And I always watch the cut scene because of the voice actors. I still can hear them and remember their voice in my head lol.. just goes to show how impact they had on me. FFX, X-2, FF12 and FF13 all has memorable voice actors.
The only line I think could have been voice acted better was Van’s scream when Balthier pushed him over the bridge onto the little sky bike Fran was driving. That scream sounded less like someone who feared they were falling to their death and more like someone who just got hit with the worst smell ever
FF12 is in my top 3 final fantasies. I still think a lot of people haven’t given it a chance. It’s still has one of the best stories of any Final fantasy in my opinion.
It did the combat well without straying too far from its turn based roots. I never understood why the didn't just build off of it for subsequent titles
@@geoffreychauvin1474 well there was the sequel called Revenant wings, but yeah I totally agree. One thing I always thought is there’s still a massive world to explore. We didn’t even step foot in Rozzaria for example.
When FXII first came out, I never fully warmed up to it compared to previous FFs. But after playing the remastered version on the ps4 last year, I began to appreciate the game in ways I did not when it first released in Europe in 2007. You begin to appreciate the wonderful aesthetics of different areas such as Rabanastre, which beautifully captures the hustle and bustle of a once great and joyful city, but retains that sense of grandeur and historical importance from the games' lore. Thanks FFUnion for the video and I hope it encourages other FF gamers who have not played 12 to give it a shot.
I think my first playthrough I was too young to appreciate the nuance and sophistication of this game. Compared to the others, xii had more of a mature target audience. At times the dialog felt Shakespearean. Older me on a second playthrough enjoyed it much more.
People that worked on FF12 are currently working on FF16. They also were behind ff tactics and vagrant Story. All these games had matured complex story telling and seriousness.
Ashley Riot is an absolutely criminally underrated protagonist! His whole backstory and development throughout Vagrant Story is so intriguing and immaculately executed.
I love how FFXII was scripted with such sophistication. The way characters talk with such vocabulary and sentences is what drew me into it despite having complicated achievements and quests....The Great Crystal you...Ugh.
We don't mention the Great Crystal......ever. The overall story and lore of the game is brilliant in its depth and as you have said, its sophistication.
Same, I love their old English style of speaking, the localization team really did a fantastic job. I know the Soulsborne games also do this but their grammar don't add up sometimes, but FFXII is just perfect, like the speakers were really from that era. Same with Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics.
@@exiaxzero The voice acting is great in FFXII, but for me I feel it is somewhat hampered by the lower audio quality. I know the developers had to heavily compress the audio due to limitations at the time, but I still notice it and sounds like someone turned up the bass too much. Still excellent work though from the writing to the voice acting.
I absolutely LOVED this game(still do)! I played it so much when it first came out and even remember playing the demo. I was so hype for the somewhat open world and the open battle system which at the time was not a very common thing. I'm also a huge fan of the world of Ivalice and really wish more FF titles would be put in that universe. Tactics and this game are easily in my top 5 FF titles. And then the IZJS came out and I loved it even more!
I'll always wonder why they considered Basch and then Vaan for main characters, but not Ashe FFXII always felt like her story to me, and she makes for a pretty badass lead despite not being the main character of the game
@@v4njoh_927 Vaan is cool because he kinda has a "interested observer" perspective, he's along for the ride and wants to support Ashe Penelo is straight up "Vaan's big sis stand in doesn't want him harm" They're not bad, but seeing an actual badass princess who's not afraid to stick to tradition for power or break expectations when suitable, i feel like Ashe is just so unique
I agree. Honestly, if you only watched the cutscenes after the party sets out for Raithwall's Tomb, you would think she was the main character to begin with. She gets the most focus in many of the most important scenes, and the whole moral of the story hinges on her decisions.
Odd, Ashe always came off as the main character to me. She's the one who the plot follows. The whole story hinges on her reclaiming her birthright as Dalmasca's crown princess. And she gets a lot of character development to this end. All of the game's chapters end with her facing some manner of inner character conflict. Meanwhile, Vaan has incentive for being there but no real motivation or objective beyond owning the empire for what they did to Rex and his parents. And Basch... poor Basch gets almost entirely sidelined for a large portion of the story. This is why I always objected to Vaan. Not just because he exists solely due to executive mandate, but because his inclusion really does Basch dirty. Basch is completely pushed aside to make room for Vaan, when Basch was supposed to be the the protagonist alongside Ashe. I will say, however, that the writers did a good job incorporating Vaan no matter how shoehorned in he is. Vaan could be a lot more insufferable than he is. As he is, he's actually fairly tolerable. And they actually give him a sympathetic reason for being there and some actual character growth. But man, does his very existence really screw with the story. Even the initial hours of the game's story feel like it was edited and messed around with to make Vaan's involvement make sense. The story eventually evens out once it's done trying to shoehorn Vaan in, but poor Basch never recovers from being relegated to second fiddle.
Fun fact: I bought FF12 the day it came out, gold case and all that. Played the hell out of it, trying my best to do everything I possibly could before I beat it. Went to board the Bahamut and...the disc was scratched in just the perfect place that made it impossible to play. Never beat it. Fast forward and the Zodiac version drops. Played it right up until the Bahamut again and...life happened and I never beat it. To this day I don't how this game that I've easily put at least 300 hours into ends. At this point I could easily just beat it but it feels wrong to do so
this list made me smile so much, FF12 is my favorite game on ps2, favorite final fantasy, and one of my favorite rpgs ever. There is so much personality and charm in this game that it blew my 12 year old mind when i played it, i grew so attached to the main cast that every emotion i could feel they were going through. it really feels like Ff12 gets over looked, at least by my peers and other final fantasy enthusiasts. This game is special in the sense that it was the last hurrah of the PS2 for me.
I think if they'd taken Vaan anf given him his Revenant Wings design made him a monster hunter/ ruin diver who basically struggled everyday just to survive he could have been an interesting contrast with the Occuria playing with humanity like toys. A sort of emotional core and contrast to the ends justify the means mentality of the villains. A character representing the little guy who always gets hurt by that mentality, and a person who could have brought an interesting outside perspective to the story. I think Vaan should have just had more of a voice and a perspective as a character. Like he just felt kinda there sometimes and I think they could have written him less as a faceless insert and more as a person with his own goals and experiences.
Why would they give Vaan a future design meaning he was just a regular kid in 12 starting off and only learning about the Occuria in the middle of the game???
I too like future Vaan MUCH better than the first time we meet him. I just wish he had a bit more of a reason to be with the party, much as you say most of XII he just feels like he is there, everyone else has a reason and a purpose, Vaan was just in the wrong place at the right time and got swept along, I do not like him.
To this day, FFXII is the game I invested the most hours into, well over 150 in the original PS2 release. With the release of the Zodiac Age remaster and all the QoL improvements, those same hours went considerably down; still, an impressive achievement considering the original release hardware. Even 16 years later I feel it has the best overall cohesive story; what starts as nothing more than robbery evolves into a royal power struggle, ancient rogue gods and a villain set on ruling the world, or destroying it. The voice acting is what I remember most though, as no other FF has come close to the brilliance of the localization. A worthwhile play for any JRPG fan even today. Cheers!
I actually liked Vaan the most, he felt like a blank slate that could be moulded into whatever. He also had this rather child-like notion of things, but when shit hit the fan, he could easily be the most mature, a sign of him growing up on the streets. There's also his straight-forwardness and not having problems in asking the questions others would squirm to do (like asking Fran her age). My absolute favourite part with him is when he and Ashe have a conversation about the apparitions they see and how they feel about it, truly cementing Vaan's position in the whole ordeal; he too lost someone he loved more than anything and thought of nothing more than revenge, but circumstances went a different way and he found himself in the middle of something much greater than petty revenge. Hands down, one of my favourite games ever, sits as #2 on my FF List, 9 being #1 (I know, the audacity for not choosing 7!)
@@Tony_409 In a way they end up being trained by Balthier and Fran respectively when they both allow them to pilot and co-pilot their ship, the very same Balthier would get an ulcer if it had as much as a scratch on. It's one of the reasons I like Balthier, he keeps saying he's "the leading man", but always allows others to step forward and do their thing and the only one who calls him out on it is Fran at the very end by calling him a "support role". But personally, I prefer this direction of "well, crap, all we wanted was to steal some shit out of the palace and now we're mixed up in a nationwide conflict that could alter the very history of our world and humanity because gods and shit", as as I said, neither Vaan nor Penelo chose to be there, they literally fell into it due to circumstances (Vaan getting caught for stealing and being associated to Balthier and Penelo getting kidnapped because of her supposed association with Balthier), but still stood up and fought for what was right.
Bought it the day it was released, fully completed 4 times, and just finishing another playthrough on the fantastic Zodiac Age. Love the newer release with the job system and new features!
Ever since its release FFXII has been my favorite of the series and I've played every single entry in the franchise. I loved it enough that I bought a copy of Zodiac Job System so I could legally use the English fan patch emulation long before The Zodiac Age version was released.
I wasn't a big fan of the job system in the Zodiac Age simply because i loved the ability to give my characters the abity to do things as i unlocked to customize each party member as i went along but I still love the game
Great video! Thinking about your job history videos, is there any chance a history of skill or a group of skills common in the franchise? like Steal/mug, Enemy Skill, Blue Magic, Summon, etc? I haven't seen videos like that anywhere else and would love to see how they have evolved over the years as a FF fan.
Ah, this game really holds a very important part of my childhood. I really love this game from the first release up to remake on pc version. I really love its side quests and hunts.
This game doesn't get enough love. It contains my favorite side quests. The hunts are challenging and fun. Especially during your first ever playthrough. Not to mention the espers. The lore for every creature was also so freaking amazing.
I really enjoyed this video, with FFXII being my favorite game of the franchise. All the facts are so interesting, but the one that intrigued me the most was the 1000 NPCs present in the game. From a technical standpoint i was really impressed with how much they managed to add resource wise that tested the limits of the PS2 at the time, but i really appreciated and enjoyed the overall product.
The story is so political that it was always going to put off younger players. You really need to be old enough to understand politics to enjoy the depth of ff12.
I need to play the remaster, the game originally almost turned me off of FF, I did not enjoy the game the first time around at all, but I keep hearing the remaster is much better for many of the reasons I didnt like the original. Vaan though is still there, can't avoid that one, but may be worth a shot.
@@sparemobius7430 The remaster certainly looks better, but I personally don't like the zodiac system and how it limits your characters. I much preferred the original and how every character could learn every skill and ability so I could fully customize my party. Give it another chance. Vaan is just supposed to be our eyes into the world of ff12, Ashe is the real main character.
@@mbern4530 see I agree Ashe, Balthier, or hell anyone but Vaan is a better MC, even Penelo, although her reason is to be Vaan's babysitter. The Zodiac system is a bit of a draw for me actually though. I like the fact that they could all be whatever, but at the same time I didn't if that makes sense. Zodiac adds a bit more strategy, gives you the ability to give them a bit more character and reasons to use more than just the same 3 or in my case 1 as anytime it would let me I soloed with Ashe for extra exp, and only really brought anyone else out as support in boss fights. at least until she hit 100, then who cares.
Final Fantasy XII's world is the only world i wished to be isekaied to. The cities, forests and other landscapes are simply gorgeous! And i really like the outfits esthetic. And from the game perspective i really liked license board. I know many people find it stupid and uncomfortable that you buy a piece of armor or magic and can't use it until you unlock the license for it, but i find it completely logical. Of course in the real world you can buy a gun and use it right away, but it would be illegal right? Same thing here. Of course maybe smth like hp boost or gambit slots don't need license, but at the same time you don't spend money on those either, so i don't see the problem here as well. Anyway, the ff12 is an amazing game, atmospheric and beautiful. My most favorite game from ff series.
I always assumed that the license board was just you getting the property training to use your equipment. Their is this small bit in a different game where a soldier damaged his sword because he trained with a bronze blade and it had a different balance to his iron one
And also you have to be professional and capable and responsible enough to use these kind of weapons, if people can casually buy guns and use it right away, it’s will be messed up and how many people would have been killed accidentally or things will go out of control, that’s why you see the characters don’t equip their weapons during the cutscenes and while walking around the city
My two favorite FF games suffered the same "end of a console" fate. 9 also got left by the wayside as the PS2 came on the scene shortly after its release.
I know that it's illegal for game developers to make single-player games anymore, but i also know that i'm not alone in wishing for another story-driven single-player chapter in the Ivalice series.
I admit I used to hate Vaan, but now I can see that he's not a bad character, I think he's not as fondly remembered because Balthier, Ashe, Basch and Fran kinda steal the show
God, I love this game!! The music, the voice acting, the story, the graphics, the gameplay, the hunts and the LORE!! I loved how the bestiary would get more pages the more of the beasts you killed. Besides grinding and getting better rewards when chaining it was another way to motivate you kill more monsters. The sidequests were also great. The only negative thing I could say about the game is it has a slow and long beginning (especially the underground area after having Basch join you). But after that, the world opens up and your choices are almost unlimited of where to go.
Vaan being the one who made the group sticked together was what ive been saying every time... Just try imagining if ashe would go with just balthier and fran at the sewer... It's because the pair of thieves came with a seemingly oblivious kid that made them a "maybe i could go with them for a while"
i never met people around me that played this final fantasy. i played the original and replayed it countless time since 2000s until now, it is quite sad that few people anticipated and appreciated this game because it was overshadowed by the ps3 release. i always thought that this game was a massive system that i never really heard of, especially when it came to the pure map to explore, even GTA SA at the time was not as big and complicated as ffxii in my opinion. also i was a bit annoyed when i see the title i was like "hell nah i know just about everything about the game" but then immediately shows a real live event that occurs around the ffxii i was like "oh yea i don''t know about this"
This is one of my favs but Jesus Christ, the grind for materials is absolutely ridiculous! Even in TZA! Seriously, who on the design team thought that was a good idea?🤣
Blew my mind to find out one of the judges was voiced by the guy who starred as Zaphod Beeblebrox in the BBC series of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.
I could have made a list ten times better than this regarding the story alone. What it was originally supposed to contain. How it's story was going to be much more like FFTactics to name two very small examples. Ashe was meant to have 9 older brothers, Judge Drace was Larsa's surrogate mother. The Bahamut was going to be a midway point. There's so much more. Though I guess you just felt like just picking us up, Basche us round the head throw us in a Vaan, then followed by a Raminas resulting in severe Reddas... Penel-OW! There's a Lot of content from the story cut due to the FFT's director leaving halfway through. The story could have been amazing. I actually like the story... But it was going to be FFTactics levels of epic. It would be more clear that the Occuria were going to try to use Vaan as the Dynast King... Hence him seeing the Occuria's illusions until he comes to terms with his resentment for the empire. Then he stops seeing them. I have so much more but it'd take forever. I could make a channel like this but I'm shit at editing. Still an amazing channel.
Played this Game on the Switch two Years ago for the first Time, it is much better than i would have expected and i think with Final Fantasy IX my Favourite of the Series. That Vaan is somehow often "only" in the Background is a good Thing, as it alows to develope the Story of the others with more spot Light. I wouldn't talk his Role or Character down, i like him.
I am in LOVE with this game til this day everything about it was great the gambit system, the ability board, the combat, the locations, the memorable characters ALL OF IT my favorite FF game hands down all time
this game will be etched in my heart forever, 1000+ hours on this game and i still play it, trying out new mods bla bla bla, im currently on a new game minus run and managed to get my mithuna before the giza rains :P
ff12 is my favorite game in the series, i finished the game back in 2006 with japanese version only likely dont have any idea what im doing like quest, hunts, mission but im so happy i finished it with 100%
Such a great game. In a series with so many great installments, I think XII gets overlooked a lot. I think it's one of the most beautiful of all the FF games, certainly the most original looking and feeling setting/world. The battle mechanics are fantastic, had just the right amount of side quests (I feel too many modern RPGs have a bloat of side quests, and making them unenjoyable for me to play because I am a completionist, but I'm also an adult with a job and a family haha) And the story is just great. For me XII is the last of the great Final Fantasy games. I don't say that blindly, I've played all of them, but since XII none of them have really reached me. I know some people like them, and that's great, I'm not here to shit on the newer games I realize I'm an "older" gamer at this point, but a good game is a good game regardless of age and I think starting at XIII they started trying pander to one group of the fan base or the other at times, then being indecisive and not really appealing to either. I'm super optimistic about XVI, so far it looks great, cant' wait to play it.
An absolutely amazing title. Pushing the limits of the PS2, rich storyline, dynamic characters, S tier voice acting, and well thought out systems that compliment the typical RPG grind. Underrated in my opinion.
Final Fantasy XII was the first FF where I actually liked all the characters since the SNES days. Every game from VII on had, at least, one character that I felt was either useless or unlikable. It's also the first one where I made sure all my characters were equally leveled. It's also interesting how many parallels there are between Final Fantasy XII and Rogue Galaxy. Right down to Jaster having a similar appearance to Vaan via his late game outfit.
I love FFXII, it is easily one of my favorite games in the series, but it’s sad that the leadership of the company forced one of the greatest minds in Square out the door because of this game. Matsuno’s “health reasons” for “retiring” was due to the company forcing him to add and change his work against his will. And it’s the saddest thing that should be on this list.
I loved 12 and Vaan mostly because Vaan wasn't whiney. Cloud and Squall beat that into the ground. But also that the story didn't have whiney teen angst in it. It was a political story, that a teen and his friend had gotten tangled up in.
Yeah, I agree. I'm not Vaan's greatest fan, but in retrospect we could've got *a lot* worst protagonist than him (I'm not talking about Basch or anyone, what I meant is that Vaan's personality could've got worse than the current one). He's actually the perfect protagonist for XII now that I think about it, since XII wasn't all about politics and drama. There's an adventure, mob hunting, side activities and a lot more in a beautiful world of Ivalice. And Vaan is the only person that I can genuinely say fits the bill to a perfection as the FFXII poster boy. And I don't really hate him, what I dislike from him was the absolute beauty of that PS2 abs, and it's pretty much gone at this point.
For me, the best part of a FF is the story. If they don’t tell a good story, I feel they have failed (FF VII: Remake is a good example). Secondarily is the gameplay. Usually, they nail the story. More often than not, they do well with the gameplay. So when it comes to XII, this game is a freaking masterpiece.
Maybe a slightly unpopular opinion, but I think FF12 is the best in the series. Although I think the ending is kind of a let down, I just love the more grounded political story and great writing/localization. Also the gambit system is such a fun battle element.
I loved final fantasy 12 the story the cast of playable characters cough cough not penelo it was a little confusing but it panned out after a while the job system of the rerelease made the game a little more challenging and a little more simple definitely worth a play especially for fran ps make sure you get the sightengrat bow best bow in the game for Fran to use
FF 12 is my favorite one... followed by FF 9 😅 but tbh, I haven't played 15 and it seems it got its fighting mechanics from 12. So maybe that could become one of my favorites.
@@CompaDeArranke not really, 15 was more of a button masher. I played some of it, I liked the more open style world, but I didn’t like the story all that much. I also wish they had given the characters more customization in it.
Vaan asking Fran how old she is, and the rest of the party scolding him for this, still makes me laugh
Vaan just asked the question we were all thinking
Gotta respect him for that
And Fran just gets annoyed and gives Vaan the silent treatment. Classic.
@@adrammelechthewroth6511 Viera ☕️
It's so funny that even FF14 has a reference to it.
The voice acting in XII is phenomenal and that’s an understatement.
I love it
Yes, definitely, I would say not the just the best in the series, but also one of the best in games generally.
And I always watch the cut scene because of the voice actors. I still can hear them and remember their voice in my head lol.. just goes to show how impact they had on me. FFX, X-2, FF12 and FF13 all has memorable voice actors.
The localisation in general is top notch
The dialog writing is the best in the series!
The only line I think could have been voice acted better was Van’s scream when Balthier pushed him over the bridge onto the little sky bike Fran was driving. That scream sounded less like someone who feared they were falling to their death and more like someone who just got hit with the worst smell ever
FF12 is in my top 3 final fantasies. I still think a lot of people haven’t given it a chance. It’s still has one of the best stories of any Final fantasy in my opinion.
Best gameplay imo
@@TrvisXXIIIespecially with zodiac age fixing a lot of things
Same. I'm a Stan for anything ivalice
It did the combat well without straying too far from its turn based roots. I never understood why the didn't just build off of it for subsequent titles
@@geoffreychauvin1474 well there was the sequel called Revenant wings, but yeah I totally agree. One thing I always thought is there’s still a massive world to explore. We didn’t even step foot in Rozzaria for example.
One of my favorite FFs, when I replayed the remaster I was "just going to take a look" and one blink later I sank 100h into it all over again
When FXII first came out, I never fully warmed up to it compared to previous FFs. But after playing the remastered version on the ps4 last year, I began to appreciate the game in ways I did not when it first released in Europe in 2007.
You begin to appreciate the wonderful aesthetics of different areas such as Rabanastre, which beautifully captures the hustle and bustle of a once great and joyful city, but retains that sense of grandeur and historical importance from the games' lore.
Thanks FFUnion for the video and I hope it encourages other FF gamers who have not played 12 to give it a shot.
FFXII is a true treasure... The music alone is enough but in addition you get a gorgeously crafted world and (pretty) good systems to enjoy it.
I think my first playthrough I was too young to appreciate the nuance and sophistication of this game. Compared to the others, xii had more of a mature target audience. At times the dialog felt Shakespearean. Older me on a second playthrough enjoyed it much more.
I just can agree :) !
Same. I went from the FF that killed all FF for me to Zodiac age being my fav FF. It's great and only appreciated now that I'm older
People that worked on FF12 are currently working on FF16. They also were behind ff tactics and vagrant Story. All these games had matured complex story telling and seriousness.
Ashley Riot is an absolutely criminally underrated protagonist! His whole backstory and development throughout Vagrant Story is so intriguing and immaculately executed.
I love how FFXII was scripted with such sophistication. The way characters talk with such vocabulary and sentences is what drew me into it despite having complicated achievements and quests....The Great Crystal you...Ugh.
We don't mention the Great Crystal......ever.
The overall story and lore of the game is brilliant in its depth and as you have said, its sophistication.
Same, I love their old English style of speaking, the localization team really did a fantastic job. I know the Soulsborne games also do this but their grammar don't add up sometimes, but FFXII is just perfect, like the speakers were really from that era. Same with Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics.
@@exiaxzero The voice acting is great in FFXII, but for me I feel it is somewhat hampered by the lower audio quality. I know the developers had to heavily compress the audio due to limitations at the time, but I still notice it and sounds like someone turned up the bass too much. Still excellent work though from the writing to the voice acting.
It was what I always wanted in a movie, and I got to play it.
Ah The Great Crystal, I'm still amazed that my 14yr old stupid brain able to clear that maze while getting Ultima.
FF12 has a very special place in my heart.
There should be a sequel (ps2)
@@ethanshelbyskateboarding9980 Absolutely. Not considering it’s Nintendo DS knock off
What got me into FFXII was the artwork. FFXII is an underappreciated work of art.
Even after all these years I still am curious about Fran age just as Vaan was.
I absolutely LOVED this game(still do)! I played it so much when it first came out and even remember playing the demo. I was so hype for the somewhat open world and the open battle system which at the time was not a very common thing.
I'm also a huge fan of the world of Ivalice and really wish more FF titles would be put in that universe.
Tactics and this game are easily in my top 5 FF titles.
And then the IZJS came out and I loved it even more!
I'll always wonder why they considered Basch and then Vaan for main characters, but not Ashe
FFXII always felt like her story to me, and she makes for a pretty badass lead despite not being the main character of the game
Same. For me Basch and Ashe, maybe Balthier, too, will always be the main characters. Penelo and Vaan are more of support characters in my opinion.
@@v4njoh_927 Vaan is cool because he kinda has a "interested observer" perspective, he's along for the ride and wants to support Ashe
Penelo is straight up "Vaan's big sis stand in doesn't want him harm"
They're not bad, but seeing an actual badass princess who's not afraid to stick to tradition for power or break expectations when suitable, i feel like Ashe is just so unique
I agree. Honestly, if you only watched the cutscenes after the party sets out for Raithwall's Tomb, you would think she was the main character to begin with. She gets the most focus in many of the most important scenes, and the whole moral of the story hinges on her decisions.
Odd, Ashe always came off as the main character to me. She's the one who the plot follows. The whole story hinges on her reclaiming her birthright as Dalmasca's crown princess. And she gets a lot of character development to this end. All of the game's chapters end with her facing some manner of inner character conflict.
Meanwhile, Vaan has incentive for being there but no real motivation or objective beyond owning the empire for what they did to Rex and his parents. And Basch... poor Basch gets almost entirely sidelined for a large portion of the story.
This is why I always objected to Vaan. Not just because he exists solely due to executive mandate, but because his inclusion really does Basch dirty. Basch is completely pushed aside to make room for Vaan, when Basch was supposed to be the the protagonist alongside Ashe.
I will say, however, that the writers did a good job incorporating Vaan no matter how shoehorned in he is. Vaan could be a lot more insufferable than he is. As he is, he's actually fairly tolerable. And they actually give him a sympathetic reason for being there and some actual character growth. But man, does his very existence really screw with the story. Even the initial hours of the game's story feel like it was edited and messed around with to make Vaan's involvement make sense.
The story eventually evens out once it's done trying to shoehorn Vaan in, but poor Basch never recovers from being relegated to second fiddle.
Fun fact: I bought FF12 the day it came out, gold case and all that. Played the hell out of it, trying my best to do everything I possibly could before I beat it. Went to board the Bahamut and...the disc was scratched in just the perfect place that made it impossible to play. Never beat it.
Fast forward and the Zodiac version drops. Played it right up until the Bahamut again and...life happened and I never beat it. To this day I don't how this game that I've easily put at least 300 hours into ends. At this point I could easily just beat it but it feels wrong to do so
this list made me smile so much, FF12 is my favorite game on ps2, favorite final fantasy, and one of my favorite rpgs ever. There is so much personality and charm in this game that it blew my 12 year old mind when i played it, i grew so attached to the main cast that every emotion i could feel they were going through. it really feels like Ff12 gets over looked, at least by my peers and other final fantasy enthusiasts. This game is special in the sense that it was the last hurrah of the PS2 for me.
I think if they'd taken Vaan anf given him his Revenant Wings design made him a monster hunter/ ruin diver who basically struggled everyday just to survive he could have been an interesting contrast with the Occuria playing with humanity like toys. A sort of emotional core and contrast to the ends justify the means mentality of the villains. A character representing the little guy who always gets hurt by that mentality, and a person who could have brought an interesting outside perspective to the story.
I think Vaan should have just had more of a voice and a perspective as a character. Like he just felt kinda there sometimes and I think they could have written him less as a faceless insert and more as a person with his own goals and experiences.
Why would they give Vaan a future design meaning he was just a regular kid in 12 starting off and only learning about the Occuria in the middle of the game???
I too like future Vaan MUCH better than the first time we meet him. I just wish he had a bit more of a reason to be with the party, much as you say most of XII he just feels like he is there, everyone else has a reason and a purpose, Vaan was just in the wrong place at the right time and got swept along, I do not like him.
To this day, FFXII is the game I invested the most hours into, well over 150 in the original PS2 release. With the release of the Zodiac Age remaster and all the QoL improvements, those same hours went considerably down; still, an impressive achievement considering the original release hardware.
Even 16 years later I feel it has the best overall cohesive story; what starts as nothing more than robbery evolves into a royal power struggle, ancient rogue gods and a villain set on ruling the world, or destroying it. The voice acting is what I remember most though, as no other FF has come close to the brilliance of the localization. A worthwhile play for any JRPG fan even today.
Cheers!
I actually liked Vaan the most, he felt like a blank slate that could be moulded into whatever. He also had this rather child-like notion of things, but when shit hit the fan, he could easily be the most mature, a sign of him growing up on the streets. There's also his straight-forwardness and not having problems in asking the questions others would squirm to do (like asking Fran her age). My absolute favourite part with him is when he and Ashe have a conversation about the apparitions they see and how they feel about it, truly cementing Vaan's position in the whole ordeal; he too lost someone he loved more than anything and thought of nothing more than revenge, but circumstances went a different way and he found himself in the middle of something much greater than petty revenge.
Hands down, one of my favourite games ever, sits as #2 on my FF List, 9 being #1 (I know, the audacity for not choosing 7!)
I just wish Vaan and Penolo had a better in-game reason for being part of the team like being hired and trained by Balthier or something
@@Tony_409 In a way they end up being trained by Balthier and Fran respectively when they both allow them to pilot and co-pilot their ship, the very same Balthier would get an ulcer if it had as much as a scratch on. It's one of the reasons I like Balthier, he keeps saying he's "the leading man", but always allows others to step forward and do their thing and the only one who calls him out on it is Fran at the very end by calling him a "support role".
But personally, I prefer this direction of "well, crap, all we wanted was to steal some shit out of the palace and now we're mixed up in a nationwide conflict that could alter the very history of our world and humanity because gods and shit", as as I said, neither Vaan nor Penelo chose to be there, they literally fell into it due to circumstances (Vaan getting caught for stealing and being associated to Balthier and Penelo getting kidnapped because of her supposed association with Balthier), but still stood up and fought for what was right.
Bought it the day it was released, fully completed 4 times, and just finishing another playthrough on the fantastic Zodiac Age. Love the newer release with the job system and new features!
I’m currently in the middle (ok, near-end) of a replay of XII (Zodiac Age). This video was a perfect timing!!
Ff12 za is still one of my faves to this day. It has some of the most enjoyable side content in the series.
Thank you for being consistent and satisfying the audience who deeply cares for the content you guys produce ❤
Ever since its release FFXII has been my favorite of the series and I've played every single entry in the franchise. I loved it enough that I bought a copy of Zodiac Job System so I could legally use the English fan patch emulation long before The Zodiac Age version was released.
I wasn't a big fan of the job system in the Zodiac Age simply because i loved the ability to give my characters the abity to do things as i unlocked to customize each party member as i went along but I still love the game
"The game's main protagonist, Vaan."
Me: Ashe, Balthier, and Basche. You had three right answers and you still got it wrong.
One of my favorite Final Fantasy games.
Great video! Thinking about your job history videos, is there any chance a history of skill or a group of skills common in the franchise? like Steal/mug, Enemy Skill, Blue Magic, Summon, etc? I haven't seen videos like that anywhere else and would love to see how they have evolved over the years as a FF fan.
I played this A couple years ago and it became my favorite FF… love these games.
Ah, this game really holds a very important part of my childhood. I really love this game from the first release up to remake on pc version. I really love its side quests and hunts.
FF12 has the best localization and VA of ANY FF period. And the Diction, by GOD its DICTION!!!!
I want The Marquis Ondor's complete memoirs on audio book read by his voice actor just so I can listen to that delectable DICTION!
Thick, veiny diction.
My favorite game in the series. I remember fondly grinding many days to get the invisible weapons.
U know going through these games as much as I did it's always nice to discover new things
This game doesn't get enough love. It contains my favorite side quests. The hunts are challenging and fun. Especially during your first ever playthrough. Not to mention the espers. The lore for every creature was also so freaking amazing.
The most shocking trivia for me is Kouhei Takeda being the voice & mocap for Vaan, i'm a big fan of him via his Tokusatsu works
Same here! Now I will have to play the game all over in Japanese, just for his voice!
I really enjoyed this video, with FFXII being my favorite game of the franchise. All the facts are so interesting, but the one that intrigued me the most was the 1000 NPCs present in the game. From a technical standpoint i was really impressed with how much they managed to add resource wise that tested the limits of the PS2 at the time, but i really appreciated and enjoyed the overall product.
FF12 was ahead of its time.
I remember hating 12 as a kid, it was so complicated and it all went over my head. But playing the remaster as an adult I enjoyed it a lot more
The story is so political that it was always going to put off younger players. You really need to be old enough to understand politics to enjoy the depth of ff12.
Yeah it was, that was the main impression and criticism I had of it when the PS2 game was released.
I need to play the remaster, the game originally almost turned me off of FF, I did not enjoy the game the first time around at all, but I keep hearing the remaster is much better for many of the reasons I didnt like the original. Vaan though is still there, can't avoid that one, but may be worth a shot.
@@sparemobius7430 The remaster certainly looks better, but I personally don't like the zodiac system and how it limits your characters. I much preferred the original and how every character could learn every skill and ability so I could fully customize my party.
Give it another chance. Vaan is just supposed to be our eyes into the world of ff12, Ashe is the real main character.
@@mbern4530 see I agree Ashe, Balthier, or hell anyone but Vaan is a better MC, even Penelo, although her reason is to be Vaan's babysitter.
The Zodiac system is a bit of a draw for me actually though. I like the fact that they could all be whatever, but at the same time I didn't if that makes sense. Zodiac adds a bit more strategy, gives you the ability to give them a bit more character and reasons to use more than just the same 3 or in my case 1 as anytime it would let me I soloed with Ashe for extra exp, and only really brought anyone else out as support in boss fights. at least until she hit 100, then who cares.
10:39 My uncle said Balthier is the Leading Man in the game. Idk what that means because Van is in the front cover of FF12
Balthier calls himself the leading man a few times in the game so it's a reference to that.
@@sb6196 Oh ok. thanks for that, I'll play FF12 after I finish FF15, it's a gift my dad gave me.
Final Fantasy XII's world is the only world i wished to be isekaied to. The cities, forests and other landscapes are simply gorgeous! And i really like the outfits esthetic.
And from the game perspective i really liked license board. I know many people find it stupid and uncomfortable that you buy a piece of armor or magic and can't use it until you unlock the license for it, but i find it completely logical. Of course in the real world you can buy a gun and use it right away, but it would be illegal right? Same thing here. Of course maybe smth like hp boost or gambit slots don't need license, but at the same time you don't spend money on those either, so i don't see the problem here as well.
Anyway, the ff12 is an amazing game, atmospheric and beautiful. My most favorite game from ff series.
I always assumed that the license board was just you getting the property training to use your equipment. Their is this small bit in a different game where a soldier damaged his sword because he trained with a bronze blade and it had a different balance to his iron one
And also you have to be professional and capable and responsible enough to use these kind of weapons, if people can casually buy guns and use it right away, it’s will be messed up and how many people would have been killed accidentally or things will go out of control, that’s why you see the characters don’t equip their weapons during the cutscenes and while walking around the city
My two favorite FF games suffered the same "end of a console" fate. 9 also got left by the wayside as the PS2 came on the scene shortly after its release.
I know that it's illegal for game developers to make single-player games anymore, but i also know that i'm not alone in wishing for another story-driven single-player chapter in the Ivalice series.
Just started a Yiazmat playthrough of this over today, good timing!
din't know the actor for vaan it's one of my favorite secondary kamen rider kamen rider grease. awesome video
I admit I used to hate Vaan, but now I can see that he's not a bad character, I think he's not as fondly remembered because Balthier, Ashe, Basch and Fran kinda steal the show
i loved vaan, as a child vaan was my favourite character in ff12
Penelo was cute
God, I love this game!! The music, the voice acting, the story, the graphics, the gameplay, the hunts and the LORE!! I loved how the bestiary would get more pages the more of the beasts you killed. Besides grinding and getting better rewards when chaining it was another way to motivate you kill more monsters. The sidequests were also great. The only negative thing I could say about the game is it has a slow and long beginning (especially the underground area after having Basch join you). But after that, the world opens up and your choices are almost unlimited of where to go.
I honestly had no idea that vaan's Japanese va was Kouhei Takeda, I know the actor mostly for his roles in tokusatsu
Vaan being the one who made the group sticked together was what ive been saying every time... Just try imagining if ashe would go with just balthier and fran at the sewer... It's because the pair of thieves came with a seemingly oblivious kid that made them a "maybe i could go with them for a while"
If there’s one thing i love about the remaster, it would have to be 2x and 4x mode. oh my go i can’t imagine grinding at regular speed again hahaha
i never met people around me that played this final fantasy. i played the original and replayed it countless time since 2000s until now, it is quite sad that few people anticipated and appreciated this game because it was overshadowed by the ps3 release. i always thought that this game was a massive system that i never really heard of, especially when it came to the pure map to explore, even GTA SA at the time was not as big and complicated as ffxii in my opinion. also i was a bit annoyed when i see the title i was like "hell nah i know just about everything about the game" but then immediately shows a real live event that occurs around the ffxii i was like "oh yea i don''t know about this"
12/ 15/ 10 are my top 3 ff games.
This is one of my favs but Jesus Christ, the grind for materials is absolutely ridiculous! Even in TZA! Seriously, who on the design team thought that was a good idea?🤣
Blew my mind to find out one of the judges was voiced by the guy who starred as Zaphod Beeblebrox in the BBC series of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.
I could have made a list ten times better than this regarding the story alone. What it was originally supposed to contain. How it's story was going to be much more like FFTactics to name two very small examples. Ashe was meant to have 9 older brothers, Judge Drace was Larsa's surrogate mother. The Bahamut was going to be a midway point. There's so much more. Though I guess you just felt like just picking us up, Basche us round the head throw us in a Vaan, then followed by a Raminas resulting in severe Reddas... Penel-OW! There's a Lot of content from the story cut due to the FFT's director leaving halfway through. The story could have been amazing. I actually like the story... But it was going to be FFTactics levels of epic. It would be more clear that the Occuria were going to try to use Vaan as the Dynast King... Hence him seeing the Occuria's illusions until he comes to terms with his resentment for the empire. Then he stops seeing them. I have so much more but it'd take forever. I could make a channel like this but I'm shit at editing. Still an amazing channel.
Legend status for RUclips content, thank you FFunion
Played this Game on the Switch two Years ago for the first Time, it is much better than i would have expected and i think with Final Fantasy IX my Favourite of the Series.
That Vaan is somehow often "only" in the Background is a good Thing, as it alows to develope the Story of the others with more spot Light.
I wouldn't talk his Role or Character down, i like him.
I have not played every FF yet, but 12 is my favorite.
I am in LOVE with this game til this day everything about it was great the gambit system, the ability board, the combat, the locations, the memorable characters ALL OF IT my favorite FF game hands down all time
this game will be etched in my heart forever, 1000+ hours on this game and i still play it, trying out new mods bla bla bla, im currently on a new game minus run and managed to get my mithuna before the giza rains :P
12 story may have been bad but in every other way it is still the pinnicle of the series
ff12 is my favorite game in the series, i finished the game back in 2006 with japanese version only likely dont have any idea what im doing like quest, hunts, mission but im so happy i finished it with 100%
One of my favourite ff games. It deserves much more love than it received.
Such a great game. In a series with so many great installments, I think XII gets overlooked a lot. I think it's one of the most beautiful of all the FF games, certainly the most original looking and feeling setting/world. The battle mechanics are fantastic, had just the right amount of side quests (I feel too many modern RPGs have a bloat of side quests, and making them unenjoyable for me to play because I am a completionist, but I'm also an adult with a job and a family haha) And the story is just great.
For me XII is the last of the great Final Fantasy games. I don't say that blindly, I've played all of them, but since XII none of them have really reached me. I know some people like them, and that's great, I'm not here to shit on the newer games I realize I'm an "older" gamer at this point, but a good game is a good game regardless of age and I think starting at XIII they started trying pander to one group of the fan base or the other at times, then being indecisive and not really appealing to either. I'm super optimistic about XVI, so far it looks great, cant' wait to play it.
An absolutely amazing title. Pushing the limits of the PS2, rich storyline, dynamic characters, S tier voice acting, and well thought out systems that compliment the typical RPG grind. Underrated in my opinion.
I love Fran to bits.
FFXII resembles Star Wars. But tbh this was my favorite FF in terms of gameplay since it left the old school turn based battle.
I freaking love this channel!!
This game took me a minute to warm up to but when i did i loved it. Fran is my dawg
Ivalice to this day is STILL the best world and setting in FF history
Final Fantasy XII was the first FF where I actually liked all the characters since the SNES days. Every game from VII on had, at least, one character that I felt was either useless or unlikable. It's also the first one where I made sure all my characters were equally leveled.
It's also interesting how many parallels there are between Final Fantasy XII and Rogue Galaxy. Right down to Jaster having a similar appearance to Vaan via his late game outfit.
Exactly the video I needed today ❤️
I'm playing it now on Switch. I love it. FF Tactics on PS is my favorite. So this one is up there.
This was the first FF I've ever played. I love this game.
The story really makes a lot more sense with Basch as the MC...
Love this game! Put hundreds of hours into this. And I still think Baltheir should have been the main character
I love FFXII, it is easily one of my favorite games in the series, but it’s sad that the leadership of the company forced one of the greatest minds in Square out the door because of this game. Matsuno’s “health reasons” for “retiring” was due to the company forcing him to add and change his work against his will. And it’s the saddest thing that should be on this list.
🌸❤️These we’re quite intriguing and certainly food for thought by which to ponder days on end❤️🌸
I loved 12 and Vaan mostly because Vaan wasn't whiney. Cloud and Squall beat that into the ground. But also that the story didn't have whiney teen angst in it. It was a political story, that a teen and his friend had gotten tangled up in.
Yeah, I agree.
I'm not Vaan's greatest fan, but in retrospect we could've got *a lot* worst protagonist than him (I'm not talking about Basch or anyone, what I meant is that Vaan's personality could've got worse than the current one). He's actually the perfect protagonist for XII now that I think about it, since XII wasn't all about politics and drama. There's an adventure, mob hunting, side activities and a lot more in a beautiful world of Ivalice. And Vaan is the only person that I can genuinely say fits the bill to a perfection as the FFXII poster boy.
And I don't really hate him, what I dislike from him was the absolute beauty of that PS2 abs, and it's pretty much gone at this point.
For me, the best part of a FF is the story. If they don’t tell a good story, I feel they have failed (FF VII: Remake is a good example). Secondarily is the gameplay. Usually, they nail the story. More often than not, they do well with the gameplay. So when it comes to XII, this game is a freaking masterpiece.
Maybe a slightly unpopular opinion, but I think FF12 is the best in the series. Although I think the ending is kind of a let down, I just love the more grounded political story and great writing/localization. Also the gambit system is such a fun battle element.
ty this was lovely to watch
My favourite single player final fantasy. Just gotta get past the first couple of deserts..
I loved final fantasy 12 the story the cast of playable characters cough cough not penelo it was a little confusing but it panned out after a while the job system of the rerelease made the game a little more challenging and a little more simple definitely worth a play especially for fran ps make sure you get the sightengrat bow best bow in the game for Fran to use
Best Final Fantasy games in no particular order:
Final Fantasy IV, VI, IX, XII.
Runner-ups - VII and X
Love Final Fantasy XII
Love this game with the ff tactics vibe
ff12 fact that i didn't know that one of my favorite tokusatsu actors voices vaan.
Still one of my favorite games ever
FF12 is my second favorite game in the franchise, right after FF9😌
FF 12 is my favorite one... followed by FF 9 😅 but tbh, I haven't played 15 and it seems it got its fighting mechanics from 12. So maybe that could become one of my favorites.
@@CompaDeArranke not really, 15 was more of a button masher. I played some of it, I liked the more open style world, but I didn’t like the story all that much. I also wish they had given the characters more customization in it.
isnt the wyrmhero blade from Dragon Quest series?
Finally I heard of some people who has Vaan as their favorite character on the game other than me!!
I'm once again doing 100% on steam for this game. Fuckin love this game.
FF12TZA is goated. The only game I've ever played that as soon as I finished, I started it again.
The only mystery is the 1/35 soldier item from FF7 , there are 12 , but if you find 35...
It's a 1/35 scale model of a soldier. Mystery solved.
@@xxKrazyKxx if you can find 35/35 = 1 Soldier ...that's the secret
Out of the 6 final fantasy games that I've fully completed, 12 is my favorite.
Best FF IMO
0:38 wasnt the PS3 backwards compatible though
“Oiyoiyo” wouldn’t be a thing without Takeda.
WTF... I lived in NYC in 2006, I would have gone to that! How did I not hear about it? Damn.
To me this is the perfect ff game
Final Fantasy games I want remakes of next: IX > VIII > X > XII.
12 blew me away.
Where do they find all this information? Cool
4:00 "post mortem"? More like "post nativitatem"😁