Final Fantasy 12. =| In the previews, it looked a lot like Vagrant Story, and I LOVED Vagrant Story, and there were even a few reviews comparing the two. So I was all excited when the game came out; it looked pretty and I had heard that the story was great. Instead, what I got was a bunch of characters that I didn't give two craps about and a Final Fantasy game that ended up looking more like Star Wars in a few scenes (wtf, since when can airships shoot lasers? Did I miss something here?).

Suikoden 4 was another one. I'm a big fan of the Suikoden series, so when I heard 4 was coming out, I was psyched - but it was terrible. :[ Still my least favorite of the series. Luckily, 5 was awesome and totally made up for it.

And, last but not least (or maybe it IS least) Drakengard! Gaaah! When I saw previews for that game, I was so psyched! You get to ride a giant firebreathing dragon around and set people on fire! How can it possibly go wrong? How about by making it a horrifyingly repetitive button-masher and making the dragon not only sound like someone's grandmother, but having it constantly berating you for killing people. That's all you can do in the game, Miss Dragon! If I don't kill anyone, there is no game! Stop yelling at me! The only redeeming quality this game had was the fact that out of five possible endings, not ONE of them was happy. Hee.

I'm gonna have to second Final Fantasy 12. T_T I'd heard that it had a phenominal plot that came mostly at the end. The plot was...just kinda there. Vaan wasn't even really a main character, and I disliked Ashe intensly. And the combat....uuugh. I could either have gambits do everything and sit back and watch, or I could take an active role and find myself doing repetative busywork. And summons were pretty useless, too. No real point using them against mundane enemies, but it's a fight just to keep them alive during bosses where they don't do that much damage. Real pity, too, I liked the esper designs.

Balthier and Fraan saved the game for me, I think. Good thing a lot of the story focused on them...they were the best characters. I also have to give mad props to the translation and voice acting of the entire game, as it was absolutely supurb.

I did enjoy the FF12 voice acting, and I loved Fran too, but - and I haven't finished the game, so unless something happens near the end - she just kind of seems to be.. there. For no real reason, except that she's following Balthier around. Then again, most of the characters just seemed to be there for no real reason, so I guess it's not that surprising. :\ I also have to agree that I despised the battle system. I believe they were trying to make it feel like an MMORPG in the spirit of FF11 - that your party members were actually other "people", but all it did was make the battle system repetitive and painfully boring. Bleh.

Unlimited Saga >< That's probably the most dissapointing game i've ever played in my life :s

FF12 has struck me as a Star Wars ripoff, but as you continue with the game, the Star Wars stuff seems to get less and less noticeable. And Balthier is definately my favorite character in the game, even though I never use him in my party, I love his personality.

I also like the fact that there is a bestiary (FINALLY). And not a list of stats like in the GBA ports for NES/SNES games, but actual information on the monsters. You can tell that they worked alot on the world.

You want an FF Game that screams Star Wars? Try FF2, it isn't original at all, FF12 at least retains SOME originality. I like it, but, yes, I am kind of dissapointed storywise.

And that thing about Vaan not being a main character; I actually liked that. It's more realistic. Some street urchan saving the world? Oh, yeah, REAL original there. A street urchan who acts as Main Character but isn't central to the plot and just helps other people save the world is much more plausible and not as cliche.

While I didn't like Ashe, I didn't dislike her, she's just kind of lacking in the personality department.

Perhaps Balthier is a Personality Vampire. He activly sucks all the plot relevance and personality out of any character he comes into contact with. Yes, yes, his suavity is fueled by those around him! It's the only explaination!

Not that I've played FF11, but I think I read that they did more or less rip the combat system from it. They really ought to know that the tactics used for MMOs don't work for single player games.

Children of Mana. While not completely crappy or anything I find it’s lack of story arc disturbing. Also the gameplay was very repetitive, since you were constantly re-playing the same levels over and over. I’m not a fan of “mission based” RPGs. Same reason Tactics Advanced was king of a let down.

LIZARD_B1TE
FF12 has struck me as a Star Wars ripoff,

At least Vain never admitted to being Vaan's father.