FFXII is the only FF game where the world was taken into account far more than the characters or narrative were, which is the very reason a lot of people didn't care for it.

I thought all the FFs before X did a good job of maintaining a balance. XII and XIII really went all or nothing in opposite directions of each other.

Both are fantastic games though. I replayed FFXII not too long ago and I really enjoyed it, probably more than I did the first time I played it.