I briefly mentioned this in the thread about world maps, but one thing I did notice about FFXII's story, looking back, was the distinct lack of much bonding between the characters.

There were definitely pairings. Balthier and Fran's partnering, the dynamic between Basch and Vaan. But besides these few pairings, I never really felt like the team was a cohesive unit.

Compare with FFXIII, where (though the game did have flaws) it got the characters right. At least for me, I knew that these six characters spoke to each other, liked each other eventually and bonded through their mutual fate. This was helped by splitting the party off during the middle portion of the game so you could intimately get involved with their character development.

Obviously, there is no focus to force the characters together in FFXII, but the party didn't really seem like a party. They sort of shuffled together more out of convenience than anything else.

I can't really recall Balthier or Penelo actually ever talking. Fran didn't have much to say to Basch. Granted, Penelo didn't really have much in the role of the story in the first place, and neither did Fran. I might be overthinking it slightly, but I am slightly disappointed that there wasn't more opportunity to really get to *know* the characters.

I know the story was very political and concerned more with the overall trajectory of the war, but it would have been nice to have the party... I don't know, sitting around a campfire. Talking. Playing cards, I don't know. It's not as if they didn't have much time, they spent the majority of the time travelling east, west, south and then north.

What do you guys think? Am I overthinking it?