I was reading about this, apperantly this game is going to take place in the world of Ivalice, which is the same world of Final Fantasy tactics. Thats first screens of the in game play ive seen but it certainly looks great. I cant wait for 12 to come out.
As to my favorite in the series its a two way tie. VI (US 3) was wonderful. For the amount of characters it had they were all developed well. I honestly felt something of an emotional attachment for most all of them (except gau the painter girl and her grandfather mimic and the snowman dude... useless, the lot of them.
The other is VIII. Plenty of people bitch about the "realism" (because in reality we all have gun/swords and can use magic) but i though it was great. The graphics were a huge step up from seven, and i honestly enjoyed the techno/fantasy setting the game employed. Plus the main character squall is an asshole, how can you beat that?