People have spent years complaining that FF summons are too overpowered and cheap, and now FFXII has given us weaker summons that are less useful and they get a lot of flak

Granted, I don't use the FFXII summons that much either. But their use is quite strategic and tactical, dependent on elemental properties, enemy patterns, that sort of thing. Apparently the terrain and weather can influence things too.

Not to mention that the esper boss fights and bestiary back-story entries were epic in their own right