Final Fantasy XII sold 1,764,266 copies in its first week in Japan, almost equaling the sales of Final Fantasy X in its first week.[97] The total number of copies sold stood at 2,150,671 after five weeks of release.[98] A Square-Enix conference report stated that Final Fantasy XII has sold more than 2.38 million copies in Japan as of May 24, 2006.[5] By November 6, 2006 — one week after its release — Final Fantasy XII had shipped approximately 1.5 million copies in North America.[99]
On March 16, 2006, Final Fantasy XII became the sixth game to receive a 40/40 score from the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, making it the first Final Fantasy game and the first PlayStation 2 title to do so. It is also the second Yasumi Matsuno title to garner a perfect score, the first being Vagrant Story. The game was praised for its graphics, scenarios, game system, and the freshness it brought to the Final Fantasy series.[100] The game was critically acclaimed by many reviewers outside of Japan even before its release in those territories. It was praised for its seamless transitions between FMV segments and the in-game engine,[101] and was voted number one for Best Art Style on IGN's weekly Top Ten.[102] Newtype USA named Final Fantasy XII its "Game of the Month" for November 2006, praised the gameplay, graphics, and story, and called it "the best RPG to have been released for any Sony platform."[103]
Although GameSpot lauded the gambit and license systems as an innovative and in-depth way for the player to control the characters, it criticized them for being too complicated and difficult to get used to, especially for newer players of the series. It also criticized the sometimes tedious back and forth travel.[8] On the other hand, GameSpot took particular note of the "excellent" voice cast.[8] IGN praised the game's rich storyline and artistic direction, shown through its "sheer depth of character". It also assuaged criticism that the gambit system would "let the game play itself", countering that gambits do not function without a player. However, it noted that, while "still extremely strong", Final Fantasy XII has one of the series' weaker soundtracks.[7]
Final Fantasy XII was recognized by the website GameSpot as the "Best Playstation 2 Game" in their Best Games and Worst Games of 2006, as well as nominated in the "Game of the Year" and "Best Role-Playing Game" categories.It also achieved "PS2 Game of the Year" and "PS2 RPG of the Year" in GameSpy's Game of the Year 2006,and won "Best PS2 RPG" and "PS2 Game of the Year" in the IGN Awards.Final Fantasy XII was named the "Best Game" in the 2006 Edge Awards,and it was also nominated for "Role-Playing Game of the Year" in the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
