Everything I want to say has been said by somebody somewhere, but here goes anyways:

The battle system was brilliant. I loved it. It was so smooth and fun, and not tedious at all. Gambits didn't take any of the fun out of it (i agree with roto), which was a worry to me at first, and there were still genuine scares... like when an elemental floated too close and you had to run the @#$%^ away.

The graphics... yea, I don't even have to say anything <3

The characters were individually fine, though Penelo and Fraan seemed void of personality to me, and yea, I didn't care as much about them as I did with other FFs, but there was *some* hope...

The story... it was eh. I don't need a sweeping love story at all, but I just didn't really care... the threat of war seemed far away and things seemed far too cheery for me to worry. I'm all for political intrigue... as long as it brings the drama, which FFXII really didn't, in the end. There were threads that I got excited about, but they just ended, or weren't as interesting as I expected them to be. It had some major potential, but there just seemed to be a disconnect between the politics and people of the story. That was my biggest problem with it-- bland.