So, one thing I felt from my experience of FFXII (although it didn't really hit me until after my playthrough) is that the soundtrack was rather...average? I don't want to call it bad, because there wasn't necessarily anything wrong with it. It was just that nothing seemed very prominent or striking about it either. There's no particular piece I can look back on and say that I just had to have my speakers up when it played. Instead, outside of the dub (which could be irritable at times), I never felt any real need or desire to have the audio turned up.

I suppose this especially came to mind because FF has spoiled us in the past with some really fantastic soundtracks. So, again, that's not to say that I felt this one was particularly bad, just that it felt ordinary or weaker by comparison.

I think one of the most enjoyable tracks from the game was "Rebellion".

Thoughts?

XII's OST doesn't have tracks that tug at the heartstrings. in just about every FF game pre-FFX there were always at least 5 tracks that stuck with you 'cause of their emotional chords and strong melody. XII didn't have this, rather the music served to create an atmosphere for the environment. to put it bluntly, it was all about the world, rather than the characters. regardless, i enjoyed the OST for what it was.

I think this is a very accurate depiction of XII's style of music. It does seem to feed into the atmosphere a lot (perhaps why it's often said to be Star Wars-esque), which could explain why it seems to blend so much, thus failing to stand out as a real force in the game?

That being said, I think atmospheric music is still capable of playing into emotions quite a bit. Character-based scores certainly do this better and seem more heavily intended for this, but some atmosphere tracks from FF have been truly memorable:

VII's "Main Theme of FFVII" (the world map), "Interrupted by Fireworks" (the date)
VIII's "Breezy" (played in Balamb), "The Mission" (arriving in Balamb to warn Cid)
IX's "A Place to Call Home" (played in the game's intro)

and more from past games as well... I wish XII had tracks that could evoke emotions the same.

I seem to hear/read this a lot. For me, X's tracks were very hit or miss. Some were pretty strong (although I don't remember any specifically), while others were downright bad. I hated most of their techno pr0n upgrades on classics, like the prelude for instance? Yuck.

I don't think XII needed any of those emotional tracks. The tracks in the game serve their purpose, which is to bring life into the environments. Estersand sounds like Estersand. Rabanastre sounds like a city. I wasn't really impressed with XII's music, but then again every single track fit in with the environment, so I have no complaints. XII wasn't meant to center on the characters or the music, XII is more about focusing on the atmosphere and the gameplay. I think it excels in those two categories which it focuses on the most. Again, the music wasn't amazing, but it really wasn't meant to be.

Rebellion is terrific! It doesn't sound prominent when it was first heard, but after some time it grows on me.

I also feel the soundtrack is overall weak and not so much memorable as the other Final Fantasy soundtracks. It definitely is a weak point and failed to convey much of the story.