devoras: Final fantasy 12 was really bad too, but final fantasy 13 takes bad to a new level, there are no redeeming features.
Lucumo: Was it? People generally like 12. I haven't played it yet because X-2 stopped me from continuing the series. It was so terrible that I had to stop 45 minutes in. Screw that fanservice. If I wanted to play a game purely for girls, I would play Style Savvy, not the Final Fantasy series.
Final fantasy 12 had one of the most boring stories I've ever had the misfortune of playing. Which is impressive, considering the backdrop is a big war, it's hard to make that boring. The characters are all dull, the voice acting makes everyone sound as bored as I was playing it. The character options were pointless because there was only ability that was powerful enough for you to take on the bounty monsters in each area, nothing else was worthwhile taking. It was the first time combat wasn't turn based. BUT as dull as it was, at least the story in 12 makes some sense, though I never did finish it. I played final fantasy 13 for about 25-30 hours before I gave up, and I still had no idea what was going on, what I was doing or why. I found out later that essential information was apparently hidden in codex entries, without reading those nothing at all is explained. It was so bad.
X-2 certainly wasn't a good game and its tone was way off, but there was one thing that stuck with me as memorable, there was one excellent cutscene where Yuna puts on a dress sphere that has her channel a singer/ tragedy from the past and the game does help explain some of the world's past from final fantasy x. If you're not going to play the game, you can search for x-2 yuna concert scene or '1000 words' in youtube to see it. The only reason the game was worth playing at all is because it's connected to the final fantasy X world.