Think back to Final Fantasy 8 and 9. Big, open game worlds where you could explore and find hidden things. Then think of 10 - much more restricted, but with a great skill system. FFXII takes the best of both of these and combines them perfectly.

The game world is now one giant map. You can travel to most locations in the game without ever getting in an airship or teleporting, just by running. Of coruse, the game world is so vast that this could take hours, but it's nice to have the connectivity there; it gives the world an organic feel.

The skill system has been overhauled for this outing to be based around licenses. Your characters start with a set number, and must spend license points (acquired through battle) to gain new licenses. These let a character use a particular skill, spell, armour piece or weapon, or in one section of the license board, gives the character more hit points, mana points or other stat boost. Think FFX's sphere system, but without the linear nature - if you want one character to start using high level white magic, you can go in that direction without having to pass through tons of hp gains, black magics and combat skills along the way. Of course, you need to buy the magic to actually use it, but the shops are very clearly marked in every town to make this easy.

The storyline is easy to follow and engaging, though at times can be a little slow. This is more than made up for by the characters, who I found to be very well rounded, with very distinct personalities and good interactions. The game has a few inbuilt minigames which can be very itneresting, particularly the hunting minigames, which is based on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

A thoroughly enjoyable game for an aging system.