and 13 and could barely play through12.… Expand

Let's start with a very simple sentence: this game is BORING! Let's start with the plot: even though i didn't follow all of it in 10 hours, I still really didn't get a single bit of it mainly because of the "main protagonists" being extras (literally, Vaan can be kicked out of the plot, and probably nothing would change. I think), and also for the fact that it's kinda boring in general: a good story should hook me into it, but not even my friends could understand it. Second, the gameplay: they said this is a great final fantasy due to the fact they 1) removed random encounters (surely a plus) 2) lots of subquests 3) the combat system. With the exception of the first, I gotta say that this game is more like an mmorpg...in the wrong ways, because subquests should be a part of the game, NOT the main part of the game: you'll do constantly subquests because you NEED money, and you'll just lose interest in the game because you'll need to grind!. Right, since it looks like a mmorpg, you need to farm money in order to buy everything (but you need to unlock them first...), and they really are overpriced in my opinion. All this makes this game extremely slow, boring and unappealing. And at last...the combat system. People said the gambit and the fact you could move "freely" on the battlefield was the best thing of all. Yes, you can move freely while fighting. Yes, you can use gambit to improve fighting. No, it's not action-based; it's still turn-based. This detail made me really annoyed because it was the same system used in old final fantasy, except that you had to move too in order to attack...that's where gambit comes in, letting your character be controlled by orders, so he attacks by himself...so I'm letting the game play for me now. In general, I don't understand why they had to make this system a "hybrid" when they could have just go for normal turn based (or a proper action-based), since you'll do the same thing as in the other final fantasy games or any other turn-based rpg, and yet people say this is one of the best. Don't even wanna start bragging about the fact that the 6 character are also virtually the same (they can learn the same spells, armor, skills: everything!), so I'm gonna say this: try it if you are a nostalgic, skip it if you're looking for something more fun to play.… Expand

As a critic, I take pride in keeping an open mind, but games like this discourage me. I won't say this game is awful because at its core is the makings of the decent role playing game. Memorable characters, a unique landscape, and a plotline. But what earned this game a 4 is what it lacks. The classic battle system is gone. The new one is rubbish. the weapon proficiencies always end badly, and lead to overpowering players. It also has a horrible soundtrack compared to the earlier games in the genre. By far the worst thing about this game is the length. It really starts to get boring after 200 hours of playtime. If you plan on playing the game, I encourage you. Try it. maybe you will find something that I missed in the endless void that is Final Fantasy 12… Expand

I'm going to start my review with the checklist that each RPG game, and Final Fantasy games in particular have to pass. Great cast of characters, immersive world, engaging story, strategic combat, and a good open feeling (but in FF's case, an open yet linear guidance) with presentation. Characters- This is one of the only FF games where I can say I liked every cast member, most FF games only produce 2-4 good characters whereas FF13 only produced one...but this game everyone added their own twist to the story. However, there was one character who fell flat as compared to the others, and sad to say, in this one, it was the main character Vaan. His role in the story is rather irrelevant, especially when you compare him to characters like Cloud, Tidus, and Zidane. Don't get me wrong, his voice actor was great, and he is favorable, but as the main character, he went a little limp. Immersive world- the world of Ivalice is great, maybe not as gorgeous as some of the environments in FF10, but Ivalice is definitely a win. As far as the engaging story...well... this may be up to opinion. Whereas most FF stories are completely "out of this world," and the main characters are chosen to save the realm from one great villain, this FF title focuses more on a "down to earth" approach, for example: most plot points are more politically based with a slight mix of fantasy, whereas its usually the other way around. This may be a killer to hardcore fans, and don't get me wrong, in its essence, it's still not the greatest story Square could've came up with, but it still is deep and engaging with only a few pacing problems. Combat- the combat in the game may also be a killer to hardcore fans because of the lack of the traditional turn base combat. But in its core, it still is turn based, and the new look and feel is exactly what FF needed. However, the gambit system in the game could use some work, gambits range from malfunctioning, annoying, or too easy. Also not at its best is the license board. The license board is basically the sphere grid but with way more freedom to level up as you please. Which sounds good, but without the strategy guide, you can be leveling the completely wrong way and the game never truly gives you any guidance in this department. And to me, the biggest drawback to the combat is the lack of guidance, every weapon is different and have their perks and disadvantages to them....which is a good, but the game never actually tells you anything, and again... without the strategy guide, the overwhelming customization with the license board and armory may in the end, ruin your experience. Freedom- This game is rather linear as compared to earlier titles, but not enough to make the gamer feel "constricted," and is definitely no where near as linear as FF13. Side quests are about "half in half," half of the hunts and other side quests are fun and entertaining, whereas the other half is boring and confusing and are barely good enough to endure. In the end- FF 12 is a great game, sure it has its drawbacks and flaws, but most of them are minor and permissible. The Good: FF12 has great customization of the likes that previous FF games have never even seen, great graphics for a ps2 game, a good cast of characters, great innovation to the combat (but could still use some work), and an above average story. The Bad: FF12 never really teaches the gamer how to utilize the customization options, the main character is rather stale, half of the side quests are more than lackluster, and depending on the gamer... gambits may be best to keep off. Honestly, this is not Square's best title, you will definitely be able to distinguish between the quality of this title, and the likes of FF:6,7,9,& 10. However, this title is definitely worthy of its name and shows great innovation and promise for the future of Final Fantasy (excluding 13)… Expand

This game = horrible! Vaan, can anyone say Tidus? Actually, the even lamer version of Tidus... WTF is up with the gambit system? I would rather play some stupid hack n slash where I mash a button, as opposed to running around doing nothing but watching animations on screen. I didn't get far enough into it to know where the story goes, nor do I really care. The gameplay is just so stupid and boring that I just can't immerse myself into the story. By the time I get to the next cut-scene, dialogue, etc, I am so bored that I am more worried about finding a save point (just in case I get bored enough to try and play this again) than pay any attention to what any of these people have to say. FF XIII, same thing, a button masher disguised as a 'fast-paced turn based system'. Square, rid yourself of that disease known as Enix, and please have some sense in creating the great games you were once known for! If you really want to change your battle system, take notes from the Shadow Hearts franchise. Those games had by far the best turn based mechanics, EVER! Not the dumbed down 'play the game for you' mechanics of this trash!… Expand

I found this FF to be an enjoyable one, and while it's still not that amazing I think it's a decent game, and reminds me more of a 'western' rpg than a Japaneses one. I didn't have a problem with the characters, and I guess I'm among the few people who prefer Vaan over Cloud, Squall or Tidus. The story could also have been worked on, but I guess it's not that bad, although I don't really agree with the fact that it's 'very political', it wasn't that complicated. I found the battle system to be good, with the gambits you can actually get a chance to customize how you want to play, and you can also move around which gives you more interaction with battles. Many people prefer ATB, but I think that system also has it's own faults, it was far from perfect. ( I think it worked best in FF9) I have to add that I really liked the soundtrack, even though I'm not that into epic fantasy music, it was very enjoyable for me, I generally like Sakimoto's work. All in all this game does have an 'experimental' feel to it, but judging from the looks of FFXIII they will be back to the old track that 6, or rather 7 started, but I hope we get to see more Ivalice stuff too, since I prefer that.… Expand

FFXII is a pleasant surprise, though in my opinion it's not as good as VII or VIII. The pros; true epic FF storyline, excellent graphics for the PS2, long life for a classic FF experience. The cons; crap battle system, if i want to play an MMO I'll waste my money on WoW or Guild Wars but FF should not be hack 'n' slash, easy to cheat in terms of HP, there's magic that doubles your Max HP until you die, which to me is like removing the point of gaining levels, true FFVIII features similarities with the Junction system, but that was necessary to reach 9999HP at Lv. 100. Anyway no matter what's wrong with it, it's a good FF far better than all previous PS2 attempts (lest we forget the dire X and X-2) and XI which was a crappy MMO, I'd say it definitely deserves a place on the game shelf/pile but let's see if SE can truly redeem themselves on the Next Gen consoles.… Expand

Past all the nostalgia, this IS the definite Final Fantasy...or even RPG.

This game is best game I have ever played, it has amazing visuals. An excellent soundtrack and an utterly brilliant, well thought out story with really interesting characters and locations with the best Final Fantasy battle-system I have ever seen (I still love all Final Fantasy's though!) this has made Final Fantasy look like it should be. p.s. can't wait until Final Fantasy XIII.

A very revolution in Final Fantasy games.

A definite breath of fresh air...after the drab repition of semi-futuristic Nomura worlds, FFXII brings back the exhiliration of a true adventure, much as IX did. Wonderful world, stunning visuals, very serious story (I loved it, so i wanted to see more of it! make a sequel to it SE, it could use more cut scenes!) and standout gameplay.

Speaking as a lifelong FF fan who has played every single game in the series, this game is a masterpiece. Graphically, it's as beautiful and polished as any game, and moreso - the sheer depth of the environments, NPCs, enemies, and so on creates a fantasy world that is way more realistic than any stand-alone rpg has ever created. If you get bored easily, or you need love stories or a lot of angsty dialogue to keep your interest, this game probably isn't for you. But, critiques of its plot are misguided - there's definitely a very involved story to the world and each of the characters, you just have to piece it together and maybe play the game twice to get it. There are pacing issues where the story seems to not unfold much for stretches and then quickly in other stretches. And, I might have appreciated greater customization of characters to allow for a little more strategy in choosing different weapons (I'd have also liked espers to be more useful). But, none of that prevents this game from being the best classic rpg experience ever created.… Expand

Old school hardcore turn-based rpg gamers hate this (minority), while the rest love it (majority). People who hate this is that because they want all FF become FFVII-alikes and hate change. This game is a breth of fresh air from past FF games. The story is heavy and political, not like past FF, which is teen-like, that's why old FF fans hate it. The system isn't like old games, which is playing menus. For hardcore FF fans, it's a dissapointment, but overall, it's an excellent entertaining game generally.… Expand

It's a great game. For a PS2 game the visuals are awesome, you can kinda tell the audio is a bit compressed though... not all that bad however. Much of the music is stellar! The combat system is very customizable whether or not you choose to use gambits (I prefer to use very few gambits as I'd rather not just watch the game, I prefer to interact with it myself for the most part) The game gives you loads of content with the hunts and side-quests. If you want to take a break from the main story, you get plenty of opportunities should you wish to take them. Then there's the story itself, presented in a new way for the Final Fantasy series. Unfortunately subtlety is lost on this generation so many of the players don't appreciate the game's story. If you're not willing to pay attention, this game won't be the one for you but if you really want a gripping story and some of the most memorable characters in the series (Cid, Vayne and Balthier for sure!) get this game!… Expand

So far (about 5 hours into the game) this is an exceptional example of what an RPG can/should be on the PS2 (hell, it looks like it could belong as a launch title on the 360... the graphics are that pretty.) My main complaints all have to do with control & learning curve. The inability to change look inversion & the control for left/right is a bit irritating, especially since most other games allow this & it theoretically should have been an easy thing to put into the game. The learning curve is a bit much.. there's a lot of things to learn from licenses, gambits, "loot", etc.. just so many changes for FFX (I don't count FFX2 as a FF game.. it was that bad). Also the battles are much different. Even after all that though, a few hours in and I love it (minus the controls). The new battle system is fun & as soon as I figure out Gambits, I'm sure I'll love it even more. The only thing stopping a 10 is really the control & learning curve.… Expand

This game is delicious! I love every moment of it thus far! Yes it takes a few moments to get used to. However, being a huge Final Fantasy fan since I was a little kid, this game is a welcome addition to the series, finally! Especially after FFX! You will NOT be dissapointed! Kefka would be proud!

Just too much to say, the game is amazing and it is so easy to get side tracked from the main quest there is just so much to do. A must have.

So far this game is just amazing. The beginning movie was mindblowing. Everything is just sooo massive from the towns to the dungeons and the battle system is really cool once you get the hang of it. I even gotta kick out of dying. Trying attacking the T-Rex from behind when you first come across it and see what happens. I couldn't help, but crack up. (sry for the sidetracking, but it was pretty funny). so anyway get the game. you'll love it.… Expand

Square-Enix has successfully managed to create something that is far more than just a game. Final Fantasy XII is, without a doubt, a work of art, in much the same way that a painting, novel, or piece of music is a work of art. The fact that Square-Enix used a video game console as it's medium does nothing, in my opinion, to make their latest masterpiece any less than beautiful. Anyone who thinks that video games can be nothing but mindless entertainment should spend some time with this game, as it is sure to convert them.… Expand

About 27 hours of playtime in and I'm hooked. I can't remember the last time I was this enthralled by a console game. My poor PC is going to be lonely for a long time it seems. I'll admit I was a fan of FF X and this one puts it to shame. To shame I say! Graphically ( except maybe the cutscenes and summons) this game is far superior. The License system is like the sphere grid but better. Exploration is open ended which is a huge advancement over many linear or "train track" style RPG's. It kind of reminds me of an offline MMORPG which is perfect. I played FFXI online and WoW and this is like having all the expansive content and immersive world without all the irritatating chatter and ninja drama. Love it! My only gripe against FFXII is probably that some of the most amazing gear ( e.g. Uber sword at beginning) is only reachable if you know secrets that could only be found in game guides. Kind of a bummer since I found out too late but that is a minor scratch on an otherwise flawless game. Sound 9/10 Graphics 9/10 Story 9/10 Battle System 10/10 ( Amazing!!!) Overall 93 %… Expand

i realy liked that game,it's the best game i see till now on ps2 the graphic is fantastic and sounds too.and the story it's realy attractive,the charectares are awsome too . i would realy like to ask if there is a link how can i get the full story of the game, cause i wanna post it in my documents. i am realy obbsessed in video game specialy RPG game but unluckily i havent finish any RPG game befor,becasue i have no time to play the game for a long time. is there any solution for that u can advice me. thanks for reading my comments.… Expand

While I will not claim the game to be perfect, and admit that some complaints are valid, this game is simply superb. I have been a fan of the FF series since the first NES game, and this is certainly of the 5 best FF games I have ever played. While I admit, in terms of story, FF3 can never be touched, everything else about this game is fun, fun, fun. Don't miss it. It is my belief that every user who complains about the battle system and the challenges of the game simply haven't played it enough, need to learn patience, and should stop playing RPG's.… Expand

This game was too difficult and frustrating. Well Im a big fan of "Final Fantasy" series but something go awry about battle system. Ok, look, the Final Fantasy XII was a great looking game. The begining was nice but at least they have saved the game by created the perfect story and plot. All the characters was amazing. And the battle system, oh well.....ok look, when starting the u got alot characters around you, which u will make easier to fight against the enemy. You have to click by pressing X button, to go into Command menu, you have only have 3 command= Attack, magics&technics and items. I click "Attack" and then select one of the enemys when got closer to enemy. You need to wait the AP gauge to start the action. Even though i try run away from them when my character HP low but after that they still hit me. Well all you have to do click the Command menu and then click the "Attack" to the enemy far away from you for first strike, I advise you. So please take care and remember to see 1st how the battle system it is then only you buy this game. I hope the "Final Fantasy XIII" will save the day.… Expand

Incredible game, the final fantasy shines again as the best RPG series in videogame history, I feel the gameplay as a mix of Final Fantasy 6 and Knights of the the old republic, the sub quests, will keep you hooked for 100+ hours, Final Fantasy forever.

Its a very enjoyable game, colorfull and imaginetive as final fantasy games always, the reel time combat system is prety good but also very slow and lags the tactical aspects of previus games in the series. oh and of course its very text heavy so wait for the US version unless u can understand japenese.

First off, I'd like to state something. I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan, especially for VI-X. The epic stories and great gameplay have always pulled me in very well. I also love it when developers mix up their series a bit. I admire that Square Enix is bold enough to do drastic new things in Final Fantasy XII. The problem is that it just isn't executed perfectly. The character building takes too long to get into, and the gambit system is really tough to learn. Also, many of the environments are expansive and empty, aside from all the enemies. The graphics are artistic and interesting, but nothing all too special, which is a shocker when it comes to Final Fantasy. But most of all, it's just really hard to get in to. There's too many tough enemies, and it's too hard to get a hold of new equipment. Some serious tweaking and more direction to the player would have been nice. Really, though, Final Fantasy XII is still good. It just could have, and should have, been better.… Expand

This game is different to previous Final Fantasys, but amazing in its own right. Despite my worries, the gameplay is refreshing and more enjoyable overall than previous installments. The liscense and gambit systems work well. Sakimoto's music is good although not quite up to Nobuo's standards. The graphics are awesome for the PS2. The opening movie is phenomenal. The voice acting is excellent as well, lending an eloquence ot Final Fantasy that has never been seen before. FFXII has sprawling environments and a fully controllable 360 degree camera which highlights the beauty of the world. However, its biggest weakness is its lack of cutscenes. The story is strong overall, with interesting political intrigue. Each character has their own motivations, and wills clash against each other in compelling ways. But there just isnt enough cutscenes to expand upon the story, which can leave you feeling as if each object is a bit pointless and that there is something missing. Its a big contrast from FFX. Persevere though and you'll find the experience rewarding. Final Fantasy XII is a regular gem of a game, which is definitely worth playing purely for its scope and replay value. Completing the game takes about 60 hours doing an average amount of sidequests. Not the best game ever, IMO (That goes to FFIX), but certainly in my top 5. Go buy it! Oh, and keep your eye out for Gilgamesh. He's a legend.… Expand

If you look through the reviews, you'll notice that most negative ones are from people who never finished the game. Finish the game, you'll love it. It's a bit slow to pick up, but so was Final Fantasy 9, and it hardly "destroyed the Final Fantasy franchise". In the end, this is flat-out the most fun Final Fantasy to date.

This is the greatest game I ever played! I never got bored because there was so much to do all the time! The graphics were superb! I Love FF XII!! I wasn't disappointed in buying it. Even the Game Cover was nice.

This is my first FF game and I think the graphics and camera work *are* truly amazing, as is the story. I don't like the action, the 'pause and pick' aspect of this. It makes the play disjointed. But all in all this is really enjoyable to play with my young daughter. Many times we come across creatures and go "what the heck is that?!" Final Fantasy XII *is* fantastic.

I remember playing Final Fantasy VII all those years ago and remember how amazed i was back then and how I felt after completing it. After FF VII things when down hill, though good games none of the others gave me that feeling of Awe, so much so that i never felt compelled to complete FF8 & FF9, i got myself FFX and probly clocked 10 hours on it before i got bored and traded it in, i never bothered with FFX-2. but something completed me to purchase FFXII on day of release even though I had not read anything about it or got caught up in any hype in fact the first i heard of FFXII was about a 2 weeks before its release. but upon loading up and being greeted by a impressive intro I entered the game and was very pleased with what i saw. the new combat system is great as getting into random battles every 6 steps in the previous games became very annoying, this time around I can see the enemy before I decide to fight. the graphics are fantastic with plenty of well written speech and facial expressions. For me playing FFXII is like playing FFVII for the first time all over again. I picked up the game on a Friday and by the Sunday I had already clocked up 19 hours of fun, I think this game may affect my relationship with the wife.… Expand

I have to say, this is the best FF game I've seen in a long time. I was really disappointed in FFX, and almost didn't get this game for fear it would be similar, but I'm glad I did. I love the new battle system and everything... I don't see why people say there's no strategy, though. Personally, I think this game takes more strategy than any other Final Fantasy game. I can't think of a single flaw with this game.… Expand

I have not completed this game, which automatically makes my opinion less valid indeed, but I am a huge fan of the Final Fantasy's 7 through X-2. Both 8 AND 10 rank in my top 5 favorite games of all time. I was almost reluctant to even purchase this game because I was frightened of this ruining such a grand and renowned series. But after such a small time in the game (around 10 hours) I'm as hooked as I was with all of the others. I mean, okay the character development isn't brilliant, and the story is certainly, rather baffling at times, but other than that it's more than impressive. The battle system will take any fan some time to get used to, but once you've overcome that, you can definitely appreciate it, and how important tactics are. I love the in-depth systems incorporated into the game, such as gambits and licenses. It makes the game more demanding, but more customizable, and ultimately more satisfying. The graphics as expected, rate amongst the best in the PS2 franchise, and I'm very impressed with the game thus far. And as far as I am concerned, the first few hours of the game are the most important.… Expand

There is so much wrong with this game. The sript writers worked seperate from the the game directors.

Awesom game indeed, FFXII: International Zodiac Job System brings more exciting stuff to already huge game. Job System, new items, new weapons and more! Best FF after FF7 and FFX.

Mike G. had some interesting comments, until he cited VII and VIII as examples of the heights to which a game like this should aspire. VII and VIII are, to my mind, the worst examples of nonsensical plotting and incomprehensible character "development" in role-playing games around, and to suggest the writing and storyline in the vastly superior XII can be compared to those awful games and found lacking undermines his credibility as a gamer. These things are deeply subjective, but the reality is that I personally would have a very hard time going back to any other FF game after playing XII; I make that statement based on both the gameplay AND the story.… Expand

It's been a year- still a great story- I still love going to Rabanastre, out into the vast deserts- THAT is still the main charm, of being in a magical desert city surrounded by vast spaces to explore. Musical still gret- gameplay: Battle system excellent- but way too mych reptitititition...I really get to feeling sorry for the hundreds and hundreds of wolves I had to kill. But, yes, please make us another large scale epic game featuring Ivalice.… Expand

Sick, must play for rpg lovers, great story, great voice acting, best rpg out on consoles.

Definitely the best RPG of our generation, there isn't really a bad thing to be said about the game. However, immature, impatient people will NOT appreciate the story, gameplay, or character developement as much as many others have. All of that said, the Sakimoto soundtrack is so good I freaking bought it, the graphics are as good as you will find anywhere else, and the voice acting is good.

I played final fantasy tactics and no other final fantasy games. I was very impressed with this game for the first 20 hours or so, but then the monotony got to me. All you do is go to a new area, beat up everything, kill the boss and get new weapons. For all the strategies suggested online - throw them away! Just hit everything until it dies. In a word: boring.

Excellent graphics, and the grid system adds a level of customization to characters. The world has very good looking and very varied looks. FFXII does a lot of things better than any JRPG before, however it is very lacking in the most important area: Story. The characters are uninteresting, unmotivated, and bizarrely uninvolved.

The game's storyline is not for impatient, action-driven fans. As earlier comments have said, the plot centers on the situation and it's implications on Ivalice rather than the characters. Considering the relative maturity of the characters, I found this refreshing compared to other RPGs. It's not a game for everyone, but a lot of the hate and dislike at it is by no means earned; most seem unable to express that this game was just not for them, citing instead 'I didn't see any story!' when indeed the plot was rather interesting. The game has some pacing problems, but rest assured the storyline is there, and fleshed out.… Expand

Sincerely, the game is very beautiful, the soundtrack is good, and the gameplay works well for what is proposed. Still, the world is so big, that sometimes you'll get yourself bored by all of the distance necessary to go from point X to Y. And you don't feel motivated to do so, because the story don't looks like a Final Fantasy. They cutted the fantasy part for half, at least, in the storyline. And, for teleporting from place to place, you need an item or a money payment (for the Airship transport). Couldn't it be, like, Kingdom Hearts? The worlds can be very big, but still, you don't feel bored, if you wanna go to someplace, all you have to do is enter at the point of the world that you prefer. The characters have some problems too. Sometimes, don't seem to demonstrate personalities. They look all the same!… Expand

I love this game. It is huge, addicting, fun, and engaging. The FMV scenes are terrific. The new combat system is excellent, too. Trust me, I love this game and this is not the only Final Fantasy game I have played.

Well for starters I have all most every FF game out there on the market and got to say that this Is one of they best console FF games EVER. Love how there is a mix of all most all the ff's in this game, now only if you can play a Moogle knight that would ROCK Kupo. Love the moogles, thank you SQUARE ENIX I give you 2 thumbs up.

This is by far the most challenging, beautiful, and entertaining and thought provoking game I have ever experienced from any RPG manufacturer. And I have been playing video games since I was 3 years old and now am 24. I am pleased to see that they have different strategies to kill monsters by using the Gambit command, by setting up the right conifg. to kill monsters even faster. With the old Final Fantasies, you would just go beef up your characters and get the best of everything and not use the variety of spells, and special skills (or at least I didn't) to beat up monsters. This makes it a lot more thought provoking besides mashing X on your controller all day. The use of the FFXI battle system and the way monsters can be aggro'd to you is very challenging. I never died on FF 1~10 because of always getting the opprotunity to cure after a battle. Sometimes in this you may find yourself suprised and get clobbered by a monster linking with one that you already have on you! The maps on this game are just like FFXI, you must buy them to view the area, except in this case, if you investigate some areas without a map, it will draw it for you. Very nice so you dont get lost like in Vana'diel (FFXI) if you have no clue where to purchase one. Viewing this world is very beutiful, and give your right analog stick a whirl every now and then and look at the time and thought that they put into every detail. It is worth it just for the eye candy, even if you are in a dank dungeon, or a beutiful city. Cut scenes are once again, over the top in this game and is a nice thing to see and blends in with in game engine very well. Very long cut scenes, but as usual, the best in the business of RPG's. Why I have to give this game a 9 sadly is because of no two player control. Why is there no two player control? I thought it would of been like Secret of Mana from the old SNES console where you can hack and slash your way through enemies. I loved playing that game with friends and family because it's rare to have an RPG that two people can play. There was no sense in why it couldn't be two player and very dissapointing. I figured since it was using the FFXI battle System/engine that it would be simple enough. I guess I am deeply dissapointed in this because I won't be able to play along side my father of our favorite RPG of all time. No big deal though. We will just have to resort to who beat the game the fastest and gloating, instead of teaming up! And last but not least, times change, people change, and games change. This change was for the good of this great legacy of FF that I have been playing since Nintendo. People that don't like to read and learn about how to utilize the new structure will most likely be left in the dust and get frustrated about dying all the time and quit. Well if you don't like reading and learning, this isn't the game for you. For any open minded adventurer, this is it! This game we will look back five years ago and say "now that was ground breaking." Enjoy it as much as I have for the first 3 hours! LoL!… Expand

I can't believe how complete this game is! I'm left with no doubt that the wait was worth it. This is the first game where I actually went out of my way to explore. Not for some super weapon, or a side quest, but just because I wanted to see everything. And there is a LOT to see! Calling this game massive would be an understatement. Another improvement is of course, the battle system. Now that there are no more random encounters, which made battles annoying, you are free to travel how you see fit. But the new battle system is so fun that you'll probably end up wanting to fight anything you come across. You might have heard that there is less story in this FF than in any previous. This is completely untrue. Everything you could want in an FF story is here. But now that the game is longer, the story is much more spread out. Also it's not as sentimental as previous entries. Instead the story is a lot more realistic, and mature. It's no longer about saving the world, and there isn't anymore teenage angst. The charecters are some of the most interesting to appear in a game, (especially Balthier, who's kind of a mix of Indiana jones, and James Bond. Hilarious.) Don't let the slow begginning put you off. Also don't be afraid of change. That's my only advice for enjoying this game.… Expand

This game rocks. Disclaimer--I'm not done with it yet, I'm 30 hours in. The new battle system is genius. You can program character behavior to do just about anything. For example, you can set your main healer to cast Cure any time a party member drops below 70% HP. That's easy though--how about setting your secondary healer to cast Cura (area of effect group heal) when anyone drops below 30%? Try setting all members to prioritize killing any enemy with a critical level of HP, or make your Black Mage cast the AOE Dark spell by default. It's a micro-managing RPG player's dream. I used to be a turn-based combat diehard, but FFXII has totally changed my mind. I loved the ability to customize your turn based combat, but eventually, I began to sleepwalk through the battles. "Attack, attack, attack, cast Hastega." And again, "attack, attack, attack, cast Firaga." Now, you literally walk through battles, watching your characters carry out orders. Tweak away their performance to your heart's content--I find myself using spells and abilities in FFXII that I never used in any of the prior series. Have fun!… Expand

I just love the game! people who think it sucks probably just didn't play it enough or wait for the cool stuff and besides sometimes I like a change in gameplay not always atb gauges. I mean do you really want to have that repeated for future ff games all the time?

I have been playing the game for hours and it definitely looks like I am addicted . The game has great graphics and its hard to tell the cutscenes from the movies . Has an ultra-addictive battle system , beautiful chracters but I gave it a nine because it lacks in the character development department and you hardly feel connected. Still love it a lot.

what an amazing game! I can't wait to leave the work everyday to start playing & leveling up, i don't sleep much these days and you all know why, lol nice caracters, amazing beasts, lovely world, very good new game play & Great game!! thank you Square-Enix again for this & I cant wait for FF XIII.

They fixed what we thought wasn't broken and showed us how broken it really was in doing so. An absolutely fantastic game, and an epic 100+ hour adventure. Coming from a long-time fa of the series, this is a well-deserved 10/10 and a breath of fresh air for both the genre and the series.

There is something just grand to this new approach to Final Fantasy. In every way that FFX-2 failed, FFXII succeeds and more. The story is in top form, characters are detailed and interesting (yet still a little angsty for me in typical Final Fantasy tradition), and the big payoff, the Summons, are AMAZING. Restated, AAAAAMAZING! Ahem. Good stuff. Love it.

Very good game. The graphics in the cut-scenes and during gameplay are amazing. The battle system takes a little getting used to, but the change is refreshing. The only shortcoming of this game, to me at least, was that the voice acting did not match the images at all. But other than that, this game is great, even comparable to classics like FF7 or FFX.

Stop whining about something you don't like, it won't make it better. To those who haven't tried it yet, do it. You may like it, you may not. It's an acquired taste.

Too many people knock this game for being just what it is - a bold, new direction for the series. As a longtime Final Fantasy fan, I was thrilled to be rid of ridiculous amounts of annoying random battles, and hopefully they are gone for good. The rest of this game is certainly worthy of being called a Final Fantasy game (epic storyline, enjoyable character, massively destructive battles). Enjoy.

Best game on PS2, this year at the least. Even more so than Okami. Battle system is perfect, graphics are the best on PS2 and the size of the map is just awesomely huge. It's a different experience for FF fans. Amazing.