The game is the unfortunate result of Square-Enix crossing paths with the genius who tried to direct it.

Apparently he wanted to make the game good and unique living up to the 'omoe' of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, but Square-Enix, reeling from the disaster that was FFXI, wanted to play it safe and make the game as much of a superficial FFX clone, visually and artistically, as possible (As FFX/FFX-2 was their last major success). In addition to this Square-Enix saw an opportunity to recoup the loss of some of FFXI's R&D by adapting its MMORPG gameplay system to become the unique "cruise control" gameplay system of FFXII.

In addition Square-Enix wanted to use FFXII as hub to ring in the Tactics games as part of a cohesive fold and an excuse to make low production / high yeild portable spin-offs that would sell using FFXII's name power.

Needless to say, the director left Square-Enix and no sooner did he do so they were forced into a scramble to finish the game resulting in the long delays, they also scrapped all the work he was doing for FFXIII. He's currently working with Monolith and Nintendo on a new JRPG exclusive to the Wii.

He's perhaps the most significant tallent Square has lost since Sakaguchi himself. While Square-Enix continues to hemorage Square staff and talent its estimated that as little as one fourth of Square-Enix is still original Square employees.

@Khuutra. I just don't analyse the storyline in games. Even the metal gear solid plot is lost on me. I guess I take things for wot they r. I'd like to say that i played ffxii intelligently from the beginning but i'd be lying. If i could'nt beat an enemy i'd just grind till i could. It was a while before i discovered how useful magic like bubble was. The point is that after completing ffxii i felt underwhelmed and I can't bring myself to play it again for some reason.

FFXII and FFIX are my two favorite PS gen FF's. there, I said it.
Take that, haters!

Hey, that's cool. Different strokes. Just wanted to say my peace.

The way I see it, people didn't like FFXII because the story wasn't over the top.

I had problems with it because it's repetitive, and that the story gets lost in the shuffle, at least to me it did. The gameplay is GREAT, but there's too much of it during the main game. It's about 10-15 hours too long, and some more cutscenes like the ones towards the end would be nice. Those cutscenes are absolutely fantastic, it's a shame I had to wait 50+ hours for them. Hell, the beginning hours of the storyline are pretty damn good, but the story just gets lost with the tens of hours you spend on battling enemies just to get to one place.

Not to mention that Ashe, Fran, and Larsa are some of the worst characters in any game ever. I absolutely despise them. Balthier, however, is epic.

I will let lots of things slide (maybe not), but Ashe is the best-written female character that this series has seen since Terra and Celes.

@secondcity. I agree. There was just too much emphasis on fighting for my liking.

I agree dabaus, Final Fantasy XII is a very fun game, the gameplay is awesome. Can't say much about the story though, I really don't know what the plot is (for certain reasons, if I played it again I'm sure I'd understand it), and the characters confused me especially the main character, I don't understand why Vaans the main character??

But Anyway! it was still a fun game and that's all that matters. One of my favorites.

Sure, she might be well written, but she's completely uninteresting and dull. I liked the story involving her, and I didn't mind that the game revolved around her, but she was just so bland and boring.

I most likely would change my mind about her if I played the game again with a more open mind, but I really don't want to go through all those hours of battling through enemies again.

This was my least favorite FF, and to be honest, I just don't know why. I didn't have any hatred for the characters like many other people have stated. I loved the new updated battle system, at least compared to the other final fantasy games, but I've never played these games for gameplay. They and most RPGs are slow and boring gamewise to me, but I play them for their increadible storys. I think that is why I disliked 12 so much, I don't ever recall getting into the story, and while I didn't dislike the characters, I wasn't emotionally attached to any of them either. I just couldn't get into the political story and to be honest, I'd be lying if I said I even understood a lot of it. They would talk about nation x and nation y but I couldn't really keep it all straight as to what country or person was doing what.
For reference however, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VIII were my two favorite. Two games that I've heard a lot of people bad mouth. I've heard many people say Squall was the worst character ever, when he was my personal favorite. I've also heard bad things about Tidus and the ending to X when X personally had my favorite ending of any Final Fantasy by a long shot. But then I like the messed up, not everyone goes home happy screaming we saved the day type endings. Also, when thinking about it, music plays a huge part in the experiance I have in an RPG. Final Fantasy X and Chrono Cross to me have the two most increadible scores in gaming period, I remember playing these games and just sit there doing nothing but listening to the beautiful melodies for 20-30 minutes at a time they were so beautiful. The same thing is with movies, for instance, we all remember the theme songs from Star Wars, Jaws, Jurrasic Park, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. because they play such a huge part in those movies. Music helps to connect us to these forms of entertainment and stick with us long after the game or movie is over. Unfortunately, I didn't get this vibe from the music in FF XII.