I believe I reached GP around 20-22 hours, look at forums and most people got there at the 20-25 hour mark. Although there a lot of people also stating 27hours, 28hours, 30hours etc. Even if you reached it at 15hours, think how you would on your first playthrough cut 7 hours out of that 15. 8 hours is a insanely short time to reach GP on a normal playthrough.

hatmoza you were talking about prof's points not mine, right? lol

Action RPG would imply I can actively dodge and attack enemies as I see fit through my own effort, and not just stare at my screen for hours on end.

I just stated you were on Cocoon for that long because I honestly didn't think GP was as linear as you say it is. It's a joke, lighten up people.

Though in all honesty I'm kind of getting tired of people expressing their distaste for something that is expressly hated by a majority, thinking their opinion is unique in any way. I'm more curious to see how one would defend something that is hated by a majority, like say a positive review for Duke Nukem Forever.

I suppose if I held the flee button and ran that is dodging in a way lol

It's not so much the Gambit system is OP, but rather it does what the individual does themsevles in a JRPG or turn based rpg in general. It takes any sense of satisfaction and gratification one normally gets from playing RPGs and throws it out the window. For instance setting yourself to cast certain elemental spells on enemies that are weak to that particular element seems awfully efficient right? But you're nothing more than a spectator, that's my gripe with it. That's also why I played FF12 the first time without any gambits, and found it arguably a tad more enjoyable, though the game is clearly designed with Gambits in mind, since some fights can be so long and tedious and leveling up is a chore post level 40. It was ultimately a design that looked good on paper, but failed in execution. One can argue the same with FF13 and I believe 13-2 has ameliorated a lot of the complaints people had with the game. 

Also you're right I don't think other RPGs will follow in the same vein as FF but that's also why I play FF I suppose.

I think I scored it something similar on my games wall. I like to judge a game on its merits, and I don't go in thinking OH THIS IS A FF GAME HENCE I EXPECT THE FOLLOWING etc. So i wasn't too upset by the linearity, but I see why others were upset. It's like with FF12, i thought the art direction was gorgeous, the design of everything was brilliant, the story sort of petered off towards the end into mediocrity the dialogue was unprecedented in a FF game and was a pleasure to sit through. It was nice having branching paths, and the game was clearly gorgeous, with quickenings back in 2006 leaving your mouth open and the orchestrated score of the game being in every sense of the word enthralling. It just failed in regards to the combat, when I play FF12 I feel voracious but ultimately unsatisfied and empty as the game fails to quench my thirst for gratification. I imagine a lot of the FF13 haters feel the same when they play FF13 so I understand where they all come from.

Panama your posts don't even make sense anymore. I didn't say GP was linear. I in fact stated it was the non-linear part of the game. However it is a small percentage of the whole game. Also how is misunderstanding something I say a joke? I honestly have no idea what point you were or are trying to make.

Sorry. GP for me was like 30-40 hours long due to all the Cie quests. My understanding is GP is the majority of the game hence I didn't misunderstand anything, I was jokingly stating you were on Cocoon for 45 hours. Just miscommunication here really. 

Not everything is weighted evenly. If this were true, then the scores on many games would be drastically different. Same as one single flaw can drive down a game.

Look, you aren't guaranteed all the items because even in the map when it has one exit and one end, there are hidden paths and forks in the road. You go one way, you don't get the item. Do I have this completely wrong? There are plenty of times when I was like, this direction looks like it furthers the story, so I'm going to double back and check what the other one was, and then I find the item.

It does this many times, especially in the crystal portion.

I swear, I feel like outlaw and I are like shoulder angels -overlooking this thread while manipulatively trying to persuade the opposite party that there is nothing but hatred/love for this game.