So just last Friday I got my hands on Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System. I've been playing it together with my brother, we're up to Giruvegan so far.

Overall impression so far: Far better than the original. And I really liked the original. The job system works surprisingly well. I was worried before I got started, since you cannot change jobs once you pick one, but it turned out fine. We had a good idea of who should get what job and since we were late-game-oriented, we skipped classes like the Machinist, the Red Mage or the Time Mage.

Our classes are as follows:
Vaan - Archer
Balthier - Uhlan
Fran - Black Mage
Basch - Knight
Ashe - Breaker
Penelo - White Mage

But the job system is just one of many changes. First-level black and white magic spells are now multi-targeting, making the Black Mage really damn strong early on, and since Fran and Ashe both have the White Magic 1 License by heart, they can use Cure without being White Mages. A multi-target Cure is really helpful.

The L1 speedup has been active for about 95% of the game. It's addictive, having the game run at 3x-5x speed (depends on how many NPCs or monsters are on-screen). Also makes the game's more grindy parts a lot more bearable. I already chained Cerberus wolves up to 300 in getting 6 Hell Gate's Flames (because I'll do it sooner or later) and I wouldn't have had the patience without the superspeed.

Also, many of the game's treasure have been changed. You get a lot of spells and technicks in treasures and a lot more treasures are one-time-onlys with actually useful contents. You can buy all Gambits as soon as you escape the Barheim Passage, something I made quick use of to set up the elemental weakness targeting for the Black Mage. For the first time I realized the crazy power of the Oil spell as well as the elemental Staves. Fire Staff + Oil + Firaga is looking at a ton of damage, not to mention Burning Bow + Fiery Arrows + Oil.

I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the game. The main reason I bought the game was to eventually battle the five Judge Magisters, rumored to be the hardest superboss battle in Final Fantasy. But I'm enjoying myself a ton so far with the main game.