So I decided to give FF12 another chance. Most of the things that annoyed me before are still annoying me, but at least leveling up isn't a thankless one-level-an-hour chore thanks to the Dustia trick (which I certainly would never have figured out without guides, I might add). I will concede that the game is not, in fact, as horrible as I thought at first. It's still incredibly obtuse and way too reliant on equipment to determine your capabilities, but it's not entirely out to get the player after all. It is, however, remarkably tedious and boring to level-grind. But this is true of pretty much every RPG ever, so I can't fairly blame FF12 for that.
To sum it up, FF12 isn't that bad. It's not great, and it's definitely not my favorite FF, but it's at least better than it would seem at first glance. Just don't play the game without a guide, or you will get shafted repeatedly.
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
