Quote Originally Posted by Shadow8017 View Post
Wolf Kanno - Bravo. Those were some superb character anaylses, really they were quite insightful, admittedly some of the things you commented on I missed during my first play-through. I can tell you've made this argument before in a previous forum. However, good descriptions of characters still doesn't invalidate my experience that ultimately these characters were lacking that level of attention that I've come to expect. Instead of long heated dialogues shared amongst the main party, I felt like what I got was brief little quips here and there ... with most of it being pretty insignifcant. Instead of utilizing cutscenes in a way that is advantageous to capturing key moments in the character's evolution, what I got was cgi cutscenes arbitrarily interspersed - often for no discernable reason other than showing off the game's pretty graphics. This is all pertinent as it pertains to the game's failure to deliver strong memorable character development.

Even you should be able to admit that the character dynamics in FFXII are on a much subtler level than what we're used to.
I agree they are more subtle, I just don't agree with this being a bad thing. I generally perfer subtle character growth and exchanges over drawn out melodrama. Neither is bad, it's just that both tend to rub people the wrong way if it's done to either extreme. For games like FFVIII and FFX, I feel the melodrama was too cheesy and felt more like some horrible TV soap opera. For FFXII, it feels to some like the cast is withdrawn from the story and are being used more as a means to an end rather than being percieved as living breathing people the player can relate to.

I mean, we've seen both styles of writing before being used flawlessly. FFVI is drawn out melodrama that is beautifully done, it's still the cast I care the most about. On the other spectrum we have FFT, which has a more subtle style of dealing with character growth. I still believe to this day that Ramza Belouve is the greatest and most complex character to come out of the FF series.

The best I can do is give you a better insight in how I percieved the story and characters. I don't believe I can really change your mind on how you feel about the game but I at least gave you something to watch for if you ever decide to try and "stomache" your way through the game again

As for Vayne, Renmiri, I also feel he could have been done a little better. I never really believed him to be a villain (an asshole maybe...) but I don't really feel like he's a wonderful antagonist either. He's sorta've like Seymore in a sense. He's there to be a chatty villain (or antagonist in this case) The real odd thing about Vayne, is that up until you reach the final dungeon, he came off to me, like he was doing all this to prepare Larsa. Like he purposely chose to become the "villain" so Larsa would become a better ruler. This all goes out the window once you reach the final battle though...