So, I finally picked up Final Fantasy 12

No, mostly the beginning is just like that. It starts in a desert country, after all. I'm surprised that you're 20 hours in and you haven't seen anything else. The zone just south of the main town is a swamp, after all.

The story isn't bad, but XII seems more about the gameplay than the story.

Well, I haven't been to Giza during the rains yet. I'm just about to. In the earlier segments, it looks like desert environment to me. And yeah, I know it's probably taken me longer than it should have to get to where I am. Just finished Raithwall's Tomb, and I'm clocked at 23 hours. I've spent a lot of time grinding.

What do you think about Balthier, Raziel? He seems like your sort of character.

Balthier is a badass. He's James Bond. Period.

I also found that Vaan didn't seem to fit into the story very well. It was almost like he didn't even belong in the story, at least not as the main character. I don't really care for him much.

My personal favorite of the bunch is actually Vaan. I really like his character. Thus far, he hasn't shown an overweening obsession with destroying the empire, he's not a moody anti-hero and his ineptitude and lack of experience aren't glossed over with comic absurdity. Plus, he doesn't have amnesia, he's not a lecherous pervert and he doesn't exhibit any sort of "fractured, torturous past." He's successfully avoided just about every videogame RPG hero cliche in the book. He's just a regular guy with ideals and hopes. I like that.

I can also say that, so far, Fran is my least favorite character in the bunch. To me, she seems thrown into the game solely for sex appeal and to explain away all the mystic mumbo jumbo that the player doesn't understand right off the bat. She's just not compelling or valuable to me.

One more question. Upon unlocking two Quickenings for each character, I'm starting to feel that boss battles have become too easy. I had a hell of a time with the optional Demon Wall (beat him by the skin of my teeth), but since that I pretty much annihilated the two other bosses I've encountered. Does the game suddenly ramp up in difficulty, or is the Quickening system totally overpowered?

You said you've spent a lot of time grinding, that's probably why the bosses seem easy. Spending a while making money/leveling up in the beginning makes the game so much easier.

Don't miss my post just above yours, I happened to post it right before you posted.

The thing is, even if Vaan doesn't fit into the story in some grandiose fashion, I'd rather have a more lax protagonist this time around. I can't count the number of RPGs I've played wherein the seemingly unassuming and regular hero turns out to house some ancient, mysterious power that makes him the only weapon against the game's villainous antagonist. It's actually refreshing to me to see a hero that's just another dude along for the ride. That's kinda what Square was going for with Tidus, and mostly succeeded at. I like the idea of Vaan not necessarily being the "hero", but rather the avatar for the player. In essence, an inexperienced and mostly unknowledgeable kid that's sharing the learning experience right alongside you. Crono did the same thing, only he didn't talk.

Tidus fit very well into the story of FFX though. He wasn't just "along for the right", though I guess you could argue that.

FFX was Tidus' story.

Vaan really has no place in the story, he would be much better as a character you just aquire along the way, then again I haven't played through much farther than yourself, for all we know he might just not be fully developed.

Oh and I must add, so far FFX is superior to FFXII when it comes to story, but FFXII is superior when it comes to gameplay. I absolutely hated how battles in FFX were pretty much like Rock->Paper->Scissors. It gave a use for every character, such as Wakka being the master of killing flying monsters, Lulu being the master of killing elemental monsters, but it was absolutely horrible in my opinion. But FFX's story is absolutely amazing.

I must also add, I've taken a liking to the word "absolutely" it seems. I said it 3 times in the past paragraph.

FFX was Tidus' story.

That right there was precisely the issue I had with Tidus. The fact that he had to keep reminding us that he was the hero. It wasn't his story, it was Spira's story told through his eyes.

And the fact is, to a certain degree he was along for the ride. True, it was actually his outsider's point of view that set into motion the events that ended the Sin cycle on Spira, but he was still an outsider. Unknowledgeable, unskilled for the most part in the ways of combat, and not terribly intelligent. He was not a hero or adventurer. He didn't even want those things. He was enough of a man to accept those responsibilities when they were thrust upon him. He was the avatar for the player, much like Vaan.

The main thing I like about Vaan is that he's a much more streamlined character than most Final Fantasy heroes. Pretty much all of them have some sort of deeply personal stake in the plot, with lots of twists and turns. Whereas Vaan seems to just be a guy who wants to be a part of something bigger. That's different, and I like it. Neither his mental stability, nor his survival are his motivations for taking part in heroism. He's just tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to change.

As Vaan is the avatar of the player, him not having much of a connection with the story makes the player feel like they don't have much of a connection with the story. The story for FFXII is lackluster to begin with, and I'm not attached to it in any way really. I got to the point that I just stopped playing FFXII, I haven't played for something like a month now.

FFX on the other hand sucked me right in. The story is partly about Spira and the summoner's journey and all that, but for the most part it's Tidus' story. It's that that kept me sucked into the game. The game made it seem like the whole story was about Yuna and that Tidus was just along for the ride, but it's just that that made his character develop over time and turned the game into the awesome game it is. I'm hoping FFXII does the same thing with Vaan once I pick it back up, but the way things are going he's almost like a stranger to me compared to the other characters.

My problem with Vaan is that he could just completely disappear and it wouldn't change the story one bit(so far anyway.) He doesn't seem to serve any sort of purpose, he's like the appendix of my party. I don't care if he's not the hero come to save the day, but I want to have SOME SORT of connection with him at least. So far I don't.