I mean it was alright. I glossed over the plot even more than FFXII so that doesn't help, but the characters were a little more realistic and I kind of gave a trout that they were trying to do something and it was hard (I don't know what they were trying to do or why it was hard but I feel for 'em).

Also re: the smiles comment, it's hard for me to picture Balthier not smiling but other than that yeah FFXII was kind of morose.