The latest in the series of Final Fantasy can be described with only one word: wretched.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I read what most reviewers wrote about this game. I have played through half of it 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 rather poor (especially if compared to Final Fantasy VII's score), the visuals are unequal: locations, character design and monsters are often uninspired (just like the music) with shabby colours and rather strong pixelation (which reminded me of Final Fantasy IX) while full motion video sequences and the texturing/animations are good.
But what is worst: the gameplay is extremely repetitive, unoriginal, incapable of keeping a person awake for long. Riddles and quests are of the very worst kind: either incomprehensible and without any logic or just of the "pull the lever"-kind.
The difficulty level is almost ridiculous: the player has its way relatively easy for most of the game "thanks" to the awful Gambit system but then the fights against some bosses and the Espers are totally unbalanced. Furthermore, the acquired Espers become real sissies and won't ever be used in the game, since they are just useless and die after 10 seconds against any above-average monster.
The characters are on par with the rest. Never felt anything for practically any of them (with the only exception of Balthier). I should have stopped at Final Fantasy VII (93% for me), a real masterpiece. Instead after that, I witnessed an inesorable decline, with the series reaching abysmal levels: Final Fantasy VIII (78%), Final Fantasy IX (70%), Final Fantasy X (61%), Final Fantasy XII (46%). Square Enix won't get money from me anymore unless it's a remake (only graphic and audio) of Final Fantasy VII or if they can prove they can come back developing quality games...