it starts off pretty slow . You don’t get into the world map until about 3 hours into the game BUT…
I’m really glad that FFXII does start off slow because a) so many games these days, and RPGs in particular, start off with both feet running it’s a nice change of pace and b) I like games that take a long, long time to beat, and c) if things start off slow that means the best parts of the game are towards the end, and not front-loaded at the game’s start. Which is a very good thing.