"However, this is let down by the lack of individuality in the characters abilities. Every character can use every weapon/armour/magick/technick in the game, which looks interesting at first but very quickly leads to same-y, boring ability sets."
That's only if you personally choose to develop and use them that way. So ask yourself next time around, "Is it the game's fault everyone has the same stats, skills, equipment, and gambits... or is it mine?"
"On the subject of abilities, the License Board system is the most annoying, bureacratic and timewasting method of ability improvement in the series. Not only do you have to buy all your equipment and magic twice (once on the LP board and once in the shop),"
This actually makes more sense than the way they did it in previous F Fs. Are you telling me you can be out walking, find a katana on the ground, pick it up and automatically be proficient with it? The only one that doesn't make sense right away is things like armor. But even then, the ability to wield magical equipment (because a simple hat that protects you from dragon bites is definitely magical) could depend on a person's mental state of mind, which could be represented by a "license". Same for heavy armor. Consider the licenses a matter of physical strength and stamina and call it a day.
"but you are forced to buy irrelevant licences befroe you can get the one you want."
This is true in certain places on the License Board. Not that big of a deal, though, because all the types of licenses are together (shields with shields, magic with magic, guns with guns, etc.)
I agree with you about the espers. They should've been more powerful. But the quickenings were amazing!
"and you'll need to do a lot of level grinding to complete this."
That's not true at all.
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gameplay review
The battle system is one of the best in the series, making random battles far less annoying and miles less boring. However, this is let down by the lack of individuality in the characters abilities. Every character can use every weapon/armour/magick/technick in the game, which looks interesting at first but very quickly leads to same-y, boring ability sets.
On the subject of abilities, the License Board system is the most annoying, bureacratic and timewasting method of ability improvement in the series. Not only do you have to buy all your equipment and magic twice (once on the LP board and once in the shop), but you are forced to buy irrelevant licences befroe you can get the one you want.
Summons and Limit Breaks make a return as Espers and Quickenings, but by the end of the game become rather pointless. Espers work similar to Aeons in X, and unlike in X the summoner stays on field as well, but they are distinctly unuseful in that they do little more damage than a normal character and their special attack (used when they are either HP Critical or their timer runs out, although some bonus Espers have different requirements for use) is not nearly as powerful as the Aeon Overdrives in X.
Quickenings are abilities that need a full MP bar to use, and each character has three seperate Quickenings. Every time a new Quickening is bought from the License board a new MP bar is added to the character so their MP is increased which is a plus. The special feature of Quickenings in this game is that they can be chained- depending on the number of characters with available Quickenings, this affects the number of Quickenings that can be used in sequence. Also, for certain amounts or combinations of Quickenings, a custom finisher can be used. At the beginning of the game, Quickenings can decimate opponents, but by the end they do less damage than magick spells for less MP.
Overall, the gameplay is the best part of the game, but character progression is annoying and unintuitive, and you'll need to do a lot of level grinding to complete this.