Final Fantasy XII Appreciation and Strategy Thread

[forevercloud3000]

Keybladewielder said:
My second favorite Final Fantasy game (after Final Fantasy VI), it has an amazingly well realized world with lots of attention to detail, a fun strategic battle system (and some actual difficulty), a likeable cast of characters (well, excepting Vaan and Penelo, who are just boring), fantastic dialogue direction and voice acting, and tons of side content.

Everyone always seems to be down on Vaan and Penelo. I probably was too back when I first played it but replaying it now as an adult I realized some subtle nuance about the game's plot and characters that I missed.

Vaan and Penelo's purpose in the plot is that they represent the small normal commoners who are pulled and tugged by the whims of those above them.

Spoiler!

Pretty much everyone else in the party and main cast is some noble birthed Royal with a heightened purpose. It is the actions of those that people that control everyone's lives. There is a point in the game where Ashe gets her own Nethecite. Holding the power of mass destruction in the palm of her hand, realizing she can take revenge on Archadia. Vaan brings up the most important point that what kind of person would she be if she used that on the people of Archadia? Sure, Archadian government used it on Nabradia but is Eye for an Eye what we want to be doing with Nukes? That destruction was devestating, but most importantly it killed thousands of innocent people that didn't have a say in the monarchy. Vaan convinces her inadvertently that she needed to put vengeance aside and strive for justice. So in essence Vaan and Penelo's point to the story is to remind all these highborns who they are supposed to be fighting for.