to each their own, 12 and 7 is some of the most best i've played.

I actually enjoyed the battle system of FFXII but XIII gives you little to no control over your battle party, which is stupid. FFXIII is more like a hybrid of FFXII and FFX with all the immersion taken out (imo).

Versus XIII is probably not for me, the combat reminds me of Kingdom Hearts, a series I never really got into.

In all honesty, story and characters aside, FF12 had a bizzare battle system. on the one hand the exploration and the seamless battles was brilliant. it really moved RPGs foward.

but Final Fantasy is a growing series, you need to adapt each installment so that old and new fans will be blown away. case in point FF7, which is why i think it sold 10 mil copies.

how can you expect gamers who play a bit of RPGs or maybe FF12 was their first RPG, how can you expect them to go dungeon crawling for at least 2 hours on end. in extremely difficult battle variables, like elemental weaknesses, etc. making it expensive to buy equipment, making the game too much girnding. i think a lot of the hate from an overabundance of gameplay, they really overdid it i think.l

"Final Fantasy games have tons of extra content because they have never-ending card games!"

Let's take Skyrim like you do. If someone plays Skyrim, does EVERY quest in the game and doesn't fast travel anywhere, then it can probably take upwards of 1000 hours. Getting every skill to 100 should take quite a while as well.

Each FF had its noveltys on gameplay... but FFXII was just too much difference, it was a turn on the direction of the game's battle system.. And I really like changes and noveltys.. FFXIII take some of the FFXII's Battle system, but letf what I think was the best... the gambits... that's what I think...

I don´t want the series get stuck on some "traditional battle system" only for some niche players of the series... even if they are millions...

How much of the game do you play as lightning? I dont care much for the new charactor "noel"

Are you even serious? Did you gloss over every other sidequest that I listed just to create your strawman argument? 

Oh i'll take skyrim like I did, because you know what? I've already done what you described there. I've visited every dungeon, done every quest (other than the infinite Radiant Quests), have 100 on almost every skill except pickpocket and speechcraft on my level 75 character, barely used Fast Travel (Shadowmere travelling FTW) and you know how long it took me? 206 hours. By that mark, on FFX, I was nowhere close enough to finish the Monster Arena and the Dark Aeons, but then again, it seems you only considered the card games for your argument.

And let's not forget the single fact that in terms of main quest only, any FF game total game time overcomes, in strides, the total game time of the MQ of any ES game. Oblivion MQ could be finished in 4 hours, Skyrim in less than 10, Morrowind's in less than 10 as well, Daggerfall in less than 3 and Arena in less than 5. Any FF main storyline easily climbs over the 10 - 20 hour mark. 

So my point still stands (the one that I made to Lyrikalstylez). A lot of FF's can easily last to over 100 hours, so the consideration that he made (which was clearly to belittle anyone who does play a FF game for over 100+ hours) is false.

I will clarify my post. 7 and 12 are represented like points on a graph meaning they are at the highest points because they are at peaks. Meaning I consider them to be the best of the series.

final fantasy 8 and 10 are my favorite ff games. i really liked ff13 and ffx-2 as well. i will get ff13-2 when it comes out stateside next month, but i know for a fact that i wont like the game anywhere near as much as i liked ff13, soley because u dont play as lighting the majority of the time. for me that is the main gripe i have with the sequel.

Just pre-ordered the collectors edition, you better be right, I want this to be good.