It’s always saddened me that FFXII isn’t talked about very often. It’s one of my favourite FF games and maybe one of my favourite RPGs.

The zodiac job system offers a dizzying degree of customisation, greatly rewarding those willing to plunge into its depths. A lot of people seem to dislike the more passive combat, but when you finally figure out good builds and gambit loadouts to compliment those builds, watching your strategy succeed is so satisfying.

The Ivalice setting is as well realised as it always is. The writing is far more subdued than typical FFs and features another great localisation by Alexander O. Smith. I’ve seen a lot of people say it’s boring; I love it, personally. I can’t deny it does get much weaker towards the end; its development troubles end up being quite apparent. And I do agree that Vaan and Penelo are bad.

Love Hitoshi Sakimoto’s cinematic soundtrack. Love the detailed towns. Love the voice acting. Love the cutscene direction (much like Vagrant Story, a game developed by a lot of the same key players as FFXII, it has better cutscene direction than most FF games). Love this game.

Reviewed on Mar 25, 2024


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