History YMMV / FinalFantasyXII

** Zodiark's Darkja. Not only does it do heavy Dark-elemental damage to the entire party, and cannot be avoided or interrupted due to being a cinematic attack, but it has a chance to inflict Instant Death. Unfortunately, this is one of the few times in the series where there is ''no'' equipment piece to block Instant Death attacks! Shell lowers the chance for Instant Death to take effect, but it can't block it entirely, while Dark Masks absorb the damage but not the Instant Death effect [[note]]and if all three active party members are wearing Dark Masks, Zodiark will use the move twice as often[[/note]]... oh, and it can easily inflict Blind on your party as well. Zodiark opens the fight with it, uses it periodically, and when he's low on HP begins to spam it constantly. In summary, Zodiark's SignatureMove lets him inflict a TotalPartyKill, and there's very little you can do about it except pray.

* ImprovedSecondAttempt: For people that were seriously put off by Vaan's design in the first game, which was intended to be FemaleGaze but often came off as FetishRetardant due to the unintended appearance of his abs texturting, his appearance in ''Final Fantasy Tactics A2'' gave him a shirt. It's to the point where at least [[https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy12/mods/41?tab=files one mod]] for the PC version of ''The Zodiac Age'' retroactively gives him said shirt.
* LowTierLetdown:
** Job wise, the Machinist is considered to be rather inferior compared to others jobs in the ''International''/''Zodiac Age'' version. The Machinist is focused around using guns, but guns are rarer than the other ranged weapons, and ammo for them is harder to find. Besides that, it offers little else besides fairly weak Techniques that don't justify using it after a certain point, especially compared to Archer which, while not exactly great, gets Black Magic, making it useful for someone like Ashe or Fran. However it is not without merits, as guns will never miss even during bad weather (which lowers bow and crossbow accuracy), always deal a set amount of damage per shot without relying on statistics, and the Machinist carries several HP augments that makes it a worthy secondary job pick for certain physical and magical builds.
** The Time Battlemage, however, is considered to be the worst overall due to its poor equipment and augment selection. Unlike the other mage-type jobs, Time Battlemage uses Heavy Armor to boost its damage output with crossbows, which are seen as grossly inferior to bows and guns overall (bad weather penalizes crossbow accuracy far worse than bows, for instance). It also has very few HP augments, misses out on Mystic Armor to increase magic and MP, and Time Magic is generally too situational to be useful - which also is easily castable by the far superior Red Battlemage, or just replaced entirely with ample use of motes. The bonus abilities the job gains through Espers and Quickenings are also very lackluster, and are easily gained through other jobs as a secondary instead of wasting Espers on the Time Battlemage.

** Job wise, the Machinist is considered to be rather inferior compared to others jobs in the ''International''/''Zodiac Age'' version. The Machinist is focused around using guns, but guns are rarer than the other ranged weapons, and ammo for them is harder to find. Besides that, it offers little else besides fairly weak Techniques that don't justify using it after a certain point, especially compared to Archer which, while not exactly great, gets Black Magic, making it useful for someone like Ashe or Fran. However it is not without merits, as guns will never miss even during bad weather (which lowers bow and crossbow accuracy), always deal a set amount of damage per shot without relying on statistics, and the Machinist carries several HP augments that makes it a worthy secondary job pick for mage-type builds.
** The Time Battlemage, however, is considered to be the worst overall due to its poor equipment and augment selection. Unlike the other mage-type jobs, Time Battlemage uses Heavy Armor to boost its damage output with crossbows, which are seen as grossly inferior to bows and guns overall (bad weather penalizes crossbow accuracy far worse than bows, for instance). It also has very few HP augments, misses out on Mystic Armor to increase magic and MP, and Time Magic is too situational to be useful - which also is easily castable by the far superior Red Battlemage, or just replaced entirely with ample use of motes. The bonus abilities the job gains through Espers and Quickenings are also very lackluster, and are easily gained through other jobs as a secondary instead of wasting Espers on the Time Battlemage.

** Both Vaan and Penelo suffer this issue, Penelo especially. Both have reasons they would want to help Ashe, as both are Dalmascan citizens who lost much in the war and would obviously have feelings about the Archadian rule. Furthermore, Penelo has a friendship with Larsa early on that gives good depth to the two, and Vaan has a somewhat easy to miss implication about the Occuria using him as a backup for Ashe. However, outside of those two points, neither get any real usage in the wider story, as any important character moments just stop happening after the fight with Judge Ghis, and any subplots they did have just stop being a thing fairly early on, such as Vaan's hatred of Basch or Penelo being scared of the Archadians. Penelo especially gets hurt by this; after she is saved, she basically just has minor speaking roles with no relevance to the story in any way, with Vaan at least getting a small bit with Gabranth late game.

** You ever wondered what someone with those pointy little triangles that anime and manga use for noses would look like if rendered on realistic faces? congrats, ''everybody'' has it, on the Veira it would make sense from an evolutionary standpoint, being rabbit people, but everyone has this weird upturned pointy nose, regardless of race.

** With the HD remaster's release ironing out many of the problems with the gameplay system, the Active Dimension Battle system has been praised as ahead of its time for getting rid of random encounters and being a comfortable hybrid of ActionRPG and CombatCooldownSystem mechanics. The Gambit system in particular was hated on release for the perception that it let the game play itself, but it has since been widely praised for the degree of customization it allows to the behaviors of AI-controlled allies, while later games like ''Final Fantasy XV'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', and even ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', were criticized for AI teammates falling victim to ArtificialStupidity. It also helps that the ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' series introduced a similar battle system to that of ''XII'', resulting in fans of the former being more willing to check out the game and get used to its battle system.

** With the HD remaster's release ironing out many of the problems with the gameplay system, the Active Dimension Battle system has been praised as ahead of its time for getting rid of random encounters and being a comfortable hybrid of ActionRPG and ActiveTimeBattle mechanics. The Gambit system in particular was hated on release for the perception that it let the game play itself, but it has since been widely praised for the degree of customization it allows to the behaviors of AI-controlled allies, while later games like ''Final Fantasy XV'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', and even ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', were criticized for AI teammates falling victim to ArtificialStupidity. It also helps that the ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' series introduced a similar battle system to that of ''XII'', resulting in fans of the former being more willing to check out the game and get used to its battle system.

* ImprovedByTheReCut: The game's original release was met with modest success, but the ''International Zodiac Job System'' release in Japan is far more enjoyed than the original version, as it forces the player to have characters be more specialized in their roles, rather than have the same License Board for everyone. It also removed mechanics like the damage cap, which made certain bonus marathon bosses a lot more manageable. As a result, all rereleases of the game since the ''IZJS'' have used the ''IZJS'' version as a base. ''The Zodiac Age'' version was considered an even greater improvement because its two-job system corrected the main criticism of the ''IZJS'', which is that jobs made characters [[CripplingOverspecialization too specialized]], as previously the class system caused characters to be stuck with only one role they could play, which came across as overcorrecting from too much freedom, to now not enough, while the ''Zodiac Age'' allowing for two classes per character balanced the games systems to allow more gameplay freedom, without being too open.
* ImprovedSecondAttempt: For people that were seriously put off by Vaan's design in the first game, which was intended to be FemaleGaze but often came off as FetishRetardant, his appearance in ''Final Fantasy Tactics A2'' gave him a shirt. It's to the point where at least [[https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy12/mods/41?tab=files one mod]] for the PC version of ''The Zodiac Age'' retroactively gives him said shirt.

** The Occuria speak in iambic tetrameter. The rebel of their number speaks in iambic pentameter. This may be a reference to Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which the Witches speak trochaic tetrameter (four feet, alternating stress, starting with a stressed syllable) to help illustrate their otherworldly nature.

* ToughActToFollow: ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' was met with extreme critical acclaim and financial success after it released in 2001, and after [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI dabbling in an MMORPG]] as the next game, expectations were high for ''XII'' when it was getting ready to come out. However, like ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII VIII]]'' before it, ''XII'' didn't quite live up to the lofty expectations set by its predecessor, with criticism toward the game's tinkering with the turn-based combat system, Vaan and Penelo's seeming irrelevance toward the greater story, and a plot that was heavy on politics while also very referential of ''Franchise/StarWars'' coming right off the heels of the divisive Prequel Trilogy. It wasn't considered a bad game by any stretch (it also received commercial and critical acclaim), but it was considered a letdown for the longest time, but like ''VIII'', it would start to gain a significant following as time went on.

** While he is very popular in Japan, [[note]]fan demand and outcry was so intense that he made it into ''Dissidia 012'' as ''XII's'' representative hero[[/note]] Vaan got a much less warm reception from western players. While the bishōnen "pretty boy" archetype is genuinely popular in Japan, this character type was generally tolerated in the West at the time. Though in Vaan's case it was mostly due to him being chosen as the "face" of the game, despite his small role. Being surrounded by adult characters with adult problems while he's just a wide-eyed, adventurous kid along for the ride only served to accentuate this (though as the AudienceSurrogate, this was deliberate).

* ToughActToFollow: ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' was met with extreme critical acclaim and financial success after it released in 2001, and after dabbling in an MMORPG as the next game, expectations were high for ''XII'' when it was getting ready to come out. However, like ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII VIII]]'' before it, ''XII'' didn't quite live up to the lofty expectations set by its predecessor, with criticism toward the game's tinkering with the turn-based combat system, Vaan and Penelo's seeming irrelevance toward the greater story, and a plot that was heavy on politics while also very referential of ''Franchise/StarWars'' coming right off the heels of the divisive Prequel Trilogy. It wasn't considered a bad game by any stretch (it also received commercial and critical acclaim), but it was considered a letdown for the longest time, but like ''VIII'', it would start to gain a significant following as time went on.

* FetishRetardant: Vaan is a borderline WalkingShirtlessScene with toned abs, but the awkward texturing of his chest causes it to look offputting instead of fanservicey.

*** Whether or not Larsa remembers it is debatable, but Vayne also killed their two brothers as well.

** The final battle takes place aboard a massive superweapon.

* EvilIsSexy: Gabranth, given that he's [[spoiler:Basch without the scars]].

** The Time Battlemage, however, is considered to be the worst overall due to its poor equipment and augment selection. Unlike the other mage-type jobs, Time Battlemage uses Heavy Armor to boost its damage output with crossbows, which are seen as grossly inferior to bows and guns overall (bad weather penalizes crossbow accuracy far worse than bows, for instance). It also have very few HP augments, misses out on Mystic Armor to increase magic and MP, and its Time Magic are either too situational to make use of, can easily be cast by the far superior Red Battlemage instead, or can be replaced with ample of motes instead. The bonus abilities the job can gain through Espers and Quickenings are also very lackluster, and are easily gained through other jobs as a secondary instead of wasting Espers on the Time Battlemage.

** Penelo is similarly pretty well liked in Japan for her design and relationship with Vaan, but in the West is perhaps the most disliked party member of the game period. This is largely because she's the most underutilized party member in the game, having no character arc or role after she is acquired. Notably, while Vaan got the chance over the years to win fans back through appearances in other spinoffs, Penelo was never given the same chance.

** While he is very popular in Japan, [[note]]fan demand and outcry was so intense that he made it into ''Dissidia 012'' as ''XII's'' representative hero[[/note]] Vaan got a much less warm reception from western players. While the bishōnen "pretty boy" archtype is genuinely popular in Japan, this character type is generally at best tolerated in the West. Though in Vaan's case it was mostly due to him being chosen as the "face" of the game, despite his small role. Being surrounded by adult characters with adult problems while he's just a wide-eyed, adventurous kid along for the ride only served to accentuate this (though as the AudienceSurrogate, this was deliberate).
** Penelo is similarly pretty well liked in Japan for her design and relationship with Vaan, but in the West is perhaps the most disliked party member of the game period. This is largely because she's the most underutilized party member in the game, having no character arc or role after she is acquired, meaning she's regarded as a "useless little girl." Notably while Vaan got the chance over the years to win fans back through appearances in other spinoffs, Penelo was never given the same chance, and so even years later is still not well-liked in the West.

** Especially when compared to ''X'', the facial expressions and body movements of the cast are quite fluid and realistic. However their faces look like they haven't slept in a couple days, or else they ''really'' need to wash their faces, and their eyes don't always look very natural; nearly everyone has gray colored eyes while all viera have orange-red eyes. No eye color exists apparently.

** A weird graphical design on the characters faces gives it an almost semi-transparent double-layered effect, as though someone in the graphics department was trying to make them look "3D" by copying was 3D movie gimmicks are filmed.

** Because the Occuria had no mouths, lips, or [[StarfishAlien moving facial features in general]] to make LipLock complicated, the only limitation on writing their dialogue was how much time it took up in cutscenes. What ended up happening? The Occuria got lines ''entirely in iambic tetrameter'', and their rebel was written to speak in iambic pentameter instead just to allude to their alliance with humes -- and anyone who's worked in ADR can tell you that dubbing a character in strict verse, much less poetic meter, is too luck-dependent to even consider. It's like Smith and co. were saying "this is how good our dubbing is [[WithMyHandsTied when we don't have our hands tied]]."

** Zodiark's Darkja. Not only does it do heavy Dark-elemental damage to the entire party, and cannot be avoided or interrupted due to being a cinematic attack, but it has a chance to inflict Instant Death. Unfortunately, this is one of the few times in the series where there is ''no'' equipment piece to block Instant Death attacks! Shell lowers the chance for Instant Death to take effect, but it can't block it entirely, and even if you survive, you're taking damage and probably being inflicted with Blind, which Darkja also inflicts. Zodiark opens the fight with it, uses it periodically, and when he's low on HP begins to spam it constantly. In summary, Zodiark's SignatureMove lets him inflict a TotalPartyKill, and there's very little you can do to stop it.
** Chaos's Aeroja; which is huge Wind damage and confusion. That alone sounds bad enough; but in Chaos's battle, you can't use physical attacks at all due to the restriction[[note]]other than Telekinesis[[/note]], so your party is left utterly helpless.

** Demon Wall will use Blindga to Blind all your party members, Annul to sap their MP to 0, Telega to instantly kill them and render them unable to be revived until the battle is over, and will Silence them and put to them Sleep. The real challenge comes from the fact it's a timed battle; the Demon Wall slowly advances down the path pushing your party to the rear wall, and if you can't kill it before it crushes you, it's an instant Game Over.

** Giruvegan and the Great Crystal. The former is a long MagicalMysteryDoors puzzle full of powerful enemies leading up to a boss. The latter is also a MagicalMysteryDoors puzzle full of powerful enemies leading up to a boss, but is is larger with a ''very'' confusing layout, you aren't given a typical map [[note]]the "map" shows an outside view of the Great Crystal and an icon marker your party's position in it[[/note]], and the switches to open the Mystery Doors have time limits and can control more than one door. Your mandatory first visit to the Great Crystal is thankfully short, the path to your objective is short, self-contained, and has a simple layout; when you come back to fight Ultima or Omega, you ''need'' to look up fan maps or you'll never get to them.

** As mentioned under BossInMookClothing on the main page, spelunkers in the Zertinan Caverns who are accustomed to the original version of the game are in for a nasty surprise when they run into the Archaeoaevises, once simply aevis-type enemies that were 'merely' the strongest enemies in the area, who have been buffed into BonusBoss-level nightmares for all the ''Zodiac'' versions. They like to spam [[ThatOneAttack Curse]] to put Disease and Confuse on your characters among other statuses, have enormously strong physical hits and have ''at least'' 161,622 HP at the lowest in their level range, already making them by far some of the strongest random enemies in the game. If you happen across a level 99 one, which they can totally spawn at, they have just shy of one million health, putting them on-par with end-game bosses. And for the icing on the cake, as soon as you aggro one, the second one in the area will make a beeline for you, turning them into a DualBoss. Oh, and if you want Mithuna (the ultimate gun in Zodiac versions), you'll ''have'' to fight them, as other than stealing it from Elza in Trial Mode Stage 86 - which is a rare chance - they're the only normal enemies to drop the Emperor Scales you need.

** And of course, the final Hunt, the most notorious BonusBoss in the series, Yiazmat. He's a bit easier in ''The Zodiac Age'', but even then, '''50,112,254 HP''' does not go down easily or quickly, especially since he also has [[TouchOfDeath Instant]] [[OneHitKill Death]] attacks.

* ContestedSequel: Not quite to the extent of ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII XIII]]'', but moreso than most other main ''Final Fantasy'' installment, and to a greater degree among the fandom than the critics -- primarily due to the battle system and what some view as a lack of story, while others view it as more subtle.

** This wouldn't be the last time Kari Wahlgren voiced a vengeful widow since years later, Creator/{{Dreamworks}} created a reboot for WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle where at one point in the first story arc, they have to deal with Bullwinkle's grandmother who, like Ashe, also tries to avenge her husband. The whole "revenge is wrong" lesson however is then subverted afterwards since while Ashe eventually realizes how wrong she was to take a vengeful path and learns from her mistakes, Granwinkle does not [[spoiler: because her husband is then eaten by another animal at the end and she goes back to the vengeful warpath she started on.]]

* CameraScrew: The Zodiac version of the game lets you control Espers like a playable character. Unfortunately, the camera does not adjust for an Esper's massive size and is stuck on the default camera settings used for the normal sized human characters.