While mechanically and linguistically they're far apart, FF9 and FF12 have a shared lineage in starting off being overlooked releases on their respective systems. It's an exaggeration to say both sold poorly cause they still sold well within the millions, but compare that to the releases made prior to them, and it's not hard to see the disparity of sales figures. Not helping is that unlike 9, 12 had a rocky cycle just getting made; it's rather well-known amongst the fanbase, but originally this was lead by well-known, politic-driven auteur Yasumi Matsuno and series veteran Hiroyuki Ito, but when Matsuno faced health issues, his role was transferred over to his partner, Hiroshi Minagawa, with SaGa creator Akitoshi Kawazu taking up the producer role. This even led to Hironobu Sakaguchi outright say that he didn't even play past the beginning due to Matsuno's departure, which given that the two worked extensively and closely on Vagrant Story, along becoming increasingly bitter towards Square Enix soon after leaving the studio, it makes sense. I'm not sure if it's an exaggeration to say this given there's now far worse instances, but it was one of the rougher cycles in an FF title, which is rather mindblowing considering how intrinsically and tightly this is to becoming one of the series' all time best.

It's been playfully and cheekily said that there's strong allusions to Star Wars, and while the lineage of Square employees have long since made it obvious these two franchises are intertwined with one another, alongside two specific details within the narrative being lifted straight from the global space opera phenomenon - no major spoilers here, but players or people who wikidive should know what I'm referring to - I imagine that tonally and structurally it's instead much similar to the film that inspired that one: Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. I say imagine because at the time of writing this, I have yet to see it for myself, but given how politically charged this is comparatively, as well as Vaan and Penelo not becoming Big Superstar Heroes whisked off from their penurious origins, and instead humbled off into becoming their (well, really Vaan's) dreams of being sky-flying pirates, and containing a far cry of Leia and Han's predicaments by doubling down and centering much more on the interpersonal and dramatic detailing of high class echelons royalty Princess Ashe and Stoic Knight Basch, I'm inclined to believe this. Rounding out the party are well-off pirate duo Balthier and Fran, both harboring a deep scar within their past that they're not keen on opening up until well into the story which is a bit distant from the relationship Han and Chewbacca have with one another. Though there were changes made in giving a "proper" MC role during development, as well as Ashe being given the brunt of the grandoise power plays typically obligated to such an archetype, the overall scattershot approach of focus and centering on this sextuple, ironically, gives the game its biggest strength, which is on how playing them like chess pieces in order pushes forward the revelations of the thematic ties of redemption and sorrowful reconciliation. Sure, this approach might not work for everyone, but it worked for me. While I'd struggle to detail what makes Penelo and Fran stand out, I'm enamored with how the tribulations of Ashe and Basch are covered, Balthier's one of my favorite hotshot rogues in any RPG, and, hot take, Vaan's one of the finest examples of what an audience surrogate leader should be. Even disregarding all that, the crew's budding kinship of closed off personal to a tight-knitted team ready to fend off the worst of the Archadian Empire is very well-done, orchestrating segmented growth and charm of the group, even in hilarious ways.

Least to say of the majestic world that is this entry's iteration of Ivalice. It's steeped strongly in culture outside of Japan, from as obvious as Ancient Rome and the Mediterranean, to more moderate patterns such as Arabic, Turkish, Indian, and American. It's been about two years since I last had a session, but memories of Rabanastre, Jahara, Mt. Bur-Omisace, and the Imperial City resonate deep within my gray matter. It also helps there's such a wide array of activities to do here thanks to the Hunts, various side quests, filling out the Sky Pirate Den which is essentially the in-game achievement tracker, slews of side areas, and others to boot. In fact, the only reason I didn't go out of my way to obtain a 100% Completion on Steam is cause a couple of them, such as the Bestiary and Trial Mode, were well after I reached my burnout state, and I'm annoyed by how Concurrence is calculated (more on that in a bit), which also meant I couldn't get this game's designated achievement on... getting all the achievements. As linked before, I also hold this game's OST dearly, like we're talkin S-Tier category here and irregardless of Zodiac Age's exquisite and dearly appreciated decision to incorporate three options of either the CD, OG PS2, or - my personal choice and the one I've been leaning on for this review - Reorchestrated sound. Best Prologue iteration, top three Battle On The Big Bridge arrangement, Respite's elegant beauty surrounding you, the Esper battle's daunting force, just a whole lot of hits packed onto a monstrous array of songs, fitting Hitoshi Sakimoto's familiar repertoire to a T. On that note, this game's Espers are hands down the coolest set of summons in the franchise with how they're played into the mythos of this game, as well as just being great bouts of strength in general. Particular favorites are Mateus, Zodiark, Cúchulainn, and Zeromus.

As mentioned in my (albeit spoiler-adjacent) review of FF9, one of the immense appeals and another pillar of strength in FF12 is its battle system. One say this "plays itself", I say this is the closest I'll ever get to both fully understanding how min-max strats work, as well as truly getting the appeal of the NFL tactics and play, an aspect Ito has openly shared on interviews. Though I don't have any experience with the initial PS2 version, I'm nonetheless eager to say the fine-tuning and careful concoctions that can spark from the dual-role job picks a la License Board can concoct wild ideas and inspirations. Want to make a tank-support? Available thanks to Shikari-White Mage or Knight-Time Mage. Wanna double-down on ranged opportunities in both the physical and spiritual fields? Use the Archer or Machinist job with any of the Mages and you're set. What about pure magic? Red Mage-Black Mage has you covered. Yearn for the days when FF games dabbled with DPS-style niches? Foebreaker-Shikari's right there waiting for you to fuck enemies up. So many builds to pick from, not to mention the ability to double dip into one or more, gives you free reign to go buck wild, and along with the ability to respec any of them for free, and it becomes the most diverse and experimental set of mechanics in the series, opening the flood gates for as broad as challenge runs or as simple as "this job matches this character's personality". Pro tip, though: designate which trio is gonna be the Main Group for generally the crux of the campaign, and which will be the Side/Backup one to generally play catch/clean up duty with the side activities, it's the best way to balance XP gain thanks to the License Points always being distributed amongst everyone as long as they live. This is also where Gambits shine, as being able to set which conditional tactic are carried out once met can make-or-break certain encounters, or just coast you through the fields. Being able to pick up a variety of different subjects, objects, and utility cases and organize them within these set is therapeutic, as is when they're set off just right and pull yourself out of a rut with ease, or help to circumvent an action first before relaying back to finishing the battle at hand. I'd also say that dungeons are typically on the right side of the scale, there's enough distinction and unique mechanics at play to stand them apart from each one, and also do a fantastic job on delving deeper into this already expansive world.

If there's anything I'd say that holds back FF12 from being a bonafide classic, it's that the aforementioned development woes crop up big time here. Not nearly as much as footage of FF15 can show, but you can feel its fluctuating pulse as you hit certain beats. Whether it's the abruptness of the Resistance's final assault near the end, the lethargic beginning of limited potential even by the series' standard, a couple of dungeons overstaying their welcome such as Great Crystal, and specific plot details coming in and out of the picture such as those pertaining to Vayne Solidor, it's hard to not at least feel like something was missing from the board. The mechanics of battles are also uneasy, due to Gambits not having quite the specificity as you'd think, which not only ties back to the problem that the early beginning up to I wanna say the arrival to Bhujerba being quite slow, it also means that your actions and strategy plans are only in close approximation as to what you're setting out to achieve, which is annoying. My biggest gripe with combat is easily with the aforementioned Concurrence system, which is activated by utilizing this game's equivalent to Limit Breaks, Quickening, to their fullest. You are able to unlock up to three bars of charge as you progress in the story, and activating one, two, or all of them will allow you to do the respective stage of an LB attack, with the ability to gain back a charge to follow up on more. Do this enough times, and you'll be treated to a powerful, non-elemental attack capable of damaging everything, including bosses and the higher-tiered Hunts. Of course, with a grand ability such as that, it has to be balanced, and the way they utilized this is by... making it completely luck based. It's not like you're reliant on these working in order to take care of something, but it's the nature of being subjugated to dice rolls as to whether you can get a charge or even do a gauge-specific attack, along with there being multiple variants available that you have to do to get that achievement that frustrates me to no end, and combine that with the fact these are unskippable animations that play on loop frequently, and I only used them when it was needed. Other FF games, including ones I've yet to touch, had elements of RNG to these sorts of systems sure, but I'd yet to experience one that was as reliant on the draw of cards as this one has. There's also Espers, again even by the series' standards, not having any real use in combat due to the other mechanics far outstripping and outranking them for maintenance, but even then that's more of a nitpick than a legitimate issue.

All said and done, however, FF12 has been one of the most unforgettable games in the franchise - nay, one of the most unforgettable games in the genre - I've gone through in recent years. Its appeal might be more limited, especially in a series where individualistic aspects of these entries are always apparent and displayed, but that's also what gives it a gargantuan pulse and treasure to uncover. Definitely give this a shot, even if you're on the fence about it, I'm positive at least something about it will stick with you in one way or another.