Really? I'd say they tried to focus on the plot, but they tried to throw in so much to make it really good that it just ended up being a half finished mesh that didn't really make much sense.
I didn't like the story, I didn't like many of the characters. But I loved the environment and the gameplay and the amount of places you can explore can take hours and hours, I even came to enjoy the battle system of XII. It kept me hooked for hours just on those points, and the well done mark minigame is great fun. It's worth the buy since you can get it for pennies these days.