Final Fantasy XII

I have returned! Almost catastrophically late, but, fear not. I've been looking at a very good game recently, a game so good that it made me eat my own socks. Yes, that good. The game, not the socks. Anyhow, the most recently released game in the Final Fantasy series is by far the best console rpg that I have played on the PS2. When I started playing this game, it grabbed me by the throat, and upped my standards of console RPG's tenfold. Everything about it is astounding, from the story, to the cinematics, to the gameplay. The entire game makes me want to stand up, wave my arms over my head, and scream "EPIC!" over and over again.
As far as the story goes, the tale of a small kingdom caught between two warring empires is a fairly basic concept, but the geniuses at Square Enix took it, and turned it into something extraordinary. Between the political strife, the seemingly one sided romance between two of the main characters, and the epic quest to restore the rightful heir to the crown in order to declare peace with an occupying nation, the story has litteraly got something for everyone.
The gameplay is second to none. The combat system takes a little getting used to, but the first three hours of play are spent in tutorials, which explain all of the game's odds and ends. The combat utilizes an auto attack in conjunction with other special abilities, like World of Warcraft. The thing that really sets it apart though, is that you can pause the game at any time during combat in order to issue commands without having to worry about your characters' health bott0ming out. The skill and ability unlocking system to the game, and is really fun to use. Sure it's frustrating to have to graphically unlock several other skills to get to the one you want, but the puzzle like system is ultimately creative, and entertaining.
I wish that I could go one further about the game (I think that I might edit this post a little later on) but duty calls. "By the light of the moon!" *poof*