So, I finally completed FFXII last week. Clocking in a mammoth 114 hours in the course of 21 days.

I think my initial impressions comparing it to FFX turned out pretty accurate in the end. Although the story was interesting enough to keep me wanting more and the game world itself was truly beautiful, the characters were bland and uninteresting. There certainly wasn’t anyone in the same class as the stand out characters from my favourite games in the series; Cloude (VII), Squall (XIII) & Vivi (IX).

FF XIII certainly isn’t going to trouble my list of top RPGs, and probably not even if I limited it to just the fairly limited number of JRPGs I’ve played over the years either:

Top Five JRPGs

  1. Panzer Dragoon Saga
  2. Final Fantasy VII
  3. Lost Odyssey
  4. Final Fantasy VIII
  5. Final Fantasy IX

Mind you, with 3 of the 5 being Final Fantasy titles is still a pretty impressive feat for the series, I wonder if Blue Dragon or The Last Remnant will trouble that list when I get round to them later in the year?

As usual I kept a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress in the game, and it is shared onĀ Google Docs if you’d like to take a copy of it to aid in your own playthrough. It’s particularly helpful in keeping track of the Treasure Hunter achievement: