Before you yell at me, yes I know that is a stupid question, but having recently replayed Final Fantasy 9 and 10 and discovering I still love those damn games (partially because of nostalgia).

I guess before you can answer my question I will tell ya'll what attracts me to Final Fantasy these days, which is some good old fashioned JRPG combat, cheesy but epic plot some interesting characters and awkward dialogue, and I wonder is FF12 that type of game?

The combat is different from the older Final Fantasy games. It's real-time and quite a bit faster. You should watch some videos of it, and if it looks interesting, buy it.

I personally hated how it played.

If you want old school combat FF12 may not be your best bet. The story has a different feel to it as well. So does the world and the music. I feel that 12 is the least Final Fantasy-esque Final Fantasy game.

@ImmortalSaiyan said:

If you want old school combat FF12 may not be your best bet. The story has a different feel to it as well. So does the world and the music. I feel that 12 is the least Final Fantasy-esque Final Fantasy game.

This is exactly what I didn't want to hear (or read, I guess) as I was just looking for more Final Fantasy in the same vein as 7,8,9 and 10.

Yeah as mentioned it isn't good old fashioned JRPG combat, I personally hated everything about that game but that is just my opinion. ( I did enjoy FF10, and some of the older entries)
 
If you have a DS  they did remake some of the older FF games on there, and if you are looking for JRPG's and wouldn't mind a different franchise you could always try the Dragon Quest games.

I personally loved FF XII, but I'm not sure that you will, based on your criteria for an "attactive" FF game.

For starters, the combat is not your traditional turn-based (or pseudo-realtime) battle system. It's more akin to a MMORPG, in that you run around the map, wait for a meter to fill up, and then attack the enemy. There is never a moment where you don't have full movement control of your main character. Another big part of the combat is the gambit system, which kind of allows you to program what your team will do ability-wise in any given situation.

Second, the plot is not nearly as cheesy, nor nearly as epic as in other FFs. Which is to say that it's really good, but you might feel like there's not enough "story". It also lacks most of the nonsensical trappings found in other FF games.

Third, the dialog and voice acting is fucking phenomenal. It's one of the best-translated and voice-acted games I've ever played, and it immediately sucks you into the world.

Fourth, the characters are all interesting, with fleshed out back stories (with a couple notable exceptions), but you'll wish the game spent a little more time with each of them.

I would say give it a shot if you can find it cheap or used, but don't force yourself to slog through it if the combat turns you off. Maybe read some old reviews or watch a few videos before making your purchase.

@ImmortalSaiyan said:

If you want old school combat FF12 may not be your best bet. The story has a different feel to it as well. So does the world and the music. I feel that 12 is the least Final Fantasy-esque Final Fantasy game.

This is exactly what I didn't want to hear (or read, I guess) as I was just looking for more Final Fantasy in the same vein as 7,8,9 and 10.

@BoG said:

@Prodstep said:

@ImmortalSaiyan said:

If you want old school combat FF12 may not be your best bet. The story has a different feel to it as well. So does the world and the music. I feel that 12 is the least Final Fantasy-esque Final Fantasy game.

This is exactly what I didn't want to hear (or read, I guess) as I was just looking for more Final Fantasy in the same vein as 7,8,9 and 10.

Sorry, that isn't to be found in XII. They really altered the formula. To be quite honest with you, XII has less in common with the rest of the main series FF games than it does with the tactics games and Vagrant Story.

Bah shame, I guess i'll pass on FF12 then, thanks for the replies everyone.

12 was the one i remember enjoying the most. But not because it was like the others.

Compared to XIII (13), I thought this game was marvelous. Although if you aren't into MMO's it may... irk you at first.

Go for it I loved that game, and final fantasy 10 was brilliant

Final Fantasy XII is one my favorites from the series, but it's definitely not an old-school JRPG. It plays more like Dragon Age or Kotor than a JRPG really. 

FFXII is one of my favorite FF games, not necessarily for the story and characters, but rather for everything else. The combat was probably the most fun and engaging in any FF game ever.
This is coming from a guy whose favorite is still, and will forever be, IX.

@Prodstep: Try it before you pass on it. It's a great game. In my opinion, you shouldn't listen to the haters. The story and characters are not the cookie-cutter clichés found in every other entry in the series. This game was made by the Tactics guys; the story is very political. Whereas other Final Fantasies can be labelled as soap operas, XII is actually a good piece of drama.

Gameplay wise, Dragon Age is very similar to this game, albeit less customizable. When I first played DA, I felt as if Bioware had directly lifted the Gambit system straight from XII. You party members are very maleable and customizable. You can personalize pretty much everything about their attacks.

FFXII always fascinated me .Everytime I tried to play it I was put off by the combat, but I would still love to try it again.

Final Fantasy XII is one my favorites from the series, but it's definitely not an old-school JRPG. It plays more like Dragon Age or Kotor than a JRPG really. 

@BoG said:

@Soapy86 said:

Final Fantasy XII is one my favorites from the series, but it's definitely not an old-school JRPG. It plays more like Dragon Age or Kotor than a JRPG really.

It doesn't play like any single-player RPG. It plays like World of Warcraft.

Final Fantasy XII takes some ideas from MMOs, but it's most definitely plays like a single-player RPG at heart. And some of its mechanics were lifted almost wholesale by Bioware for use in Dragon Age.

Gameplay wise, Dragon Age is very similar to this game, albeit less customizable. When I first played DA, I felt as if Bioware had directly lifted the Gambit system straight from XII. You party members are very maleable and customizable. You can personalize pretty much everything about their attacks.

Holy shit, this game came out in 2006? I feel...old.

Yes.

@SlasherMan said:

@AuthenticM said:

Gameplay wise, Dragon Age is very similar to this game, albeit less customizable. When I first played DA, I felt as if Bioware had directly lifted the Gambit system straight from XII. You party members are very maleable and customizable. You can personalize pretty much everything about their attacks.

Didn't NWN (or at least one of the NWNs) have that system? I vaguely recall them having the same tactics system, which would probably be what DA's system is based on.

The AI customization in Dragon Age is really just Final Fantasy XII's gambits.

Yeah dude.

I personally hated how it played.

I think you'll find this ends up being a very good experience, as its still one of the highest quality PS2 games you can find. There are some negative points, I don't think you'll find the characters develop quite as much as you'd like and the game definitely forces you to sink time into it to keep your level where it needs to be (in order to successfully defeat bosses).
 
But the combat, voice acting, graphics, and music are all very very good.

I pretty much stumbled over this game for 2 Euros a week ago and decided to look into it by emulating it with pcsx2 yesterday. Apart from there being almost no lighting and a kinda ugly looking hud + text I am really impressed with the visuals so far. The gameplay feels a bit weird, but I imagine that I eventually could get into it after a while (if I decide to keep playing that is).

@Prodstep: So did you get it?