Final Fantasy XII

Yeah, no. Fuck this. FF12 is a grindfest in sheep's clothing.

It shares major flaws with old Final Fantasies: for instance, I just very nearly defeated a boss who was able to more-or-less devastate each half of my party in a single move. I had no gauge of difficulty before the encounter, other than pushover regular enemies; and my death resulted in the loss of several levels, because someone neglected to put a save point near him. It is difficult, anymore, for me to play a game that has no concept of checkpoints, and I have no sympathy for something made as recently as 2006.

I would be more forgiving of FF12's archaic design if it was anything more than boring half the time, but it isn't - by and large it is chore-like. My favorite moments were when I started really branching out on the License Point grid, earning my party members new potential abilities; but most of these, e.g. purchasable magic spells and weapons, never materialized anyway. Having to unlock the ability to use something, and then buy that something as well - its availability being locked by story progression, of course - is just as dumb as it seems.

I'm done. Not wasting more of my life on this crap.

Progress: Gave Up -- Died at Belias