Final Fantasy XII

 PlayStation 2
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1542 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,062 out of 1542
  2. Mixed: 214 out of 1542
  3. Negative: 266 out of 1542
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  1. Traumator
    Sep 20, 2013
    10
    I only played this in 2013 on a ps2 emulator (4x resolution) and it was one the best game experiences I"ve had in a long time! (and I play a sht ton of games) It truly is a beautiful RPG with a very good story, massive world and deep gameplay.
    I didn't mind at all the supposedly negative MMO influences, at the contrary it feels so natural in the context of open world mechanics. Nice new    I only played this in 2013 on a ps2 emulator (4x resolution) and it was one the best game experiences I"ve had in a long time! (and I play a sht ton of games) It truly is a beautiful RPG with a very good story, massive world and deep gameplay.
    I didn't mind at all the supposedly negative MMO influences, at the contrary it feels so natural in the context of open world mechanics. Nice new touch compared to the usual ATB/RTB battle systems and I even loved the gambit system which a lot of people seem to complain about.

    Graphics are unbelievably good for a ps2 game and one of the best examples where an increased internal resolution on the emulator can make a huge difference in overall quality to the point it doesn't seem you are playing a 2006 game at all.

    The music is simply perfect, I may be old style but it's hard to beat well made symphonic soundtracks. (compared to most of the electronic uninspired garbage 99% of games use today)

    It may have some minor gameplay issues but overall I just love everything about this game, I don't really care if it is a "true" FF game or not, it simply is a wonderful experience and I strongly encourage anyone to give it a try on the pcsx2 emulator on pc even if you have played it 9 years ago.    … Expand
  2. mikeorviss
    Sep 16, 2013
    3
    2 hours into the game and I am scratching my head, the story has potential but the execution is seriously bad. The combat system is awful, why fix something that isn't broken
  3. Rox22
    Sep 11, 2013
    7
    FF 12 is perhaps my least favorite FF game. It isn't bad, just rather generic and forgettable.

    Graphics are beautiful and has some of the prettiest scenery pieces of all the FF games. The combat system was a little rough around the edges, but I liked it and thought it was a bold step changing the tried and true JRPG battle system. The lead character Vaan is as bland as they get and    FF 12 is perhaps my least favorite FF game. It isn't bad, just rather generic and forgettable.

    Graphics are beautiful and has some of the prettiest scenery pieces of all the FF games. The combat system was a little rough around the edges, but I liked it and thought it was a bold step changing the tried and true JRPG battle system.

    The lead character Vaan is as bland as they get and completely forgettable. Side characters on the other hand are a bit more distinguished and have a bit more depth, even if their designs are a little odd and feel a little out of place.

    FF XII has some of the best creature battles of the series. The creatures are rich, varied and extremely challenging.

    Overall:
    Final Fantasy XII is decent enough for a FF game, but also feels like the designers just put the same level of love and care into it as they did with the previous games. Fun to play, but you won't remember too much about it once you're done.    … Expand
  4. MusicxxAddicted
    Sep 10, 2013
    9
    I'm gonna be blunt since this game has been out for a long time, I've played it twice at its release and I've played through it again and I can only say this game is amazing. Not only is the battle system progressive, it even lets you choose how your AI functions (it's still better than FFXIII's). The story is deep and even though the characters aren't that profound (according to some),I'm gonna be blunt since this game has been out for a long time, I've played it twice at its release and I've played through it again and I can only say this game is amazing. Not only is the battle system progressive, it even lets you choose how your AI functions (it's still better than FFXIII's). The story is deep and even though the characters aren't that profound (according to some), you never wonder why the hell they're there instead of just leaving. This game really is an improvement for the Final Fantasy series and I seriously can't help but wonder why there are so many haters. I can see alot of fans are disappointed because there's no cliche romance in this chapter of the series but there's absolutely no need for one. Crying over spilt milk is what all the babies are doing, grown ups LOVE Final Fantasy XII … Expand
  5. drlowdon
    Jul 22, 2013
    7
    With its overhauled (and improved) battle system Final Fantasy XII is certainly faster paced, and arguably more accessible to JPRG novices, than its predecessors. Unfortunately it also continues the series trend of having increasingly unmemorable characters and story-lines, two things that are of vital importance if you are going to invest 50+ hours in a game. Sitting here now I couldWith its overhauled (and improved) battle system Final Fantasy XII is certainly faster paced, and arguably more accessible to JPRG novices, than its predecessors. Unfortunately it also continues the series trend of having increasingly unmemorable characters and story-lines, two things that are of vital importance if you are going to invest 50+ hours in a game. Sitting here now I could still name every playable character from Final Fantasy VII but couldn't tell you a single one from this game despite it being nearly a decade more recent.

    It's still a good game but not one that'll ever be considered a true classic of the genre.    … Expand
  6. Kakashi2
    Jul 19, 2013
    0
    Preview:
    I was really surprised by how high the metacritic rating for this game was. It actually inspired me to create an account just so give my take on this game. First, I'm a huge ff fan. Here is my ranking of the ff games I've played from best to worst. Ff6, ff tactics, ff9, ff7, ff8 (squalls dead theory), ff4, ff1, ff10, ff 2, ff 3, FF12, ff 13, ff tactics advanced. So you can see I    Preview:
    I was really surprised by how high the metacritic rating for this game was. It actually inspired me to create an account just so give my take on this game. First, I'm a huge ff fan. Here is my ranking of the ff games I've played from best to worst. Ff6, ff tactics, ff9, ff7, ff8 (squalls dead theory), ff4, ff1, ff10, ff 2, ff 3, FF12, ff 13, ff tactics advanced. So you can see I don't think that highly of final fantasy 12 compared to other games in the series. Ill simply break it downs to pros and cons. Pros: The graphics are some of the best on the ps2. The art style is very good. Of course, there are some good musical tracks which are good, but pretty similar to the rest of the series. Cons: This game feels like it was a ten hour long game and the designers decided to make it a 200hr long video game. There is simply too much padding and filler in this game. The story is okay (convoluted like many of recent square enix games). But how the story is told is just awful. It is a slow progressing political story but it near impossible to follow it on your first play-through since it literally can take 5 to 10 hrs to get to the next story point. To walk from one side of the map to another it seems like it takes 45 minutes to do so. I suppose if you want to get lost in a game, this game has the potential because it is so big but I prefer quality of quantity. Also the main character is terrible. He is very uninteresting and so secondary to the plot it makes you curious what point he serves. Also how people equip armor in this game may be my least favorite of the series. It's possible for your character to have a weapon that he/she cannot use because you have not got that exact square of this semi random grid. Overall, there are some fun aspects to this game but most of the gameplay seems like it was tailored to waste your time. Too much padding between towns, dungeons are way too big and there are too many of them. The towns aren't fun because the leading character is so unlikable. I understand that the series is trying to adapt and change but I think this game was a step back for the series. That's why I wish the critic score would reflect that.    … Expand
  7. zeniff
    Jul 18, 2013
    6
    Simply put, this game just leaves you wanting while scratching your head at the end. Starts off great and the combat system was innovative (though annoying after awhile). Story is great in the beginning then just kinda falls flat.
  8. Bradan
    Jun 26, 2013
    3
    As someone who has played every numbered release of the final fantasy franchise I can easily say this is the worst and the only one that I truly hate. The story is ok, the cutscenes are amazing for a playstation 2 game, but the battle system makes this game unplayable. There are simply no words to describe how truly awful the battle mechanics are.
  9. AlienSpaceBats
    Jun 25, 2013
    9
    The first six hours were a bit of a trudge; to begin with it didn't "feel" like (previous) Final Fantasy but once I got used to the mechanics FFXII really grew on me, possibly due to the innumerable similarities to Star Wars or the fact that it resembles western RPG "dungeon crawlers" in places (the influence on the Dragon Age games is huge). Characters are a bit flat thus excluding anyThe first six hours were a bit of a trudge; to begin with it didn't "feel" like (previous) Final Fantasy but once I got used to the mechanics FFXII really grew on me, possibly due to the innumerable similarities to Star Wars or the fact that it resembles western RPG "dungeon crawlers" in places (the influence on the Dragon Age games is huge). Characters are a bit flat thus excluding any sufficient emotional engagement to them (or the story), but not so it prevented me from enjoying either. The politicking, scheming and manoeuvring amongst the antagonists was well done. Impressive visual design, a common criticism is the lack of a Nobuo Uematsu score; which is noticeable at first, though Hitoshi Sakimoto's music fits the game perfectly and certainly grew on me enough that I had to buy the soundtrack. Gameplay can get repetitive in places and the new battle system negates any sort of strategy (the free camera is also an annoyance in confined areas) but the game is well worth playing through to the satisfying (and spectacular) finalé.… Expand
  10. Caestus
    Jun 24, 2013
    9
    The gambit system is the best KI system to date. You can tell your characters exactly what and when they should do something. The battle system by itself is also very good having a nice tempo and style to it. The world is bigger than in previous ff´s and beautiful. The OST backs the atmosphere of the game having some really nice tracks in it. Easily best RPG in the PS 2 Era.
  11. kawrght
    Jun 3, 2013
    0
    positives:the game doesn't need you. just let your teams AI do the battling for you and you will win every time.
    negatives: boring to the extreme, every person in the game has no personality, they look boring with knockoff clothes from previous characters in the franchise, they even ACT boring and SOUND boring, most of the time they even sound like they only had one voice actor, its that    positives:the game doesn't need you. just let your teams AI do the battling for you and you will win every time.
    negatives: boring to the extreme, every person in the game has no personality, they look boring with knockoff clothes from previous characters in the franchise, they even ACT boring and SOUND boring, most of the time they even sound like they only had one voice actor, its that bad and unmemorable, the maps look like flat pieces of barely painted paper, i'm not joking they literally look like flat pieces of paper. the mini map is useless, the maps feel and look barren which isn't helped by the games old school walk to encounter enemies system. the enemies themselves look very boring and generic, the shopping is a confusing mess-what happens is the enemy drops an item, you sell that item and get gold. sounds interesting? nope. you get so little gold that it would take a long time to actually buy something simple as a potion. the leveling/skills system itself is a mess- basically you upgrade via walking on a skills map, like a board game, however skills you would need, say sword for a melee character or magic for a magic user are at the other end of the AP map! and you can only move one space at a time so you can't even just select what you want. the AP requirements for the spaces on the upgrade map is also unbelievably high with most requiring high two or even three digits! this doesn't sound like a lot but you only get 1 AP per battle!for the whole game!!. the story is boring and unmemorable. its only positive point is the summons, who are all cool but brings me to my biggest downpoint, the whole games quest system for everything even the story IS A FETCH QUEST. nearly all of the missions in the game involve going to someplace or fetching something. even monkey quest(a ps1 game lauded for being a fetch quest game) did this better, this isn't some zelda like you must find this before you can advance no the game literally just tells you to go here and get that! or just go there if its feeling lazy! this wouldn't be so bad if there was some kind of transport system but save for one map there isn't! not a vehicle or chocobo in the whole game! you have to literally walk everywhere!the game itself is unfinishable as well. i don't mean unfinishable good like a free roamer, i mean unfinishable as its too long! i was playing for half a year and only got about half way through at most. with a busted gold system and busted AP leveling system this is the one and only game where i say cheating using an action replay or xploder cd or finding a glitch/bug is a requirement!and even then with it being boring to the extreme and unfinishable and not even requiring user input in battle would you even want to try playing this game? if it wasn't for the final fantasy name attached this game would get a lot more hate than it does, i mean its so bad its on par with superman 64/aquaman battle for Atlantis for title of worst game ever made.    … Expand
  12. jelio1004
    Jun 1, 2013
    6
    Story is the hallmark of the final fantasy games. This game, however, does not have any. The characters do not have any personality. Only character with a personality is Balthier, rest is just there to fill up the screen. There no is character development. There is nothing to make you care about the characters you are playing. The only redeeming quality is that this game is really big. IStory is the hallmark of the final fantasy games. This game, however, does not have any. The characters do not have any personality. Only character with a personality is Balthier, rest is just there to fill up the screen. There no is character development. There is nothing to make you care about the characters you are playing. The only redeeming quality is that this game is really big. I mean really big. You have a lot of stuff to do. You have dungeons to explore and side quests to accomplish. The game mechanic has a mmorpg feel to it without being an actual mmorpg, which in my opinion is a bad thing. So if all you care about is game play and customizing your character with tons of equipment and abilities, go ahead and pick it up. If you have played any other previous final fantasy games, you will find yourself glaring at your screen and gritting your teeth as the computer fight your battle for you.… Expand
  13. DemonKnight94
    May 25, 2013
    10
    Some fans does not like FFXII because it is not like previous FF games but i think it is the best one, It does have much of what a FF game is. FF needs change to it so that it doesen´t become clones of each other like COD has.
  14. Reuns
    May 15, 2013
    4
    Boring !
    Playing a game without having to fight is just frustrating The gambit system does everything, you just have to chose your path The Star Wars influence is just too important the music, the creature, ....
    Well, I don't want to play a star wars game (or I'll get one I want to play a FF game, and by play I mean PLAY Not just lead the characters
  15. scradam
    Mar 24, 2013
    10
    The FF XII storyline is one of the best and most mature FF storylines. The story isn't melodramatic or geared toward preteen girls. The dialog in the game is beautiful. The music is beautiful. The gameplay gambit system is fun enough although perhaps not interactive enough. I've played a lot of PS2 games (especially via PCSX2), but I keep coming back to this game in particular. I'dThe FF XII storyline is one of the best and most mature FF storylines. The story isn't melodramatic or geared toward preteen girls. The dialog in the game is beautiful. The music is beautiful. The gameplay gambit system is fun enough although perhaps not interactive enough. I've played a lot of PS2 games (especially via PCSX2), but I keep coming back to this game in particular. I'd have to say it's by far my favorite PS2 game.… Expand
  16. Superfluid
    Mar 16, 2013
    10
    By far my favorite of the "modern" (PS2/PS3) Final Fantasies. I absolutely love the Gambit system, I cannot say enough about it. The customizability of character AI is beyond anything seen before or since. Although character roles are rather genericb since any character can acquire basically any skill, individual characters are still very tailored towards certain specializations because ofBy far my favorite of the "modern" (PS2/PS3) Final Fantasies. I absolutely love the Gambit system, I cannot say enough about it. The customizability of character AI is beyond anything seen before or since. Although character roles are rather genericb since any character can acquire basically any skill, individual characters are still very tailored towards certain specializations because of base stats and early in the game their different starting positions on the License Board

    I thought the story was much more mature than most Final Fantasies (and JRPGs in general). Nothing overly special but it kept me moving forward and I really enjoyed the character developtment and underlying political intrigue. Like I said it's not mind blowing but it is very well toldThe world is large with lots to do, although some areas do feel rather empty.

    I can see where some wouldn't like the Gambit system. You'll love it or hate. If you like absolute control over everything your party does under absolutely any situation, you will love it. If you want the old school RPG status quo of on-your-toes turn based menu selections, this may not be for you.

    Last but not least, the first 2-3 hours (as with many RPGs) are extremely slow, IMO. Once you get full party control and start acquiring Gambits and Licenses, the game absolutely shines. Do not judge this game until you are a few hours in.    … Expand
  17. Malamir7
    Feb 25, 2013
    7
    I am writing this review trying to convince myself that the game deserves a higher mark.....no actually it deserves a lower one but for better or worse I spent 80 hours playing it, therefore I must have loved something right. First of all I am a big fan of FFX, loved the story, the characters (except you know who) even though he was still a much better protagonist than Vaan. I loved theI am writing this review trying to convince myself that the game deserves a higher mark.....no actually it deserves a lower one but for better or worse I spent 80 hours playing it, therefore I must have loved something right. First of all I am a big fan of FFX, loved the story, the characters (except you know who) even though he was still a much better protagonist than Vaan. I loved the magical world.....okay this review is about FFXII, sorry.... The reason I played 80 hours of this game is that I wanted to immense myself in its world, I wanted to have a great Final Fantasy experience. I was trying realy hard all the time to care for the characters, to care about its bizarre and nonsensical political plot....but actually what where they trying to do? A royal Japanese soap opera?! They couldn't move me one bit, except for maybe the relationship between Balthier and Cid, but then of course these two characters were believable, compelling and INTERESTING (Judge Bergan deserves a nod here for the best impersonation in video games of Darth Vader) As many fellow reviewers have mentioned rightfully the game has a terrible pacing, you can so easily forget what the whole point of the story was, why on earth you were going in that direction, what were the characters and the villians motives, etc. I could continue all day but in short the game falls flat on many high expectations and standards created by the magic of previous FF titles. And if we are looking at this game even as a standalone RPG.....well it is going to receive even a lesser mark....Why?
    Well sometimes dear Square Enix, quantity is not better than quality. Even though you guys have created an enormous world, full of many many side activities, many enemies to be slain, many locations to be explored......the game is very repetitive, the player is forced to spent countless hours in the same old killing of skeletons, bats and wolfs, just so he can afford to buy that precious new gear and new magicks, thus unnecessarily prolonging the game to an unimaginable lenght. From those 80 hours I spent, probably in only 20 I was having actual fun, by slaying bosses, by hunting marks, or by losing myself in some dungeon full of overpowered creatures, fighting for my survival One game is NOT measured by the amount of filler time it contains but by the thrilling moments it presents the player with. In this game unfortunately these moments were far too rare and spread unevenly.
    FFX had also shortcomings of course but it presents the player with MANY epic and memorable moments, an engaging and hearth-whelming story, comprised of great characters in a magical world. Unfortunately FFXII lacks many of these key components to feel like an epic and memorable game.
    I am sorry but unlike Vaan when I play a game I am not there just for the journey, I am there for the EXPERIENCE.    … Expand
  18. Skals
    Jan 8, 2013
    10
    Final Fantasy XII is an amazing game, like all Square Enix games. This game is probably the best Final Fantasy in terms of things to do. You could spend 50 hours on the main story line, and then have content worth another 100 hours still left to do, and whats great about it is that it gives you ultimate freedom. Tired of doing the story line? You can go do mark missions, or find sideFinal Fantasy XII is an amazing game, like all Square Enix games. This game is probably the best Final Fantasy in terms of things to do. You could spend 50 hours on the main story line, and then have content worth another 100 hours still left to do, and whats great about it is that it gives you ultimate freedom. Tired of doing the story line? You can go do mark missions, or find side quests, or just explore and level up. The game has some of the best boss battles of the FF series, and wonderful areas to explore. A lot of people seem to hate the new combat system, but I for one love it and think it was a great change new change to their games up until this point.… Expand
  19. jsdunford
    Dec 30, 2012
    10
    My favorite game of all time. I'm still enamored by it, and find myself replaying it every other year. Great story, graphics, gameplay. Usually the reason people don't like this game is because of previous expectations, or because final fantasy fans are pricks who enjoy arguing about which is best.
  20. lan_di
    Dec 6, 2012
    4
    Final Fantasy XII is easily the black sheep of the Final Fantasy series, the battle system is radically different, the story and characters take a backseat to the world at large, and the whole operation has much more in common with MMORPGs in general than the Final Fantasy series in particular. Needless to say, your mileage may vary.

    FFXII is set in the world of Ivalice, originally seen    Final Fantasy XII is easily the black sheep of the Final Fantasy series, the battle system is radically different, the story and characters take a backseat to the world at large, and the whole operation has much more in common with MMORPGs in general than the Final Fantasy series in particular. Needless to say, your mileage may vary.

    FFXII is set in the world of Ivalice, originally seen in Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. Ivalice is a huge, boring, uninspired, ill-defined fantasy world filled with dozens of races that lack personality and charm (none of whom join your party anyway), and interesting, but painfully pastiche art design. FFXII seems to take the Star Wars prequel approach to world-building in that it operates under the pretension that you    … Expand
  21. EricHarmon
    Nov 22, 2012
    10
    some people say this game is bad......... WHAT!? most of the things they say are opinion, like "I DON'T LIKE IT BECAUSE THE BATTLE SYSTEM IS DIFFERENT" yeah its different and its BETTER. square enix tried to give us a new battle system that actually made sense, before you were forced into a battle after taking a few steps which was ANNOYING. it wasn't too bad, but i'd say this battlesome people say this game is bad......... WHAT!? most of the things they say are opinion, like "I DON'T LIKE IT BECAUSE THE BATTLE SYSTEM IS DIFFERENT" yeah its different and its BETTER. square enix tried to give us a new battle system that actually made sense, before you were forced into a battle after taking a few steps which was ANNOYING. it wasn't too bad, but i'd say this battle system is BETTER. another thing, people complain about the soundtrack saying it was not as good as previous games................ heres something you should try........... TURN UP THE VOLUME!… Expand
  22. g0atk1ng
    Nov 19, 2012
    10
    FFXII creates a sensational world to travel through with it's excellent music always adding to the atmosphere. Very absorbing. The combat system is fresh and gambits allow the player to customize as much or as little as desired for more complex or simple combat. The primary story and character development are subdued for a final fantasy game, but there is a surprising amount of detailFFXII creates a sensational world to travel through with it's excellent music always adding to the atmosphere. Very absorbing. The combat system is fresh and gambits allow the player to customize as much or as little as desired for more complex or simple combat. The primary story and character development are subdued for a final fantasy game, but there is a surprising amount of detail involving npcs and lots of rewarding sidequests (especially hunts), which allow you to explore the vivid and vast world of Ivalice.… Expand
  23. romanjudl
    Sep 17, 2012
    10
    One of the most controversial Final Fantasy game (for its battle system) but (probably) the best Final Fantasy game ever made and one of the best video games for PS2.
  24. kefkasephiroth
    Aug 26, 2012
    10
    This is one of my favorite final fantasies, it has a rich storyline, some memorable characters (but i don´t really like Vaan, Balthier is my favorite character in the game though), the battle system is one of the best in the series, it has a good musical score, and the graphics are amazing.
  25. hydravalera
    Aug 25, 2012
    10
    A game people seem to either love or hate. I loved it, loved the characters, story and more importantly gameplay and the world you explore. I disagree about the music from some comments, as i thought it was excellent and matched the zones perfectly, Feywood is a great example, plus the different weather was a great idea and how it changed areas. Lots of exploring to do and some places areA game people seem to either love or hate. I loved it, loved the characters, story and more importantly gameplay and the world you explore. I disagree about the music from some comments, as i thought it was excellent and matched the zones perfectly, Feywood is a great example, plus the different weather was a great idea and how it changed areas. Lots of exploring to do and some places are shockingly hard if you stumble upon them too soon, which makes for a challenge. The best since FFVII, and different armour and weapon bonuses. Great game.… Expand
  26. Rice303
    Jul 14, 2012
    10
    Another miss-score Final Fantasy XII is awesome and done the best out of all FF titles on PS2 for its epic story and FMV's which help immerse players into the game
  27. wesker2012
    May 27, 2012
    10
    A masterpiece game. One of my favorite final fantasies and favorite games of all time. You feel like everything happening in this world is happening in real time. You really care about your characters and the outcome of their journey!
  28. Broxigar
    Apr 26, 2012
    0
    Everything about this game speaks of mediocrity. I've tried to play this game three times and it is simply impossible to do. I was a huge final fantasy fan and I picked this game up on it's release and played for a few hours before becoming disappointed and not touching it for a year. I tried again and struggled up to the Stillshrine of Merriam where I simply couldn't get any furtherEverything about this game speaks of mediocrity. I've tried to play this game three times and it is simply impossible to do. I was a huge final fantasy fan and I picked this game up on it's release and played for a few hours before becoming disappointed and not touching it for a year. I tried again and struggled up to the Stillshrine of Merriam where I simply couldn't get any further because I didn't grind. I picked it up again and March to play through because I simply wondered if I did not give this game a fair try. I spent hours grinding in the Lhusu mines and didn't struggle any longer but then of course it just became so boring. I'll try to give a run down of what I experienced in my last game.

    The characters were indeed as bad I remembered, Vaan is in the top 10 of worst video game characters PERIOD. No one on the cast was really likable as none of them have any development. Baltheir, the character many cite as the best, is little more than a generic jerk. It's clear that Bashe was intended to be the main character at one point and when they scrapped that for Vaan they were unable to fix the dialogue and characters before releasing the game. The bad guys get multiple times more character development than the characters you use do.

    The combat is BORING. You don't actually do much of anything you sit there and watch your character do all the work. There are no interesting abilities, gone are monk, dragoon and other abilities you might be familiar with and instead you get 3 abilities you need a math degree to use properly and another "dark" attack that takes health to use which is basically juts an auto attack. In fact magic is gimped in a variety of was, the biggest being you don't get the gambits you need for it until the end of the game. Because magic is gimped what you get is a "tank" a melee attacker and a healer which is quite boring. And for a game that has a "aggro" mechanic it's terrible, you have no way to control it until you get decoy which is just a spell you're going to have one of your characters spam on your tank every time it runs out which automatically makes him have all the aggro. The story seems confused and disjointed. It starts out with a good back drop but then stagnates. FFXII all but lacks the epic sceenes and emotional story twists one would come to expect from this series. It didn't help that some environments like the Sand Sea were so pointlessly huge that by the time you got to your destination you could forget why you were going there in the first place.

    Grinding, why would they go back to this? I didn't play any other RPG on the PS or the PS2 that required me to grind. Why after 7, 8, 9, and 10 would they go back to the SNES era of grinding in order to progress?

    I've never made it past the Stillshrine of Merriam it simply becomes impossible to care about getting further the combat is pointlessly boring, the story moves slower than a snail, and I really don't care what happens to any of these characters. This game is one of the biggest disappointments in the history of gaming, by no strech of logic can I understand how this game has such a high score. I started this review calling it mediocre and it is, but for a game so boring and pointlessly long that I can't even complete this game deserves the low score I'm giving it.    … Expand
  29. Carlitoxic
    Mar 20, 2012
    7
    This is not a Final Fantasy game. It´s a Star Wars game. The history is bored and slow. FFXII has good graphical, good music and the game play is entertained. As adventure, it is a great game, but as Final Fantasy not.
  30. firstevil87
    Mar 16, 2012
    6
    Final fantasy 12, the one where I give up on the franchise. Starting with 10 I noticed a decrease in quality but this in particular killed it. Hopefully with 13 and 13-2 the name has been redeemed. Back in topic, the first hours are actually ok, I dare to say enjoyable. Users are introduced to the new battle system that it's actually more interesting that most people give credit for.Final fantasy 12, the one where I give up on the franchise. Starting with 10 I noticed a decrease in quality but this in particular killed it. Hopefully with 13 and 13-2 the name has been redeemed. Back in topic, the first hours are actually ok, I dare to say enjoyable. Users are introduced to the new battle system that it's actually more interesting that most people give credit for. People complain that the game plays itself, but it's not true, it's up to the player. If you choose to focus on attacking the nearest enemy of course that's what the characters will do. People forget that they can manually input commands for each character, but hey! Haters gonna hate no matter what. Areas are also huge to explore, one can literally get lost while traveling with branching paths, hidden paths and so on. So, with a good battle system, good exploration, why I disliked this game? Because of one simple thing:reward. The pacing is awful, you can spend hours when nothing happens and when finally you see a cutscene, most of the time is :" we arrived here, now we're going there". The story is lacking, I felt that the plot was moving forward but the characters had nothing to do with it, it doesn't help that Vaan, the main character, stays in the background during nothing most of the time. With character I couldn't care about, a lacking-story, side-quests relegated to monster-hunting, it's not difficult to understand why I gave up. It was impossible, almost inconceivable that a final fantasy lover like me could do such a thing. I finished the game only because I didn't want to have the feel of having wasted 60 euros on such it. Nothing in this game really stands out, nor the characters, nor the story, nor the music, the most interesting things happen during the prologue. Some may like it, if they manage to stay awake.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best PS2 Game of 2006
1
#1 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2006
2
#2 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2006

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 64 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 64
  3. Negative: 0 out of 64
  1. GamesRadar+
    80
    The story soars, but not so often. The dungeons are long and meandering. The gameplay is effective, but not engrossing. It's a staggeringly well-made game that throws more at you than any other RPG on the PS2... but well-made doesn't necessarily mean "fun."
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  2. eToychest
    97
    This is absolutely my favorite Final Fantasy title, a claim I probably would have laughed at two years ago when rumors about the game’s battle system began to circulate.
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  3. Gaming Age
    91
    One of those rare games that can be appreciated by both hardcore and casual fans alike, Final Fantasy XII may very well be Square's last great adventure, and a fitting sendoff, for the PlayStation 2.
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