Truly a great game, if I had to review it from where Im at (roughly 20 hours in) I would give it a 9.5
For two reasons
A) The music is really generic. I haven't heard a single excellent song at all. Hardly good music in comparision to any other FF.
B) Its probaby just me, but I fucking hate the map system. You go to the menu> world map > where you are at > what district you are in
All averaging 1-2 seconds of loading both in and out. I'm pretty impatient tough, so maybe its just me.
The good news:
The area/maps themselves are all very well done, the graphics are the best I've seen on ps2, and the draw distance is incredible. The battle system is excellent, and reminds me ever so slightly of chrono trigger without the combos. In comparision with other Final Fantasy titles however, it's most like FF11. But FF11 WISHES it had this battle system, because its waaaaaaaaaay better. Gambits are tricky at first, but very helpful later on.
Here is an example of how the gambit system works:
'''Priority''' || '''Target''' || '''Action'''
| 1 || Party Member [KO'd] || Cast Raise
|-
| 2 || Party Member [HP less than 30%] || Cast Cura
|-
| 3 || Party Member [Darkness] || Use Eye Drops
|-
| 4 || Party Member [Slow] || Cast Haste
|-
| 5 || Party Member [Poison] || Use Antidote
|-
| 6 || Yourself || Cast Protect
|-
| 7 || Yourself || Cast Haste
|-
| 8 || Yourself [MP less than 10%] || Use Ether
|-
| 9 || Undead Enemy || Use Phoenix Down
|-
| 10 || Flying Enemy || Cast Gravity
|-
| 11 || Enemy [Weak vs. Fire] || Cast Fira
|-
| 12 || Leader's Enemy || Attack
All of which are exchangable in all three catagories and importance.
Its awesome.
Anyway right now I'm stuck at a giant green dragon who uses status effects to fuck you up (my least favorite type of boss)... more later.
