Wired FFXII review, not so good.

[yanamaster]

For me FF XII was a big letdown.

No. It wasn't because of the battle mechanics or general overworld experience. It was the story around which the game unraveled.
It was so uninspiring that if it wasn't for all the extra goodies in the game like the sidequests, locations etc. then i wouldn't have bothered raking in some 120 odd hours of gameplay

Reading from this thread you can see that FF XIII is a hybrid of FF X, FF XII, a movie and an action game. Sounds very interesting.

BUT

I am terribly worried that FOR ME the experience won't be one to enjoy because of the amount of cut scenes. I have always liked games for not trying to stop me from playing the game and while i fully understand the need for cg cutscenes and strongly support their existence, I do not want a movie with interactive parts. I want a game with well placed cinematic pieces.

To tell the truth i was really mad when FF X did away with open world exploration that you had in every FF game before it. So going over the subject that you are in location A and then in location B all of a sudden is something that i had time to get used too.

I guess that if despite all the flaws that the game might have FOR ME, i will still buy it for the story it has to tell, that's how it should with rpg's imo.

Sad thing that my mom won't probably play it since she loves the series but the more action orientated battles are too much for her to handle, she only plays turn based you see ;).