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Man... everywhere I look (read: Sankaku Complex, thank you Arikai) people seem really upset at Final Fantasy XIII now.... most notably at how linear it is. I did hear this mentioned once before, as a kind of passing comment. I love being able to explore the world and find little extras and go back and visit places... so I was vaguely disappointed. It didn't seem like a big deal, but now I see about ten different articles talking about how the game is crap because of it. Um, I don't know how biased that could be, but I am getting really worried now.

I tried to not let myself get overly optimistic about the game because of all the hype and the pretty trailers... but considering how down I'm feeling about this right now, I think I failed. confused So that was the biggest criticism I've heard, and the one that affected me the most. It can't be that bad, considering Famitsu readers apparently voted it the best game of all time (of course novelty is a major factor, but still), but I am hearing a lot more negative about it now.

So what else has everyone else heard? Same thing, different? Any other major issues?

Jeez, though, Sankaku Complex in general is depressing. I somehow ended up reading way too much about how Namco Bandai are lying cheating nasty sellouts because of blah-blah-blah about Tales of Vesperia's PS3 version. I need to be less impressionable. *sigh*

Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh, number five of this just made me feel so much better. Yay.

In fact, this whole article kind of made my day. Yay for throwbacks, yay for replay value, and yay for good endings with thank-God-no-spoilers-in-the-article-or-I'd-have-to-kill-someone.

Man, this guy liked the game so much that even some parts of his list of bad things about the game made me feel better. xd "Lack of NPC conversation," I think, is still my main sticking point...

*is still way too impressionable*

Ah, yeah, I'd like to try and avoid previews/reviews, all that stuff, but I would never be able to bring myself to do it. I love reading about it and talking about it too much. At the very least, I'm strict with myself about spoilers. sweatdrop

I know what you mean about comparing games, though. I think that's a lot of the reason I was disappointed with XII. This guy who posted the article did say that "this ranks highly for me, sitting alongside my favorites in the series, like Final Fantasy VI," so I can't help but be hopeful. I tend to find that even though VI isn't personally my favorite, I tend to agree with people who like VI [/stereotyping >_>]. Although... Hearing that it's nearly as good as VI does just mean that XIII'll be even more of a disappointment if you don't like it that much. confused

My favorite scores have always been VII, VIII, and IX. Of course, there's not an awful lot about those three that I don't like, but that's besides the point. I do like My Hands better than Kimi Ga Iru Kara too, though. I think with music in general, it's so subjective that you really can't take anyone else's opinion anyway.

I was happy to hear about the leveling system too. heart The sphere grid was one of my favorites. I actually hated the license board, but looks like the Crystarium is what I really liked about the Sphere Grid: Lots of customization, but still grouped into classes to an extent. Also not having to buy everything in two different ways. stare

I did think that about the difficulty, too... I tend to get discouraged if I lose a couple times... but it is true that it feels crazy good when you finally win, so hopefully it'll just be fun enough that we won't get to the point of giving up. sweatdrop