Also I beat Xillia yesterday, now to play it again (This time with the idea of doing side quests) with some added grade benefits.

Honestly I don't like the direction of getting rid overworld map hub in JRPGs.

However this just might be the best JRPG for the PS3, if Ni No Kuni is not your thing, and you don't speak Japanese to get Tales of Vesperia.

I don't mind the direction of no overworld. They both have issues, wrpgs like mass effect and dragon age suffer from this too IMO.

the issue is that without overworld it feels a bit small or everything feels too connected, Because it offers no illusion. a lot of overworlds have less exploration than a couple maps in xenoblade or ff12. And there's games that do overworlds great like ff7 with many layers.

I think they just need to do a good job whichever they choose, and a lot of good games neglect this.

True, I agree with you, but Tales of Vesperia just felt more massive, because of an overworld compared to this. I am pretty sure they are about the same. Most of the time, the wilderness area (non dungeons), just feel the same. 

Given I agree with you FF12 and Xenoblade did offer creative ways.

The way xillia connected things without an overwolrd works for me, but the geometry is just so flat. I like xillia better than graces but the way graces connected everything felt a bit more lively.

I'm only a few hours into the game, but I actually really like how there is no overworld.

One of the reasons I havent been able to get into Skyrim is because theres too much to explore. It takes too much time and effort to scrupulously search every area of the map for completion percentages.

This game perfectly balances exploration and combat in my view. FF12 features the best world design in the FF series, yet it had serious balance issues, which is a problem with all Matusno games.

This game gives you the right balance of gameplay while throwing in some party dialogue here and there to make the narrtive feel a more interactive. Its true that an overworld map would immerse you deeper into the game, yet I feel the pacing and balance greatly benefits from the way they've designed the game without one.

Any FW sales predictions for NA and Europe?

Don't let this thread die :(

Also re-tagging

14hrs in and still no frekking trophy :I (probably not 14hrs in the story)
This is like TLoU all over again lol.

I'm 18 hours in, probably around halfway. It's starting to drag a bit, but I know there's so much left in store.

I'm almost 7 hours in and got my first one. I got the one for doing Jude's snap pivot, seemed pretty easy if you go for it.