10 reasons Final Fantasy XII is RPG royalty

We know you may not have tried the latest Final Fantasy to grace consoles. Number XII arrived when we were all excited about the Wii or PS3 and what could've been a Game of the Year contender had its limelight stolen by Gears of War and Zelda. No matter. Those who did try the latest offering from Square Enix were either true believers or got madly pissed about the new control scheme - it plays itself? Blasphemy! Seriously though, you'd be hard pressed to find a better RPG, even in the Final Fantasy series itself. Now before you get all butt-sore about that statement, read why FFXII is a true gem.

1) The characters look nearly real
PS3 may be able to model human faces right down to the dirtiest detail of a shaving rash, but it isn't worth the rendering time if the eyes look like marbles and mouths move like sock puppets. FFXII's characters are more stylized than realistic, but they're so very convincing that it's likely you'll just stop and ogle during those spooky moments when the skilled animation, direction and beautifully-rendered mugs come together to hypnotic effect in many a cutscene.

2) Absurd Mist attacks
If you want to deliver a face-cracking wallop to a mini-boss, then you should employ some Mist Knacks. They allow you to trade off your magic points in exchange for some devastating attacks. Best of all, Mist offensives can be chained and if you manage to execute a long enough sequence, you'll end with a special flourish attack powerful enough to knock Spain into Canada.