Why Final Fantasy XII Didn't Measure Up to the Rest of the Series

Although Final Fantasy XII was a great RPG for the Playstation 2, it wasn't a great Final Fantasy title. That is why fans are hoping for that Final Fantasy XIII will return to series roots.

[Bill Gates]

I tried so hard to like it but just couldn't.

[swiftshot93]

because of the battle system. I never finished the game...

[xztence]

The story didn't appeal to me as much as the other ff's .
I didn't particulary like the art style either altough it was refreshing.

[iamtehpwn]

RPG's I've ever played despite the great production values.
Everything about it was wrong. The story, the characters, the combat system, it was just.....Wrong.

Final Fantasy X has YET to be topped by any other JRPG of it's generation, and so far, of the next.

[chaosatom]

1)The Battle system was awesome. Just have to give it some time.

2)The Story sucked, there is no way anybody can defend that.

Back to combat, the random encounter combat being eliminated made my life so easier. Although the difficulty is really high at first, it becomes fun after that stage passes. And having the characters set to a command doesn't make them less fun to control, since you can still control them and make them do other stuff if u want to. Ultimately, you get fast and swift battles, which is Why it's so Awesome.

[Panthers]

I liked the battle system too. It was really easy to level up since there were no load screens between each fight. But I admit I still liked FFX battle system the most.

Plus, Summoms SUCKED in FFXII. I NEVER used them.

[chaosatom]

the Summoning. There were insane.

I mean FFX did so many things right, but it would be unfair to compare.

Riding the Chocobo or playing Blitzball, there were so many things to do in that game.

[AAACE5]

FFXIII seems more closely related to FFX, and FFXIII versus seems more closely related to FFXII!

Don't get mad, let me explain. FFX had a more traditional FF type story and feel. FFXII felt more adult and seperated from what made fans like the franchise in the first place. It seemed like they were forcing the game to appeal to a more mature audience. I hope they get it right with Versus.

[ThanatosDMC]

The game was trying to do to many things at once. I'm still at below lv20 stuck at that area with the lightning elemental monsters the kill everybody in one attack.

I loved Blitzball not the X-2 though.

[SaiyanFury]

I loved Final Fantasy XII. It was the first FF that I was able to get into since FFVIII back in the 90s. FFIX was decent enough but I could never get into it for some reason. Then FFX I couldn't get into. I tried, I really did but for some reason the game just never clicked with me. FFX-2, same thing. Extension of FFX. FFXI was online and I'm not the kind of person to continue to pay for access to the game after I've already laid down the cost of the game. FFXII was a revelation for me. Done in the same style as the beauteous Final Fantasy Tactics, I got absorbed into the game and it lasted me over 100 hours. I know a lot of people have a gripe with the battle system, and rightfully so. It doesn't match everyone's style, I just found it quite amicable personally.

[Danja]

The Battle system was the only thing I liked about the game , other than watching the CGi scenes which looked awesome.

everything else about the game just felt dry and boring....

@Above : I consider FFIX to be the best and most underrated FF game of them all it was perfect IMO..

[Lucreto]

I loved the game and I will play it again.

Delays- Well its Square what do you expect.

Non-Interactive Combat System- People forget you could turn it off. It was handy for your character to heal themselves when they reach 50%.

Slow Developing Story- If you played Suikoden V you will know a slow starting story. They took a different approach where you are powerless to stop the political machine.

Uninteresting Characters- The characters wre all interesting in there own way. The voice acting was better they used professional voice acter(2 were from Futurama.)

[Omegasyde]

All of the characters blew except Balthier.

Vaan was a cross between a girl and a boy who tried so hard to be masculent while wearing a vest taylored from West Hollywood. He was a twink.

The Other lead character was pointless. Her limit was cool, but she wasn't interesting. Who cares about her empire?

The bad guy, was horrible and having a connection to his little sister is silly. Wait it wasn't a little sister it was a boy! The "Cat Chick" was cool, but had no memorable scenes like Balthier did. Balthier should of been the hero, not some exiled princess or a twink boy.

[Marceles]

Yeah I agree, the characters were forgettable except Balthier, and there really wasn't an advantage of using any specic character since everyone pretty much starts off on the same part of the license board. At least in FFX certain people started off on certain parts of the Sphere Grid so you know what they would specialize in.

Also I enjoy the story of Ivalice...well mostly FF Tactics's simplified but still deep story, but FFXII's story started getting too confusing, or I just started to not get interested. In every FF I always wanted to know what would happen next, but on FF12 I didn't care, I just wanted to know where to go and what new abilities I could learn. Ashe's story just really got annoying

[Danja]

I agree about Balthier , and funny enough Balthier was actually suppose to be the lead character until last minute changes were made and Van was selected....it wouldn't be a FF game without the lead guy looking gay..lol

[DragonWarrior46534]

Ive been a FF gamer since part 1 on the NES. Graphics didn't mean much at the time. All that mattered was the games always had a great story and awesome turn based elements. It was like playing a game of chess, but 1 million times better. FFX ended up being the best told story of any rpg Ive ever played. Yes, even better then the dragon warrior Edrick and Zenithan saga's. FFXII not only sucked because it had a retarded story, but the gameplay just didn't make it feel like FF anymore. I dont care what console this game would ever come out on as long as they stay their old school gameplay and story telling elements. It seems that they got a bunch of kids making games for them now.

[TheColbertinator]

FFXII is actually my favorite FF game of all time.I enjoyed the characters especially basch and Gabranth.I also like the game length(100 hours+),the Hunters Guild challenges,difficult boss fights(Yiazmat,Omega Mach XII,Zodiark,Hell Wyrm),tactical gambit system,license board,and varied locations(huge cities,swamps,deserts,mountain s,plains,ancient forests,coasts,etc).

Finally,I thought the story was great because it was a mature political tale instead of another cheesy annoying love story.

[Cheeseknight28]

But it wasn't even an interesting political story. Large country invades small country, small country fights back, small country receives some aid from the other large country, small country wins.

[Nihilism]

agreed colbert, your truthiness astounds me

[DNAgent]

Because it was made by Square-Enix.

This is also why all of the FF13 games will flop.

[DragonWarrior46534]

I have a question Steven. How old are you buddy? Im not being sarcastic. I just wanna see how old you are because I grew up on rpgs like Dragonwarrior and FF when they were turn based. To me its all about the story. FF12 felt like a broken Phantasy Star Universe to me.

[Homicide]

The story and characters sucked. Vaan and Penelo are worthless. Balthier and Fran are cool, but add nothing to the story. Ashe was great; Basch is an uninteresting character. He had no personality. Battle system was great though.

[40cal]

That's funny because Basch, Balthier, and Fran where the characters I liked the most.

[40cal]

Final Fantasy XII is my second favorite Final Fantasy after VII. I am looking forward to both of the Final Fantasy games about to hit the PS3 along with the PSP XIII.

I thought that the battle system in XII was awesome, it just felt like part of the natural progression for the series.

[sealion88]

there were never any much character development in the game. Vaan was just there. Although i loved the battle system.

[BadboyCivic]

even 9 was better...only thing i remember is Vaan being very feminine

[Gamer6056]

This game was all right. My favorite are
FF10
FF7
FF6
FF1(which got me into FF series)
FF2
Whats yours? And please no fighting this my own opinion.

[Unicron]

I really enjoyed FFXII personally.

[Marojado]

While i stand by what i said below, i am really glad that some people were able to get some enjoyment out of this game. That's me being completely sincere too :) The potential was there, i just never felt it met it.

[dktxx2]

The game lacked character development. All the characters were never really delved into. They were just there. That's is really the only problem with the game. New battle system was awesome, the license system was cool (although i prefer the sphere grid personally + the license system helped take away characterization,) and the bounty hunts were awesome.

[Marojado]

I'd agree with the people complaining about the story in FFXII, but as far as I'm concerned there was no story. It was just a bunch of partially related stuff that happened that no one (even the characters) seemed to give two sh1ts about. It's the only recent FF (i've never completed 1 or 2) that I've never finished. As soon as the 1st Ascent (which was then copied and pasted for the 2nd and 3rd ascents) had finished destroying what little soul i had for the game, i acknowledged that even Square had got sick of how long the game was taking and switched it off to let it gather dust.

[HDgamer]

According to this article by a journalist with opinions and not facts.

[Marojado]

I'm not taking a shot or anything, i just want you to give your honest opinion. Do you think it was as enjoyable as the majority of the previous entries in the series, and if it was, what was it that made you enjoy it? I know a lot of people disliked it, but obviously a great deal of people had fun with it. I'm just intrigued.

[xionpunk]

Maybe the story wasn't the greatest, but it was better than most games. The battle system, art style, graphics, and gameplay were great imo.

Vaan was kind of a throwaway character but I really liked Basche and Balthier .

About the battle system, I loved the gambits. I felt like it gave more control, not less. Besides, whenever I wanted a specific action it was simple to step in and override. I hope FFXIII is similar.

[mochi]

FF10>FF9>>>FF12> ;FF7>>>>FF8
FF12 was not bad.
FF9 and FF10 were too good.

[littletad]

This game had no story, no character involvement that made you WANT to continue, nor did it establish a feeling of playing a FF game. The battle system, was a hit or miss. Either it was the greatest thing in your mind, or it took away the tactics of Turn Base fighting systems.

[greyfox235]

FTW!

[Danja]

FF9 >>> FF8 :P

[littletad]

I feel the same way Danja.

[Magna Farta]

I have yet to play an RPG other than Xenogears that enthralled me so much as Dragon Quest 8. Despite the sometimes rampant cheese in that game, it really took me back to the old turn-based RPGs that are so few and far between nowadays.

Final fantasy XII was hands-down the worst FF...maybe it ties with FF9 because that one also sucked but regardless..FF XII was a joke, and they better NEVER use that battle system again..this isn't Star Ocean, Square, nor do we want it to be.

[Graphics]

FFXII had the best gameplay out of all FFs, u actually had to use strategy unlike other FFs. The hunts and battles in FFXII was the best I ever experienced in a RPG. I use to take hours fighting NM and super NMs which was incredibly fun. The only problem was that the style and characters they went with were terrible.

[N2NOther]

I agree that it had the best gameplay of all the games, but I disagree that the other games didn't require strategy. They all have it to varying degrees, but XII had the amazing Gambit system. If someone didn't like it, then I'd venture that there's a good chance that they couldn't figure it out. It took me about 10 hours to really get the hang of it and when I did, I fell in love with it.

I loved the Hunter's Guild as well. The story was good, not great, which didn't bother me because with rare exceptions, I find most game storylines to be subpar. I play FF for the story MOMENTS rather than the whole and certain much more for the gameplay. I couldn't care less about a story if the gameplay isn't there which is why I couldn't stand Crisis Core.

For me, FF XII is up there ith FF III (or VI or whatever).

[Alex_Mexico]

My biggest problem with FFXII was the battle system. Half the time I spent doing the unbelivably boring process of programming the Gambits and half the time I spent just wandering around with one thumb on the left stick watching my characters fight, heal and win by themselves.
I know you could turn it off but the game encourages you to do so, it's designed around that!
FFXII was the first FF I've ever bought that I didnt finish. I even traded the stupid thing. Such a thing was unheard of, me trading a FF.
I dont like to play programmer in a game. I like to be able to PLAY and have FUN with my games thankyouverymuch.

This is, of course, just an opinion.

[willie6289]

Hopefully with two games coming out square can make everyone happy. FFXIII for those who liked 12 and Versus for those who like the more traditional turn based. Or the other way around doesn't matter.

[rob6021]

The game had excellent production values, great music/visuals. I personally liked the battle system more than any other games in the series.
The story was lacking though, I mean how many characters do they need to add really? Why can't they just keep it to a few? I know it's beneficial from a gameplay perspective, but it just makes the story dull. And why do they all 'come along' for the whole story makes things confusing and too cliche.

[kewlkat007]

That's what this game was...

I came from FFX turn-based game(great game), skipped 11(online) to this one another MMO....

[McLuvn]

XII was an awesome game and scored an unbelievable amount of hatred by changing the battle system. No one ever likes all FFs. XIII will have even more haters than the rest of the series, cause the Hypeometer is off the scale.

[cyrus228]

it sucked cuz it was ff11 offline

wtf was up with the gambit crap system, it was a system that played for you, what fun is that? nothin beats materia