My love affair with FFXII started the moment I played it and has not ceased, so for me history has done nothing but sustain my feelings of joy towards the title. I believe most/all of my reasons why this is the case have already been listed, but:

  • the game was creative and interesting
  • the plot contained subtleties and depth
  • the characters were interesting and were not simply reboots of similar archetypes as are often found in not just FF games but RPGs in general (oh man I have too many feels regarding Balthier and Fran)
  • the combat system took a little getting used to but when I looked beyond the 'It's not what I'm used to!' feeling I found having to strategise outside of battle when setting up gambits to be incredibly intricate and challenging, but also very fun (I had some lovely flashbacks to gambits when I played The Last Story, pausing battles to set up instructions and whatnot, although I still feel FFXII did a better job of this style of battle because characters generally did as you told them to, which is an important detail)

I've spoken to a lot of people who have mixed feelings towards this game, but it will always hold a very special place in my heart.