I will never get the love for FF12. For me it was shitty, uninspired and boring. Like playing a mmo offline or some rpg with terrible fillers...
Play FF12 on PC with the Struggle for Freedom mod. Went from a heavily flawed game to one of the best balanced jrpg's I've ever played and it shows you what the combat system was capable of.
I'm playing FF9 now and am near Disc 4. There is a whimsical nature to it that never quite meshes with the extremely dark events and themes its dealing with. The opening of the game is interesting and yet misleading. The first third of the game is slow and steady with plenty of time to set each character's personality and dilemma. It shows all the makings of something special for a while. I don't know the development of FF9 but it was clearly rushed. After recruiting Eiko the game forgets about half its characters, introduces Amarant to no effect whatsoever, Freya is forgotten about by the game itself which meta reinforces her own theme in a way, Steiner largely goes MIA, just
a thorough botching of what began as a very promising game.
The child-like design is fine. Feels like a Disney/Pixar meets FF. I like the item system as finding new equipment feels good by providing new skills. Most of them are of little use though or too costly. Exploration is consistently rewarded, there is almost always an item to be found by walking the outline of an area, for better or worse. At least it gives you the favor of a popup box to let you know something is there.
Both FF9 and FF8 could have used remakes before 7. If they lack the talent to make anything truly new, might as well stick to variations of the old.