Why Final Fantasy XII Works Better Than Final Fantasy XV

Here’s why FFXII‘s world is better developed and far more compelling to play than FFXV's.

[gamer7804]

FFXV was a very disappointing game, probably my least favorite FF game ever. Never had a complete vision, just a bunch of bad ideas, the combat is decent though.

[narsaku]

It was hard for me to enjoy it with the story constantly being lost between two different versions/visions of the game. It had many problems like a large dead world, vast amounts of emotionless sidequest content, marketed content shown before the game released with no sign of it in the version now, "like the main cities", character side stories that made no sense and were out of nowhere, the worst magic system I've ever personally seen in video games and a fairly stiff and restrictive world that promised so much more.

But it did have it's moments. Shiva reveal, Shiva having your back at the end, the final cutscenes, parts of the road trip and even though in the end the exploration didn't lead to anything and had no purpose, it was fun taking in the sights..

I'd give it 6/10. Above a typically average game, just good enough to hold my interest till the end, but it's certainly no Bloodborne/FF7/Mass Effect story/game.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

It sucked

[InKnight7s]

Well not as much as FFXIII that thing was huge ruining the chance of FF to stand out even more.

[PearlJam1]

FFXV was the worst of the series followed by XII IMO

[narsaku]

No it wasn't the worst, come on now... The production value and graphics alone were highly valuable. But beyond that it's true that it was a serious letdown.

[gamer7804]

i'd agree with that exactly, there are many who feel the same way. they both have good combat, but their stories are terrible. i give XII the edge over XV due to atleast having a variety of character designs and you can play multiple people in your party.

[TeamIcoFan]

Gotta love the FF fanbase.
Right now FF15 is considered the worst entry in the franchise.
Then once FF16 drops the "fans" will start saying that FF16 killed the series and blah blah blah "BRING US DEH HEAD OF TEH SQUEENIX CEO!" and crow about how FF15 is an underrated timeless classic.

Always happens lmfao.

[alstruck]

I like both of them.. both have the same story problems and fun gameplay. And both had their original director changed..

[RpgSama]

I loved FFXII at the time of release but even though it had great reviews was hated by a large % of the fanbase, because it didn't have "good leads", the story wasn't world ending enough, the "real time" battles, the gambits were you could micromanage everything until you were no longer needed, all of these things that people complained at the time, they now love about FFXII

[narsaku]

FF15 is widely considered a letdown for a plethora of reasons, if you feel differently about it don't focus on other people's hatred for it, just be happy!

[TeamIcoFan]

Sure, okay.
But don't act like it doesn't happen.
When FF15 released, the "fans" who were once extremely critical of FF13 and it's sequels were now suddenly so forgiving of it and some even went so far to say that they were underrated.
Same thing happened when FF13 came out, everyone who hated on FF12 suddenly loved it to death.
And the same was also true of FF10 when 12 came out.
This fanbase doesn't even bother mentioning FF11 and FF14 since they're mmos and therefore not "True FF games".

The simple truth is, the games in general range from okay-ish to downright amazing, while its fanbase just outright sucks.
Over entitled, under appreciative, whiny brats, the lot of 'em.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"FF15 is widely considered a letdown"

To who?

OH Forum dwellers?

Buddy, when this game is moving RECORD UNITS, its clear someone wants it and clear that someone was ok with its 2 FREE demos.

That doesn't happen on accident.

This is one of those things where maybe you need to get over that not everyone hates this game.

So no, its not "widely" as the sales show otherwise.

People don't often buy things they don't want. I think you can find FF fanboys that combined hate every entry, literally. If you ask 200 what are the worst, you are likely to get a list of every last entry lol

[narsaku]

@Edmix Sales figures do not determine the quality of a product. The product alongside of it's peers in it's own respective market does. If FF15 was the best RPG ever made, it would stand above the crowd. It doesn't. The marketing was fantastic though.

As for the demo that was released in NA?.. Although it was pretty and occasionally interesting, it was also really boring, and beyond trying to believe in forced magic themes, didn't deliver on anything except the cool physics in the living room scene's building blocks, "That aren't in the main game, btw."

By the way.. I'm unaware if who you're targeting by saying, "get over that not everybody hates this game", you should consider reading my other posts on this posts comment section.

People buy things all the time they don't like, they do it because they can. There is a reason why a term like, "buyers remorse", exists.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@Nar- "Sales figures do not determine the quality of a product"

They don't, but again...people are not buying things they hate.

Mind you, sales is the only objective NON BIAS thing we can measure in regards to this issue.

Ifs cult fanboy vs real hard numbers.

" If FF15 was the best RPG ever made, it would stand above the crowd"

Define "stand above the crowd"

Also, can you stop trying to base this on something that is immeasurable please.

Either come with hard numbers or do bother at all. All you are saying is the cult doesn't like a game.

Sooooo consider we can find a rabid FF fanboy for EACH FF game which they hate in order of the series.

You can for ALL games.

It means next to nothing.

ie "it would stand above the crowd. It doesn't" copy and paste for every Final Fantasy.

Hated FF1 If it was the best RPG ever made, it would stand above the crowd. It doesn't
Hated FF2 If it was the best RPG ever made, it would stand above the crowd. It doesn't
Hated FF3 If it was the best RPG ever made, it would stand above the crowd. It doesn't

and so on.

Thus...don't care.

" it was also really boring" Thats nice. Yet....FFXV become the fastest selling Final Fantasy in history.....the demo was out and about for people to play, yet....clearly it moved historical units. Anyone had a chance to try before they buy. Get over it. Folks like FFXV, thus bought it. People do not generally buy things they hate.

"People buy things all the time they don't like" After they try a demo? LMFAO!

What ever helps you sleep at night bud. Tell us more about all the Final Fantasy's you hate.... Pretty sure we have one of you for each Final Fantasy, thus...irrelevant.

https://www.gamespot.com/ar...

https://www.forbes.com/site...

[NapalmSanctuary]

@TeamIcoFan
FFXII is as disappointing as it ever was (not bad, but disappointing compared to FFX), FF13 is as terrible as it ever was, and FFXI has the best combat and job system that Ive ever seen in an MMO, before they nerfed the difficulty so new players could focus on end game content. XII just happens to be better than every FF that came after it. Its an old game in a new context. Stop acting like the fanbase is a hive mind and that somehow every fan is accountable for every other fans feelings on every FF title. Thats just asinine.

"Over entitled, under appreciative, whiny brats, the lot of 'em."
Over entitled and whiny cause we have an opinion and speak it? Unappreciative cause we don't like something? Everyone is entitled to have an opinion and speak it. Everyone is entitled to like or dislike something and express their like or dislike of it. But making personal attacks on people because you disagree with them is just petty and immature.

[_-EDMIX-_]

lol pretty much.

They exaggerate way, way..waaaaay too much.

its best to simply just ignore the cult fanboys of that series. They go so overboard, you would have thought Mozart made Final Fantasy 1.

[TeamIcoFan]

Tell me about it, some of these idiots reactions to FF7 being finally remade would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
Before it was announced "OMG JUST DO IT SE, THIS'LL BREATHE LIFE BACK INTO THE SERIES!"
After "OMG SE YOU SUCK! YOU'VE KILLED THIS FRANCHISE! KILLED IT!!!! ALL YOU CAN DO IS REMAKES AND SHITTY SPINOFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!&qu ot;

[rainslacker]

Ironically, I always felt that FFXII's story was kind of disconnected from the actual world and that no matter what happened with the characters, the actual world they were in would continue on. This was mostly due to the way they set FFXII in a much larger world which encompassed many different games. Also, they changed the main characters to focus on some characters which had little point to the story in an attempt to appeal to a younger crowd.

FFXV wasn't very good on the story front at all....so don't take my above critique of me trying to say FFXV was better, because it wasn't. At least with FFXII I actually cared about the characters, and Ashe is probably one of my favorite FF character designs of all time, and IMO is one of the most compelling characters in the series.

[Boog_89]

FF15 is like MGS5, good games but not what was expected from the series, FF12 is awesome.

[ninsigma]

I'd rather play 15. While it wasn't the best game that was fairly rough in some aspects, I found it to be a good game that was fun to play while I absolutely hated 12.

[TejasTV]

Yeah I'm with you here. I feel like 12 is so meh I'm surprised they remastered it. And while I love 15 I think that would be a weird remaster in the future as well.

[ninsigma]

Yeah I'm really surprised it's been remastered as well. Didn't think it was anything remarkable.

[Blackcanary]

I hated 12. They tried to use the battle system from FF XI when it comes to how you see the monster in the outside world and lock on to them and it looked so bad. I also hated the story line and hated all the characters.
I never completed it, i think I still have my PS2 copy of it.

[ninsigma]

It's one of the worst FFs in the franchise imo.

[rainslacker]

My only letdown with FFXII is I never came to care about the characters and after multiple play throughs through the years, I still don't really know what the whole story mattered at all, or why they even did what they did. Ashe I could understand, but the rest, not so much. The game ended so suddenly, that when it was over, I actually wondered if I missed a big chunk of it somewhere because I didn't know what exactly they were trying to achieve. Some of the characters were well written, but ultimately, there was no point to it all.

I enjoyed the game play of both FFXII and XV well enough, and to me, it was the only reason the game was worth finishing.

[TejasTV]

I've been playing final fantasy since 7 and I've played the original two. It's probably because I think the traditional turn based jrpg is tired at this point but I really liked 15. Not saying it's my favorite but I put it up there. I can't connect to 12. It's not a bad game at all it just never clicked with me. I also don't find 9 to be very good. 7, 8, 10, and 15 for me. 9, 12, and 13 are just alright.

[PhoenixUp]

Both games have their great merits