Which is the greatest, VII or XII?

[JuzamDjinn]

Character depth:
I'm not even going to get too far into this, as most of you should be able to tell there's a huge difference between the two. VII's characters all had a story, and at some point in the game, you get to experience their past which explains their feelings for the present situation at any point in the game. This helped to understand them better, and made them more diverse in both personality design and entertainment. If you want an intelligent character who likes to think himself more mature than the rest, take a look at Red XIII. But if gun-ho do it yourself characters with sailor mouths are more your liking, give Cid a try. XII didn't deliver nearly as well in that aspect being that, as already mentioned before, you only really saw the "tip of the iceberg" when they could've gotten much deeper. As far as I'm concerned, everyone but Vaan and Penelo had an actual story for themselves. There wasn't a main character focus either, but if I had to choose who would fit that title it would've been Ashe or Basch.

I think you summed it up best. Playing a final fantasy game to me is about going on an adventure, accomplishing tasks(like saving the world). It is the the people you're with that really makes a difference(in this case, characters in a story). The characters have to be good, believable and solid. FFVII's characters had good solid believeable motivations and peronalities, XII's sure their motivations and character personalties were there, but they seemed a bit unbelieveable or unreal.

[Heartless Angel]

The characters were the worst part of the XII story. Best two words I can think of to describe them would be bland and forgettable. Not to say they were completely horrible, but by no means up to FF standards. When playing any of the earlier FF fr the first time, I'd miss a night or two of sleep, just because I needed to know what happened next. In XII, I really didn't care, the story just completely failed to wrap my interest. It wasn't straight up bad, but again nowhere near what I've come to expect from a Final Fantasy.

Gameplay, that's mostly just personal preference, and personally, I thought it was ****ing terrible. Not to say I'm totally against any and all changes to the system, I-X I loves every one of, because they changes were good. There is a tremendous difference between change and improvement. Recent FF's have certainly been changes, but not improvements.

[Zidane77]

The characters were the worst part of the XII story. Best two words I can think of to describe them would be bland and forgettable. Not to say they were completely horrible, but by no means up to FF standards. When playing any of the earlier FF fr the first time, I'd miss a night or two of sleep, just because I needed to know what happened next. In XII, I really didn't care, the story just completely failed to wrap my interest. It wasn't straight up bad, but again nowhere near what I've come to expect from a Final Fantasy.

Gameplay, that's mostly just personal preference, and personally, I thought it was ****ing terrible. Not to say I'm totally against any and all changes to the system, I-X I loves every one of, because they changes were good. There is a tremendous difference between change and improvement. Recent FF's have certainly been changes, but not improvements.

I agree, the characters weren't much believeable and it wasn't the same as earlier games, changes but not improvement.
I don't even consider this game like a FF actually, more like a spin-off.
That helps playing the game.
I actually think XI,XII and XIV shoulda been left out of the serie, in my opinion.
With all those extra FF games (Tactics etc), those shoulda been one of them,a different serie if you will (Maybe Ivalice serie) simply because they don't have the same feel to it as the others.

[JuzamDjinn]

I don't even consider this game like a FF actually, more like a spin-off.
That helps playing the game.
I actually think XI,XII and XIV shoulda been left out of the serie, in my opinion.

That's kindof how I felt. but it does have alot of characteristics of final fantasy (no need to list them, we know what they are)
I agree about 14 too, I haven't played it, but I don't think 11 and 14 should have been given number. it messes everything up, especially in the future when the servers dont exist anymore and there will forever be holes in the series.
Though, I think 9 fits final fantasy well.
I've never played any of the spin offs.

Xanatos, we get it, you're the smartest person here. Leave o0Odin0o alone.
o0Odin0o, you should know it doesn't matter what you say by now. It just has to be contradicted so the other guy will feel smarter. Just go back to pages 2 or 3 and look at my back and forth with him. Xanatos gave me his reasons, I the understood where he was coming from and agreed with him. Then somehow my new opinion, now closer to his own ..was wrong.

[Heartless Angel]

I agree, the characters weren't much believeable and it wasn't the same as earlier games, changes but not improvement.
I don't even consider this game like a FF actually, more like a spin-off.
That helps playing the game.
I actually think XI,XII and XIV shoulda been left out of the serie, in my opinion.
With all those extra FF games (Tactics etc), those shoulda been one of them,a different serie if you will (Maybe Ivalice serie) simply because they don't have the same feel to it as the others.

Seriously, if they had called it something else, changed a few spell names around so it seemed like its own game, I probably would've liked it just fine, because I would've been looking at it as any old game. When you slap Final Fantasy (especially of the numbered series) on the box, that's saying something. XII failed to live up to what that name says.

[Angel of Iniquity]

Seriously, if they had called it something else, changed a few spell names around so it seemed like its own game, I probably would've liked it just fine, because I would've been looking at it as any old game. When you slap Final Fantasy (especially of the numbered series) on the box, that's saying something. XII failed to live up to what that name says.

That's how I felt about FF12 and 13. Maybe it's whole history is a little to explained, maybe not enough mystical elements(dunce opinion haha) or not enough colors. I just think that it kinda strayed a little off the beaten path. The developer said he likes change, well he got it a little strongly with FF12 and 13.
Change is good, can't deny that, but FF is known for certain things. I agree that FF11 and 14 should be a FFMMO series or there should be an Ivalice series like the fabolus series.