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There’s something about Final Fantasy XII that just keeps pulling me back. Some esoteric mixture of mechanics, storytelling, and presentation lines up perfectly with my tastes in a way no other entry quite has. It’s my favorite Final Fantasy.

I love many games in the series. VII for its iconic characters. IX for its classic fantasy tone. VI for its incredible cast. Even the original Final Fantasy still has an addictive loop. But XII hits a very specific sweet spot. It feels like a Final Fantasy flavored Dragon Age Origins or Knights of the Old Republic. The combat is essentially real-time with pause, just expressed through Final Fantasy systems and aesthetics. It’s tactical and flexible without being slow or overwhelming.

The storytelling is similarl. It’s big and political, but it’s told through the eyes of grounded characters, focusing on smaller, more personal moments and relationships. Ivalice feels like a real place shaped by history, rather than just a backdrop for the party’s journey. It’s probably the most exploratory game in the series without actually being open world in the modern sense. Instead, it’s a dense network of interconnected zones. Every area feels layered and full of possibility. It's the kind of game that is large enough to feel vast like a real place, but each zone is small enough to develop a sense of mastery over. Just look up some maps of the game to see what I mean. For me it's a perfect middle ground between say "Ocarina of Time" and "Breath of the Wild".

The side content is a huge part of why the game works so well. Hunts are genuinely fun and they encourage you to engage with the combat at a deeper level. The License Board makes character building feel expressive, but I am a little torn on weather I prefer the original PS2 style single board or the Zodiac versions Job boards. I do wish Square had included PS2 Boards and Balance as a base feature. Luckily mods will allow you to tailor the experience and choose the type of board you want to paly with, if you're interested check out "The Struggle For Freedom" or "Classic Mode" mods. The vanilla game still palys great regardless.

The Gambit system removes the need to micromanage every second of combat while still giving you complete control if you want it. The best part is that even when your companions are acting through AI, you programmed that behavior through their Gambits, so everything feels intentional. Characters are never off doing something you didn’t want them to do… unless you set their Gambits up badly yourself. It removes the feeling so many games with AI companions have, that lack of control and “dumb AI,” and instead lets the player define exactly how that AI behaves. On top of that, it still lets you issue direct commands to any party member at any time, and those commands always take precedence. So you get the efficiency of automated behavior without ever losing the ability to step in and make a tactical decision in the moment. It’s brilliant.

XII is incredibly ambitious. To me, it feels like one of the last great single-player Final Fantasy experiences before the series fully pivoted toward modernization. I genuinely wish Square had pushed further in this direction. When XIII released, I remember being deeply disappointed. While there have been good Final Fantasy games since XII, I don’t think any of them have reached the same level. For me, XII feels like the ultimate Final Fantasy experience. Beyond that, it feels like the high point of what the entire JRPG genre was building to up to from the SNES era all the way up to the PS2. After XIII and the PS3 era, the series stopped feeling like Final Fantasy in the way that mattered to me.

I genuinely think it’s still very underrated, even with the cult following it's built. Whether you’ve played every Final Fantasy or none at all, XII is an incredible entry. To me, it represents the series at its most ambitious, a Final Fantasy you can really sink you teeth into that rewards you in spades for doing so.

There’s something about Final Fantasy XII that just keeps pulling me back. Some esoteric mixture of mechanics, storytelling, and presentation lines up perfectly with my tastes in a way no other entry quite has. It’s my favorite Final Fantasy. I love many games in the series. VII for its iconic characters. IX for its classic fantasy tone. VI for its incredible cast. Even the original Final Fantasy still has an addictive loop. But XII hits a very specific sweet spot. It feels like a Final Fantasy flavored Dragon Age Origins or Knights of the Old Republic. The combat is essentially real-time with pause, just expressed through Final Fantasy systems and aesthetics. It’s tactical and flexible without being slow or overwhelming. The storytelling is similarl. It’s big and political, but it’s told through the eyes of grounded characters, focusing on smaller, more personal moments and relationships. Ivalice feels like a real place shaped by history, rather than just a backdrop for the party’s journey. It’s probably the most exploratory game in the series without actually being open world in the modern sense. Instead, it’s a dense network of interconnected zones. Every area feels layered and full of possibility. It's the kind of game that is large enough to feel vast like a real place, but each zone is small enough to develop a sense of mastery over. Just look up some maps of the game to see what I mean. For me it's a perfect middle ground between say "Ocarina of Time" and "Breath of the Wild". The side content is a huge part of why the game works so well. [b]Hunts[/b] are genuinely fun and they encourage you to engage with the combat at a deeper level. The License Board makes character building feel expressive, but I am a little torn on weather I prefer the original PS2 style single board or the Zodiac versions Job boards. I do wish Square had included PS2 Boards and Balance as a base feature. Luckily mods will allow you to tailor the experience and choose the type of board you want to paly with, if you're interested check out [b]"The Struggle For Freedom"[/b] or [b]"Classic Mode"[/b] mods. The vanilla game still palys great regardless. [b]The Gambit system[/b] removes the need to micromanage every second of combat while still giving you complete control if you want it. The best part is that even when your companions are acting through AI, you programmed that behavior through their Gambits, so everything feels intentional. Characters are never off doing something you didn’t want them to do… unless you set their Gambits up badly yourself. It removes the feeling so many games with AI companions have, that lack of control and “dumb AI,” and instead lets the player define exactly how that AI behaves. On top of that, it still lets you issue direct commands to any party member at any time, and those commands always take precedence. So you get the efficiency of automated behavior without ever losing the ability to step in and make a tactical decision in the moment. It’s brilliant. XII is incredibly ambitious. To me, it feels like one of the last great single-player Final Fantasy experiences before the series fully pivoted toward modernization. I genuinely wish Square had pushed further in this direction. When XIII released, I remember being deeply disappointed. While there have been good Final Fantasy games since XII, I don’t think any of them have reached the same level. For me, XII feels like the ultimate Final Fantasy experience. Beyond that, it feels like the high point of what the entire JRPG genre was building to up to from the SNES era all the way up to the PS2. After XIII and the PS3 era, the series stopped feeling like Final Fantasy in the way that mattered to me. I genuinely think it’s still very underrated, even with the cult following it's built. Whether you’ve played every Final Fantasy or none at all, XII is an incredible entry. To me, it represents the series at its most ambitious, a Final Fantasy you can really sink you teeth into that rewards you in spades for doing so.