I agree. Definitely the best FF game from the last 3 console generations, and perhaps ever. It's such a shame that Square couldn't manage a decent follow up to this.
There's also something else of interest that is unique to XII: It is the most balanced FF game by far. The one category where FF games generally fails (for me at least) is replayability as there never is a difficulty option. Most of them are just waaay too easy. However, with XII there's an accessory called "firefly" that fixes this. If you equip your characters with this it's possible to beat the game without ever gaining a level - also called the "Low-Level challenge" I believe. Unlike some other jrpg games with a LLC that are next to impossible without some sort of trick/farming/grinding, XII is pretty straight-forward. I highly recommend trying it if you've beaten the game already and are already familiar with it. It's very simple: In the very beginning of the game you just have to kill no non-boss enemies till around the wall that casts X-Zone or maybe just a little after that. :)