FFXII... why the hate?

[Rafe]

What I love about Final Fantasy is the amazing characters and the Music composed by Nobou Uematsu.

Final Fantasy XII had neither of these... And I didn't like the MMORPG style combat.

 

[DracoSuave]

I know I, personally just hated the battle system, and the Gambit system made me feel like the game was encouraging me to get into the habit of watching the cutscenes, moving the characters around, run into an enemy, and then go make myself a sandwich or something while the game plays itself for awhile. This had me avoiding battles like they're the plague (I can't afford to be making myself a new sandwich every five minutes), which turns every boss fight into a gimmick boss, a fight you can only win by doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right place and exactly the right time in exactly the right way. As very few of those gimmicks turned out to be my favorite stand-by strategy of "hit the bad thing with everything I've got, weather the counter, lather, rinse, repeat as necessary," it swiftly became frustrating and when I realized I'd spent three hours trying to bring down a boss with no success, I knew it was all over. I didn't want to go back and grind because the battles were boring me, and I couldn't progress without taking down that boss.

Also I didn't like Vaan. I understand it's an ensemble cast as it was with VI, but at least VI had an entirely likable ensemble.

Most of the fights in the game are finished in ten seconds, sometimes fifteen. Seriously.

If you're actively avoiding all fights in an RPG, then you're not going to progress and beat bosses.

I can counter an argument based on 'I tried, but it wasn't accessible' but honestly, in this situation you are truly the author of your own demise. The boss fights in FF12 weren't even hard.

 

[Zyxx]

I have no particular hate of XII. There are certainly parts of it that I don't like, but that's true of everything. In particular, I felt that the story wasn't very well-thought-out and the fake medieval dialect was just trying too hard. The gameplay was sort of interesting, and I actually sort of liked the license system (in the sense that I was disappointed when I ran out of licenses to get.)

And say what you like about the narrative mechanism of telling a story from the perspective of a completely irrelevant character, but it's certainly unique.

FFXII always have a special place in my heart, however, for being the first RPG that a certain friend of mine ever really completed. It was one of his first 100+ hour games. I was so, so proud.

 

[WorldCritic]

I liked it though I understood why so many others didn't.

 

[Daniel Cygnus]

Because it's a political drama. It's not quite my thing. The core game is great fun, but I honestly couldn't care less about the story.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

I know that I like FFXII more than any other FF in the main series since FFVI (and I think I like it better than VI itself...). I just didn't really like the License Board itself really.

 

[Steven McDriverson]

The thing about XII that irked me was the fact that I am a sucker for "friendship and teamwork saving the day," and with XII it never felt like the party was actually a group. You had your Royalty and Guard party, who were legitimately traveling to rally support for the Insurg...Resistance. You had Han and Chewy who you later on find out actually have some reason for sticking around. Then finally you had "The kids" for no good reason. I don't mind that they used Vaan as an Ishmael narrator, but seriously after saving Penelo, was there any reason for him to continue sticking around. And aside from getting kidnapped, did Penelo contribute ANYTHING to the story?

I have a hard time remembering incidents of Ash talking to Penelo, Basch talking to Fran, or Fran talking to Vaan (aside from Vaan calling Fran old). Then in the end they "TRY" to have a "Go Team" moment and it falls flat on it's face with Vaan lying between his teeth that they're all friends.

Aside from my petty character issues, I still like and play the game.

 

[Chromanin]

The reason fans didn't like it is because there are two kinds of Final Fantasy fans: the kind who think think FFVI is greatest game ever and the kind who think FFVII is the greatest game ever. FFXII was not like either of those games. Therefore, it was bad.

 

[kurupt87]

Most of the fights in the game are finished in ten seconds, sometimes fifteen. Seriously.

If you're actively avoiding all fights in an RPG, then you're not going to progress and beat bosses.

I can counter an argument based on 'I tried, but it wasn't accessible' but honestly, in this situation you are truly the author of your own demise. The boss fights in FF12 weren't even hard.

While yes, avoiding battles is obviously the reason he had trouble with bosses, it wasn't the point he was making. His point was that he really didn't like the combat, and I agree with him. I did a similar thing in fact, avoiding most of the fights where I could because I couldn't bring myself to do them - I got more enjoyment and excitement from them chasing and trying to catch me than I ever did from the battles themselves anyway.

Now, you say that battles last very little time, and I'm sure you're right, but that doesn't change the fact that they weren't fun. Looking back on the game I don't know why I kept going through it and completed it, because I had the same problem this guy did, I hated the combat. I mean that too, actually hated it. Games are supposed to be fun, and FFXII just wasn't for me.

Of course, this is only my own opinion of the combat, different strokes for different folks and all that, but this was one of the games I've played through with the least amount of fun involved; it was a slog from start to finish.

 

[michiehoward]

I loved everything about this game and after the let down 13 was I would be playing 12 right now if my PS2 weren't broken, two thing that I didn't like were the dumbass treasure pots, their content usually mostly sucked and secondly the ending

 

[michiehoward]

I played FFXII for hundreds of hours. I loved it. I like the combat system, the setting and the story. Granted, some of the characters were atrocious, but when you're just roaming around leveling and exploring you don't notice. People hate it because it was different, that's all.

QFT

 

[kurupt87]

I actually don't mind that the main character isn't the most plot important character. I enjoy playing as part of the team as opposed to always being the most important person ever. It's not better or worse, just different.

Ok, we'll agree to disagree.

I do think I'd be able to cope with a protagonist being part of a team that's involved with a storyline though or that has decent reasons to be there, a side kick in other words. Vaan though, he just had no connect at all. He just wants to be a pirate -.-

 

[Steven McDriverson]

I'm a proud member of the IX minority *salute*

 

[Steven McDriverson]

I actually don't mind that the main character isn't the most plot important character. I enjoy playing as part of the team as opposed to always being the most important person ever. It's not better or worse, just different.

Ok, we'll agree to disagree.

I do think I'd be able to cope with a protagonist being part of a team that's involved with a storyline though or that has decent reasons to be there, a side kick in other words. Vaan though, he just had no connect at all. He just wants to be a pirate -.-

Again that doesn't bother me, just being along for the ride is probably the role I'd end up playing if I was ever put in a situation like that, so there's a certain degree of immersion and he's a bit more relate-able. Unfortunately that's the only thing I can relate to because he's an unrelenting twat. I agree he's like the worst protagonist ever but not because he's just in a support role, but because he's just so unlikeable.

Nail on the head, you two. I don't have an issue with Vaan being a side-line watcher. If I did, then I would be flooding the inter-webs with rage over Reks. He was a witness, too, but he didn't have the one-track mind of lobotomized goldfish.

 

[crazyjay321]

1. Feels too MMO-like; maybe .hack can get away with it, but Final Fantasy has no excuse.
2. Stupid licensing system
3. NO CLASSIC SUMMONS!

licensing system wasn't too bad, at least it meant I couldn't cheat unlike in FFVIII you could get the loin Heart on the first disk

Yeah but it still took a while to get it in the first disc.

People don't like FFXII because it has Terrible gameplay, Terrible combat, Terrible story, Terrible character's and mainly cause the game just sucks.

 

[Nfritzappa]

People don't like XII? I thought people didn't like XIII because it wasn't like XII.

That begs the question: What is a real final fantasy fan?