Note: Keep in mind these are only my opinions. If you plan to bash me or call me closed minded for them, I've spent hours on both and have arrived at a conclusion on both. Also, I know these games are completely different but this is only to give you a rough reasoning on whether you're at a cross roads on getting either/or.

First a list of pros and cons

Final Fantasy XII

Pros:
-Graphics
-Airships (Back to Final Fantasy's roots)
-Characters (In terms of variety)
-The world of Final Fantasy Tactics/Advanced
-Battle System/Gambits

Cons:
-Dubbing (Sounds like the recording was done in a cheap studio)
-The Hero - Vaan
-Music
-License Board
-Removal of Random Battles

.hack//G.U. Vol. 1

Pros:
-Characters
-Story
-Soundtrack
-Multi-Weapon
-Dubbing

Cons:
-Too Short
-Amount of Maps
-Removing the Dual Audio

Overview

This is the part where I give you an overview of the games and give you a more detailed explanation of the pros and cons.

Final Fantasy XII

Okay, so who doesn't like the Final Fantasy game series? I mean, in depth stories, cool characters, etc. I've pretty much played or tried every Final Fantasy game and this one was actually the worst(Remember, my opinion.).

Graphics:
No denying this game had awesome graphics. From the cut scenes to just wandering around town. Square Enix really did a number with it.

Story:
Honestly, I played like 6 or 7 hours of it and felt bored with it. I felt like the story didn't progress much, if at all any. It was slow, felt boring and didn't give me much to wanna play anymore into it.

Characters:
Variety was nice and it was cool to see the Viera(SP?) and Bangaa's in 3D. But in terms of useable... Boring. That's it.

Battle System:
The battle system is pretty fun, but honestly, I miss the days of Final Fantasy VII when it comes down to it. You have this huge expansive(not to mention beautiful.) map and you just go around killing monsters on it, creating chains(increase item drops), and what not. But here's the thing about the battle system that makes it interesting - The Gambits. Basically gambits are pre-selected commands to give to the other characters in your party, such as "Use Potion When Health Is Below 70%" and things along those lines. The criticals basically.

License Board:
The thing I hated the most about this game. I thought the Sphere Grid was time consuming, but this... This is just sheer stupidity. So, basically with this you need to earn LP, which is gained from killing monsters and with LP, you use it on the license board to ya' know... Learn skills, use Mists' and ESPers, but wait that's not all... But to wear equipment as well. Honestly, this is stupid. You need these things in order just to wear a freakin' hat! I mean, this was just simply retarded.

Music:
Okay, I wanna know what Square Enix was thinking when they didn't have Nobuo Uematsu working on the soundtrack. The soundtrack to the game was horrible and didn't seem to fit with anything that you do. When there's a guy who seems like he's gonna screw you over, I want something to play that'll set it up for later. The only good thing about the soundtrack though, was keeping the fanfare. Good job for not butchering that.

Final Rating: C

.hack//G.U. Vol. 1

.hack hasn't always been a favorite series of mine, but when I saw the trailer for G.U., I just had to play it.

Graphics:
Awesome. Not Square Enix awesome, but simply awesome. The style of graphics really does fit the mood of the gameplay and story.

Story:
I really get sick of saving worlds, so .hack//G.U. is my getaway from all that. The story is definetly darker, or some would say more angiesty compared to the first .hack game series, but it's definetly alot better(remember, my opinion.). With the plot twists and knowing some ending you probably never thought would happen would be comming in the last installment.

Characters:
Simply... If you compare the heroes from Final Fantasy XII and G.U., XII loses. Not only is the character design better, but he doesn't take crap from anyone to reach his objective. Also, with probably the same amount of characters, if not less then XII, G.U. gives you a better variety and characters WITH personality.

Battle System:
A definite improvement to some, and not to others when compared with the original .hack//. Personally, I think it's an upgrade. I'm not one to wanna spend time and waste inventory space just because it's easier to kill a monster with an Elemental Hit. Screw that. Give me straight beat 'em and a fun battle system. G.U. gives me that.

Maps:
Okay, for those who know, .hack is basically a game within a game and an MMO to boot. But anyway, maps are accessed by keywords which you gather from the in game forums or from quests and use these words to form your own to warp to different areas. But here's my peeve about this. Only 3 types of maps. Field. Dungeon. Cave. It's the basics, but the map designs are what really do it. Too simple. Fairy Orbs aren't even neccessities anymore. It's either that they're too small, or Haseo just runs faster then Kite.

Music:
Okay, as usual, AMAZING. From the anime to the games, .hack has always had an amazing soundtrack and this just proved it again. Too my surprise Yuki Kajiura didn't do the soundtrack this time around, but it was still amazing.

Final Rating: A

____

All in all, I'd recommend .hack//G.U. Vol. 1 over XII. Sure XII is a complete game, but G.U. is a game that seems to have more depth to do it overall and you don't need to learn how to wear a hat or weapon. If you plan to purchese XII regardless, that's fine too, these were only my opinions. XII is a great game, regardless but it wasn't for me. Anyway, I hope you found this useful. =\

did u write this?
2 long to read ><