FFXII: Love It or Hate It?

This will probably label me as a heretic but I really don't see what's so great about this game. I'll admit that I didn't get very far in the game (only 13 hours) so you make take my opinion with a grain of salt, but nothing about this game held my interest enough to want to continue playing it. Certainly not the license board, one of the worst levelling systems ever made if not THE worst. I heard the Zodiac edition fixes some of the issues I had so I'll see how that goes.
 
I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. :hmmm:

It's probably got some of my favourite characters in the entire FF series, though. Basch, Balthier and Fran in particular were great characters, I thought. Asche was interesting and engaging enough as well, though I wasn't really keen on Vaan or Penelo. I kinda feel that Vaan and Penelo's main purpose in the game was to serve as more of a link to the player who was, essentially, tagging along for the ride but I still thought they were really flat characters.

The story had some pretty engaging moments but, largely, felt that it was full of boring political nonsense that I just couldn't connect with.

Where I felt the game really shone, however, was in the scope of the world. Roaming the deserts was a delight at first but quickly became incredibly tedious when that turned into an insanely long and boring trek across the Sandseas. But most of the other environments, oh my gosh... I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the ruins of Nabudis, the Phon Coast, Giruvegan, the Mosphoran Highwaste and probably a bunch of other places that I can't name off the top of my head. I also loved hunting as well, those side-quests were insanely fun at times.

Overall, it is an enjoyable game, but there was an awful lot that I felt bogged it down in terms of gameplay and story. I didn't like the battle system much at all because I really felt like I was taking a back seat to the whole experience due to the whole Gambit system. The levelling system was shite as well, I thought. It wouldn't have been so bad if each license board was unique to each character to provide some more individuality amongst them, but yeah... it ended up being awfully convenient being able to pretty much clone each character in terms of what abilities and weapons they could use. It took away one of the things I enjoyed about other FF games, which was having character-specific weapons. Also, it would have been pretty interesting if there was more diversity with the playable characters. I think it would have been pretty awesome having a Seeq, Bangaa and even a Moogle in the party. :mokken:
 
I've changed thoughts and opinions about this game a lot, and I don't know why. Just love the whole environment and cast a lot more than did previously. Though I had the same experience with FF VI and FF IX.

Don't see it as the best Final Fantasy or the worst, just somewhere in the top middle. Would place it somewhere with FF V- as they both put story on the backseat and gameplay is the most importance. And higher than the original FF NES games.

This is a Final Fantasy that takes a couple of tries to get into, I think.

This will probably label me as a heretic but I really don't see what's so great about this game.

FF XII is for sure a love it or hate it FF.
 
I loved it and I'm glad it's coming back for PS4. I have my opinion on some things in the game though. I think the main character should have been Basch, not Vaan. It was more his story then Vaan's in the first place. Vaan seemed more a minor character throughout the game - a tag along. I was disappointed that at the end everyone got their happy ending except Basch. He ended up loosing more then he had at the beginning. He lost his brother - so there was no chance for them to reconcile. His good name was still tarnished because of what his brother did. About that the ending said he was told "the time is not right" to clear his name. In order to serve again he had to impersonate his brother and take up his brother's position serving what through the whole game was the enemy camp. He just got a raw deal all the way around. I loved the license board and they're changing that in the new release. I maxed out everyone's license board and kept switching skills and weapons according to what each battle warranted. I'm going to miss being able to assign every character every weapon and watching the unique way each character handled it. For instance, assign Basch a lance and he would use it over hand from above in more a stabbing motion. Give Balthier the same weapon and he tucked it under his arm and stabbed straight out or under and up. I will greatly miss that because the system they put in place is more like what they had in 13 where the skills were strong in some areas and extremely week in others - especially the healing skills or like 15 (which I like except for the skill development) where Gladio only can use broadsword and shield, Ignis only short swords and lances, and Prompto only firearms. The reports I've been reading is that they changed other things about the game but that part is vague. I truly hope they don't ruin it for those of us that liked the game play just the way it was.
 
i loved it, it was one of the feshes takes on the game imo.

its probably my second favorite ff out of them.
 
I'm going to have to go with the monotonous answer of being on the fence in regards to Final Fantasy XII (PS2) and swinging towards it being an excellent game in later releases with Zodiac Age (PS4). It has been a very like-dislike relationship over the PS2 and PS4 eras..

On first release (PS2) I only have vague recollections of playing the game but two things that have always stuck with me:
(I) if you didn't try to kill the Wild Saurian just outside Rabanastre at the beginning of the game - did you even play Final Fantasy XII at all? And;
(II) I felt like I enjoyed the game for its more serious storyline, but at 14, I didn't really 'get it' as much as I would have liked, which undoubtedly had an affect on my opinion.

Purchasing Zodiac Age (PS4) at 25 (only just got around to playing it this year), I do feel like I appreciated the story to a much greater degree - as an example, elements such as the disparity and inequality of wealth leading to suppression of the poor, which I realised existed at a younger age, but didn't appreciate as much as needed due to lack of knowledge that comes with age and life experience. I think I also appreciated the depth and complexity of the battle / gambit system and license board more in Zodiac Age, rather than simply gaining licenses simply to fill the board - admittedly, I didn't overly use the gambit system too much until I hit the Zodiac Age trial mode.

My only real dislike of Zodiac Age was running through everything to achieve a platinum trophy became a long, boring grind to the point is started to feel like a slog - especially preparing for the trial mode. The trial mode in itself frustrated me to the point I got stuck, gave up on it in June 2019 and only finished it off to gain the platinum trophy today. It wasn't an issue with the game per se, more that it felt it took a long, long time to cleanup during the endgame.

It's an odd concept, but I think Final Fantasy XII (PS2) probably suffered with varying opinions because it was ahead of its time (very similar as Shadow of the Colossus towards the end of the PS2 era); mechanically and technically, it is an excellent game combined with quite a heavy and mature storyline - credit due, Zodiac Age does hold up very well considering the original Final Fantasy XII was released over a decade ago.
 
I loved Final Fantasy XII, even if the story wasn't perfect.

And i think the problem with the story wasn't what it was saying, but how it was being told. The beginning promised a grand war between nations, and more of that FF Tactics style story, but when we get to Vaan, it feels disjointed or off. And if you compare it to other games out there that exist such as The Last Remnant or Infinite Undiscovery, they were also told in very quirky ways too.

I understand people hate Vaan, but i can't for the life of me hate him. He served a purpose, even if it was temporary and normally if a character isn't killed off, they stay within the party, even if they aren't that relevant. Yuffie sticks around and no one questions why she stays with the ff7 party despite her story being resolved.
 
i previously said in the ff9 thread ff7 was the only one i finished. now i remember i finished ff12 also. i really loved it, like the battle system and especially princess ashe and then penelooo. the graphic was much better than in ff7 , so good as ffx graphically and mueically was, i found ff12 graphically splendid and music song kiss me good bye
 
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