Okay I think I've played Final Fantasy XII enough for a first impression, or finally got around to putting something up with playing it a ton and playing my new Wii. Anyways it's about time for a new Final Fantasy on PS2, and this one is awesome! But it is very different too. It's not your classic Final Fantasy. It's like they took aspects from how Final Fantasy was and added some aspects from Final Fantasy XI. Mainly the way the battles unfold. First of all this game is beautiful. It is definitely the best looking game on the PS2. The environments are highly detailed and sharp. The characters look almost CG like. They are probably the most lifelike ones yet. Also the CG movies are mind-blowing. They look as good as FF: Advent children and there are a lot of them. Along with the graphics the sound is great too. They do a good job making it surround. The voice acting is some of the best too. They picked really good voices for the characters, probably second best to the original Japanese. Along with the sound the music is amazing. For the first Final Fantasy to really not have any Nubuo Uematsu songs on the soundtrack (except for the theme), they did good picking Hitoshi Sakimoto. This game feels so much like Final Fantasy Tactics with a twist of vagrant Story. This works great since the game takes place in the world of Final Fantasy Tactics.

Well the biggest change to this game is definitely the game play. It's still slightly menu driven but much more active. This game incorporates the Gambit system. You set up gambits to tell your party members what to do. You can have them attack what you are or fight whatever they want, or heal people that have lost a percentage of HP. or attack certain things with certain magic. There are a lot of things you can setup to do, so it's not as simple as it seems. You can find or buy new gambits throughout the game to better control your party. or you can take control of your characters whenever you want and tell them what to do. You do control your party leader and can setup gambits for him or use the menu. I use the menu the most, just so it seems more classic. But gambits help out a ton with how this game plays. Another change to the game play is there really aren't random battles like the old days. As you run around dungeons or the world map you see enemies and engage them right there. This feels a"lot more like an online RPG, but at least you have a lot better control of your characters. But you have to be careful; it can be easy to get ambushed by enemies since there could be a lot on the screen at once.

So far this is a great Final Fantasy game. It is different but still a ton of fun. It has a great story that has a more classic Final Fantasy feel. There are still all the little things we've come to expect in a Final Fantasy game: So far my biggest problem is trying to get money. I've found the best way to get it is to sell stuff or do "hunts" and kill monsters for people. You can find gil here and there, or some monsters give you a little. But it's still not too easy to build up a ton to buy stuff. But that adds to the fun of playing!