Originally Posted by
Persephone Stephanie
I like to consider XII an imperialistic political drama with the underlying theme of humanity's (or rather, humes') emanicipation from divine intervention. I hesitate to refer to the Occuria as 'divine', but in the context of the game they may as well be gods; gods against whom Venat, Doctor Cid, Vayne and Ashe struggle to throw off a long history of Occurian manipulation of human affairs so that the people of Ivalice can forge their own future. As the people of Dalmasca are under the thumb of the Archadian Empire, so is all of sentient life in Ivalice under the thumb of the Occurians (consider that all the Viera, Bangaa, Moogles and other species who live amongst hume society, even those who live outside it, would be subject to the effects of war); in the end not only one kingdom, but a whole continent of peoples is liberated from its oppressors. Their (political) will becomes their own again, no longer subject to whatever plans the Occurians held for Ivalice.
I'd consider it an oversimplification to call Vayne and the Occurians "evil" and Ashe and the crew "good". Those terms are inadequate for the characters. The Occuria, for example: they had a vision for the world unlike anything a mortal could imagine; they had power; they knew how they wanted to wield it, but needed an agent to act through. A bit like God in the Bible, but less terrifying because they can't conjure floods to just kill everyone in Ivalice when the little people refuse to follow their orders. Now that's what I call evil. No, the Occurians seemed to me beings powerless without humans to manipulate, incapable of assuming corporeal forms through which they could do things themselves; they're scheming, shadowy and sinister beings with an agenda incomprehensible to men, but not "evil". I felt the same about Vayne. I admired and was creeped out by him. The villains in XII were not black and white which to me is one of its greatest appeals.
I don't think the game was any less political near the end, but the politics were elevated from the human realm to a divine one. They are necessarily intertwined. I do think they could have executed parts of it better with more exposition, but I still really like the whole story...