3
« on: May 18, 2011, 02:03:50 PM »
I beat this game earlier this year after an extremely long play session. It's so long I literally had to take breaks and play through other games just to regain the patience to play through the slow parts. That said, beating it offered a feeling of genuine satisfaction and accomplishment, and a fairly unexpected and thought-provoking finale.
To those thinking of buying, there are a few caveats. Namely, the "bonds" system and side quest system being entirely optional and in fact a nuisance to pursue. You just don't end up taking advantage of it in your quest to finish a game that takes over 60 hours without any detours. It sort of feels like they tacked on these two aspects of the game to make it more "Wester RPG" like, but didn't successfully integrate it with a traditional linear JRPG storyline. Second, there are a lot of annoying fetch/defeat X number of monsters to progress quests that are required but don't advance the story at all. These get old fast and are clearly meant to artificially lengthen a game that doesn't need any more lengthening.
It should also be said that the game offers a very unique "see the future, change the future" aspect, but you are never allowed to use it to change the outcome of the story, which seems like a wasted opportunity to offer more non-linearity and true player immersion.
Other than that, it is an extremely unique, and more importantly, fun RPG with a great battle system, one of my favorite soundtracks ever, and inspiring visual presentation.