I’ve heard that Fran’s VA listened to a lot of Björk preparing for the role, and it shows.

A lot of people seem to kind of miss the point of Vaan. It’s not really your fault, his important scenes sometimes feel like filler content instead of major character revelations. He (and Panelo) are the normal people affected by the grand political mechanisms of the plot. All the other major characters only have this top down view of the conflict due to their position in (or adjacent to) nobility. Vaan reminds Ashe that her loss, while great, was not unique and that plays directly in to her decision to destroy the magic nukes. Also, I just find it refreshing that the main character in a JRPG isn’t a chosen one with a special destiny or a noble bloodline or special ability that means only he can bring down the great evil. He’s a normal kid who lost nearly everything to war and because of that, he is able to help bring Ashe’s prospective down to the level of everyday people.

I don’t think Vaan gets enough love. He brings the most comic relief and light moments in an FF that lacks or doesn’t have enough of it. (Don’t get me wrong FF12 is my favourite, but even I can admit there isn’t enough light moments in it). I’d argue Penelo is more of the tag-along than Vaan. But even penelo brings some lightness to the group, I mean imagine the game without these two characters. Basch is fairly stoic, as is Fran; Ashe is rightly serious but pretty difficult to relate to. Only Balthier would be giving lighthearted moments.

Such a well done video! Congrats! FF XII was my great passion as young kid, and now Im revisiting the game and completely loving it all over again. Such a nice touch finishing your conclusion by the soundtrack of Paramina Rift, one of the best of this game. And at last, but not least, dont interrupt me, Vaan.

This is THE best video on FF12 I've seen, and I've seen a lot. No one else shows such nuances as the cryptic sidequests, or the distinction of some areas being too "over-leveled" for you to visit just yet, or that Archades was underwhelming to explore, or that Rozarria is basically not in the game at all. These kinds of insights come from a passionate player, rather than just some reviewer. Also almost no one else draws comparisons with the 2006 original, instead choosing to only cover TZA remaster. As someone who ate up all the hype watching every trailer and interviews from 2004 to pre-ordering this PS2 game and buying the limited edition steelbook on launch day in 2006 along with the limited edition strategy guide and proceeded to sink over 300 hours in it over the next few months... I can see and appreciate how this video was made by a huge fan of the game.

You could clearly see how much effort and passion is put in these videos :") amazing as usual Phil! 👏👏👏

Great vid. Playing through it now and having a blast! Cheers.

I think Vayne as a villain the main villain is great. That scene where he convinces the people on his side makes his character more machiavellian. The reason, I think, that people didn’t like Vayne as a villain is because we only hear about his villainry. For example, we hear how he killed his brothers to attain power but we don’t see it. If there was a flashback scene through, say, larsa about it maybe it would be more impactful.

The sky battle is the most amazing part of ff12. You really feel the war between 2 kingdoms.

Great video, Phil! That's some quality work for sure!

This game was such a blast when it released. These graphics, big maps and all the stuff happening on the screen in PS2... it was mind blowing. The combat system is very good. You can't complain about AI because it's you who programmed it.

12 is my second fave FF after 8 and I’m glad to see it getting positive coverage. You’re absolutely correct in your assessment I’d say it’s the missing link between 11 and 14, as it’s an evolution of 11’s combat system. Anyway on your point on 14, now you can pretty much play the entire game solo with duty support (which gives npcs to help in dungeons), and I highly recommend it for the story alone. I’m someone who’s also nervous about performance in multiplayer games and I haven’t encountered any of the toxicity (tho I know it does exist especially on JP servers), most of my time has been pleasant. Anyway, great video. ☺️

I've never played 12 but I immediately got 11 and 14 vibes pretty much since the beginning of the video. Love your videos in any case! Keep rocking!

I personally like that it wasn't a main character. I think that it gave you an opportunity to go in with an open mind and delve into the rich lore of this world. Great video.

Wow, this never happens. Usually I find channels like yours long after they've taken off, but this time I'm here from jump. And make no mistake friend, you're about to take off. This level of quality and quantity does not go unnoticed, trust me. Liked and subbed. I will be watching your progress with great interest. 😁

Sly! Low key announcing a new series called "Revisiting X.." ˆˆ 👏 Looking forward to more entries. Also.. kinda interested in that toast mix... that sounds really useful 🙃

I've heard rumors that Vaan is on the game just because square enix thought a younger hero would be appealing to the younger audience. No ideia if that's true

I love 12 a lot! I enjoyed the original version around 2008 on the ps2 and then i replayed the zodiac version on ps4 a couple of years ago. The quality of life changes are amazing and make the game very replayable. Something i have to say though, is that yiazmat is just insane. I had Seitengrat (the cheaty super bow you can acquire through a glitch) on all characters. I had done all hunts up to that point. My party was very well set up. It took me FOUR HOURS to beat that god damn boss. FOUR. HOURS. Doing 9999 damage per hit. And i had to run back to the save crystal and go to a shop and buy new potions and phoenix downs every 20min or so because I'd go through stacks of 99 of them within minutes. Maybe my setup wasn't optimized enough. But like. Half the HP would have been fine on this boss. It is however the only super boss I've beaten in a final fantasy game. (I'm just to dumb for the weapons in ff8 lol) Anyway. Still a great game, I'll probably replay it after i (re-)finish persona 5 royal. So in about 300h...

Enjoyed the analysis, but have to chime in with my normal rant about Vaan since people usually miss his importance on the first pass. He has a few motivations to be along for the journey: 1. Avenging his brother by fighting the Empire (the obvious) 2. Protecting his homeland (we learn from the game's dialogue that he steals specifically to give back to the people of Dalmasca, not just for himself) 3. Defending the princess (kind of a subset of the second motivation) 4. Handling his grief On that last point, one of the most important scenes in the entire game imo is when the party is leaving Jahara and Ashe and Vaan meet at night and discuss the vision they'd seen. Ashe saw Rasler, while Vaan saw his brother, Reks as the ghost in the Tomb of Raithwall. Rasler and Reks both died under similar circumstances: both enlisted at the end of the war, and both died fairly unceremonious deaths. The two surprisingly bond over their shared experience: loss. Both of them have suffered as a result of war with the Empire, and in this moment you get this sense of kinship between them over that shared trauma, as is common of survivors of wars. And by this point in the gameplay, Vaan has proven himself to be a capable fighter as well. The dialogue that really shows this development for Vaan, though, is this one, from the same scene: Vaan: "You saw him, didn't you? Like at the King's tomb." Ashe: "So you *did* see him, too... But, why?" V: "It's strange... before, I didn't even know what you looked like. And the Prince? I barely knew there *was* a Prince. Who knows... maybe the person I saw was my brother." A: "Basch told me about him..." V: "He enlisted, right at the end. But for what? He knew he couldn't win..." A: "To protect something." V: "How can he protect anything when he's dead? Was it different for Prince Rasler? Did *that* make sense? ... Hating the Empire, getting revenge-it's all I ever thought about. But I never did anything about it. I mean, I realized there was nothing I *could* do. It made me feel hollow... alone. And then, I'd miss my brother. I'd say stuff like, 'I'm gonna be a sky pirate,' or some other stupid thing. Just anything to keep my mind off it. I was just-I was running away. I needed to get away from his death. That's why I followed you. ... Know what? I'm through with it. I'm through running. I'm ready to find my purpose. To find some real answers-some reasons. If I stick with you... I think I will." A: "I wish I knew..." V: "I'll find 'em." I'll concede that Penelo is "along for the ride" for sure, but that crime is no worse than Fran "tagging along" with Balthier simply because they are close companions, or to use a classic literary example, Merry and Pippin "tagging along" for the events of LotR. For Vaan though, this scene and his input at the Sun Cryst scene has a direct influence on Ashe and her choice to destroy the nethicite, rather than wield it. Vaan's VA is a little weak due to the inexperience of the voice actor (English dubs were still in their relative infancy when the game was made) but I think his writing is definitely a lot better than most people give credit for. Once again, great video. Looking forward to other analyses you do.

I personally think another retrospective said it best when they said Larsa should've joined the party full on after the Garif. I love XII now it is my favorite in the series even if I didn't care for it as a kid. The mod scene for this game on Nexus is wild (though nothing too outlandish) and it only made me love it even more. Hell I'm currently working on Maxing out the XII characters on DFFOO (Still waiting on Larsa, Vossler and Reddas tho) Anyway great video, I'm glad finally someone put to bed the whole Star Wars comparison (which I agree it's an old argument that doesn't really match up)

A thorough and balanced review. I like it! This game didn't click with me on release, but the speed-up features and other improvement in Zodiac Age made it feel fresh. It's not my favourite game in the series, but I enjoy the diversity of environments, challenging optional content and smashing through monsters with OP gambits.

I still don't understand how the PS2 was able to run this game. It's a huge glow up to FFX (seeing all the numerous NPC running in Rabanastre). :)

I love final fantasy XII, Need to replay it soon.

Katana scales with strength, and magic attack. That's why there are so many magic lore in Bushi job.

I still remember my hype for this game back on it's original release on PS2. Even importing Dragon Quest VIII from USA for the demo version... I also want to replay it now, got the Switch port in 2020 for handheld gaming but you know, backlog.. The second land that was teased throughout the game almost felt like sequel bait in a way.. The whole game felt like the characters were just cogs in a bigger machine trying to change something, which was refreshing after years of legendary foretold heroes. In that way, I feel Vaan and Penelo were an attempt to fully realize that vibe and being avarars for the players since they are still newbies while everyone else already had real adventures before (I agrree with you though that it fell rather flat). In a way, this approach reminds me to how Falcoms Legend of Heroes-series works - it's actually also mostly "non-legendary" people trying to find their way in an ever-escalating political conflict (which is also partly about a small tradehub-country sandwiched between two super powers). Though as much as I love LoH (especially since they actually deepdive into character arcs and interaction), I still prefer the artwork, style and gameplay of the Ivalice games. There's nothing quite like FFXII out there today and it's a shame since the game obviously influenced a lot of modern JRPGs. Also, the "programable" gambit gameplay was heaven sent for regular encounters. ... I also liked it for that same reason of being a "MMORPG" without the "MO" 😅 I was weird though since I also somewhat most of the time prefered Phantasy Star Online... Offline I should stop rambling on and just add that I really enjoyed this video. Took me back ☺️ And your editing skills and how you structure the videos are getting better. I hope this video will be enjoyed by many ☺️

Awesome video. Your editing was so on point. Couple of quick things I wanna say about the game. With the sheer amount of enemy encounters, the gambit system is really the only thing that makes sense. Imagine a battle system like 7,8 or 9 with the amount of fighting required in 12. You’d be looking at a 300 hour game. So ya it does play itself but it also handles all the dumb tedious stuff like potions and antidotes that require no thought for you. The sound track was dramatically different but it was done so on purpose. It’s much more theatrical and cinematic. With longer pieces rather that quick 45 second loops that get stuck in your head. Massive fan of Hitoshi Sakimoto’s score. It fit the world so well and was a huge part of the atmosphere

Bought this game with a friend back in high school, old memories.

Easily Top 5 FFs. Best PS2 FF with XI being a strong second best.

I love this game so much, I spent so many hours, days and months lost and immersed in the awesome universe of It. Even though the story is linear and easy to understand, it’s similar to Star Wars yeah, but most Final Fantasy games have groups of rebels or resistance fighters standing up against a cruel empire with technological advances that destroy the planet, towns, civilizations and people in their tyrannical journey to conquer and grow even stronger. It’s a tale as old as time 😬👍🏼. The game makes up for it with it being very damn fun and exciting to play, all the exploring and secrets in the game just keeps you wanting to keep going around and searching for them all, and the fight system is great as well, they feel like real exciting battles. I do appreciate Vaan and Penelo in the party because they are just passionate youngsters who want to go all around the world and experience real adventures, all while meeting new people who become very close allies who then grow closer to that of a small family with a bond to fight and die together side by side, with their main goal being to topple the Arcadian Empire. The soundtrack in this game is amazing in my opinion too, I know many missed Uematsu, but Squarenix still pulled off a great soundtrack that totally fits perfectly in this universe that you are in. Final Fantasy XII is my 3rd favorite FF game of the entire franchise.

this series bout to go crazy

Regarding the Star Wars connection - Back when I first played XII, I definitely thought Vaan was going to end up being Ashe's secret lost brother. He definitely has a little bit of Luke in him.

I always figured we were experiencing Ashe's story through Vaan's eyes/perspective both him and penelo just kinda got swept up in it and now they're just helping her out on her quest because they don't want their home destroyed or ruled by the empire

Nice review

To me the thing people find an issue with Vaan is what i find most compelling, it makes it believable in a way no other FF game is, if they had made Vaan a protagonist it would've sucked, Vaan is very much like yourself just going along for the ride. I also like the fact that it's Ondore narrating, it gives a sense that the world extends beyond just your party and that there's other people involved, given that it's a bigger geopolitical struggle and not you fighting some lost friend or relative gone rogue with inexplicable superpowers as is otherwise the norm lol And tbh Ondore is mostly just fluff pieces to emblish the context of what's going on, all the important parts of the plot are acted out by the characters themselves, you could cut all the Ondore parts out and other than missing some context you'd still follow the plot just fine. That said, again, i really liked it myself. FF12 to me always felt bigger, more real, more alive than any other world Square have put out in their FF games even FF15 was mostly wasteland sadly, i would pay a lot of money for a return to Rabanastre

Quick, someone get Fran a burqa!

1) Great video! Thank you, and Happy Holidays. 2) Regarding FINAL FANTASY XIV. Right now, the entirety of A REALM REBORN's, HEAVENSWARD's, SHADOWBRINGER's and ENDWALKER's Main Story Dungeons can be enjoyed with a NPC Party like single player FF Games. (Until Summer 2023, all STORMBLOOD ones will be able to be played like that too). Next Expansion, they will make all Story Trials be enjoyed like that too. So, the entirety of XIV Main Story will be able to be played as a Single Player FF Game. Side Dungeons and Raids won't, they will stay Multiplayer content. 3) It is very easy for me to say which FINAL FANTASY is my favourite. XIV. Eaaaaaasily. My 2nd favourite is VIII (of the Main Installments, if we add Side Games/Spinoffs, Duodecim is my #2). (I have *almost* 100%ed every single Main Instalment except XI, and many Side Games and Spinoffs too). 4) I LOVE FINAL FANTASY! :) 5) SUBSCRIBED AND LIKED!! *please don't have many hot takes that cookie cutter FF "fans"-actually-haters typically have, that originated from USA centric SNES era manboys forged during the GFAQs says. We have enough channels like that.

Love this game, definitely one of my top 5 FF games. I am not 100% behind the zodiac changes to thr jobs board however - I 'liked' the freedom to build characters as I wished. I thought Ashes story was really well handled - once the decision was she wouldn't be the main character there was a great dynamic question over her head about whether she would push for revenge or peace. I actually like the dynamic where almost anyone (except penelo) has an argument to be the main chsracter

I started playing FF 10 yesterday and got hooked. Now I got spoiled in a video about final fantasy 12 .. nice Other than that, great video

Well done. Thank you for your video. What struck me about the music in this game was that some of the music is the same music from Valkyria Chronicles, which is one of my favorite games of all time. At first, I thought it was a blatant rip off, but then I learned it was the same composer... I recognized it right away (and it's not just 'similar', it's 'the same'), and I'm not sure how I feel about that - it's his own music, but it seems a little lazy. I enjoyed this game though. I think it's underappreciated.

Never played it really, but I guess I will give it a shot. I liked FF XIII when everyone hate it, so who knows. Maybe I will like this one.

Loved the video but I really have to disagree on the music. I can see why they may not be as iconic as Uematsu's legendary scores; because there's no specific theme to a character or event. However, Sakimoto worked on FF Tactics which is also set in the Ivalice Alliancea and I think his composing style is unique and the music are suspenseful. My favourites are Flash of Steel and Struggle for Freedom, and the area music help with the immersion for me.

Fishing mini game!!!?!!?!?!?!? What!!!!??? That’s crazy lol I never knew

Melee attacks are great against most enemies yes however a black mage can deal insane AOE damage if you have the right staff, Staff of the magi, Glacial staff, Flame staff, Golden staff(i think) , all increase the damage done by certain spell elements. BUT yes attacks are great, being able to hit for 100k+ on each attack on yiazmat (Darkblade + black robes + adrenaline) is amazing, being able to hit for 150k+ with the wymhero blade or the excalibur to hell wyrm and any other holy weak monster, ff12 is so amazing

you call youself phil from the abyss huh? well phil from the abyss amazing work new sub here thank you!

22:51 I'll agree that this is one of the most painful dungeons in any Final Fantasy, but I'll also say that it's by far my favorite area in any FF game. But yeah, it's painful

Fran = Bjork as female Chewbacca

Bushi gets magic lores because the katana weapons scale with the magic and strength stats. If u can get both to 99 you will have a powerful melee character.

BASCH IS THE MAIN CHARACTER!!!! :)

Story unravels poorly due to production cuts. Still one of the best FF games to grind post-game!

I can't ever get into it enough to play threw the story. I will someday...... And lighting returns some time...

My reaction to the star wars comparison went from "what? there's barely any similarities" to "haha that's pretty funny"

I dont mind see Fran from behind myself xD Yeah Balthier seems like the fan favorite.

Absolutely love FF12 it was the first Final Fantasy game I played and I love Fran/the viera

Ironically FF12 plays in a way I wish more modern western RPGs played. With that fun blend of third person action and Real time with pause gameplay.

I never knew there are the mission than a game

I too enjoyed ff12 I think its better than what most people think and the remaster was even better with item and gear rebalance. Also if u want a more difficult challenge play it on new game + with no Lvling besides the license board for more status. I found it to be a good and rewarding experience

Kingdoms of amalur is also a single player mmo experience

Do NOT mess with Elementals!

Traps are easily avoided by having a self:libra ganbit on at all times ;)

The game has a race of a tall tanned bunny ladies and one of them is your companion, nuff said. 10 out of 10!

Loved the video but I gotta say Vaan is far from generic when you pay attention to his/ashes arc throughout the story. He's fighting through so much pain and has to let go and his actions reflect that as you play

The bushi has tiles that boost magic because of the way damage is calculated for the katana that they use. It’s your strength and magic and the katanas attack power checked against the opponent’s defense. Every weapon has a unique calculator like this and to my knowledge the only place this is mentioned is in the strategy guide.

Vann would be a more fitting Protagonist if there is a Final Fantasy 12-2 as a reoccurring character on a new chapter in Ivalice

Vaan actually provided much needed comedy to the game.

Basch was meant to be the main character, but it was changed due to execs worried about sales.

Star Wars is an amalgamation of thousands of stories told through human history across thounsands of years... it's impossible not to have some similar story bits or characters (they're all archetypes more than characters) Anyway. FFXII is one of my favorite FFs and I feel the older I get and the more I play it, the more I like it. It's a pity the ending segment of the story had to be so rushed. In repited playthroughs, it's pretty obvious when they started running out of time/money. In any case, 99% of the game is amazing. Oh, and I especially love the translation; they did such a good job making it sound so "Elizabethan" (it's more a flavour than anything, but I think you'll know what I mean). In Japanese it sound a lot more... anime XD PS: Vaan is not the protagonist, but the point of view. "The hero", the most important character is Ashe, or even Balthier (debatable).

wasnt Rex meant to be the main character originally? he and Basch would have had much more interesting interactions then Vaan

Oh and Phil, did you play Final Fantasy XV?? If you did, did you like it?? I really did like it, especially the completed Royal Edition of Final Fantasy XV. I think Noctis, Gladiolus, Igniz, and Prompto are great main characters and their bond felt so real, and together also made a great fighting force out there in their universe’s open world.

12 always felt like it was more about telling a grand story and the characters were an afterthought at best. 10 did both really well, but 12 basically turned the characters into automatons

Omg ur so right about star war them lol 😂

That was an interesting take on the narration, I always found it fitting to the setting and tone of the story, but it definitely comes across impersonal and overly formal and wordy now I think about it. They toned down the old English in the War of the Lions version of Tactics for that reason and IMO it worked wonders, for accessibility at the very least.

I think they are trying to make it feel like mmorpg which the main character doesn't do much and only getting along. But yeah they need better background and motivation for mc like how they did to zidane or tidus who also only getting along with situation. Maybe its because heroin(ashe) its already married ? Or except maybe if they made panelo is secretly royal blood/superhuman or something like terra. So its make other characters became motivated to help her. And yeah the skills doesn't make sense lol. They need at least made a story where they meet guru or something who teach them inner superpower like in skyrim.

hurrrrr eye am bash von ronsunburg of delmaskuh durrrr

I think FFT takes place about 1000 years after FF12, with all the races besides Humans being extinct and technology like robots and airships being dug up as artefacts. Strangely one ancient artefact summons Cloud Strife (probably from the Lifestream) into this world…but that’s an entirely different story… Balthier makes an appearance in War of the Lions version which makes next to no sense, they just shoehorned him to promote FF12. FFT Advance is more closely related with all the different creature races and seemingly same timeline (point in time), but strangely it’s also a “dream world” for the main protagonist Marche. I didn’t play FF14 but as far as I understood, that is also the same Ivalice as in 12. :)

I enjoyed this game, but the ungodly rng for high tier/endgame gear was a few steps too far for me.

XII is just a realtime with pause CRPG on a console. A fantastic game. Used to dislike it, but the more I played it the more I liked it.

The first FF game I ever played was FF Tactics Advace (GBA), and so when XII came out and it is also in Ivalice I was super Exited. Honestly and IMO, XII is even better than VII :v got bored of 7 pretty early. Also XIII was ok, not liked also by many, but I guess I just like the odd ones.

Ff12 I think is the basis for Ff14 ARR battle system

It doesn’t take 2 hours to beat yiazmat. I did it on PS2 on the original version and it took an hour

You say you dont see star wars you see final fantasy, but I would argue if you see final fantasy you see star wars. FF 2,4,6,9, and 12 are all heavily influenced by star wars. Its always like star wars but more steam punk. And its always more of borrowing motifs than straight up copy. Usually it turns out the bad guy is related to the protagonist, there is an evil empire, some sort of super weapons. Its not a one to one, but you fan tell the writers really did like star wars

I've never seen so little connection between characters more than this game.

30s is not old. What makes Van special as a main character? Cloud has Jenova cells, Tidus is a dream…what is Van?

This game, is the best game ever. But it could’ve been better, if that makes sense.

I thought the offensive magic was awesome. I did bushi and redmage, made an eldin ring build.

Reks should have been the main character.

The combat and character progression was pretty good in 12, one of the more strategic battle systems, especially late game. The gambit system and building character AI to do what you want was a great feature I wish more games used. The whole thing where you could open a chest that was out in the open and it would prevent you from getting the zodiac spear was the most nonsensical thing I've seen in a game though. The chain thing to get better drops was kind of dumb too, you kill the same enemies over and over and get more loot? Why? So dumb. Who is this for? People who like to grind? The story was alright, but it feels convoluted without any actual depth to me. Decent for an average game. Mediocre compared to FF7-10, and I'd say even 13 and 15 kind of have better stories than 12. I think the characters are some of the least likable in the series, with Balthier, Baash and princess whatshername being the only ones that I remotely liked. Environments were good, graphics were impressive for PS2.

I don't think vaan gets the attencion he needs like, the whole idea of a political royal war beeing telled by the perspective of a "peasant" is really great thats why i love revenant wings, because its vaan's game and he have more spotlight rather than Basch or Ashe

magic is op in this game

You should revisit ff11 it is the best ff game

The overall downplay of Vaan and Penelo in this type of video is the reason why I don't want to try FFXII. If there is a version or mod that would remove Vaan and Penelo in the game, I would consider playing FFXII

its an ensemble cast. there is no 1 central all important main character (besides Ashe). idk why people choose to be so obstinate about Vaan and pretend he has nothing to do with the story but its ridiculous. you must have skipped cutscenes or something. He's a war orphan in an occupied territory dealing with imperialism who wants freedom for Rabanastre like everyone else and shows Ashe how to get past her own revenge for the people. His character is 100% fine and fits perfectly in the game. Having Ondore give out War time news and events as the story plays out to give a more general and broad overview of the goingsons is not a misstep for the story. work on your vocabulary. the game is not at fault for you to not get it this hard. final fantasy fans need to read a book

just finished a marathon of ff12, so much better than i remembered.god damn i love this game

I don't see the point in singling out revealing attire. You have how many dudes in this game with open shirts, abs yet Fran's attire is problematic? Remember the culture she comes from and how little they wear. Sex appeal also sells and should be more seen for both guys and girls to be idealizations. We had Ashley Riot's butt-cheeks on full display and Sidney Lastarot's pants only a peak away from his crotch the entirety of Vagrant Story, so the character designs of Akihiko Yoshida is pretty balanced. The design is part of their character as they are developed with that in mind and input from the creator. They go hand-in-hand, not in contrast or taking away from the character. People will point this out in games as exploitation, but soon as it comes to real women, then they want to say she has a right to wear want she wants and should feel empowered. As far as dialogue goes, it is the best in the entire series. Matsuno left early in the project, so it may explain narrative issues and we know near all Final Fantasy games had time constraint issues. The music for the Ivalice related games have always been done by Hitoshi Sakimoto and fit the series perfectly. They are not meant to be Uematsu-esque because the games and stories are not dealing with the fantastical or archetyped characters so much as playing at realism and level conflicts with political intrigue. When the fantasy does come in, it's very dark and adds more gravity to the narrative. The world-building also is the best in the series; the worldbuilding in particular to XII had me more engaged than the story with so much information and lore given. The last time we would see something akin to a limit break, the best implementation of party AI through the gambit system; giving complete or as much control as you want over all aspects. Anyone thinking you can let the game play itself learn a hard lesson when it comes to the Marks or particular situations, as you may have to take control if the ARG is not in one's favor or enemy just hits too hard. There's been a debate on whether Vaan and Penelo were inserted for the younger audience and a decision Matsuno didn't seem to have a part in, wanting to have Basch as the main character. I think the evidence lends itself to being inserted given they don't blend into the story well at all and essentially are tagging along. Nothing would be missed if they were taken out of the story, but the higher ups wanted to sell this to a younger audience and so needed such among the mature line-up. Matuno is one of my favorite in videogames and his stories paired with an amazing localizer bring an authentic fantasy feel whereas all other Final Fantasy have a straightforward delivery and nowadays and increasingly more anime centrique delivery. FFXII was also made with elements of online gameplay given not many had the chance or got into playing FFXI, so this was supposed to accommodate that through a single-player game experience.

This comment

I love this game but Jesus Christ trying to get the bow off the airship on the nintendo switch is hell

Biggest mistake of my life was revisiting this and giving it one more chance I hate this trash so much

I'm so tired of people getting this wrong, there isn't a main protagonist in this game...

This game was top 3 FF when I first played it. Upon revisiting the Zodiak age around 5 years ago it dropped to bottom 3. I enjoyed the opening hours where you meet the characters, enjoy the setting and get the story setup. The game play is dull but gets a bit better. However, before too long the game is just a terrible grind even with the boosters. It feels like you play hours just to get 5 minutes of story and then another massive grind of hours through another overly large zone. The story is then broken up by such large gaps that its easy to forget about and you lose investment. It becomes a game all about the combat and the combat isn't great enough to support it. Playing this feels like a tedious repetitive job after a while.

The eskers were particularly disappointing. They were unique but utterly fucking useless. I had the same issue where I never used them. They replace 2 characters and do way less damage.

For many years I thought Larsa was a girl because of his looks look very feminine.