[kupoartist]

FFXII
https://www.psfantasy.com/forums/sho...&threadid=6546 <- this thread contains all we do know about FFXII... very, very little. And all we need to know about when we'll know more: September's Tokyo Game Show.
FFXI
As for FFXI, its been out in Japan for over a year now, and there are many dedicated sites to the game.

First and most important fact: its online only. No Single Player. To play it on PS2 you're going to need a Network Adaptor, a PS2 Hard Drive, and at least two rare miracles (eg. Pigs Flying or Hell Freezing over) for Sony and Square to release the PS2 version in Europe. (the PC Version should get here no problem).

I know a fair bit about the story (I did a large Graphics Products Project and designed a Stand, Cover and Manual for the game), but its worth mentioning that the story doesn't truely progress. (at least at a great pace)
The Story
The game world is called Vana'diel, a world born from the light of the one Crystal. Many years ago, Mighty Gods roamed the world and it was one of beauty and peace, but the gods fell into slumber (ie. they got bored with the whole affair). In this time, the kingdoms of Vana'diel came forth, along with the dark one known as the "Shadow Lord". Threatened by the Shadow Lord and his dark hordes, the kingdom's united and supposedly defeated him... but now he is set to return.

Character Creation
This is probably the most comprehensive and interesting part of the game. First you choose a race, and a gender:
- Hume - M & F - essentially "Humans" - Pretty good at Anything (fairly good points in all statistics)
- Elvaan - M & F - essentially "elves" - Good Fighters and Wht Mages (High Spr)
- Taratarus - M & F - Knee High Pointy Nosed little peoples - Excellent Mages (High Mag)
- Mithra - Female Only - Cat Women - Good Theifs (high Dex and Agi)
- Galka - Male Only - Massive Blokes with Hairy Faces - Great Fighters / Monks (Unrivialed Str / Vit but pitiful Agi / Dex)

Then there are multiple Face and Height combinations to choose. Then you may pick a Name and a starting job class -

The Job System
If you've ever played FF1, you'll know the jobs you start with - Fighter, Black Mage, White Mage, Red Mage, Monk and Thief. By doing quests you can obtain more jobs than those you start with, and from memory the complete list also includes: Bard, Paladin, Dark Knight, Monster Tamer (and some others i think i've forgotten). Further to this, the 1st Expansion brought at least 2 new jobs - Dragoons and Summoners (which were obviously brought in by demand as they're very popular jobs - the balance of the game had to be maintained however). Each Job has a load of abilites, and as you battle and gain Job Experience, you get more and more of them. You're are not limited to 1 job at a time: you can set a job as secondary, so a Black Mage could complement their Black Magic with White Magic as a White Mage (Secondary). However, when set as a secondary job, you only have the abilites of Half the job level it is at: level the job up to 30, put it as secondary and it'll only be as good as if Level 15.

Job changes are done in your "Mog House" - a place in you starting kingdom where you can rest, store item, chill out, and even decorate.

Transport
One interesting thing I once heard is that a journey from one side of the game world to the other, without stopping, and going by foot would take about half and hour to an hour. Thankfully, you can opt to rent a Chocobo to cover some distance, or you can buy tickets on boats which travel by sea or float through the air, giving you some time to take in the scenary... one of the first "interesting experiences" in FFXI that I heard of, was how one import player took a trip by sea, only to be brutally murdered by a sea-monster whilst bobbing over the oceans! (ie. he lost the fight... badly)

things to do...
Obviously there is going out and battling monsters to level up your skills. The Battle System is real-time, with you selecting an action from a list - if you do nothing, you automatically repeat that action when your character is back to "ready". TBH, this doesn't sound too great, but it would seem that the abilities you can use must balance it out. Also, you don't have to fight alone - you can have a party of up to 6 people, and these parties can be futher linked to two other parties (giving a total of 18 people in an "alliance" - suitable for taking down the toughest bosses.)

Other things to do include mastering guild jobs - with the help of crystals found when digging the empty plains (i think this is with Chocobos...), you can synthesise items, depending on your chosen skills - you can make armour, novelty items and cook food. Also, you are able to dangle a Fishing Rod into a body of water and catch a few fish to eat. Yummy fish of course (Hack Hack! I feel a little better!)

There are a whole load of things I haven't mentioned of course... some good, some bad - hope this gave you a little taster

Edit: and there is also this:Gameforms Hands-on of US Beta Test