Why FFXII was utter shit

• The Gambit System--  First off, I think the Gambit System was a brilliant idea and made FFXII one of the best FF's gameplay wise but that doesn't mean much to me in an RPG.  So if I think it's such a good idea why does it make the game shit?  Because they Completely failed on the implementation.
  
  When they give you this Gambit System they give you a pitiful selection of gambits that is just in no way at all useful.  As you progress through the game you get or have to buy more (with your limited money) but in the end the shitty selection just made me not care.  By the time I finally started getting access to useful gambits I just didn't care anymore and did everything except basic control myself.
  
  Way to go SE, make a *good* system and then make me not want to use it.
• The License Grid-- Another fine idea that SE failed execution on.  License Points were beyond easy to come by so I had complete freedom to do whatever I wanted in the license grid.  Since I had so many license points, I didn't have to worry about strategy, I just gave everyone the best weapons and best magic.  Since every license grid is the same there is absolutely no reason to make your characters different.
  
  So SE gives us incredibly bland and boring characters and then gives us incentive to make them all exactly the same.  If they really wanted to make the license system good, they really just should have made the grids different or not handed out license points like candy.
• The Characters--  Every character I encountered in this game was painfully boring.  From the dumb-as-shit Vaan to overly-forced-to-be-interesting Balthier they were just bad characters.
  
  With Vaan, I don't think he actually had a purpose other than to be a fucking moron and annoying as Hell.  I mean really, why was he there?  I never got more than 20 hours into the game but I couldn't figure out why he was tagging along other than he's a little shit.
  
  Penelo, almost as pointless as Vaan but at least I knew she was there only to tag after Vaan.
  
  Ashe, what a fucking bitch.  She could have been a decent character but then you get her and she is a giant angry cunt and I just don't like here.  It's alright to hate some characters for certain reasons, but you can hate characters too much and she was just terrible.
  
  Balthier, why was he still there?  Other than to add color to the story, why did he continue to tag along?  No.  Fucking.  Point.  At.  All.  It was also painful how SE tried to hard to make him interesting.  Like they failed with Ash and trying too hard to make me hate her, they tried too hard to make him interesting and just failed.
  
  Fran-- hi wank material for the 12 year old players!
  
  Basch, just a boring character.  He's like the Cyan of the game minus the interesting back story.
  
• The Story--  I'm sorry, but FFXII's story was just bad. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with the characters and the fact I didn't care about anything of them because beyond Ashe and Basche they all had no reason to be there, but the story was boring.  I tried twice to get into that game and both times got to the 16-20 hour mark and I just couldn't play any longer.
  
  The story may have got good after that or the character may have started to get interesting after that, but that doesn't matter.  A game shouldn't take 20 hours to get good or interesting.
  
• The Beginning-- I hated the beginning of this game because they kept switching characters.  First, they introduce you to Ashe, she dies.  Then they introduce you to the soldier, he dies (or so I thought, whatever).  Then they introduce you to Vaan and by that point I just don't care anymore and kept expecting him to die too.
  
  RPG's have to hook you in the first minutes or it will fail.  FFXII kept jumping around and immediately lost people there.
  
• Traveling the World--  I actually wasn't a fan of how the world was laid out.  This one is just a personal preference but I just thought I'd mention that.

And there's more but I don't feel like typing more.  And I know someone is going to bitch about not finishing the game but as I said, both times I got really far in it and gave it a good go.  People keep telling me that around 20 hour mark is when it starts to get good and I should have kept playing but I shouldn't have to suffer through 20 hours of bad game to get to the good.

@twesterm

I remember when I told you it takes 20 hours to get interesting

lol you have a good point on that front

And then it came twesterm and shat all over the thread.
Twesterm hates everything - confirmed.

Nah, his disdain for the game is well-established. I actually expected him in sooner.

I don't expect him to stick around for very long, though.

You do realize that... the average play session of a person is like... 1-2 hours a day?

Which would mean the game would take like somehwere between 2 and 4 weeks to get interesting.

I mean even if you play 5 hours a day that's 4 days of gameplay until it gets good.

@kas

yeah but whats the average play session of JRPG fan/player

its gotta be over 1 - 2 hours a day....

we should compare it in that way....or its not fair

Although I will say this early:

Twesterm, I've told you how stupid it is to assume a lack of motivation on a character's part when you haven't played through the game. Right? We've been through this. You're not in a position to comment on character motivation.

I was just making a joke.

I respect his opinion very much. He's one of my favorite mods. I wish he would just lighten up though.

You should deffinetely make a thread about that. The average JRPG player session is bound to be bigger than the FPS crowd. I mean, when I had time to do it, I used to play for like 12 hours a day.

^for me it was good since the begining until the end. i guess is a matter of taste.