The Final Fantasy that's not a Final Fantasy.
it is ridiculously linear. this is the main reason why it does not feel like an RPG and much less a final fantasy game. other stuff...
there is NO WORLD MAP to speak of. in fact, there's not much of a "world". you'll often find yourself wondering "where the hell am i?", because you have no sense of "place". and of course this means you cannot walk around and choose where you want to go, not that you would want to go back anywhere, because...
there are NO TOWNS to speak of. let me think, hmm, yep, every other FF game ever made includes this basic RPG staple. WTF?? all i wanted to do the whole game was go to town, buy some crap from a merchant, do a silly side quest for some one and stay at a GD inn. but i couldn't. but hey, even if there were towns....
there are NO NPCs to speak of. nope, no one to talk to or interact with in this supposed "RPG". /sigh npcs are normally who you would get side quests from, but too bad since...
there are NO SIDE QUESTS. well ok, there are the "marks" near the end of the game where you can go around and defeat specific enemies (and there's a lot of them). similar to FFXII. but still, it feels cheap because you don't accomplish much, just more killing. at least you can ride chocobos, but that doesn't come until the end either. so those are some obvious things missing. here's what's wrong with what's already there:
the characters. now i've read several reviews that praised the characters for being engaging and interesting and yadayadayada. these people must have never seen good character development in a game, movie, or tv show before. however, if you have, then you will know that every single character is a rehashed, uninteresting sap. the games best character, Lightning, loses any appeal she had about a third of the way through the game when she decides not be a **** anymore and to love and help everyone. after that, the rest of the game is one emotionally retarded speech after another. my god, i've never heard so much BS about teamwork, and never giving up, and togetherness -- i can feel the vomit in the back of my throat just thinking about it. ugh. in fact, that is what the majority of the story is: the characters opening up to each other and discussing their fears. it's apallingly disgusting. the best scene in the whole game (story-wise) is when lightning punches snow in the face near the beginning. awesome!! that's what i wanted to do to all of them!!!! anyway, there's my review, which actually turned into a bit of a rant. this game would be great if it weren't called final fantasy, then there would be no expectations. but alas, i think i'll go back and play FFVII for a bit, just to wash this **** of a FF game out of my system.