Actually in regards to hate on the FF series, within FF Fans, it will be the newest ones that get crucified. Going from my observations, nobody liked X (Supposedly) when it came out, It was MY first PS2 title and first Final Fantasy, now as Linear (and I MEAN LINEAR) the world was, the characterization (Not including one very very bad scene) was really good, some of the bosses were unforgivably hard (Yunalesca, Seymour Flux)
As for FFXII, I loved the game personally, I think the OVERALL characterization was good (There's a whole topic explaining this on Gamefaqs) I think the story was really great, and the game wasn't boring if you didn't use gambits for your main character, just cause they were there didn't mean I HAD to use them.
If I had to criticize 12 (And I DO) then I would say it's problem was it's pacing.
Final Fantasy XII's Pacing Was MOTHER FUCKING HORRENDOUS.
That is why people mistake the game as having no story, because the pacing is so bad you can lose interest in the story for how long it takes to move on.
Other than that, I liked pretty much all the games, VI is a classic, you want rich characters with an awesome story, and a villain that was actually scary, go VI.
as for VII... I haven't played through it much, I wanna finish Disgaea and Persona 3 more than I want to go back for that game. I don't think it's bad... I just think I'm spoiled on expectations now. Would I play it if it was re-released on PS3 updated? yes I would. But I would do the same for VI.