Considering that you could do nothing of what you just described in FFXII I don't believe you. Sure it's no Dark Souls but it still incorporates all of its aspects and is as far from FFXII or FFXIII as it can be.
I say it's a lot closer to Dark Souls than any FF game. It also sucks that you have no control over your mates, which is a worse situation than in FFXII or FFXIII. But I guess people will just gloss over it even though it was one major gripe in FFXIII.
If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.