I actually prefer plot-driven stories to character-driven ones, more incentive to keep playing if I start to hate certain characters.
^ I highly disagree, but whatever floats your boat.
Best of both worlds? Purely character driven stories can end up feeling aesopy?
I think FFXII just forgot to include story. I'm sure you could've counted the number of cutscenes on one hand :D
What did you think of Ashe and Bashe (not sure if I've spelt that one right, the one with the judge thing?)?
^ Basche was cool but misused, we barely learned anything about him or his exact relationship with his brother. He was a colossal waste of a character.
Ashe was boring some of the time and irritating the rest of the time....but she was really good to use in battle, so I could never bring myself to dislike her. ;^_^
Best of both worlds? Purely character driven stories can end up feeling aesopy?
I'm not saying stories should be purely driven by the characters (the plot, world, and whatnot is important too), but if the characters aren't a big driving force, then you're not going to care about them that much, and as a result, you won't care about the story, since a story is basically what happens to the characters.
You know what I'm sick of? People thinking that any use of brown is Real Is Brown. It's Final Fantasy, I don't think they were going for realism.
Other than that, I disagree heavily, but I like that you specified what your niggles were. Yeah, the story was very plot-driven compared to some of the previous games like IX and X.
Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.
"In terms of story, one of the biggest sins possible is committed: the plot drives the characters rather than the other way around"
That's not a "sin"; it's a very widely recognized and legitimate method of story-telling. Gamers need to educate themselves about these things before even acting like they want to offer criticism of the way a story is written or presented.
"That's not to say they're bad characters though; they all have their good points; it's just that they're all wasted. Balthier gets off easiest due to how cool he is (he is the leading man, after all), but even he could've been better and shown more Hidden Depths."
This is proof you do not understand the concept of plot-driven stories. Complaining about a lack of any given character's backstory or character development in a plot-driven story is like complaining about the lack of wheels on a snowboard. Sure, you CAN put wheels on a snowboard, but that's not the allure of it!
"Outside of the story, the game suffers from none-too-memorable music,"
I didn't see any problem with it. Hitoshi Sakimoto does good work, though I will concede he's no Nobuo Uematsu.
"a battle system that should have been great but wasn't,"
I sure wish you would've elaborated on this. I think the battle system in 12 is better than anything Final Fantasy has ever had, before or since. You get so much freedom concerning how you develop, equip, and use each character it's a blast! And then battling is much smoother and faster than in any other FF game. That's not to mention little things like being able to see enemies before fighting them, so you can have a shot at getting the first hit, etc. Very cool stuff.
"and a general lack of anything to do outside of traversing hellish dungeons and fighting monster after monster."
Mini-games were lacking, there's no question about that. But then, I've never played a FF game in which I truly enjoyed more than one of their mini-games. Side quests do tend to require a battle of some sort, but I don't see the problem with that.
"Most of the character voices, save for some (Vaan and Fran, I'm looking at you) are great."
Fran's voice actor nailed it, I don't know what you're smoking. And I guess Vaan COULD'VE been done better?
"I'm not saying stories should be purely driven by the characters (the plot, world, and whatnot is important too), but if the characters aren't a big driving force, then you're not going to care about them that much, and as a result, you won't care about the story, since a story is basically what happens to the characters."
In this case, you're 100% wrong. This story is not "what happens to the characters" but what happens to the world of Ivalice. They did everything by the book here. They just didn't make another FF game where half the plot is the protagonist struggling to come to some fairly obvious realization about life or love. And though I will always love earlier F Fs (talking mainly of F Fs 6-9), this change of pace was very refreshing, IMO.
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Not Entirely Bad, But.....
This game has alot going for it, but sadly it has alot more against it. In terms of story, one of the biggest sins possible is committed: the plot drives the characters rather than the other way around, and thus the entire main party is left as static characters who just do whatever the story dictates they do, rather than their actions flowing from their characterizations. That's not to say they're bad characters though; they all have their good points; it's just that they're all wasted. Balthier gets off easiest due to how cool he is (he is the leading man, after all), but even he could've been better and shown more Hidden Depths.
The villains are hit or miss. Vayne, Dr. Cid, and Judge Gabranth are excellent, and Judge Ghis is OK, but all the other judges (Bergan, Drace, and Zargabaath) have a ridiculously low amount of screentime, Ba'Gamman disappears from the plot completely after being built up as a threat, and we learn jack-squat about Emperor Gramis before Vayne does away with him. As for side characters, some like Larsa and Vossler leave an impression, but others like Al-Cid and Reddas end up feeling rather pointless in the long run.
Outside of the story, the game suffers from none-too-memorable music, a battle system that should have been great but wasn't, and a general lack of anything to do outside of traversing hellish dungeons and fighting monster after monster. Combining this with the lackluster story, the game becomes quite tedious.
On the plus side, the graphics, while a little too brown, are beautifully-rendered and the environments are larger than those of FFX, and the camera angling works alot better. Most of the character voices, save for some (Vaan and Fran, I'm looking at you) are great. And on occasion, the story actually reaches a cool point (the final battle, for example, is just plain awesome.) So, all in all, FFXII ranks along with FFV for me....not a bad game, but not a good one either; one with, sadly, much wasted potential.