I wrote a fairly long and detailed impressions post but xenforo has eaten it so whatever. Basically, I think this is a decent Final Fantasy game. The combat is an interesting take on the traditional job system, and it does make you learn the paradigms you use, at least occasionally (gets better as you get further along). It never gets hardcore or particularly challenging, at least so far, but then again neither did any other game in the series. On top of that, it has decent loot-whoring (with different weapons suited for different combat roles) as well as a crafting/upgrade system. The story is also fairly traditional for a FF game, bringing together themes of friendship, revenge, political change, love, etc. The writing and the characters are... okay I guess? Cliched, but okay. Again, typical FF.
Honestly, I'm not seeing why the game got so much flak or why the fans got their panties in a bunch over this particular entry in the series. (Could be because I'm not really a fan of the series so the finer details may escape me.)
Aside from the game not being hardcore, which I never expected in the first place, I have two major complaints:
- The first 10-15 or so hours which are just pure corridors with mostly thoughtless fights. Does the player really needs that much time to learn the ropes of the game's - or hell, any - combat system? I don't mind the linearity tbh, but I do mind the slow start when it comes to actual gameplay. It
didn't have to take that long to reach the above screenshot, seriously Squanix.
- (Much) more importantly, it really shows how stale the job system has become. The jobs are what, Fighter/Tank/Offensive Mage/Buffer/Debuffer/Healer? Yeah. Thankfully different characters seem to have somewhat different versions of the same jobs, skill-wise, but that alone just isn't enough.
This isn't to say I'm against a job system per se; quite the contrary. I think there's a lot of potential in both that particular system, and menu-based RPG combat in general, that hasn't yet been explored at all. Seriously, RPG devs, have a look at Labyrinth of Touhou if you're doing a menu-based combat system and want it to be exciting and varied. It will boggle your mind, and maybe you could go from there.