Final Fantasy XII

So I'm about 50 hours into the game, but I feel as if I've barely gotten into the story plot of the game.

Plot/Story

• Plot [so far] is an improvement from X and X-2 but doesn't quite hit the VII level. That's not to say X was bad, but it was a pretty straight forward story/quest while VII left me scratching my head at some parts. XII is somewhere in between, although probably leaning towards X.
• I appreciate the emphasis they put on story telling with the text interludes. It adds back the "far and distant" aspect of the fantasy story.
• Good presentation of both sides of the conflict to where you could sympathize with the bad guys. Plus it's nice that they get some story development too.
• Lots of very subtle scenes that somehow manage to speak volumes of the characters.
• Uh...why is it like Star Wars? A lot like Star Wars.
  

• Way too much walking. Maps are much bigger and more spread out. I guess you could just teleport.
  
• I'm disappointed I haven't gotten to use the airship as much, but maybe that comes later.
• Interesting changes with Chocobos, but I hate rushing everywhere because you now have a limited time to ride the ones you rent.
• Lots of floating cities, but very pretty floating cities.
  
• Weather variation between maps, which kind of interesting, although I hate snowstorms and sandstorms.
• One analog stick controls movement, and the other controls camera view. It took me ages to figure out that everything works better if you walk back and forth with the movement control and make the characters turn left and right by using the camera to change what direction they go.
• At least all the places are familiar from FF-tactics
  

• More MMORPG style battle system. Apparently like XI, but I haven't played that so it was confusing for me at first.
• Magic isn't that useful, at least not black magic.
• They've renamed a lot of the attacks and spells so I have to think twice to see if I'm learning the right abilities.
• License Points (kind of like AP Points) are used unlock and learn abilities on the license board. Each character has the same board and can learn all the same abilities (except quickenings (overdrives) and summons) It's much more efficient in that you can create more well balanced characters. Where as in X you sacrificed strength and health to train magic (or vise versa) you can now have fighting characters who know for example some white magic on the side.
• The downside is that some of your characters overlap in usefulness, where as in past games your team had very distinct roles and jobs assigned. But you can still pick and choose what areas to focus on.
  
• I also dislike having to get the ability to equip weapons and armor with license points.

• For some reason, I don't like Vaan or Basch that much. Perhaps they are too angsty for me sometimes, or I just don't like how they dress.
• Ashe is a great female protagonist, very determined and commanding. I do dislike the chasing after a dead loved on aspect, but it gives her some weakness and a means of hesitation.
• Fran...so much fanservice, but she is decently interesting in her abilities and history because she's the only nonhuman on your team. She also speaks with some kind of subtle British dialect (or that's what it sounds like to me)
  
• I love Balthier's accent though and how he speaks as if his life were simply a grand theatre performance.
• Characters tend to happen in twos: Vaan-Penelo, Ashe-Basch, and Fran-Balthier, Larsa-Vayne, Basch-Gabranth, etc. Not pairings, but each person tends to have their counterpart who happens to share a similar history or reason for being where they are.
  

• Amazing.