I can't really believe that there's a disscusion about this! X is in a completely different league than 12. 12 was boring, plain simple! X had a great battle system, great graphics (for playstation 2) and I loved the idea of being able to actually use the Aeons. Stroke of genius!!

Yeah it is, by the time i got round to the final fight with sin, it was way too easy with break damage limit. AND I still wasn't hard enough to beat some of the dark aeons by that point. Uber weak even.

Good analysis of the games though, have to agree with you on most points. Although i felt the judges could have had a bit more depth to make them as terrifying as they deserved. Seeing the trailers pre XII, maybe I had built them up in my own imagination too much.

I think XII had the potential to be excellent, but failed to deliver. Maybe it was rushed to be released, as there was already so much more in the pipeline (PS3, DS, PSP games). The Vaan thing is spot on too, I liked the look of him, looked kinda like me when i was a kid, scrawny, although different attire lol. But maybe it was because he never really took charge of the group (although hard given his age (Tidus was young too, but because of his relationship with Yuna, became the leader)) Think they were keen to avoid a similar thing with ashe and vaan, so it made thinks a bit awkward i feel, sorta two leaders both unsure what they should be doing.

Think story-wise X is better because its more complete, and there's a definate progression. Whereas XII just seem to happen, without you noticing.

I also prefer XII to X, as I'm sure I've mentioned in this topic. I was thinking about this topic and thought of one major reason why I like XII more:

The design.

I thought the design of X was seriously lacking in comparison to XII. The world of Ivalice was much larger and exciting (and far less linear) than Spira. Also, the basic designs of character's attire were for the most part, hideous in X. Things like the Al Bhed or the Ronso's clothes were hideous with clashing colours and generally horrid designs. I felt that the design of XII was much more fluid and solid. A few of the Espers were questionable, but that was about it. Even Vaan's and Ashe's silly designs were more eye-appealing than Wakka's and Tidus' hideous clothes. Seriously.

I find that people exaggerate how good X's story is. I think it gets very weak towards the end. Although XII's pacing isn't the greatest, I think that overall the story had more potential.

The characters ... Not XII's strongest point, but not X's either. I don't think of Vaan as the main character, so I'm not bothered with his inclusion.

I don't think Penelo's design would be that bad if she didn't have those weird shoulder guard wing things ... Kimahri's design wasn't that bad, it was the other Ronso that let the design down. I thought their attire was gag-enducing.

It's down to my personal preference. I just thought that the design, not only of clothes, but also of places and such were better in XII.

I don't think the story of XII deserves to be called the worst in FF. Sure, it has its faults, like being told too slowly and could have been expanded on so much more with the Espers, the Dynast King theme and the Occuria. X's plot could have been expanded too, with the stories of Yu Yevon and Omega actually looked into with some sense of depth and not just "Hey we need to kill them!"

I find that X's story is waaaaaay too linear. In essence, it's a simple case of going from Point A to Point B to kill something (that's pretty much how it's presented at the start of the game). Sure, there's some twists in the middle and along the way, but there wasn't much else going on. In XII, the story had me travelling all over the world.

I was really disappointed with X's two final Dungeons, Zanarkand and Inside Sin. They were far too easy. XII's were less disappointing. I LOVED the Pharos Lighthouse. That's probably my favourite dungeon in all FF. Bahamut was a major letdown, but the Pharos more than makes up for it.

They both have their pros and cons, I just find XII to be the better game (but I don't think it deserved Famitsu's 40/40 score).