Ever since I've been lurking around this website, I've been noticing that FFXII gets a crapload of hate. I myself enjoyed the game for what it was, and after I realized how great it was I was angry at myself for not buying it sooner. I understand opinions are opinions so I'll give mine: The main complaints that this game receives are the feeling of lack of control for the battle system, the characters not being developed properly, and a weak story. Here is my opinions on these claims, and the game itself.

I totally understand the complaints about the battle system. The gambits, if done right, could make it so you barely have to pay attention to what you are doing in a battle. You would just have to maintain a good position around your enemy and keep a look out for unexpected occurences. What balanced this, in my opinion were the vast, open areas that took hours to explore. I didn't mind the lack of control because I would find myself constantly in battles with enemies thoughout the trek across these areas. The boss battles were stressful and rewarding and the game itself was not overly easy like other games in the series.

The story was substantially less convoluted than other installments in the series, and that could give players the impression that it is simplistic in comparison. The game delves into the political aspects of war as well as the war experience that most other stories revolve around, and I can see how that can be boring for some, though I think the writers did a good job fleshing it out. I also thought the character development was above average. Since there weren't many party members, there was more individual growth from each characters than some games that have a 10 character party, with only 7 or 8 being properly developed. One thing I loved about the characters is that there was not one definite main character. Some may say that Ashe, and her plight to save her country from termoil  is the main character, others say Balthier is the lezdin man, as he is usually the one who advanced the plot in vital situaltions. I personally think that Vaan is the main character, as one point of view of thegame's story was to portray a politically fuelled grand adventure through the eyes of a youth who has lived in poverty for so long.

Another reason that this game shines is the musical score. The theme of Dalmasca was probably one of the best songs I've ever heard within a role playing game and overall I'd place the score of Final Fantasy XII with games such as Persona 3, Dragon Quest VIII, Final Fantasy VI, Tales of Legendia, Donkey Kong Country 2 and Legend of Dragoon as having the most memorable music in any game that I've ever played.

As an RPG fan I loved everything about this game and enjoyed every bit of time that I put into it. I can see the reasons why a longtime fan of the Final Fantasy series would dislike the change that this game brought to the series, but I'm sure those who play a broad amount of RPGs do not have the same gripes as these fans do. I also believe that this game gets a lot of fake dislike on forume from those who have not ever played it.

Overall I would say that this was the third best Final Fantasy game that I've played, trailing Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX, and just slightly edging out Final Fantasy IV. Remember this is an opinion peice, and I would love to hear your opinions.

What did you like? Dislike?

... the bouncer, squares best work ever.

I'm with you. I think the hate is undeserved. Personally, the battle system is what made the game. No way I was about to spend 70 hours on another RPG with random battles that have ridiculous load screens between the world map and battle scene.

My biggest complaint lies with the complainers themselves. Like you said, most of them hate on the gambit system. Problem is, the gambit system is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. I barely used it. My 3 character main characters only had 3 gambit slots used and they were all filled with attack, attack, attack, except one character had a heal. Ultimately, I had control, not the computer.

(Similar complaints were lodged at MGS4 for being able to play it like a 3rd person shooter. Again, playing that way was optional. Take some G-d-damn control of yourselves, people, and stop being slaves to your lazy desires. Just b/c you're offered a gun or gambit system, doesn't mean you have to use it.)

Like you said the battle system made exploring enemy infested areas a blast instead of an exercise in tedium like 90% of other RPGs.

^The bouncer had the opportunity to be very good but it fails to be that awesome (can't reallyh tell why anymore :s).

personally I liked the game. it is my third favorite ff after ff7 and ffx. I thought the story was great, they made feel epic. The only draw back was the summons they were pointless, also the mist quickenings was a great idea.

i liked almost everything, but loved nothing. it is one of the most absolutely solid all around games i have ever seen, but, unfortunately for it, it is part of a series which does many extraordinary things.

edit: tc, i love you for loving legend of dragoon and ff9.

Well this is good to see. I just bought the game. It and FFX will be my first ever FFs, and I'll be starting them soon. :)

The one problem I do have with it is that the game can be frustrating at times since you have to know how to set up the gambits. I am trying to fully understand the system but because I can't fully understand it, I resort to grinding which can be quite boring at times. I am 23 hours in the game and I am right before Henne Mines, how far am I into the main story?

I liked the game. It's not one of my favourites ever, but it's a great and enjoyable one. The problem I saw is that sometimes the game plays itself, the only thing I was doing was moving forward, and besides some characters felt a bit lacking in development (mainly Vaan and Penelo), though Balthier was a great one. Overall, it's a great game, not the best ever and not the disaster some have called it

Ugh, it's such a horrible game.

The actual gameplay isn't bad, but the problem is that it tries to be kind of like an action game and it isn't nearly as good as any decent action game out there.

As for everything else, it just fails miserably so where should I start (mind you that I haven't played this game in much more than a year).

The story-- other than being a terrible knockoff it just isn't interesting. I tried twice to get into this game and both times got about 16 hours into the game and was just bored to tears. I know you could say I didn't play it enough but if the game hasn't grabbed my attention in 16 hours it just isn't going to happen or either that's a terrible story if it takes that long to get good.

The characters-- boring. None of the characters were actually interesting and on top of that, most of them didn't even have a reason for being there. Vaahn had no reason to be there, Pinnelo was just as worthless, the pirate and bunny girl had no reason to be there, and the only ones that had reasons I just didn't care about their characters. It's like the game tried to make me not like or care about them.

Gambits-- awesome idea, poor execution. By the time you finally start getting good gambits you've just stopped caring. If they would just let me have all (or at least most) options from the beginning instead of making my character start out sucking on auto pilot and gradually getting better it would have been a great system.

License grid-- dumbest idea ever. You had absolutely no reason to make your characters different so they all wound up using the same weapons and spells. Way to make your characters even more generic.

I know I had plenty of other gripes about the game but I'm sure that's enough. Someone bother Naz, he'll write a two page long rant on why this game is terrible.