Onesydoo

DQXI!!!! I've never played it but I will Attack anyone who disagrees on the grounds that I've also been meaning to play this game for Years now and just haven't, and Also I liked DQIX lsdkfhg

I'm almost done with FF12. It's a lot of fun! The Zodiac Age version with 4x speed REEEEALLY helps. As does the optional on-screen map. The gambit system is cool to tinker with. In a way, the game can almost feel like one of those idle games where you don't have to put a lot of thought into it. If you have a good gambit setup for the area, the party just does its job.

I'm about 20ish hours into it and I'm at the second to last dungeon. I've been ignoring the hunts which are the primary side quests in the game. I've also done some optional farming for cash/license points which really wasn't necessary, I just felt like doing it.

The hunts are supposed to be pretty cool, but to be totally honest I have been unimpressed with the first dozen so I stopped doing them. Mainly the issue is that you need to talk to the hunt issuer to start it, so you have to do: hunt board > hunt poster > hunt location > (sometimes figure out how to even get the hunt monster to spawn) > kill monster > return to hunt poster > return to hunt board. If you could teleport at any time that would be no problem, but you end up doing a lot of walking. It made me yearn for Aetheryte travel from FF14.

One big problem is that some SERIOUSLY CRITICAL STUFF is locked behind random chest spawns. For example, the spell Cleanse is only obtainable via a treasure chest with a 20% spawn rate in a random area with no clues about it. Cleanse cures Disease, which you will run into a LOT in the late game. If you get knocked out with Disease and get revived, you only have 1 HP and you remain Diseased even after you die. Think of it like SUPER DOOM. If you don't actively look for these items/spells online, there's a likelihood that your game will become unreasonably difficult.

That being said, those are my two real complaints. Everything else has been pretty fantastic. Music is great, setting is great, I like the characters, I love the art design, I think the battle system is a fun puzzle, and I think overall the game has aged very gracefully.

They're both really good games in my opinion so it is hard to say. I'm a big DQ fan so I'm a bit biased but I don't think you can go wrong with either game. The setting of FFXII is my favorite of that franchise and exploring the world and finding secrets is fun. I like the optional hunts you can do as well as they all have their own little story behind them and while also having good rewards most of the time. The main story is good but I think the game does drag a bit in the 2nd half. The Zodiac Age added some much needed build diversity to the characters too.

DQXI is up there as one of my favorite DQ games. The story is a bit more typical of your average JRPG but does have its own twists and turns to keep it interesting. The characters are all really enjoyable too. There's a decent amount of side content and optional things to find which make exploration feel worth it. The combat system is your standard turn based style but it has enough to it to keep it interesting. I just recommend starting the game with the "Stronger Monsters" option enabled as a lot of people say it is too easy otherwise. For me it made the challenge just right for the most part and kept me on my toes in a lot of fights. I think the games biggest flaw is that the soundtrack is a bit uninspired and lacking in variety. It's not bad but certainly not the series best.