It's downhill after the opening sequence
I bought this game the day it was released and to this day, 4 years later, havent finished it. There is just so much I disliked about it.
the story
story seemed like it was written by a 12 year old. Meaning it's eratic, disjointed, and doesnt make sense...the love story is a great idea, but you end up hating the main charachter, squal, because he's such a freakin' prick. He is either retarded or gay, seeing how he blows off the advances of, speaking in terms of videogames, two hot chicks. The side story with Laguna made no sense and seemed pointless, The card game for the life of me I just dont get., and the "main bad guy" joins you after a while and the real bad guy, out of nowhere appears
The Charachters
Cold, boring..especially Squal...you'll hate him by the end of the game
Weapons:
I do not like the fact that you had to collect magazines to upgrade your weapons...I like to either buy them or find them
Summons with hitpoints
battle system overly complicated at first
Earning money from a Salary instead of fights is stupid
you have to take tests?
unless you're a diehard FF fan, give it a try, but I felt that the only good things in this game were the graphics and the music. I dont get what Gamespot or any of the mags see in this game.
three great Final Fantasy games I've played are FFVI, FFVII, and FFXI