How far did you get. I think if you asked me how I liked it 15-20hrs in I may have shrugged it off. But the further I get into the storyline and the hunts the more and more I like it.
I think you should dust it off and do a play through. From one tactics fan to another, I'm with you. Tactics was my favorite console experience, period. It was the first time I was driven to beat the game not for the sake of beating the game but because I was emotionally attached the to the story line. (I think being a history buff helped) The gameplay compounded my desire to play through it. The system was spot on perfect compared to other tactics games (lolTactics Ogre. Ya I said it. tripling or quadrupling hp to artificially boost the difficulty of the game by dragging battles out is fucking stupid)
I think the reason I am starting to lean towards XII > Tactics is probably the hunt system alone. Not including the hunts, this is a 7/10 with Tactics being a 9/10. The hunts really are adding another +2-3 points to me loving this game.