As with all the previous games, I'll rate FFXII based on games of that era and other PS2 games. As such I give it an 8.5.
I feel it began with a pretty solid cast and story and definitely above avg graphics. However, while they established all of these things early on, including a powerful setting and a very large storyline, it seemed to fall apart as the game went on. Characters which were important at the start of the game such as Basch became nearly non-existent towards the mid-game. And other characters didn't even find a place in the plot till nearly the end of the game, such as Balthisar. And of course, other characters were just plain annoying or unlikeable, such as Ashe and Vaan. Sadly, they became the main characters about halfway through the game in this ever changing plot structure.
The gameplay was unique however, and fun. The only problem was, areas were often too long and there was little customization to your characters outside of unlocking new skills. Sort of a more limiting version of the Sphere Grid. But the biggest problem I think the game had was the complete drop-off of content near the end, where the only thing to do after the 'main story' is complete is long fetch quests looking for Espers, 'hunts' for monsters or beat the end boss (which might as well be invisible in this game).
In all, the game is fun, but it has major problems in story development and end game content.
As for FFXIII, I have not played it.
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