Final Fantasy XII

I was just starting to have fun with FF12, and then that giant fucking bird had to show up.

This boss (the aforementioned fucking bird) was tearing each of my party members a new asshole; there was simply no way I could keep anyone alive long enough to kill it. I checked the interweb to see if there was some sort of trick, and sure enough, I was supposed to have collected some item from an NPC - in the middle of this endless goddamn desert - to deal super damage to the bird. Grievance: Final Fantasy 12 mystifyingly resurrects the old RPG trope of being completely helpless against a boss, unless you know exactly how to exploit his obscure weakness, or have spent half a dozen hours just wandering around the entire map.

Also, the bird could only be targeted by magic or ranged weapons, which makes sense; but I only had two characters who know how to use ranged weapons because up to this point they've been pretty useless. Grievance: there are way too many different options in the License Points system - part of the game I was actually having fun with - for there to be a "right" way to configure your party. (Also, you have six party members, but an active party of three, and only your active members earn experience - so if you need to swap in a character who's been left behind the level curve, good luck!)

So I backtracked through half the goddamn desert, twice, since the first time I thought I'd found a shortcut but it actually took me somewhere else entirely. I got the item and went back to the boss to fight it. I travelled the same parts of the map I'd already been to, killed dozens of the same enemies, and collected more of the same low-priced loot. Grievance: there is way too much walking around and pointless combat inbetween significant story events, even without backtracking. If the field sections of the game, and the corresponding level requirements, had been cut in half, I think the experience would benefit greatly.

Also, I don't have nearly enough money to buy all the weapons and armor and spells I'd like to have. I'd probably be better-off financially if I was doing any of the Hunting side-quests, but those are so far out of the way I'm not even seriously considering it.

I like that FF12 brings some new (to console RPG) ideas to the table, but the cracks in Square Enix's old-school design chops are beginning to show. I don't know if I'll make it all the way through this one.

Progress: The Tomb of Raithwall