Why so mush hate on Final Fantasy 12 and 9?

FF9 pretty forgetable storyline,  really generic characters, I loved the Tetra minigame though. 

FF12 has a pretty freaking complicated story that is horrably compacted down into a few sentences per each scene.   The combat although innovate and unique can be boring.  The fact that any character can be any class also does nothing to make you like one character over the other.   The fact that Espers are tied to specific people and not able to be used by anyone.  The fact that there is no minigames. 

The only FF game that really deserves to be dumped on is 8.  I would play any of the others.  

Maybe I'm not as picky as some others but I have yet to play a Final Fantasy that I didn't enjoy on some level.  Sure some of them have had some flaws but compared to many other RPG's out there, FF has always had better quality and more polish.

I enjoyed XII very much, despite having a few issues with it's Espers, lackluster story(I liked the story, it just wasn't big enough or developed enough), bland characters (save for a few) and a some what abrupt ending.  And unlike quite a few others, I loved the battle system and the option to customize all the characters to my own tastes.  Hell, I loved the freedom I was given in XII all around.

As for IX, oddly enough, it's one of a few FF's I have yet to play, even though I own them all. :? I plan on playing it sooner or later, along with a few other old games.

Those who don't like IX (and claim to like FF) are fanboys of the 3D Final Fantasy games who have yet to play anything before VII and claim they're too mature to play IX because it looks "kiddy" despite being probably the only 3D Final Fantasy to stay true to the series' roots.

IX is a masterpiece.

And XII well, I liked it, but I was disappointed at the same time. I felt it was pretty stale.

  There's much more hate towards FF 8 than 9... all FFs have both innovations and flaws... 7 seems to be the one that escapes people's criticism...

   12 really lacks story, somthing X and VIII have much more, I'd play FF 9 for fun, since even characters with or withou specific abilities suck in both (except Salamander Coral, which is a pretty late-in-the-game unbalanced character, hell too strong comparing to the others...

   The main advantage of FF 9 is the battle... the rest is just forgettable... (except alexander and bahamut...)

i actually want to start playing all the final fantasy's. i've played vii, x, xii, working on i and ii right now. i really want to play viii. i played vii a little and even made my friend buy viii but never got to playing it. i dont see why people hate xii so much. its a difference but essentially the same gameplay. the story wasnt the best in the world but no story is. the only thing i didnt like really was that there wasnt that much character development and backstory. also the fact that you can make them whatever you want them to be. thats a great idea but i like it when a character is known for that weapon. theres no ultima weapon for each of them or really differentiate them from eachother. everyone knows cloud for his claymore, squall for his gunblade, auron is the cool lone warrior with the glasses, zidane is the dude with the cat tail. i havent played ix but i want to play. does anyone kno where i can buy old ps1 games? 

I have to disagree with you on FF9.  FF9 would have been a fine game if they would have dropped the mini-games.  It had a good story (once you get past the dancing rats), ok characters, and pretty good gameplay.  The chocbo dig game just absolutely irritated the heck out of me.  I think I spent more time on the dig game then on the entire game itself, and never even found Ragnarok.  Then they added that 12 hour requirement just to get Excalibur 2.  I don't know what they were thinking, as you pretty much miss the entire story just trying to get it.

 As far as FF12 goes, the game play was irritating and very boring.  The characters were just not as interesting as some of the previous games.  I think even Squal had more personality then some of those characters.  The story was about as bad as that of FF11 (did it actually have a story?  I don't know, all I remember is waiting hours just to get a group so I could actually level).  It had a lot of possiblities, but just didn't catch my attention like FF4 or FF6 did.

 Still, most of the FF games past FF6 have relied heavily on mini-games to increase the amount of time you play the game.  You need to run through them to get Knights of the Round, all the special weapons in FF9 and FF10 (ah, the horrors of dodging lightning bolts and blitz ball), stupid card games, and I won't even go into FFX-2.  FF1, FF4 - FF6 had a few mini-games, but they were not a requirement to get certain weapons.  FF6 had the arena, but that was a lot of fun testing your skills against certain monsters. 

 The only thing that has changed is the increase in mini-games and the way they present the story.  Sure, someo f the movies are great visuals, but they have taken up a lot of the games.  Not that I'm complaining, watching Bahamut and Alexander go head to head was just about the best movie out of all the games.  They have had a few changes in the battle system, but nothing (until 12), that really ruined the game play.  Well, FF8 wasn't exactly great either.  Trying to go after the last boss in FF8 at level 99 was an absolute nightmare.

Here's hoping FF13 turns out to be what FF12 should have been.  It sucks to have a FF that I don't particularly enjoy playing.  Especially since I have been a fan of the series since Final Fantasy I came out on the NES. 

It's quite simple why these two titles get so much hate.

Why FFIX? It was too much like the 2D classics that appeared on the SNES.. and, as we all know, all FFs before VII were teh toodee and suxxors!

Why FFXII? It had a story that was very hard for most to follow, let alone understand. Plus, the game frequently used a lot of big words.. a no no for many (stupid) gamers.

On top of that, neither one had a cross dressing, spikey haired, blonde guy who was bad ass as he chased (and obsessed after) a pretty male villain! lol

VII and VIII had the most convoluted stories I've ever seen (not interesting, or epic.. just confusing) that made about as much sense as a nickel. Then, X didn't even have a really good story due to boring characters (with only a few memorable ones) and no truly prominent, or good for that matter, villain.

But seriously, it's funny how the FFs that garner the most hate are the ones that I thought to be some of the best RPGs ever.. those being IX and XII. But that's just me; I also thought that every third installment on a given system was the best.. those being VI, IX and XII.

FF7, great

FF8, great

FF9, never played it

FF10, great

FF11 online, never played it

FF12, great

I've yet to play a bad FF game.

Ive never played XI, and i love XII. I actually havent heard too many people bash XII, well not as much as VIII anyway.

EDIT: Sorry about the 5 posts in a row! My pc just screwed up 

Final Fantasy XII is one of my favourite games ever. I spent more than 120 hours with that game. I loved the scale of things. Really made me feel like I was on a grand adventure. The Gambit system was a true revelation for me also. So many side bosses, no lame mini-games like freaking BlitzBall, all of the hunts...man I love that game. It actually made it hard for me to play another RPG when I was finished, and I play alot of RPGs.

I still think it will be a while untill a new RPG eclipses it in my eyes. I know XIII won't. I have hopes for Dragon Quest IX, White Knight Story, Blue Dragon and Lost Odessy, but Final Fantasy XII will always have a fond place in my gaming memory. 

I think ppl hated 9 becoz they changed the protagonist from a macho-uber-sexy-antisocial-badass kinda dude to a more cute-ilovemytail-ilovemyfriend kinda kid. (Ok zidane was not a kid... who cares? :P ).. and 9 has all the element from the previous FF series...

12, on the other hand, is totally the opposite. Square has created something 'new', not like the typical FF series in which u have the ATB or turn-based thing, and nice storyline in which the hero falls in love with the heroin etc.. FF12 has a more deeper storyline which does not involve the aspect of love indirectly. I've read about the explaination about FF12 somewhere in this forum. Too lazy to find it and post the url, though.. :P

SO yehh.. i think this is why ppl hated these 2 final fantasy. The game is good as it is. Why change an already good game?

But, I do love these 2 FFs, in fact, I love all of 'em.. No bias between FFs, becoz each FF has it's own ups and downs.

I really like all of them. I tought nine was really good, so was eight. I haven't really played final fantasy 7 so I couldn't say but im sure it's really good, plan on playing it if I can find it:P and 12, well it's good too but I don't know, I just don't get the same feel. It dosn't seem like a final fantasy to me but ya it's really good though.vanessajune_6

DUDE!! U MUST PLAY FF7!! Sure, the graphic sucks big time, but the game is like.. WOOAAHHH!!

Well I really like FF9 , I'm going through it for the 3rd time right now and it is still good. I think it get hate because of the look of the caracters.

 I have buy FF12 the day it came out. After like ... 40 hours ... I give up. I resell the game. Too much leveling up when you enter a new place. The game plays be itself , you just have to move your caracters ... blame caracters without any emotion or personality and well the story , too simple for a FF game. I realise FF game that is follow up of a previous FF is really a huge let down. Remember FF X-2 ? FF12 is set in the same world as FF Tactic on the PS1. I prefer the story in FFT than FF12.

 Well if FF13 isn't better , I don't think I will consider a PS3.

 The review of games is obviously largely subjective. Its just preference. I myself thought the story and characters of FF7 were the coolest. So without further ado...

FF7 is my favourite game of all time. Best story and characters ever! Every other aspect of the game is also top notch. Square realizes this, and are therefore expanding on it. FF Tactics was also great.

The best one of course was FF XI..................i mean duh, come on

what? i think Vann is sweet! but i give you props cause Penelo does suck....i don't use her, Ashe, or that bunny eared girl that i don't even remember her name! This is pretty random and so i think that's all i'm gonna say...
-Regan-HeartOfStone013

Hey, at least Panelo had some personality. 

Who was Vann? I don't remember a character named that!  /sarcasm.  Vann was forgetable.  If you want to talk sweet... Lets talk Balthier or Basch... Yummm.

 I loved the scale of things. Really made me feel like I was on a grand adventure. The Gambit system was a true revelation for me also. So many side bosses, no lame mini-games like freaking BlitzBall, all of the hunts... 

bryehngeocef