"Just be warned that demos have their limits"

Damage control. If this were an Xbox title, you guys wouldn't hold back - you'd trash it as hard as you could.

Er, damage control? I feel it's more like a caveat to ensure balanced coverage, which is the same reason why I included the quote from the article: "And it will make a lot of people very, very angry." If you want to believe we're out to get Microsoft, however, I don't think there's much I can do to change your mind. (Does the fact that I'll be waiting in line for a 360 at launch mean anything? Probably not...)

How long has FF12 been in development? I remember around FF8 they showed concepts and stuff for FF12 on their website then later took them down and brought some back up again.

Hopefully this game will put FF7 to shame (which i highly doubt) but if it does it should be the best RPG of all time. (Yeah, Right!)

Whether or not it's groundbreaking, it will be nice to play another Final Fantasy game again.

Ahh... the Square/Enix mantra:
"If it ain't broke, tweak it unil it is."

There's a reason FF6 (FF3 in the USA) is the best.

Ahh... the Square/Enix mantra:
"If it ain't broke, tweak it unil it is."

There's a reason FF6 (FF3 in the USA) is the best.

"There's a reason FF6 (FF3 in the USA) is the best."

Yes. It's called "nostalgia."

"Hopefully this game will put FF7 to shame"

FF7 is overrated. I think FF8 is the most innovative of all, has the most dramatic music and immersive storyline (despite the dead of Aerith in FF7). It's the utopic use of magic to equip yourself; the Materia mechanics improved and taken to the limits; the best Aeons/Eidolons/GFs in any FF game, and perhaps the most awesome cut-scenes yet.

Oh, and FFX is overrated too. I hope they don't screw this one up like FFX with the boring linear maps and storyline; or the boring Charlie's angels X-2.

Best non turn based RPG yet: Zelda
Best FF and turn based RPG yet: FF8, tied with Mario RPG for SNES, and Chrono trigger
Other great FFs: FF9, FF4, ff5, ff6, kingdom hearts, ff Origins, Ff tactics.
Overrated FFs: FFX-2, FFX, FF7 (don't get me wrong; they are still good. Just not good enough)
A deception: Chrono Cross (Good, but doesn't live up to Chrono trigger's history)

I'll admit that FF7 was great at the time, but my 3 fav FF games are 1, 4 and 6, with Chrono Trigger surpassing all 3 of them. Yes Zelda 1 and 3 were amazing and if you wan to go tehere, then so are Super Metroid and Castlevania SOTN. I started to lose interest in FF games after 7 but then I liked 10. I went to X-2 and was dissapointed all over again. There was a time called the 8 bit era where games were good because they were fun or captivating. Now most games are all about cosmetics and they're just not fun anymore by retro standards. My fav era was the 16 bit era and the direction of all companies to go 3d is very dissapointing. Don't get me wrong, in some cases it works well (like Metal Gear even though i loved the 2d nes games) and some even see improvemnts from their 2d prequels, but for the most part, the new RPG games don't measure up. Castlevanias on GBA and ps1 out sell all the 4 3d versions. All the petitions Square-Enix and Konami get for ports or 2d sequels are starting to work. FF4-6 on GBA, FF3 remake in 3d on DS, 2d Castlevanias on DS and GBA. I think RPGs have becaome less attractive recently. I mean common...Phantasy Star 4 never got a real sequel and this new hybrid (Universe) of PS4 and PSO is the answer ot it? I know I've rambled on a bit, but in the end I hope FF12 can keep the things that gamers like about 3d games without losing the appeal of thier 2d predessessors, but i doubt it. And that's not to say that FF12 won't be good because it will be, but in 5 years from now, I'll go back and replay the SNES FFs and wont think twice about anything after FF7. I give props to Treasure for keeping game play in 2d while the game looks 3d!

FF 7 overrated? That’s Blasphemy.

I never enjoyed FF 8. Never played it more then once. Hell I can’t barley remember what the game was about. IMO FF 7, had the better immersive storyline (even the supporting cast had a good background story to them).

How did FF 8 take the Materia system and improve on it? Didn’t you have to absorb magic from your enemy? FF 8 had the second worst magic system(X had by far the worst). It treated Magic like items. FF 7 had the most customizable/strategic magic system. And till this day, I whistle the music of FF 7.

My point is FF 7 is not overrated. It stands the test of time. It’s Shakespeare. It is the game all new games will be judge by.

I remember the only fun part of FF8 was the card game. The storyline was ok, not up to FF7's standards. The self-loathing main character was pathetic and unlikeable.

Ah yes, the magic "draw" system. Where you had to go out and *not kill enemies* to get magic. Dreadfully annoying.

FFXII looks like fun to me. I liked a lot of the way FFXI worked (the only reason I don't play it is that I can't stand games that require you to work in big groups to get any decent exp ... rewarding grouping is fine, but making solo play literally impossible after a few levels is just annoying) .. so I look forward to XI-style action in a single player game.

I hope the mission structure isn't too much like X-2. While I enjoyed X-2, it doesn't seem right to have that structure as a part of the games in the main series. Leave that in spinoffs.

For the record, IX is my favorite, but I enjoyed X a lot too. (I hated VIII, and didn't buy it, and I thought VII was ok, but certainly not the greatest.)

I've not played any of the Final Fantasy games as I dislike RPG's, but since I can remember, everytime someone mentions Final Fantasy people start breaking out into which of the 25 versions they thought were the best and why. Also, there's a lot of love/hate for FF7. Why are the conversations ALWAYS THE SAME?

I just don't understand the fascination of trying to explain (or convince others) which FF was the best and why.

Please note, I'm not hating on anyone or anything, I just don't understand the repetetive nature of discussion that follows any mention of Final Fantasy.

Chiablo: The problem is, Final Fantasy WAS broken. Japanese RPGs, in general, are broken. Far too few of them are trying to seriously progress the genre.

Why, in this day and age, are there still ANY RPGs that have random encounters that appear suddenly from thin air? Random encounters were put into games to artificially increase the length of the game, and the fact that some games still do them the EXACT SAME WAY that the original Dragon Quest did oh so long ago is really sad. I was excited to hear that FFXII was going to be another game to try to at least make some progress in this idea, but they aren't making enough, and hearing that non-important monsters respawn is dissapointing.

There's a huge list of other JRPG cliches when it comes to storyline, gameplay, and game engine elements that need to just die or see some real progress. The random encounter issue is just oen item on a long list of things that we shouldn't be putting up with anymore. The problem is, Japanese gamers seem happy letting the genre stay stagnat, and snub their noses at titles that come out that try to do something different.

Personally, I loved FFX. Didn't care for X-2 much, but it added a nice ending to X. 7 didn't really do much for me, it was ok, but I only played it once, while I played X 5 times at least. Its storyline did it for me, hopefully XII will have a good storyline, cause we have waited long enough to play an final fantasy again. If it coming so late in 2006, I think they should have just did it on PS3, graphics would have been better, and what better game to open a system with....

One aspect of FF8 sucked hairy balls. The card battles. That was the crappiest part of the game and in order to get the best summons you had to play endless amounts of BS card games. I hate card battle anything that has to do with rpg's. Pokeshlong started all that BS (as well as magic the blathering). If I wanna play cards then I won't play a video game. Its an unneccessary step that has forever ruined RPG's and other games alike. The point of video games is to get the ideas off paper, not put them back on it. So in comparison FF8 was not as good as 7. The card battle aspect was an entire waste of time and made the game less enjoyable. And as for greatest RPG's of all time, you guys leave out all the originals that made it all possible. All the old NES RPG's (as well as a couple other systems) are the greatest b/c they started it all. These include FF1, Dragon Warrior, Ultima, Crystalis, Faxanadu, zelda, and a ton of others. Not that the later games were not epic, they just don't qualify as greatest of all time b/c most gamers that grew up with the originals will remember spending hours upon hours figuring out how to beat the original NES titles. And that qualifies them as greatest of all time b/c they will be the most remembered and are the origin of all RPGs you see today.

I agree with post # 8. FF7 is a bit overrated. By all means its no a bad FF but its not the best. I think the reason people love FF7 so much because its the first RPG they've ever played. If I were to pick best ff it would be FF6. I've been playing RPG's since the apex of the gaming era 16 bit. Chorno trigger best RPG of the 16 bit era. FF7 great game. OK movie. Lets just hope the FF12 is as good as its predecessor's. Oh and if anyones wondering. The greats rpg ever made is Xenogears. Nothing can compare with the story, music, charaters and story pacing.

Come on..."Balthier"?! Even if that's a random enemy name, that's pretty lame.

Although, it's nice to know if my target's a Libra or not. that way I can see if he & one of my characters are star-crossed lovers, or are going to win the lottery soon!

I'm glad to see another FF, although, I'm not sure if I'd be able to get into it or not. I think the genre has actually passed FF by, and while I did enjoy FFX, I enjoyed other RPGs a lot more. Final Fantasy is solid, it's just kind of, well, stale. Kind of like the Simpsons, you know? I'm actually much more eagerly anticipating Front Mission 5 than I am the next FF.