[???]

Originally Posted by Luke de Spa

what have hype and release date got to do with how good a game is

xii's story was easily the subtlest of any of the FFs i've played, and if its final third hadn't derailed it'd easily be my favourite. as it stands, viii wins out, and it has its fair share of idiocy

i have always appreciated XII's attempt at developing a subtle plot based on intrigue rather than the usual oh-shit-time-to-save-the-world melodrama of the other games. but the execution was risible. vayne was one of the most one-dimensional, uninspired villains i have seen in any game to date, final fantasy or otherwise. and as i mentioned before, the judges were very poorly developed characters that earned neither one's sympathy nor one's apathy. the head judge was slightly sympathetic for having to kill the female one but that whole episode just seemed ridiculous to begin with. the script was awful.

also, the game planning in general was just mediocre beyond belief. i found the first two or three hours of the game almost excruciatingly slow, and it didn't pick up much even after that. i had fun hunting down a couple of the marks and dispatching thousands upon thousands of those sandpeople at the oil-rig place, but my god what a complete dirge from start to finish.