Its hard to believe that its been 20 years since Final Fantasy XII came out on PlayStation 2. Final Fantasy XII was developed and published by Square Enix and it was arguably one of the best installments from the 00’s decade aside from FFX. The Final Fantasy franchise was still one of the most popular video game franchises during the 00’s despite the series arguably reaching its peak during the late 90s with FFVII. Final Fantasy XII moved away from the MMORPG that Square Enix used for FFXI and went back to traditional RPG gameplay. In terms of gameplay mechanics the features that stood out the most in FFXII was the Active Dimension Battle along with the Gambit System. The gameplay for Final Fantasy XII more advanced and seemingly had a steeper learning curve than Final Fantasy XII. The story for Final Fantasy FFXII involved two warring empires known as Archadia and Rozarria in the fictional land of Ivalice.

In Final Fantasy XII main character Vaan along with Princess Ashelia and the rest of his crew create a resistance movement against the Archadian Empire after it annexed the kingdom of Dalmasca. The most interesting thing about the story of Final Fantasy XII was that it kinda felt similar to Final Fantasy XVI which came out back in 2023. The concept of politics, kingdoms and warring factions made Final Fantasy XII intriguing especially since it made the game’s plot feel more mature than previous entries. Vaan as a protagonist seemed decent but he was not nearly as iconic as other names in the Final Fantasy series like Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Tidus, The Gullwings or even Lightning. While the story and structure of Final Fantasy games are essential having a memorable main character is also one of the most important things to include in RPGs. As a protagonist Vaan in FFXII feels almost as forgettable as Clive Rosfield from FFXVI despite both games being critically acclaimed and having decent sales numbers.

In fact, Final Fantasy XII is considered to be more popular and has managed to sell more than FFXVI reaching more than 7.7 million on the PS2. Ever since, Final Fantasy XVI came out in Summer 2023 it only managed to reach over 3.5 million in sales across multiple platforms like PS5, PC and Xbox Series X. Final Fantasy XII felt more political and story-driven than entries came before it. Also, FFXII was probably the last major installment Square Enix produced before the series started to decline in popularity around the late 00’s-early 10’s. While Final Fantasy XIII Part I from ’09 was a commercial success the game received a polarizing reception and was followed by the disastrous FFXIV launch in 2010. Final Fantasy XII ended up being one of the best video games to come out of the mid-2000’s. Final Fantasy XVI ended up becoming an afterthought following its release mainly because there were so many high profile video games to come out of 2023. Final Fantasy XII was still popular about a decade later following its launch after it was remastered and re-released by Square Enix for the PS4 back in 2017. While some believe FFXII is overrated others feel that its one of the best entries in the series.