Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 199: Final Fantasy XII

(+) Yeah! (+)

Tomorrow is day 200, so the first person to nominate a game gets their pick of what it will be. Anyway, todays game is Final Fantasy XII. How would you rate the story on a scale from 1-10?

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name><rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

Previous Results:
Planescape: Torment - 9.85 (13 votes)
Omori - 9.67 (6 votes)
Outer Wilds - 9.61 (22 votes)
Silent Hill 2 - 9.5 (20 votes)
Higurashi When They Cry - 9.5 (9 votes)
Deus Ex - 9.32 (12 votes)
428: Shibuya Scramble - 9.27 (9 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC - 9.2 (20 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - 9.19 (35 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
The House in Fata Morgana - 9.06 (11 votes)
Yakuza 0 - 9.03 (13 votes)
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9 (8 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - 8.95 (31 votes)
Steins;Gate - 8.94 (9 votes)
Mother 3 - 8.91 (15 votes)
Umineko When They Cry - 8.89 (14 votes)
Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward - 8.88 (21 votes)
Return of the Obra Dinn - 8.85 (10 votes)
Silent Hill 4: The Room - 8.83 (6 votes)
Suikoden II - 8.8 (11 votes)
Persona 3 - 8.76 (22 votes)
Grim Fandango - 8.75 (14 votes)
Xenogears - 8.73 (24 votes)
Tales of Berseria - 8.71 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.67 (27 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (28 votes)
Pyre - 8.64 (7 votes)
Portal 2 - 8.64 (19 votes)
Bastion - 8.63 (12 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.63 (32 votes)
Dragon Quest V - 8.6 (15 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask - 8.57 (28 votes)
Persona 4 - 8.56 (32 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.56 (17 votes)
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - 8.53 (18 votes)
Fate/Stay Night - 8.48 (12 votes)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 8.47 (16 votes)
Undertale - 8.45 (42 votes)
Mass Effect 2 - 8.44 (29 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - 8.42 (12 votes)
What Remains of Edith Finch - 8.41 (19 votes)
Chrono Trigger - 8.4 (41 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.4 (5 votes)
Snatcher - 8.33 (6 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.31 (56 votes)
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - 8.31 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy VII - 8.29 (38 votes)
South Park: The Stick of Truth - 8.25 (18 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.21 (19 votes)
Parasite Eve - 8.19 (9 votes)
Dragon Quest XI - 8.19 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy VI - 8.19 (43 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.19 (43 votes)
The Walking Dead Season 1 - 8.16 (22 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - 8.15 (17 votes)
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 8.14 (7 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.13 (35 votes)
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals - 8.11 (9 votes)
The Wolf Among Us - 8.11 (15 votes)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - 8.1 (5 votes)
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 8.06 (18 votes)
Silent Hill - 8.04 (14 votes)
Portal - 8 (26 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - 8 (18 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles - 7.98 (28 votes)
Hades - 7.96 (22 votes)
Tsukihime - 7.94 (7 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.92 (32 votes)
Spec Ops: The Line - 7.9 (17 votes)
Bloodborne - 7.88 (20 votes)
Kid Icarus: Uprising - 7.86 (13 votes)
Psychonauts - 7.79 (7 votes)
Deadly Premonition - 7.77 (11 votes)
Final Fantasy IX - 7.77 (26 votes)
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - 7.75 (6 votes)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - 7.75 (4 votes)
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - 7.73 (32 votes)
The Sexy Brutale - 7.7 (5 votes)
Bioshock - 7.65 (24 votes)
Skies of Arcadia - 7.63 (15 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.61 (28 votes)
Celeste - 7.56 (26 votes)
Half-Life 2 - 7.55 (10 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.51 (31 votes)
The Last Story - 7.47 (6 votes)
Mortal Kombat (2011) - 7.46 (13 votes)
Marvels Spider-Man - 7.43 (16 votes)
Tales of Symphonia - 7.42 (30 votes)
Earthbound - 7.37 (20 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.33 (29 votes)
Batman: Arkham Asylum - 7.33 (23 votes)
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - 7.27 (20 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.25 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Red Dead Redemption - 7.23 (11 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.21 (30 votes)
Resident Evil 4 - 7.19 (25 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (25 votes)
Mass Effect 3 - 7.16 (21 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 7.11 (23 votes)
The Stanley Parable - 7.11 (14 votes)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - 7.1 (30 votes)
Broken Age - 7.1 (5 votes)
The Last of Us Part II - 7.09 (16 votes)
To the Moon - 7.07 (7 votes)
INSIDE - 7.06 (16 votes)
Warcraft III (overall) - 7.06 (8 votes)
Assassins Creed II - 7.04 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy VIII - 7.01 (31 votes)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - 7 (6 votes)

Persona 5 for tomorrow please

5/10. Not too remarkable from what I remember.

6/10

I love the Balthier and Dr. Cid plot. The rest, I can do without. Vayne is the most nothing main villain in the series.

7.4

I like it very much for the first half.

9/10

Don't believe Ondore's lies!

Missed Potential / 10

Actual number: 5.5

Up.

6

7

6

It wants to do political intrigue mixed with "FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL MACGUFFIN!" However, given they go long, long stretches without actually adding to character development (and can't just admit Ashe is the character we're really supposed to be caring about...fuck you Vaan), the game just trips over itself at every opportunity.

5

I actually like the focus on political intrigue, but the story as a whole is just really emotionally dead.

3/10

I love political intrigue! But there's nothing interesting to the politics of this game. The world feels bland and cliche western euro medieval fantasy, the game has like 2 and a half interesting characters max, and as Exdeath says there's just no emotional connection to any of it. A real disappointment.

I'm the real Basch Fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca as a this is a definite 9.2/10

HEY BUCKETHEAD! THIS GAME SUCKS!

*Gets chased by imperial troops*

Evillordexdeath posted...

5

I actually like the focus on political intrigue, but the story as a whole is just really emotionally dead.

This is beating a dead horse, but I think the biggest reason - outside of a simple lack of story content in general after the first 1/3 is over - for the 'emotionally dead' thing is Vaan's fault. Political stories need a strong emotional character hook to succeed, as it keeps the audience invested when it comes time for those characters to sit around and start talking about international matters bigger than themselves. Final Fantasy Tactics has Ramza and Delita's relationship. Game of Thrones has Ned's death. FF12 initially has Rek's death, but Vaan seems to forget about that plot point shockingly early. It's a strong hook they did absolutely nothing with! Afterwards, FF12 waffles between Ashe wanting her country back, Basch's redemption, and Balthier's relationship with Cid, without giving sufficient time to develop any of those things. Maybe it could've worked okay if Vaan's hook was still running in the background, but it's just not, and there's long stretches of game where you're left with little to care about.

2/10

Unbearably boring when I played it back in 2007. I dropped out after about a dozen hours. Nothing about the story grabbed or compelled me, and the characters were all planks of wood aside from Balthier and maybe Basch.

I'm open to giving the PS4 version a shot, but it's pretty low on my to-do list.

Evillordexdeath posted...

the story as a whole is just really emotionally dead.

This sums it up perfectly. 7, 8, 9, and 10 do the legwork to get you invested in the main character, which help build a strong rapport with the main story. I had no reason to care about Vaan, and that apathy clouded my overall feelings on 12.

And that's the problem. Square wanted the Tidus lightning "viewpoint character" bullshit to strike twice, but no one bought it. It's as if the writer's themselves knew that and gave up to focus on Ashe without telling anyone she was the real main beforehand.

"We can't have a girl as the main character"

*Terra, Celes, and Yuna say hi*

But but but ABS CHECK OUT HIS ABS.

Actually Basch was originally supposed to be the main character but they thought he would be "too old" for players to relate to

Either way, they didn't know who they wanted as the main, and the story was a jumbled boring mess as a result. I would have even bought Vaan a little more if they stuck with the "Rabanstre is shit, and Vayne is responsible." But they pussy footed around that after the first hour or so and gave up.

Very boring/10 so like a 3 I guess? Just never gave me a reason to care about the politics or world or anything and most of the characters were dull on top of it.

Story: 5/10
Gameplay: 10/10

1

Worst story of a mainline Final Fantasy with the worst main character in a video game ever. Also absolutely terrible cast chemistry in what is already by far the weakest overall cast in a FF game topped with a shallow bland main villain. Then there is the boring pretentious ye olde age dialogue that does not suit Final Fantasy in the slightest.

I'm not saying this is a bad game gameplay wise though. It was a disappointing FF title coming off the golden age of the series.

I find it absolutely baffling that this is probably gonna end up above FFXIII and XV. Yeah both those games have their share of problems with their story, but in no way, shape or form are those two anywhere close to the same spectrum of FFXII's disaster of a story.

Too bad you can't change your score to give it a lower rating now

Axl_Rose_85 posted...

I find it absolutely baffling that this is probably gonna end up above FFXIII and XV. Yeah both those games have their share of problems with their story, but in no way, shape or form are those two anywhere close to the same spectrum of FFXII's disaster of a story.

What the hell are you talking about? XV has by far the worst story Square's ever put out, not to mention the worst cast. Noctis and his dudebro friends are offensive abominations.

XV's plot is an unfinished mess but it at least has some emotional moments that hit and the cast is better than XII's imo!

Prompto bestboy

Noctis and co. at least feel like a bunch of bros on a journey and although it is definitely undercooked with what we got from base FFXV, it is a lot lot better than I wanna be a sky pirate and Mrs. nethicite this and nethicite that.

FFXV's story could have been something great if the structure of the story wasn't so fragmented and if the time skip didn't make it feel like a huge chunk of the story was just sucked into a black hole. However we did get a very powerful ending at the least which in itself is leagues above anything that FFXII did in its entirety of its 'story'.

Nothing in FFXV is "great". The bros on a journey stuff is garbage. They have the worst chemistry of any FF characters.

5.