Why so much hate for FF12?

FFXII had everything awesome, besides one thing: The Music.

Graphics were awesome for its time, Characters are memorable and cool (besides Vaan), and the gameplay is some of the best the series has seen yet. Story is a mixed bag for a lot of people, but I thought it was awesome. It's a nice stride away from the love-focused story that the more recent FF's were known for. This one is more on the lines of friendship, trust, and how politics affect all of that.

Then you got the music. Nobuo Uemastsu really had a huge impact to the series, engraving it with its own feel, tone, and emotion. FFXII had an awesome composer behind it, but it seriously just feels too different.

Plus, the music in FFXII has got to be that composer's worst work yet... it really just sounds like a bunch of orchestral noise jammed into one forgettable theme song.

FFXII had everything awesome, besides one thing: The Music.

Graphics were awesome for its time, Characters are memorable and cool (besides Vaan), and the gameplay is some of the best the series has seen yet. Story is a mixed bag for a lot of people, but I thought it was awesome. It's a nice stride away from the love-focused story that the more recent FF's were known for. This one is more on the lines of friendship, trust, and how politics affect all of that.

Then you got the music. Nobuo Uemastsu really had a huge impact to the series, engraving it with its own feel, tone, and emotion. FFXII had an awesome composer behind it, but it seriously just feels too different.

Plus, the music in FFXII has got to be that composer's worst work yet... it really just sounds like a bunch of orchestral noise jammed into one forgettable theme song.

leadernator

I never cared for it as much to play it again.. Unlike I do with with FF7, think I've lost count on how many times I've replayed FF7. FF12 was just meh. Weak story, Weak characters which hardly any of them where relevent to the storyline with weak motives. Too short, Too easy. Sidequest where tedious an repetative. The combat system played itself most the time, with the occasional healing here an there. Theres plenty of reasons for not liking this game. It's all opinion yeah. But I'm sure many share it.FloWeN-UK

I just couldn't get through it hey... i just didn't want to.

There was nothing in the game that made me want to keep playing....20 hours and i got over it.

I can't wait for final fantasy 13 and versus... Hopefully they're a lot better. Plus i'd rather turn based then the **** fighting in 12. seriously. i hated it. I like the old fighting..

I wish there was a way to capture the fluidity of XII (I liked beign able to run away from battles just by walking away and engage in them just by walking up to them) but still have controll over ALL of your party members.

I mean, of course there was, and I played it by controlling everything the other characters did too, but ... still hmm ... I wonder how you could pull off a mix of the old and the new.

Maybe have characters run up to enemies like in XII but have the battle area have an invisible fence around it? And then when you press x instead of 1 team member's commands coming up, maybe you select one, then another, then another, etc until all of your characters go.

I'd also like to see 4 member parties again; they're my favorite.

The battle system was a broken mess that allowed for cheap hits galore on your party.svetzenlether

Why do people hate FF12?

1- Far too much Level Grinding. Level Grinding is poor game design period. It should not even exist. It is nothing but worthless filler. But to have to grind as much as in FF12 is utterly ridiculous.

2- Poor pacing between story and gameplay. The pacing between dungeons and story/character interaction are off. There is usually too much combat between areas.

3- The Combat System favors the player doing nothing. Letting the gambits do all the work is the more efficent and effective way of dealing with combat scenarios. All of the inputs are done quicker by the computer than individual player input. Why should I even be playing the game if the computer can input my commands quicker and more efficently?

4- Characters commands and abilities lack individuality. All the characters are basically the same. They are generic and lack individual abilities. FFX also had this problem if you maxed everyone on the sphere grid.

5- Story is impersonal.While the story avoids the save the world cliche (Which is very very good) it is not a personal story. It completely favors the politics over the characters. Instead of dealing with both. Which is not a good thing. If I don't care about the characters then why am I going to care about what happens to country A or Country B? Why should I care if everyone dies?

6- Characters are not fully fleshed out and developed. Not like the other games in the series did this one. Although other games in the series had more developed characters with more back-story.

These are just a few of my issues with the game.

It could of been better in a lot of places such as story and characters, but I enjoyed it.

I like the nice tin case the Collectors Editon comes in too.

Well where should I start? 1- Gameplay-wise: I didn't like the new style (forgot the name) but when you play the game for less than 5 hours you can just let the chars do all the job (assigning attacks and skills...etc) lol I played the game with my right foot's big finger :P 2- Story-wise: it simply sucks why? the main char is freaking annoying and his story has almost nothing to do with Ash and the rest of the group plus, the events didn't draw my attention like they did in FFVII~FFX which were waaay better implemented. 3- Music-wise: Man usually when I play a FF game and finish it I go and look for the OST's because they are great and give a great feeling while gaming but this one is terrible, I liked only 4 or 5 musics but the rest were rubbish. 4- Aeon-wise: where is Ifrit, Shiva, Behamout (spelling?) and my lovely Anima?? Ok, ok, we'll see the new Aeons (Summons) they might be cool eh? (goes to play the game and recheck the aeons' looks) Man they look ugly (most of them). I didn't mind having new aeons (Anima was new at that time when FFX was released) but these new ones are super stupid looking. 5- Title-wise: Square Soft was one of my best devs back in the PS1 & PS2 era but now SE are taking control and they damaged the FF name by releasing FFXII name as (FF). If they released the game with a different name as a new IP it might be better. So that's it, and by the way the game is good but I was extremely disappointed after playing a masterpiece like FFX which was superior to this one in my honest opinionabuabed

I think the characters in FF12 were very uninteresting which made it pointless to take +20 hours to beat the game. Despite that, I did beat the game. The battle system was fun though

Ok I know not everyone likes the FF games,but through my years iv never seen so much hate to a particular part. I was just wondering why do people hate it? Dont mind my user name. At the time I made this it was all I could think off. I would change it if I knew how lol.

finalfantasy94

One of the worst games i have bought in my whole gaming life, easilly

Did i mention the worst hands down combat system in a RPG, ever ?

[QUOTE="finalfantasy94"]

Ok I know not everyone likes the FF games,but through my years iv never seen so much hate to a particular part. I was just wondering why do people hate it? Dont mind my user name. At the time I made this it was all I could think off. I would change it if I knew how lol.

obamanian

One of the worst games i have bought in my whole gaming life, easilly

Did i mention the worst hands down combat system in a RPG, ever ?

Honest to God, this is your reaction to every single game besides Fable 2 lol.

Anyways, I got bored with the combat fast seeing as how I've been playing FFXI for a very long time and I loved FFXs battle system. Also I still haven't finished the game, but I really have no clue what's going on in the story, and for a FF fanboy that's saying a lot.

[QUOTE="Burnsmiesta"]First Final Fantasy and first game in a good while I did not feel compelled to complete. Still haven't.Lionheart08

I don't out right hate FFXII but it is my lease favorite of the Franchise. I'll list the postives first though, the new gameplay was a nice step forware for the series, and I did like the side quests. But my main complaints goes as such:

Un-interesting story: Personally preference I know, but the story was awfully dull. Kudos to Square for going against the "Save the World" type, but FFXII was just far to political for my taste. And this leads me to my next pointPoor Cast: I could not get into the characters of thsi game for the life of me. The only one who was likable was Balthier.SoundtrackBoss Battle: While the new gameplay was nice, boss battles basically just felt like normal enemies with more HP. Just overall it lacked the magic. :?Lionheart08

Ok where to start

Gameplay: The gambit system made it so that you could go to the bathroom,make a sanwhich, go to the movies and come back and your party would be ok. Of course you would have to change the gambits a bit every time you entered a new area with different types of enemies but that would rarely take more than 5 minutes. The boss fights were horrible and never felt challenging, not that FF bosses are ever difficult but these wereeven worse.

Story: It had a story? Starting with an intreaguing political confilct like Final Fantasy Tactics it just dived into a horrible and boring tale.

Characters: None had depth

Vaan was a wimpier version of Tidus who was a sissy to begin with.

Balthier was a bit interesting at first but later down the line he just became boring.

Fran is an emo version of Khimari.

Basch wasn't so bad but he was competing with Auron.

Penelo was useless, at least Yuffie and Riku could cheer you up with a joke at times.

Ashe is a mature Yuna that didn't work well.

Why do people hate FF12?

1- Far too much Level Grinding. Level Grinding is poor game design period. It should not even exist. It is nothing but worthless filler. But to have to grind as much as in FF12 is utterly ridiculous.

2- Poor pacing between story and gameplay. The pacing between dungeons and story/character interaction are off. There is usually too much combat between areas.

3- The Combat System favors the player doing nothing. Letting the gambits do all the work is the more efficent and effective way of dealing with combat scenarios. All of the inputs are done quicker by the computer than individual player input. Why should I even be playing the game if the computer can input my commands quicker and more efficently?

4- Characters commands and abilities lack individuality. All the characters are basically the same. They are generic and lack individual abilities. FFX also had this problem if you maxed everyone on the sphere grid.

5- Story is impersonal.While the story avoids the save the world cliche (Which is very very good) it is not a personal story. It completely favors the politics over the characters. Instead of dealing with both. Which is not a good thing. If I don't care about the characters then why am I going to care about what happens to country A or Country B? Why should I care if everyone dies?

6- Characters are not fully fleshed out and developed. Not like the other games in the series did this one. Although other games in the series had more developed characters with more back-story.

These are just a few of my issues with the game.

redCloudJ7

To be honest, the game was lost without the save the world cliche. The characters certainly seemed to be very engaged in what was going on, but it was all false because there was no sense of urgency without one.

[QUOTE="redCloudJ7"]

Why do people hate FF12?

1- Far too much Level Grinding. Level Grinding is poor game design period. It should not even exist. It is nothing but worthless filler. But to have to grind as much as in FF12 is utterly ridiculous.

2- Poor pacing between story and gameplay. The pacing between dungeons and story/character interaction are off. There is usually too much combat between areas.

3- The Combat System favors the player doing nothing. Letting the gambits do all the work is the more efficent and effective way of dealing with combat scenarios. All of the inputs are done quicker by the computer than individual player input. Why should I even be playing the game if the computer can input my commands quicker and more efficently?

4- Characters commands and abilities lack individuality. All the characters are basically the same. They are generic and lack individual abilities. FFX also had this problem if you maxed everyone on the sphere grid.

5- Story is impersonal.While the story avoids the save the world cliche (Which is very very good) it is not a personal story. It completely favors the politics over the characters. Instead of dealing with both. Which is not a good thing. If I don't care about the characters then why am I going to care about what happens to country A or Country B? Why should I care if everyone dies?

6- Characters are not fully fleshed out and developed. Not like the other games in the series did this one. Although other games in the series had more developed characters with more back-story.

These are just a few of my issues with the game.

hakanakumono

To be honest, the game was lost without the save the world cliche. The characters certainly seemed to be very engaged in what was going on, but it was all false because there was no sense of urgency without one.

I disagree. The game would be fine without the save the world cliche. Actually it is better off without that cliche. The previous Final Fantasy games also lacked a sense of urgency (with the exception of some events in FF6). I never felt the need to rush through previous ff games. Its not like there were time limits for the impending destruction of the world.

Final Fantasy 12 should have focused the story on an interesting cast of developed characters that the player actually cared about. Who are heavily involved in the political world of Ivalice.

Why do people hate FF12?

1- Far too much Level Grinding. Level Grinding is poor game design period. It should not even exist. It is nothing but worthless filler. But to have to grind as much as in FF12 is utterly ridiculous.

2- Poor pacing between story and gameplay. The pacing between dungeons and story/character interaction are off. There is usually too much combat between areas.

3- The Combat System favors the player doing nothing. Letting the gambits do all the work is the more efficent and effective way of dealing with combat scenarios. All of the inputs are done quicker by the computer than individual player input. Why should I even be playing the game if the computer can input my commands quicker and more efficently?

4- Characters commands and abilities lack individuality. All the characters are basically the same. They are generic and lack individual abilities. FFX also had this problem if you maxed everyone on the sphere grid.

5- Story is impersonal.While the story avoids the save the world cliche (Which is very very good) it is not a personal story. It completely favors the politics over the characters. Instead of dealing with both. Which is not a good thing. If I don't care about the characters then why am I going to care about what happens to country A or Country B? Why should I care if everyone dies?

6- Characters are not fully fleshed out and developed. Not like the other games in the series did this one. Although other games in the series had more developed characters with more back-story.

These are just a few of my issues with the game.

redCloudJ7

1. Agreed here, especially when leveling up consists of moving around a particular area while your gambits take care of buisness.

2. Definately. There were a few areas where there would be 2 unrelated bosses in 2 consecutive areas. Almost like there's a chunk of area cut out in between. i.e. Tiamat followed by the Elder Wyrm in the next area and Vinuskar followed by Mateus in the next area.

3. Agreed. After assigning gambits, the battle was won (or lost) before it even began. Usually if I had to interrupt my gambits I had already lost.

4. Right again. After some decent leveling, there really is no difference between the characters. At least the sphere grid in FFX was designed so that you'd all but beaten the final boss(s) before you got to that point.

5. Yeah. We can assume that Vaan is fighting for his brother, but that fact is never really elaborated upon. We're really never given a solid motive as to why he or Penelo choose to fight for a country in which they lived in poverty.

6. Unlike most Final Fantasy RPG's, there is very little (if any, I can't recall) flashback scenes. We're just to assume that the characters are the way they are because, well, that's how they are. No past history between Vaan and Penelo is explored. No past history between Balthier and Fran is explored. Very shallow indeed.

Why do people hate FF12?

1- Far too much Level Grinding. Level Grinding is poor game design period. It should not even exist. It is nothing but worthless filler. But to have to grind as much as in FF12 is utterly ridiculous.

2- Poor pacing between story and gameplay. The pacing between dungeons and story/character interaction are off. There is usually too much combat between areas.

3- The Combat System favors the player doing nothing. Letting the gambits do all the work is the more efficent and effective way of dealing with combat scenarios. All of the inputs are done quicker by the computer than individual player input. Why should I even be playing the game if the computer can input my commands quicker and more efficently?

4- Characters commands and abilities lack individuality. All the characters are basically the same. They are generic and lack individual abilities. FFX also had this problem if you maxed everyone on the sphere grid.

5- Story is impersonal.While the story avoids the save the world cliche (Which is very very good) it is not a personal story. It completely favors the politics over the characters. Instead of dealing with both. Which is not a good thing. If I don't care about the characters then why am I going to care about what happens to country A or Country B? Why should I care if everyone dies?

6- Characters are not fully fleshed out and developed. Not like the other games in the series did this one. Although other games in the series had more developed characters with more back-story.

These are just a few of my issues with the game.

redCloudJ7

I can see why people would feel this way.

But I disagree, especially with the first three points.

Level grinding is fun. I like working to increase stats and the alternative to grinding in a game is leveling characters too fast, which reduces the challenge.

I thought the pacing was perfect. I like fighting lots of monsters, and would often take the long way just to do more battles.

It's up to you how you build your characters. If you super-charge them all and turn them all into a generic mass, that's up to you. I made a Paladin, a fighter with time magic, and an archer with black magic as my main three characters. Makes it more interesting, and let's you focus on certain aspects of the ability system.

The gambit system was intelligently done. And while you can use it to completely fight for you, I left my main character completely manual. It made me feel involved in the fighting.

While the story was a little contrived, it more than made up for it with a plethora of side quests. The extra areas to explore, the extra monsters to hunt, and the little hidden secrets are what make this game one of the best.

but that's just me.

[QUOTE="redCloudJ7"]

Why do people hate FF12?

1- Far too much Level Grinding. Level Grinding is poor game design period. It should not even exist. It is nothing but worthless filler. But to have to grind as much as in FF12 is utterly ridiculous.

2- Poor pacing between story and gameplay. The pacing between dungeons and story/character interaction are off. There is usually too much combat between areas.

3- The Combat System favors the player doing nothing. Letting the gambits do all the work is the more efficent and effective way of dealing with combat scenarios. All of the inputs are done quicker by the computer than individual player input. Why should I even be playing the game if the computer can input my commands quicker and more efficently?

4- Characters commands and abilities lack individuality. All the characters are basically the same. They are generic and lack individual abilities. FFX also had this problem if you maxed everyone on the sphere grid.

5- Story is impersonal.While the story avoids the save the world cliche (Which is very very good) it is not a personal story. It completely favors the politics over the characters. Instead of dealing with both. Which is not a good thing. If I don't care about the characters then why am I going to care about what happens to country A or Country B? Why should I care if everyone dies?

6- Characters are not fully fleshed out and developed. Not like the other games in the series did this one. Although other games in the series had more developed characters with more back-story.

These are just a few of my issues with the game.

-starman-

I can see why people would feel this way.

But I disagree, especially with the first three points.

Level grinding is fun. I like working to increase stats and the alternative to grinding in a game is leveling characters too fast, which reduces the challenge.

I thought the pacing was perfect. I like fighting lots of monsters, and would often take the long way just to do more battles.

It's up to you how you build your characters. If you super-charge them all and turn them all into a generic mass, that's up to you. I made a Paladin, a fighter with time magic, and an archer with black magic as my main three characters. Makes it more interesting, and let's you focus on certain aspects of the ability system.

The gambit system was intelligently done. And while you can use it to completely fight for you, I left my main character completely manual. It made me feel involved in the fighting.

While the story was a little contrived, it more than made up for it with a plethora of side quests. The extra areas to explore, the extra monsters to hunt, and the little hidden secrets are what make this game one of the best.

but that's just me.

[QUOTE="Grinning_Demon"]

I liked FFXII quite a bit. It probably should've been called Ivalice Alliance instead of FF but i enjoyed its tone, political story and art direction alot more than the overdramatic POS that was FFX, with a Meg Ryan look-a-like in the lead role

But my tastes in FFs arent that popular, my favourite FF is still FFIX...and then FFVI,

Fran FTW

Balthier FTW

Judge Magisters FTW

Ivalice and Soundtrack FTW

Haters burn

hakanakumono

IX is extremely popular and so is VI. VII and X fans are only second to IX fans.

FF9 isn't popular at all :? Skittles_McGee

Yeah, a lot of people complain about how their characters eventually all bled into one another. I don't really think that's the game's fault, though. It really is left in the players hands to define who each character is. If they all become the same then I think it's the players fault. I have spent a lot of time on the license board considering which path I want each person to take - and it actually works.NAPK1NS

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"] FF9 isn't popular at all :? Couth_

[QUOTE="Couth_"][QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"] FF9 isn't popular at all :? Skittles_McGee

[QUOTE="Couth_"][QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"] FF9 isn't popular at all :? Skittles_McGee

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"][QUOTE="Couth_"]How do you figure that? Every main FF game after VII is very popularCouth_

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"][QUOTE="Couth_"]How do you figure that? Every main FF game after VII is very popularCouth_

Which I would definately disagree with.

[QUOTE="obamanian"][QUOTE="finalfantasy94"]

Ok I know not everyone likes the FF games,but through my years iv never seen so much hate to a particular part. I was just wondering why do people hate it? Dont mind my user name. At the time I made this it was all I could think off. I would change it if I knew how lol.

Chutebox

One of the worst games i have bought in my whole gaming life, easilly

Did i mention the worst hands down combat system in a RPG, ever ?

Honest to God, this is your reaction to every single game besides Fable 2 lol.

Anyways, I got bored with the combat fast seeing as how I've been playing FFXI for a very long time and I loved FFXs battle system. Also I still haven't finished the game, but I really have no clue what's going on in the story, and for a FF fanboy that's saying a lot.

So, how is FF10 one of the best games i have ever played ? Same for Zelda OOT, FF7-9 etc etc ?

I just like some games and don't like others, i am not like PS fanboys that like ALL PS games and hate ALL others, i like specific ones from each system, that is all

[QUOTE="Couth_"][QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"] FF9 isn't popular at all :? Skittles_McGee

[QUOTE="redCloudJ7"]

Why do people hate FF12?

1- Far too much Level Grinding. Level Grinding is poor game design period. It should not even exist. It is nothing but worthless filler. But to have to grind as much as in FF12 is utterly ridiculous.

2- Poor pacing between story and gameplay. The pacing between dungeons and story/character interaction are off. There is usually too much combat between areas.

3- The Combat System favors the player doing nothing. Letting the gambits do all the work is the more efficent and effective way of dealing with combat scenarios. All of the inputs are done quicker by the computer than individual player input. Why should I even be playing the game if the computer can input my commands quicker and more efficently?

4- Characters commands and abilities lack individuality. All the characters are basically the same. They are generic and lack individual abilities. FFX also had this problem if you maxed everyone on the sphere grid.

5- Story is impersonal.While the story avoids the save the world cliche (Which is very very good) it is not a personal story. It completely favors the politics over the characters. Instead of dealing with both. Which is not a good thing. If I don't care about the characters then why am I going to care about what happens to country A or Country B? Why should I care if everyone dies?

6- Characters are not fully fleshed out and developed. Not like the other games in the series did this one. Although other games in the series had more developed characters with more back-story.

These are just a few of my issues with the game.

-starman-

I can see why people would feel this way.

But I disagree, especially with the first three points.

Level grinding is fun. I like working to increase stats and the alternative to grinding in a game is leveling characters too fast, which reduces the challenge.

I thought the pacing was perfect. I like fighting lots of monsters, and would often take the long way just to do more battles.

It's up to you how you build your characters. If you super-charge them all and turn them all into a generic mass, that's up to you. I made a Paladin, a fighter with time magic, and an archer with black magic as my main three characters. Makes it more interesting, and let's you focus on certain aspects of the ability system.

The gambit system was intelligently done. And while you can use it to completely fight for you, I left my main character completely manual. It made me feel involved in the fighting.

While the story was a little contrived, it more than made up for it with a plethora of side quests. The extra areas to explore, the extra monsters to hunt, and the little hidden secrets are what make this game one of the best.

but that's just me.

Level Grinding is poor game design period. It is repetitious filler used to artificially lengthen a game. It adds no depth or strategy to the core mechanics. Your entire concept of challenge is flawed.

Challenge should not be based on spending hours and hours to increase ones stats. But a game that is based on skill, reflexes, precision, strategy and mastering the games mechanics. Not playing 50 + hours so your strong enough to fight the "special boss". Thats atrocious game design.

The license board is extremely flawed. The system is not balanced, certain abilities are far more valuable than others. Another major problem is that the player can gain an infinte amount of License points.

Meaning that eventually all your characters will inevitably become a mish mash with zero individuality. This could have partially been avoided if the player was only given a set number of total points so they could not master everything. However with the system being unbalanced all the characters will still be quite similar in many regards.

The gambit system is very flawed. Why should a combat system favor the player who does nothing. Its utterly ridiculous that a system like this would even be implemented into a game. Another prime example of poor design.

The games pacing was horrible. You would fight repetitious battles that lack any real sort of strategy for hours, then you would get a small cutscene that does little to nothing to advance the plot or develop the characters.

There were definately alot of side quests the problem was that many of them were not good. The majority of them involved level grinding, fighting repetitious battles that require little to no strategy and hoping you picked up the correct random chest that would grant you special weapons/armor.

Not to mention the lack of variety in the side quests as well. It was practically always travel here and kill so in so.