FFXII is my favourite game in the series! It more closely resembles literature than video games. No, it doesn't tell the player exactly what the character is thinking, but neither do classic plays and the like. You can tell their motivations, their thoughts, their desires by their actions. This is what makes it superior to the other Final Fantasies. I think that one big reason for this is because of the fact that the 3D rendering capabilities of the PS2 gave the designers more freedom to play with character gestures and expressions, something that we didn't see in previous installments because of the limitations placed on the developers by the consoles. We saw the transition in FFX. The only difference is that FFX was narrated by Tidus. If FFXII would have been narrated by one of the main characters, it would've been received in a completely different manner. I am extremely thankful that Square didn't take that approach though.

I also love the battle system. The battle system explains the pacing issues. The battle system requires very, very large areas, so it's only reasonable for the trek between two towns to be much longer in turn. This is why they added in the Teleport Crystals!

All in all, I give this game 10/10. The graphics were beautiful, the world was realistic and alive, the animation was absolutely top-notch, the characters were believable and relatable, the story moved at a pace that I could understand, there were just enough plot twists to keep me intrigued but not so many that I wtf'd, it started on a bang, it ended on a bang, there was very little down time in between (especially for a Final Fantasy game, where we often have hours of filler downtime between two major events).

The game was a literary wonder. It's not a masterpiece, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

EDIT: I also agree with everything that you said, Lamia. The design of the Espers absolutely blew me away, but their stats made them useful in a very small window of opportunities. This was simply a balancing issue though; it wasn't a system design flaw on Square's part. I found the way in which the Espers functioned to be brilliant.