Quote Originally Posted by Nominus Experse View Post
I wonder if Square attempted to draw more attention to the greater happenings of the story, such as the politics and the like that were unfolding, by having less attention given to the characters.

In some FFs, it seemed there was more character developement than that of the actual occurances of the story itself. Sometimes this worked, and other times it did not.

This FF is a break from many things typical of FFs from FFVII on up to FFX, so it might be true.

I'm not sure though.
I've said before that FFXII is the "anti-FFX" and it's not just to be an insult. The storytelling is very different from each other. FFX is told from Tidus' perspective, a rather "personal narrative". His journey is simply to "get to Zanarkand and stop Sin" the story never really alters much and is told rather simplistically, what Tidus mostly recounts is the going ons of the journey, the places he see's the people he meets and the friendships and relationships he forms with Yuna and her guardians. Because of this, FFX is completely character driven, moreso than previous FFs.

On the other hand, FFXII is told in an "objective narrative". The story is told by Marquis Ondore IV. A man you may remember actually spends little time with your party. He is most likely recounting what Lady Ashe told him and thus his story is more focused on the historical ascpect of what happened. This would also explain why the story also focuses on Lady Ashe the most. Not only becuase of her relationship with the Marquis but because he most likely recieved the account from her. You ever noticed that most of the actual character scenes revolve around her perspective?

I do feel the lack of "quality time" (as sickening as I usually find it in RPGs:rolleyes2 ) was due to the writers wanting the player to stay focused on the story.