Honestly I had plenty of fun with WKC 1, I honestly don't know where all the hate comes from. I only had 2 gripes with the game:
1. English dubs. If they had left the japanese ones I would have been happy but the : "I don't think it wants a belly rub" along with "I just busted your ass", ruined my hopes of decent english dubbing.
2. The ring keeping battles fairly slow.
I enjoyed the multiplayer aspect of the game as well, and I have clocked in about 80 hours. To me in a JRPG nowadays if you clock in over 30 hours, it is worth the investment in my book.
Make games, not war (that goes for ridiculous fanboys)
I may be the next Maelstorm or not, you be the judge http://videogamesgrow.blogspot.com/ hopefully I can be more of an asset than a fanboy to VGC hehe.