Final Fantasy XII is one of the best FF games I've played so far. The graphics and voice acting are great. Unlike the other Final Fantasy games, there's no random encounters. Instead, you fight monsters in the overworld and battles are fought in real time. The monsters are noticable on the field and you can either fight them or avoid them all together. You can only have 3 characters out on the field. Also, guest characters can join & leave your group to help out in battles. A new thing in FFXII is the gambit system. Gambits can allow you to program your characters to do certain things like healing, attacking, & etc. I thought the gambit system was useful so I don't have to command one of the other characters to do a certain thing in battle. Another new thing is the license board. It contains licenses, or permits that allow your characters to do things like magic or able to use weapons & other equippable items. Also, you can unlock "Quickenings" on the license board. There are 3 Quickenings per character. Quickenings are like the Limit Breaks from FFVII. You can string a chain of Quickenings and if that chain reaches a certain length, a final attack will intitate, called a Concurrence. The summons are called Espers. They fight along side the summoner in the battlefield. The Espers get their names from Final Fantasy Tactics and other FF games. To get gil in this game, you have get "loot" from enemies & selling the loot at stores. Selling the loot can unlock special items in the Bazaar that are not sold in stores. The names of summons from the other FF games appear as names of airships. The lengthy quest and numerous side-quests will keep you busy for hours on end. FFXII takes place in Ivalice. The two kingdoms of Rozarria and Archades are fighting in an endless war. Dalmasca, a small kingdom, is stuck in the middle of this war and was annexed by Archades. The king of Dalmasca was supposedly killed by the captian of his knights, Basch fon Ronsenburg. The king's daughter, Ashe, was rumored that she commited suicide after both her husband and father were killed and after Dalmasca was annexed. Two years later, an orphen named Vaan living in Rabanastre gets caught up in the resistance after trying to steal magicite from the palace. He's later joined by Balthier, a sky pirate who acts like a gentleman; and his Viera partner, Fran; Basch, who was framed for killing his king; Ashe; the princess seeking to get her throne back; and Penelo, Vaan's friend. They try to avert another war between Archades and Rozarria. I really enjoyed this FF game a lot. It's definitely worth playing.