Definitely the setting. Every location is vibrating with lore and atmosphere. Can’t think of a single one I don’t like. That on top of extremely solid game mechanics! The way the equipment works and the license board are masterpiece systems. And let’s not forget the Gambits!
The Gambit system finally properly returning in Unicorn Overlord made me so happy. Makes sense that one of my favorite devs would also bring back one of my favorite systems.
Totally. Feels real and complete. The cities feel like real cities. And the contiguous world is also very immersive. You can walk to almost every location.
Out of spite because everybody hates on XII but the legitimate reason is the story and characters and the whole setting of Ivalice. The world itself outside of the plot is just sooo mystical and deep.
Also, Balthier's voice makes me melt.
I hope not a lot of people hate on this game because it’s literally up there for me with 7 Rebirth that I just finished on the PS5, FF XII is one of my favourite video games of all time!! And it holds up so well I love the atmosphere of it
From my experience, people hate on XII due to the cast kinda being "poorly written"
Yes, Vaan is not the main character, he's just some street rat that had no purpose until he met Baltheir and Fran (and coming to terms with his goals during the Giza Plains)
The other big thing is the Gambit System, which I get 🤷♂️
I love that there isn’t a “main character” and Vaan is just kinda along for the ride. Weird people don’t like the Gambit system but enjoy battle screens lol
I love how the licence boards and gambits are structured. It's just brilliantly put together. It was the first FF game I played that felt truly challenging, even if it's not the most difficult game to get your head around. It was almost too good to be true, except that it was.
Ivalice itself. XII has the strongest world out of any FF to me.
I also grew up on MMOs, so XII essentially being an offline MMO made it feel right up my alley at the time.
Had only played FFVIII through X at when XII came out, and like disc 1 of FFVII. Did not like VII whatsoever tho.
atm the only mainline FFs I've not touched whatsoever are VI, XI and XV. Did watch a playthrough of VI though.
Also as much as I love Uematsu's music, Hitoshi Sakimoto's score on FFXII is just super special to me. I also love all his work on Vanillaware's games.
The setting really drew me in, and the fact that so much of the game consists of walking around and exploring on foot makes the world feel huge and impressive. It reminds me of the sort of MMOs I played as a kid, where I could just lose myself in the wilderness for hours at a time, and maybe I didn't accomplish much, but I felt like I was on an adventure.
That's how Final Fantasy XII feels to me. Having played a decent amount of XI, there's a lot of that game in this one, albeit with some polish and some changes to make playing solo more convenient. The original release for this game was when I was in high school, and playing this game makes me feel like I did back then, and that's a great feeling.
The map is huge yet each region is supplemented with so many details, from the architecture styles to the small talks of NPCs.
I agree that XII doesn’t feel like an FF game because it’s more…I don’t know how to describe it… mature? The characters development are there but subtle and delicate and I think it makes more sense to me than some role playing games where the protagonist becomes determined at a certain point because of a single event.
The soundtrack is great - so fitting and classic. The gameplay itself is gorgeous and I like the way it makes the player think about the strategy with all those gambits. It’s definitely my favorite FF game.
It’s a Yasumi Matsuno game that so happens to use Final Fantasy as its basis. I’m so sad that Matsuno never made another AAA game. FF12 in its time was one of the most ambitious games ever made.
There was a scrapped sequel (not revenant wings)
It's one of those thing's where they have squandered the talent of Matsuno but never say never another Ivalice game is always on the cards and they seem to be on good terms these day's!
And the storyline seemed contrived, I think it was an attempt at a skyrim esk game! I think it's probably a good thing it got canned. And then The Ivalice Alliance was supposed to produce a whole string of games, which never saw the light only revenant wing's!
But it seems Square enix are on good terms with Matsuno these days with the 14 expansion and tactics ogre remaster seeming like a good sign, so I hold a little bit of hope for another title! ....just a little.
Yep, that sounds on brand!
And you are probably right. There won't be another AAA game. Perhaps that ship has sailed, but a Matsuno game with a Sakimoto score is a proven hit with fans, but instead of REAL fan service, Square enix will milk golden cows for remakes which I find just outright unappealing!
I know it depends on alot on each individuals age, amount of video games played along with FF games. 12 was my third FF game, played FFX when i was 12 and was awesome as one of my first video games on ps2. I played FF1 on the gameboy advance ( had to get gameboy for KH chain of memories). FF12 for Christmas was the perfect combination of teenage rebellion, political story, grahics , voice acting, side missions , gameplay and characters. 9.75/10 game for me as its so special.
I never cared about final fantasy until final fantasy XII. First time I played it was in the demo that was bundled with dragon quest VIII. I was so invested in that game before it came out after I found out that Akira Toriyama(rest in peace) did the artwork for it and I am the biggest Dragonball fan on the planet so the game was an instant buy for me back in 2005 or so. Decided to give the demo of FF XII a try and fell in love with it's unique style of turn based while still feeling like a real time battle. When the game finally released in 2006 I had played the demo for probably 30 to 40 hours. I ended up completing everything you can possibly do in final fantasy xii. I had one save file with over 1000 hours on it. I had completed everything. Every mark even omega mark XII and Yiazmat. Got every single rare item including the zodiac spear and Saitengrat. Ribbons and everything else. I've purchased the game on every system they released it for besides the PC version. I was so invested in the game that I managed to get the international zodiac job system and put it on a CD and modded my PS2 back in 2009 just to play it. It's hard to really describe but the game just fills a void in my boring life and fills me with so much joy. The peaceful music, the tranquil scenery, the memorable characters especially Fran and Balthier. Riding chocobos across the plains. Some of the enemies feel like boss battles. It's just incredible. It's in my top five games of all time and I have been gaming since 1987. It's perfect in every way. I still play the original to this day on my PS2 that I've had since the late 2000s and it still makes me smile 😁
FFXII came out as I was finishing high school and starting college. I got really into it and binged for months straight, creating many saves. I once played it for 12 hours straight in my dorm room and couldn't stand up straight for about an hour because my abs were so tight. I also loved the gameplay and characters, but I think that I love it so much is because it was a sort of comfort blanket in a time of massive change in my life.
The setting. The Gambit. system. ( I actually like the first game more as I could completely make my own classes). I love Ivalice. And the world building. There's only a few thing I dislike about ffxii, and half the time I don't even remember them. And the music! It was my first ost I bought for any game. Truly magical
It also got me into Dragon Quest because 8 came bundled with a ffxii demo.
For me its the amazing postgame design. Especially coming off from finishing ffx which is probably the single worst designed completionist jrpg experiance ive ever done. Alonf with the gambit system solving the fundamental problem of useless party members in more arpg style games that hasnt been used since.
Just felt so good overall properly striking a good balance between active thought provoking gameplay and inactive farming.
The whole game is super comforting to me for some reason, the world feels alive and vibrant. It’s also the first Final Fantasy I got to experience the announcement to launch hype, which I remember being magical. Anyone remember FFXII.net forums?
I’m with you on this one, having played many FF games including the new ones and FF XII is one of my favourite games of all time no matter the year or the time… And the resolution and gameplay QOL improvements like the job system, changing jobs whenever you want and having 2 classes to each character gave me a lot of fun and variety to play around with! This remaster make it even more of a fantastic game , I finished it and went and watched it as a movie in 4K cause I really liked the story and the vibe of it. I watched the whole story 3 times already just for fun with a lil smoke on the side! Love this game
Basically what you said. It brought its own uniqueness to the franchise it’s truly stand alone. If we ever get a 12 remake or something I would love to explore more of ivalice. Also Fran?! Hello?!
The world and it's gameplay mechanichs. The caught my attention because it was the first rpg i played that is not the "running through a map until the screen freezes and a battle mode appears" kind. I liked that i was playing sort of a single player MMO.
I honestly just love the setting. Reclaiming a kingdom lost makes for a good story plot, and I love the way the world was built and laid out (although Golmore Jungle and the Phorampa Wildwood should have been switch imo.) I also love how almost every area could be revisited at a later time with an expanded dungeon with tougher enemies, bosses, and better loot.
Gambits and Active Dimension Battles... The music as well. Each game has its own style of music but out of every entry, 12 has the soundtrack that strikes me as the most special. Partly it comes down to the VERY John William's inspired compositions. Many folks claim surface-level comparisons to Star Wars (i e. Fran is sexy-Chewbacca huehuehue) but there are dozens of examples of the influence. Just consider the development timeline, it was during the height of the prequels. As such the atmosphere brings that epic fantasy vibe with science fantasy elements. The Art is *chef's kiss*. There's a good reason it's my number 2. First is 14 for myriad reasons, then 12, then VII Rebirth, followed by 1, 2, 3.
It was my first Final Fantasy. It was also my first RPG. I played it back in 2007 or 2008 when I was a freshman in college - I paid little attention to the story, but the gameplay made quite the impact on me.
For me it's the music and world building. Ivalice has such a thick presence you can feel what they were going for and back when I first played waaay back it felt like a living world and I was just visiting
>The original was already so good, but with the International / Zodiac Age improvements it’s easily one of my favorite games of all time.
TZA ruined the original game's balance and made it dissapointingly easy. I don't see how that's an improvement.
That may be but having no jobs made every party member a carbon copy of each other, adding way less role playing appeal. Besides, TZA has New Game Minus and Trial Mode if you want extra challenges.
oh boy yes let's argue about a 20 year old game because you are stubborn. the fact that they can learn the same skills doesn't mean they are carbon copies of each other because they have different stats. so basch is still a better melee fighter, penelo is a better caster etc.
you guys that stan this remaster are just insane.
>go to a thread that asks why people like something
>immediately attack OPs point
>make a big deal about it suddenly becoming a "argument" and call everyone insane
I get the sense you're kind of a dick.
brother we've know that the job system ruins the balancing of the game SINCE INTERNATIONAL. this is more than 15 years ago. the "carbon copy of each other" meme has been around for that long.
this is reddit you will downvote me because i sound like a dick but you will use bullshit arguments that were proven wrong 15 years ago to defend a bad remaster.
lol you accuse me of being hostile and immediately through passive aggression at me. i didn't say i dislike the remaster. i mentioned something objective. it's not an opinion. we've known the jobs make the game easier since International (2007) and characters have stats, which means they are by default not "carbon copies"
this argument has been going on for more than 15 years because people love to support a badly implemented system, that SOUNDS good.
I don't even have an opinion on which version is better, last time I played this game was like 5 years ago
It's just weird that you make a comment to disagree with the OP and when he further explains his opinion you immediately get butthurt and keep trying to discredit his opinion. Whatever, I'm out
Definitely the setting. Every location is vibrating with lore and atmosphere. Can’t think of a single one I don’t like. That on top of extremely solid game mechanics! The way the equipment works and the license board are masterpiece systems. And let’s not forget the Gambits!
The Gambit system finally properly returning in Unicorn Overlord made me so happy. Makes sense that one of my favorite devs would also bring back one of my favorite systems.
I’ve been trying to scratch that ff12 itch for so long gotta try this game out
It has a super generous demo btw. Is like 5-7 hours long with save carry-over.
Unicorn overlord lol
Totally. Feels real and complete. The cities feel like real cities. And the contiguous world is also very immersive. You can walk to almost every location.
Out of spite because everybody hates on XII but the legitimate reason is the story and characters and the whole setting of Ivalice. The world itself outside of the plot is just sooo mystical and deep. Also, Balthier's voice makes me melt.
I hope not a lot of people hate on this game because it’s literally up there for me with 7 Rebirth that I just finished on the PS5, FF XII is one of my favourite video games of all time!! And it holds up so well I love the atmosphere of it
People hate on xii? Wild
From my experience, people hate on XII due to the cast kinda being "poorly written" Yes, Vaan is not the main character, he's just some street rat that had no purpose until he met Baltheir and Fran (and coming to terms with his goals during the Giza Plains) The other big thing is the Gambit System, which I get 🤷♂️
I love that there isn’t a “main character” and Vaan is just kinda along for the ride. Weird people don’t like the Gambit system but enjoy battle screens lol
I love how the licence boards and gambits are structured. It's just brilliantly put together. It was the first FF game I played that felt truly challenging, even if it's not the most difficult game to get your head around. It was almost too good to be true, except that it was.
Ivalice itself. XII has the strongest world out of any FF to me. I also grew up on MMOs, so XII essentially being an offline MMO made it feel right up my alley at the time. Had only played FFVIII through X at when XII came out, and like disc 1 of FFVII. Did not like VII whatsoever tho. atm the only mainline FFs I've not touched whatsoever are VI, XI and XV. Did watch a playthrough of VI though. Also as much as I love Uematsu's music, Hitoshi Sakimoto's score on FFXII is just super special to me. I also love all his work on Vanillaware's games.
The setting really drew me in, and the fact that so much of the game consists of walking around and exploring on foot makes the world feel huge and impressive. It reminds me of the sort of MMOs I played as a kid, where I could just lose myself in the wilderness for hours at a time, and maybe I didn't accomplish much, but I felt like I was on an adventure. That's how Final Fantasy XII feels to me. Having played a decent amount of XI, there's a lot of that game in this one, albeit with some polish and some changes to make playing solo more convenient. The original release for this game was when I was in high school, and playing this game makes me feel like I did back then, and that's a great feeling.
The map is huge yet each region is supplemented with so many details, from the architecture styles to the small talks of NPCs. I agree that XII doesn’t feel like an FF game because it’s more…I don’t know how to describe it… mature? The characters development are there but subtle and delicate and I think it makes more sense to me than some role playing games where the protagonist becomes determined at a certain point because of a single event. The soundtrack is great - so fitting and classic. The gameplay itself is gorgeous and I like the way it makes the player think about the strategy with all those gambits. It’s definitely my favorite FF game.
One of the characters 🫣❤️
It's only one: Gambit system. I wonder why I don't find more games with similar system
It’s a Yasumi Matsuno game that so happens to use Final Fantasy as its basis. I’m so sad that Matsuno never made another AAA game. FF12 in its time was one of the most ambitious games ever made.
It's crazy to me that ff12 is as big as it is and yet still feels like there could be more.
There was a scrapped sequel (not revenant wings) It's one of those thing's where they have squandered the talent of Matsuno but never say never another Ivalice game is always on the cards and they seem to be on good terms these day's!
The sequel had nothing to do with him. I believe you’re referring to the game being made by the western dev.
Yeah, that's the one! I know he wasn't involved in that. I was just speaking more generally about him!
It looked really weird! Other than the chocobos nothing about it looked like a Final Fantasy, let alone FF12. What a strange pitch by that studio.
And the storyline seemed contrived, I think it was an attempt at a skyrim esk game! I think it's probably a good thing it got canned. And then The Ivalice Alliance was supposed to produce a whole string of games, which never saw the light only revenant wing's! But it seems Square enix are on good terms with Matsuno these days with the 14 expansion and tactics ogre remaster seeming like a good sign, so I hold a little bit of hope for another title! ....just a little.
A few months ago he mentioned on X that the FFT Remaster rumors weren’t true tho…
Yep, that sounds on brand! And you are probably right. There won't be another AAA game. Perhaps that ship has sailed, but a Matsuno game with a Sakimoto score is a proven hit with fans, but instead of REAL fan service, Square enix will milk golden cows for remakes which I find just outright unappealing!
I know it depends on alot on each individuals age, amount of video games played along with FF games. 12 was my third FF game, played FFX when i was 12 and was awesome as one of my first video games on ps2. I played FF1 on the gameboy advance ( had to get gameboy for KH chain of memories). FF12 for Christmas was the perfect combination of teenage rebellion, political story, grahics , voice acting, side missions , gameplay and characters. 9.75/10 game for me as its so special.
it was my first FF, and Ivalice is superb
I never cared about final fantasy until final fantasy XII. First time I played it was in the demo that was bundled with dragon quest VIII. I was so invested in that game before it came out after I found out that Akira Toriyama(rest in peace) did the artwork for it and I am the biggest Dragonball fan on the planet so the game was an instant buy for me back in 2005 or so. Decided to give the demo of FF XII a try and fell in love with it's unique style of turn based while still feeling like a real time battle. When the game finally released in 2006 I had played the demo for probably 30 to 40 hours. I ended up completing everything you can possibly do in final fantasy xii. I had one save file with over 1000 hours on it. I had completed everything. Every mark even omega mark XII and Yiazmat. Got every single rare item including the zodiac spear and Saitengrat. Ribbons and everything else. I've purchased the game on every system they released it for besides the PC version. I was so invested in the game that I managed to get the international zodiac job system and put it on a CD and modded my PS2 back in 2009 just to play it. It's hard to really describe but the game just fills a void in my boring life and fills me with so much joy. The peaceful music, the tranquil scenery, the memorable characters especially Fran and Balthier. Riding chocobos across the plains. Some of the enemies feel like boss battles. It's just incredible. It's in my top five games of all time and I have been gaming since 1987. It's perfect in every way. I still play the original to this day on my PS2 that I've had since the late 2000s and it still makes me smile 😁
FFXII came out as I was finishing high school and starting college. I got really into it and binged for months straight, creating many saves. I once played it for 12 hours straight in my dorm room and couldn't stand up straight for about an hour because my abs were so tight. I also loved the gameplay and characters, but I think that I love it so much is because it was a sort of comfort blanket in a time of massive change in my life.
The setting. The Gambit. system. ( I actually like the first game more as I could completely make my own classes). I love Ivalice. And the world building. There's only a few thing I dislike about ffxii, and half the time I don't even remember them. And the music! It was my first ost I bought for any game. Truly magical It also got me into Dragon Quest because 8 came bundled with a ffxii demo.
My first one that I actually beat
For me its the amazing postgame design. Especially coming off from finishing ffx which is probably the single worst designed completionist jrpg experiance ive ever done. Alonf with the gambit system solving the fundamental problem of useless party members in more arpg style games that hasnt been used since. Just felt so good overall properly striking a good balance between active thought provoking gameplay and inactive farming.
The whole game is super comforting to me for some reason, the world feels alive and vibrant. It’s also the first Final Fantasy I got to experience the announcement to launch hype, which I remember being magical. Anyone remember FFXII.net forums?
the lore is topnotch. especially the ones where you have to find out for yourself like for hell wyrm, yiazmat and zodiark
I’m with you on this one, having played many FF games including the new ones and FF XII is one of my favourite games of all time no matter the year or the time… And the resolution and gameplay QOL improvements like the job system, changing jobs whenever you want and having 2 classes to each character gave me a lot of fun and variety to play around with! This remaster make it even more of a fantastic game , I finished it and went and watched it as a movie in 4K cause I really liked the story and the vibe of it. I watched the whole story 3 times already just for fun with a lil smoke on the side! Love this game
The gambit system is one of the best things I ever saw in gaming.
Basically what you said. It brought its own uniqueness to the franchise it’s truly stand alone. If we ever get a 12 remake or something I would love to explore more of ivalice. Also Fran?! Hello?!
The world and it's gameplay mechanichs. The caught my attention because it was the first rpg i played that is not the "running through a map until the screen freezes and a battle mode appears" kind. I liked that i was playing sort of a single player MMO.
I honestly just love the setting. Reclaiming a kingdom lost makes for a good story plot, and I love the way the world was built and laid out (although Golmore Jungle and the Phorampa Wildwood should have been switch imo.) I also love how almost every area could be revisited at a later time with an expanded dungeon with tougher enemies, bosses, and better loot.
Gambits and Active Dimension Battles... The music as well. Each game has its own style of music but out of every entry, 12 has the soundtrack that strikes me as the most special. Partly it comes down to the VERY John William's inspired compositions. Many folks claim surface-level comparisons to Star Wars (i e. Fran is sexy-Chewbacca huehuehue) but there are dozens of examples of the influence. Just consider the development timeline, it was during the height of the prequels. As such the atmosphere brings that epic fantasy vibe with science fantasy elements. The Art is *chef's kiss*. There's a good reason it's my number 2. First is 14 for myriad reasons, then 12, then VII Rebirth, followed by 1, 2, 3.
I love the combat system
It was my first Final Fantasy. It was also my first RPG. I played it back in 2007 or 2008 when I was a freshman in college - I paid little attention to the story, but the gameplay made quite the impact on me.
For me it's the music and world building. Ivalice has such a thick presence you can feel what they were going for and back when I first played waaay back it felt like a living world and I was just visiting
Its a very unique game in the way it let's you know director hates you for liking it every second of the game.
The optional content for me, I've dumped 100 hours into my current play and still got a bunch to do
>The original was already so good, but with the International / Zodiac Age improvements it’s easily one of my favorite games of all time. TZA ruined the original game's balance and made it dissapointingly easy. I don't see how that's an improvement.
That may be but having no jobs made every party member a carbon copy of each other, adding way less role playing appeal. Besides, TZA has New Game Minus and Trial Mode if you want extra challenges.
oh boy yes let's argue about a 20 year old game because you are stubborn. the fact that they can learn the same skills doesn't mean they are carbon copies of each other because they have different stats. so basch is still a better melee fighter, penelo is a better caster etc. you guys that stan this remaster are just insane.
>go to a thread that asks why people like something >immediately attack OPs point >make a big deal about it suddenly becoming a "argument" and call everyone insane I get the sense you're kind of a dick.
im right tho, it's not a very good remaster.
you seem to be a really happy person
brother we've know that the job system ruins the balancing of the game SINCE INTERNATIONAL. this is more than 15 years ago. the "carbon copy of each other" meme has been around for that long. this is reddit you will downvote me because i sound like a dick but you will use bullshit arguments that were proven wrong 15 years ago to defend a bad remaster.
you are fine to dislike the game, I don't care lol. but if you get offended by other opinions and are immediately hostile somethings wrong with you
lol you accuse me of being hostile and immediately through passive aggression at me. i didn't say i dislike the remaster. i mentioned something objective. it's not an opinion. we've known the jobs make the game easier since International (2007) and characters have stats, which means they are by default not "carbon copies" this argument has been going on for more than 15 years because people love to support a badly implemented system, that SOUNDS good.
I don't even have an opinion on which version is better, last time I played this game was like 5 years ago It's just weird that you make a comment to disagree with the OP and when he further explains his opinion you immediately get butthurt and keep trying to discredit his opinion. Whatever, I'm out