Akin to the story or setting of the game, it cannot be fully appreciated without taking the time to look for its nuances.
If you explore Rabanastre, there's such a flurry of detail in the most mundane places. Even in areas the camera would often pan to look at. Little designs or symbols carved into the brick; ornaments standing or dangling from a high shelf or an out of the way corner.
There's such distinct architecture to each region as well. You don't even blatantly take note of it in many cases simply because you're not used to that sort of attention to detail. We assume detail is just random detail; it's only once you've really grasped the cultures of the game (through exploration and reading the game's encyclopedia) that you really start to appreciate how fleshed out every region is.
Even more so than the environment art though is the camera work and facial expression detail. Most folks that speak of no depth or emotion to the game must not pay much attention to such subtle elements. An amazing amount of characterization is potrayed through those two elements.
The way Vaan's eyes can barely be seen to dart to express his uncertaintity, or he grits his teeth after almost giving in to the rage he battles with throughout the game and how Ashe recognizes this with just a forlorn stare conveying her similar internal dilemna. The way the camera shifts from the speakers' serious topic to a playful scene in the background oblivious to the plight in debate to symbolize the innocence she wants to protect, or as Balthier reveals his story to a sprawling slow pan of the beach, as open as the tale he has finally revealed. Scene after scene; event after event.
The game tells as much without words as it does with.
It's a game that demands attention, and without that effort you will only come out disapointed. But for those that put in effort, most every element of the game continues to reveal layer after layer of detail. If not the clearly undeveloped latter third, I'd be tempted to label it a masterwork.
but ass.
