Love it or Hate it...
+Square Enix made a decent game, oh my god!! Ok that sounded harsh, but seriously, FFX-2 and KHII did not strike my fancy.
+Hey, it's Final Fantasy. The story is immersive and deep like most FF games before it.
+The gaphics are lust and beautiful. The cutscenes are truly worth watching. Also they give you the option to skip 'em if you're the type of just plainly do not care.
+New fighting system. Ok, it's more of a hate it or love it aspect. Some might find it straying too far from the original turn-based action that previous FF games favored. However, to me, I liked it. Probably due to the fact I like MMORPGs.
+There's the gambit system. Also a love it or hate it factor. If you have played MMORPGs before, gambits resemble what one would call "macro". It allows your characters to do series of actions without you having to touch a single button. That too is straying far from the original FF games. Then again, if you're like me and hate grinding hours on end and don't care for random encounters, the gambit system is right up your alley because you can pretty much let your characters grind themselves and rid the random monsters until you get to where you want to face that boss you all so loathe.
+Monster hunts. These are fun because they act pretty much as side quests. In a way, it adds more variety to the game because the monsters that you hunt are pretty much minor bosses. However, some can be more difficult than the game's story bosses. It gives a sense of challenge if you are the type to face challenges.
Bads
-I might be a bit bias when I say this, THE MALE CHARACTERS LOOK GAY When I say character"s" I mean it in its plural form literally. There's Vaan who can't seem to find a decent shirt to cover up his skinny physique. Balthiar who wears pantaloons and wears one earring too many. Basch was alright, but what kind of knight has a badass scar and wears shorts... Then there's the characters you meet along your travels whom are gender confused. (ie. Larsha...). Aside from that, the female characters are fine.
-The License Grid... god how I hate it so. Making reference to FFX's sphere grid, this game's License Grid pretty much act as the same thing but with more annoyance added to it. When you want a new skill, magic, equipment, mist, and summons, guess what? You need points to unlock that skill, just to use it. I'm the type to pick up a piece of equipment or weapon and equip it. I don't want to endure killing like 30+ monsters to gain points just to unlock that capability to use that single piece of equipment. Concisely put, the idea is S-T-U-P-I-D.
-Our beloved summons are gone. Love Ifrit? How about Shiva? or maybe the all time favorite Bahamut? Tought luck. All gone. In their replacement they put in new summons like Balias, Mattheus, so on and so forth. Ok they act much the same way as the old FF games' summons. However, why do they think those summons been kept in every previous FF games? Because we love them, well I do anyways. Ever heard the phrase, "Why mess with a good thing" Square Enix?
All and all FFXII is not too shabby. It's pretty good. You just have to bypass those queer-looking male roles and ridiculously annoying license grid. Aside from that, FFXII would probably last you for quite awhile game length-wise. I recommend it.