^Yep. I fear Yasumi Matsuno attempted to achieve too much. The people at SE wanted a more generic RPG, whereas he wanted to revolutionise it with Basch and Balthier as the main characters. In the end, he was forced to settle for a compromise. He then left mid-way through developement, with the remaining team slightly confused over how it was meant to be.

Also, the whole sky pirate thing was supposed to be more developed. Elza and Rikken - and more minor characters were supposed to have a larger roles. Notice their intricate designs, yet they only had a few lines.

Personally, I loved FFX's story. Not as good as FFIX's though - because that has the best characters ever imaginably....*goes into FFIX fanboy mode*. However, FFXII story was still good. I disagree about it being cliched. FFX was more cliched and simple. But in a way, thats what made it effective. It wasnt over ambitious and developed so thoroughly upon practically every aspect.