FFXIII was better than FFXII for sure, that game had the worst character line up of them all, not one likable character out of them all. FFXIII at least had Sazh and Snow they were kinda likable.

The world, the fighting, the story (somewhat), the setting were all better in FFXIII.

But it is noweher near as good as FFX.

I liked all the characters in FFXII. They had charm, IMO. I even liked Vaan. *Points to avatar*

How coud anybody not like Balthier? How could anybody not like Fran after her backstory gets exposed in Eruyt Village?

He was a wannabe Han Solo. Didnt help that the voice acting wasnt right in the game either, sounded too muffled.

Balthier was very similar to Hans Solo, I agree with that. However, he was still unique in his own ways. He's a very cool and funny character and his accent and wit make him likable in a  story that's very serious and lacks humour. How was Auron, Lulu and Kimahri likable in the FFX story? Even the guest cast of FFXII talk more and act normal than those 3 FFX characters. How is a stone cold personality in Lulu, Kimahri and Auron "likabble"?

As for the voice acting, I agree that quality of the audio was poor, but the dialogue and script were excellent, IMO.

I think you hate FFXII as it just wasn't for you. The reasons you give hold little weight.

It was all very much a Star Wars wannabe. Vaan the poor orphan was Luke Skywalker, Ashe the tough princess was Leia, Balthier and Fran were Han Solo and Chewbacca, Basch the old warrior was Obi Wan Kenobi. Gabranth the fully armoured villain who turns good is obviously Darth Vader, was also related to one of the hero characters.  The whole evil empire plot device, the finale where the good guys and bad guys have a grand battle in sky ships on the battlefield.

It was all unoriginal. FFXIII story wasnt that great either but at least it was original.

Auron was supposed to be the strong silent type warrior, he was faithful and would have given his life in Jechts place, thats why hes likable. Kimari doesnt talk but hes the very loyal bodyguard who again would give his life for Yuna thats why he was likable and Lulu was just a dark character to be the polar opposite of Rikki.

The settings were boring, too many dungeons and indoor areas. Only really one major city in the game. The levelling system wasnt so great, made overly complicated with the bandits was it called? where you could edit characters so they did certain things under a certain criteria.

It had a weak villain who for the most part didnt seem that much of a evil guy. FFXIII's villain as even worse though.

Music wasnt particulary great.

So yeah, no good characters except Gabranth at a push, Star Wars copy, forgetable music, bland settings, complicated and boring battle system. Is why it was one of the weakest ones.

In comparison to FFXIII it had a few likable characters, wasnt a great story but was original, good music, settings were very linear but some parts looked nice visually at least they werent dungeons and a pretty decent fast paced battle system.

Man, you seem to have had a problem with every aspect of FFXII. You're the polar opposite to me as the game is my fave game in the series.

I agree with you that the story of FFXIII was more riginal than FFXII. I agree woth you that it is a clone of Star Wars. However, I'm not somebody who plays video games for their stories. I play them for their graphics and gameplay.

As I said before, all the characters were likable in FFXII. There's nothing any of them do that makes you totally hate them. None had a cold hearted personality apart from Ashe and she even loses it during the course of the game. The characters being similar to the world famous Star Wars characters should make one like them more and not hate them. Being unoriginal is not a reason to hate a character. Lightning was a female Cloud but you seem to love her. Sazh was basically Barrett 2.0 and Dajh was Marlene 2.0 and yet there's no hate from you. Same goes for Snow, he's a cardboard cutout of anime heroes used in thousands of anime with all his hero lines and needing to save Serah, but you don't hate him. I feel as though you're having double standrds, bro.

I loved the setting of FFXII as it felt like a video game world and not an interactive movie world. FFXII has a very open world where you can go where you want whenever. You can go back to places you've bee to before which FFXIII didn't even let you do. FFXIIII is basically a starght line with no exploratuon and some nice vistas. FFXIII was boring to play in but looked pretty, while FFXII looked pretty and was fun to play due to the open world. Also, FFXII had two massive cities with people to talk to and shops and houses to enter. FFXIII had none of that.

I think we simply play FF for different reasons and as a result I love FFXII and you love FFXIII.

With a game like Final Fantasy i definitley play for the story and gameplay, graphics are important but i can enjoy them even with FFVII's lousy graphics because its story saves it.

Being unoriginal isnt automatically bad, but when you have all these characters that end up being a poor mans version of the Star Wars characters. They should have done something to make them stand out more.

Lighting was a Cloud 2.0, Sazh was kinda like Barret (didnt see it that way before), Snow was your typical anime hero just like Hope was your typical anime kid who starts half hating a certain grown up, Serah was a typical anime girl ditsy but they at least had personality.

The FFXIIs cast were like a boring group, out the six of them, Ashe, Basch and Fran played the serious, warrior role who were boring. Penelo was the Selphie/Rikku of the group, Vaan was a really poor mans Tidus and only really Balthier was any good, i wouldnt have cared if any of them died. They werent a fun group of people who you would want to hang out with, id hang out with Snow, Sazh or Vanille.

FFXII had a big world but alot of it had nothing to it, the big cities were all kinda similar looking. There was nothing like FFXII's Golden Saucer or the amusement park from FFXIII, no Costa Del Sol or Besaid Village Sunny Beachs, nothing fun looking like that. It was all kinda bland looking.

But i think for me its mainly a matter of taste, i personally prefer the more futuristic FF games, like FFVII, FFX and FFXII and not so much for the Empires and Knights in armour, more historic type of FF games like FFXII was which was more similar to FFIV than FFVII. Though i do love FFIX and not VIII. 

Man I can't take it anymore...NEED TO PLAY THIS GAME!!!

Can't fucken believe only two months left!!!! I'M BUYING 3 COPIES!!!!

PS Can't believe DMJ actually left here and still posts on GAF, so sad.

See, I agree with you on FFXII. I really liked it as well, and I certainly don't think the game was a Star Wars-rip off (don't make me re-post Khuutra's rant!).

However, I feel you missed part of the game if you thought Lulu and Kimahri's personality were 'stone cold' (especially Lulu!).