I really liked this game, and I can say that as someone with limited exposure to FF. I've only played X and XII. Those were pretty good, but I liked this better. I found the characters in those to be dull and their plots completely uninteresting. (Can I say Blitzball emphatically enough?)
People say Hope Wangsts a lot, and I say, if you're gonna bug someone, go bug Tidus. "I hate you, Dad!" YAWN.
And on the linearity issue, just about every game you have played and will play is linear. Even XII, which is supposedly so open, does this, with all those sidequests being mere distractions from the very railroaded main plot. I don't care about that, I just want a set of good characters with a decent story. And I this game delivered that for me.
I loved the combat in this game. One of the things that I've disliked about previous F Fs is that you get so caught up in the nuts and bolts of fighting that you can't focus on coming up with a decent strategy other than "don't die". The paradigm system, ATB system and auto-battle functions work because it lets me pull my hands away and think about resistances, buffs, and combat roles, where in other games I would just bring out my heavy hitters and a healer and just go for it, or be bogged down by making sure my gambits were in the right order.
This game has its flaws, yes. The ending was weird. The slow introduction of mechanics matched the off pacing, resulting in long stretches with minimal character development and repetitive fights. Which basically describes Sazh and Vanille's plot from the Vile Peaks to Nautilus, which is a large chunk of time. And the difficulty spike once you hit that third disc can be very frustrating at times.
Overall, I like this game. It's not perfect, but I liked it and I'm rating this as my favorite FF game. It's no Mass Effect 2, but it's good. I'd recommend it to those looking for a good time sink and some interesting mechanics and storytelling. Just don't set your bar too high on this one.
Good, Not Perfect, But Good
I really liked this game, and I can say that as someone with limited exposure to FF. I've only played X and XII. Those were pretty good, but I liked this better. I found the characters in those to be dull and their plots completely uninteresting. (Can I say Blitzball emphatically enough?)
People say Hope Wangsts a lot, and I say, if you're gonna bug someone, go bug Tidus. "I hate you, Dad!" YAWN.
And on the linearity issue, just about every game you have played and will play is linear. Even XII, which is supposedly so open, does this, with all those sidequests being mere distractions from the very railroaded main plot. I don't care about that, I just want a set of good characters with a decent story. And I this game delivered that for me.
I loved the combat in this game. One of the things that I've disliked about previous F Fs is that you get so caught up in the nuts and bolts of fighting that you can't focus on coming up with a decent strategy other than "don't die". The paradigm system, ATB system and auto-battle functions work because it lets me pull my hands away and think about resistances, buffs, and combat roles, where in other games I would just bring out my heavy hitters and a healer and just go for it, or be bogged down by making sure my gambits were in the right order.
This game has its flaws, yes. The ending was weird. The slow introduction of mechanics matched the off pacing, resulting in long stretches with minimal character development and repetitive fights. Which basically describes Sazh and Vanille's plot from the Vile Peaks to Nautilus, which is a large chunk of time. And the difficulty spike once you hit that third disc can be very frustrating at times.
Overall, I like this game. It's not perfect, but I liked it and I'm rating this as my favorite FF game. It's no Mass Effect 2, but it's good. I'd recommend it to those looking for a good time sink and some interesting mechanics and storytelling. Just don't set your bar too high on this one.