I finally started playing FFXII...and

[bluemax]

You can beat all three forms of the last boss without touching your controller and at a reasonable level (50s I believe).

Does anything more really need to be said?

[BlueTsunami]

I really, really like how the characters are portrayed in the game. Very mature in that they don't spend time bickering on hollow topics (like LOVE or HATE or REVENGE or LIFE or ALL FOUR). Its more tuned in to the specific issues regarding each character.

The voice acting rocks too, Basch and Balthier's are really good and I really like Fran's VA...it sounds unique.

[Himu]

FFXII's presentation is the best I've ever seen in a jrpg. It has by far the best localization I've ever witnessed.

Blue, I enjoy that too.

[recursivelyenumerable]

Random battles in most Final Fantasies never really needed strategy anyways. Its the Boss battles where you need to break out of your comatose and start paying attention.

Random battles are supposed to gradually wear you down over the course of a dungeon.  The strategy is in minimizing your resource use for each battle.  Unfortunately many recent (like, the last 15 years) RPGs make healing magic and items way too plentiful, so you're never in any danger of running out and random battles become nothing but EXP receptacles. 

[Himu]

thankfully DQ has little mp healing items

[BlueTsunami]

Random battles in most Final Fantasies never really needed strategy anyways. Its the Boss battles where you need to break out of your comatose and start paying attention.

Random battles are supposed to gradually wear you down over the course of a dungeon.  The strategy is in minimizing your resource use for each battle.  Unfortunately many recent (like, the last 15 years) RPGs make healing magic and items way too plentiful, so you're never in any danger of running out and random battles become nothing but EXP receptacles. 

Yeah, I've always wondered where that disconnect happened. Totally pulling on old designs in newer games (or just complete unbalance). Random battles have just become a chore.

Also, I just ripped and patched my FFXII disk with the two patches that eliminate FMV stutter and Audio problems. Loading times have dramatically dropped and theres no pause between accessing the Map and the License Board. Much, MUCH better.

[MrAngryFace]

VP2 > FFXII

[Beezy]

Ok, it seems FFVII is really rare and it's very expensive. Any way I can get for it cheap?

emulation

[Powerslave]

Ruzbeh get the Playstation version, and play it on a PS1 for best results. FF7 is one of those games that don't look good on a PS2, even with the smooth texture feature on. It will just look a bit grainy.

But whatever you do, don't play the PC version or emulate it on PC.

[MCD]

You can make the PC version better (better models, high res, mp3 music...etc..) but it's a pain so either play it on a PS1 or PSP.

PSP is a much better choice IMO, since the screen isn't big thus it will look good.

also, with PSP you can get it for free.