Condensing things into one response:

LoS:


I like it intellectually more than I liked it in fact. I salivate over it intellectually, in fact I just thought it was pretty sweet. Not sure if it even cracks my top 10 PS2 games list. Perhaps it was a stumbling step in a bold new direction rather than a confident masterwork.

Also, for what it's worth, the gameplay drags until you get a party and get gambits - maybe five or six hours in? If you didn't make it that far and still have any interest and time, it might be worth trying to reach that point.


Jragghen:


I don't remember the plot well enough to meet all of your points head on, but I will defend Vaan and Penelo. It's some kind of classic storytelling device that I can't think of the name of - prime examples being R2-D2 and C3P0, both of whom were ripped off of two bumbling peons from an Akira Kurosawa epic? I think.

Spoilers ahoy, but anyway, Vaan and Penelo are neat because they give you a perspective that's not really involved in the conflict. They're two people who are (their country was invaded) but aren't (that's pretty much it) involved, but they get swept along for the ride and get to see things normally (in realistic terms, not in FF terms) visible only to the select few, like Ashe.

Personally, I loved them because they were gigantic spoilers of expectations. No one falls in love, including the obvious choice of Vaan and Penelo or Vaan and Ashe or whatever else. Furthermore, their lives just go back to what they were after the conflict - they don't get knighted, they don't become prince and princess, they aren't taken in by royalty and given some kind of ridiculous role at the palace. And last but not least, despite seemingly being the main characters, they're really not. Vaan and Penelo are just a huge bait and switch in the most delightful way. Square Enix throws them out there, and because it's a Final Fantasy, you assume all of these things about them will be true, but none of them are. I think it's fantastic.