X is a lovely story, but based on the party pretty much never investigating/grilling one another.

Dream Zanarkand, Auron having been to both, Yuna hiding she's going to die, Auron being the ONLY Unsent, who kept the Final Summoning secret compared to other Guardians, so on and on.

A lot of the plot's tension is based on dramatic reveals that the majority of the plot spins around. Auron's determination to not be forthcoming because 'experience is the better teacher', while everyone else in the group refusing to speak about Yuna's Death. Let alone the fucking world; why WOULDN'T sacrifice and death be a talking point ANYWHERE for Summoners? It'd be like talking about Jesus while pussyfooting around the whole 'died for your sins' part.

(Meanwhile, is Auron broken up solely because of Jecht, or no permanent true end to Sin? Because he should've known Braska was a goner from the onset.)

Add in Seymour who pops back up like a weed everytime, and a religion that runs on basically allowing a genocide whale to continue genociding people. Because...yeah, it's too hard to come up with a real solution.

Like I love X, my first and beloved FF, but some of this is eh.

That’s fair enough; it’s not my favourite either, but if someone asked me which story was the “best”, I’d be hard pressed to find a better answer personally. Like, if a random person I’ve never met asked me which FF they would enjoy the most based on the narrative, X seems like the safest bet.

It balances all the story elements well, and while I don’t think it exceeds in most regards, it delivers them all so consistently that it feels very whole and intentional. Though as I said, I personally lean towards a lot of those more lopsided narratives that place heavier emphasis on certain story elements.

I despised X.

Several months ago I posted a detailed description of FF XII lore for players new to the game as the games backstory and lore is really complex and many new players are often confused by it.

Here it is:

The Occuria are basically the gods in the world of FF XII (Ivalice) and in the past they gave a special blade to a chosen human warrior. With that blade that warrior cut several shards from something called the Sun Cryst, which is basically the source of magic. these shards will be important in the story and so is the blade used to cut them from the Cryst.

The warrior used those shards to become a mighty ruler known as the Dynast King Raithwall who united Ivalice under his rule. Later his descendants formed the kingdoms of Dalmasca and Nabradia and each of them were given one of the three shards (Raithwall kept the last shard for himself until his death).

Eventually two major Empires rose - Rozarria to the west and Arcadia to the east and they warred with each other for supremacy with the smaller kingdoms (such as Dalmasca and Nabradia) caught in the middle of that war.

Now I am gonna have to get a bit spoilery here so be warned.

The head scientist of Arcadia named "Doctor Cid" encountered one of the Occuria (the gods remember) named Venat. Venat rebelled against the other Occuria and chose to join forces with the humans to put the power to control fate directly into their hands and take it away from the other Occuria. For that act the other Occuria branded him a traitor and banished him from their realm. Venat accompanied Cid back to Arcadia and taught him to create magicite which is basically artitficial Nethicite (the shards cut from the Sun Cryst are natural nethicite - sources of magic). Armed with that new weapon, Arcadia then set out to conquer the other kingdoms - particularly the kingdoms who owned the other two shards (Nabradia and Dalmasca).

The beginning of the game shows the arcadian invasion of Nebradia and how they aquired it`s shard. The kingdom was nearly destroyed in that invasion because of the explosive and destructive effects of the Magicite that Arcadia possessed.

Ashe was the princess of Dalmasca (and thus an heir of Raithwall himself) who had married the prince of Nabradia (Rasler). Her husband led the charge against Arcadia when the arcadians attacked Nabradia but was killed along with pretty much every one else.

Later Vayne Solidor (the villain of FF XII who is the older son of Arcadias Emperor) used the twin brother of Basch (Gabranth - a judge in service of Arcadia) to kill King Raminas of Dalmasca (the father of Ashe) for which Basch was framed (as nobody seemed to know that his twin brother was a Judge of Arcadia) and which ended the peace talks and basically put Dalmasca under the control of Arcadia. Vayne had orchestrated this so he could get unlimited access to Dalmascas capital city of Rabanastre and search for the Dalmascas shard. However he failed to obtain it. Ashe later faked her death to make Arcadia believe that she was gone and worked with a Resistance formed by her old friend Ondore (the Marquis you meet in Bhujerba) with the goal to defeat Arcadia and drive them from her homeland and reclaim the crown of Dalmasca.

Vaans brother Reks fought in the dalmascan army but was also murdered by Basch's brother Gabranth when Ashes father was assassinated. Vaan believed like everyone else that Basch was the killer which is why he is not exactly friendly towards Basch in the beginning.

FF XII`s story revolves mainly around these things:

• Ashe working with Ondores Resistance to fight and defeat the Arcadian Empire in order to free her kingdom of Dalmasca from their oppression.

• Vayne (who later becomes Emperor of Arcadia) working with Cid and Venat (the rogue Occuria) to obtain all three shards and make himself powerful enough to not only rule everything but also to challenge the occuria themselves and end their control over the fate of all mankind. Vayne has a younger brother named Larsa, who despises what his brother does and becomes an ally to Ashe instead. All Larsa wants is peace between the empires and he is willing to turn against his brother Vayne (who pretty much wants the opposite) to achieve that.

• Ashe and the others journey to basically obtain the shards for themselves and eventually they even travel to the Sun Cryst itself so Ash can become Raithwalls true successor and cut her own shards from the Cryst to wield the same power that Raithwall had when he united Ivalice. However that turns out much differently then anticipated. This journey makes up the majority of FF XII.

• Because the western empire of Rozzaria realizes what Arcadia (under Vaynes rule) is trying to do, they prepare to go to war against them which would pretty much devastate the whole world and Larsa, Ashe and your heroes desperately try to beat Vayne before Rozzaria moves in to prevent that larger war.

• The true endgoal is of course to beat not only Vayne but especially the rogue Occuria Venat who has not only been helping Arcadia to create Magicite but who also keeps empowering and influencing Vayne. In many ways Venat is the true evil behind everything that is happening.

Here a little overview over the characters and terms

Occuria = The Gods in the world of FF XII who secretely control history and fate

Venat = A rogue Occuria who turned against the other gods to put the power of control and fate into human hands and the major evil that influences Vayne.

Sun Cryst = A large crystal made from Nethicite. Using a special blade which is given by the Occuria one can cut shards of immense power from it.

Raithwall = The first King who was chosen by the Occuria to cut shards from the Sun Cryst, who ruled over all of Ivalice as the Dynast King afterwards. He is the ancestor of Ashe.

Nabradia = One of the kingdoms that was founded by one of Raithwalls sons. They inherited one of the three shards.

Dalmasca = Another kingdom founded by Raithwalls son. They also inherited one of the shards. Ashe is the princess of Dalmasca and the rightful heir to the throne in FF XII.

Raminas = Ashes father, who was the King of Dalmasca. His murder was orchestrated by Vayne to gain full control of Dalmasca.

Vayne = Son of the Emperor of Arcadia and later the new Emperor in the game. He is powerhungry and evil and is empowered and influenced by Venat. Tries to find all three shards to gain absolute power, crush any foes and challenge the Occuria. Main villain of FF XII.

Larsa = Younger brother of Vayne who wants his brother to stop his conquest for power. He just wants peace and sides with Ashe to achieve it.

Rasler = Prince of Nabradia who was married to Ashe. He led the charge against Arcadia to stop their invasion but was killed along with everyone else in his army.

Reks = Brother of Vaan who was murdered by Gabranth during the assassination of King Raminas.

Gabranth = Brother of Basch, who serves Arcadia as one of their 12 judges. He killed Reks and Raminas and framed his brother Basch for the crimes. However he is fiercely dedicated to protect Larsa above all else, making him not a completely evil character. He is basically the Darth Vader of FF XII.

Ondore = The Marquis of Bhujerba who is secretely the head of a Resistance that wants to end the oppression by Arcadia. He is a friend of Ashe who is allied with him and his Resistance.

Cid = Head Researcher of Arcadia who was the one who encountered Venat and took him to Arcadia. Venat taught him many things, creating Nethicite being one of them. Cid has in fact a secret connection to one of the Party members.

Nethicite/Magicite = Magicite are all magic fueled stones in Ivalice and the source of magic. Nethicite is a special type of Magicite that is used to absorb Mist and thus wield highly destructive and powerful magic. The Sun Cryst is made from natural Nethicite and thus the three shards are Nethicite. Venat has taught Arcadia to fabricate artificial nethicite which is weaker but safer to use and a great weapon in warfare making Arcadia far superior to other nations in war.

It has a very heavy emphasis on lore. Magic certainly plays a part in it but its more about magical crystals, gods, kingdoms and the fight against tyranny. It has political scenes but with a more epic scope of Empires, betrayals and the like. Like I said its very Game of Thrones.

Theres no other to compare to them. I miss this old square

I also appreciate how Spira is the most consistent looking FF world, like nothing feels too out of place and they all follow the southeast Asian inspired aesthetic.

Unlike in FFVII you have a gloomy technologically advance city like Midgard with a steam punk feel, then there's a bright and sunny beach resort in Costa Del Sol then Yuffie's village which is a Ninja village.

At least Wakka has an arc. I think if you take Lulu out of the game it remains the same!

I feel like XV and VIII are kinda similar in the sense that they have the potential for a couple of the most powerful stories of all the FFs, but that was hindered by rushed development/development hell/questionable business decisions. And it results in the final games having glimmers of that incredible plan they had, as well as the some rough edges that bring the games down for a lot of people

I say this with VIII prob being my personal favorite FF

I wholeheartedly rank XIII’s story at the top. IX comes very close, but the botched final act brings it down too much for me.

I honestly don’t think they’re being edgy, the “writers” don’t know the source material they write about 99% of the time. They just vomit things out and hope for clicks.

Oh it only loaded up from rank 7 onwards for me, my bad

It gets more intense but the beginning definitely leads you on slowly.

Same. 8 is my favorite. The storyline gets kind of twisted and can feel a bit all o er the place, but thats part of its beauty. The only thing I wish, was that the junction system was more diverse.

HA HA HA HAAA.....HaaAaa..HAAA

lol that scene ruined it for me

I got the remastered free off x box game pass. Good shit.