Wow, are we actually getting a world map that's actually a map you can explore and not just a list of locations that you select from a menu or point-and-click on as seems to be a trend with most non-Elder Scrolls or Fallout RPGs?

Right click & open image

I still don't understand what Final Fantasy is about lol.

There's mythical stuff and cars.

O_o

We have cars and amazing creatures and space travel and a bunch of other wtf stuff here on Earth, whats so weird about slightly larger animals and some Earth physics defying shit?? Seems like they go together quite normally

And airships, swords, guns, monsters, dragons, magics, and crystals. Lots and lots of crystals.

Give these two threads in my sig a quick look.

Why are some of you acting like FFXII was disliked due to being different? The biggest criticism against the game is its story, and imo that is very understandable.

In addition to weak character development for the majority of the cast, it is largely devoid of cutscenes during the last fourth of the game! It was just one huge dungeon after the other, without anything happening in the story.

I enjoyed XII very much, but its fascinating world was let down by the execution of the story and low focus on the characters. I realize it may have turned out much better in that regard had the original director remained on-board, but it is what it is.

If there is a newer trend, I wouldn't necessarily call it a bad trend.  There's some troubling aspects here and there, but the FF series is still highly acclaimed and well loved.  I would say based on more objective observations the trend would be that FF, unlike most other successful franchises, has changed more and risked more than any of them.  Gamers seem to like quick gratification without trying new things in their most loved series, which I'd say is where most of the spontaneous hatred for FF games initially comes from. However, it's not like there aren't people out there willing to give new ideas a go either.  I guess it depends on every gamer's comfort zone and maturity.  When it comes to expectations it's extremely important to have an open mind for FF games above all others because they can quickly become your favorite games. 

Like some said before; they hated FF12, but now they love it as they probably matured and wanted a certain something they couldn't get anywhere else; a game that aimed for the fences and did things well in specific areas other games never try for.  Some people on Steam that know of the hate that FF13 gets tried it out with a more open mind, void of expectations, and loved it.

The hype train does probably more damage to FF games than anything else.  But even those people that were so disappointed with FF13, like myself, still play FF13 every now and then and are still willing to go on because if there's one series that can get you intrigued beyond all hope because of the shear care in certain areas of which you can't get anywhere, it's the FF series. 

Magitek aptly describes it.

I hope there are interesting places to explore.  In that city, how much can you explore?  Can you for example go on that boat and ride around, go into the halls of the various floors of that palacial esque building?

This makes sense for FF12, but how does it make sense for FF13? FF13 didn't try to be different or innovative like 12 was intended to be. FF13 tried to take a step back and fix the deviation FF12 had brought. It tried to go back to a turn-based system from a pseudo-real time system only to remove the strategy elements that make a turn-based system appealing. It tried to streamline the open-world gameplay of FF12 to an almost point A to point B linear system with not much of an overworld to speak of, eliminating any exploration aspects of the game. It didn't try to be unique nor did it try to be new. All it tried to be, was everything FF12 wasn't while retaining a lot of the crappy things that took from FF12 and adding a billion others. I understand why SQENIX would try to do it that way considering the hatred FF12 recieved, but they just went from one extreme to another. I think I am pretty open-minded these days when it comes to RPG's. I don't mind if they are turn-based, real-time or somewhere in between. I don't mind if they are relatively linear or relatively open-world. Nevertheless, I still can't find redeeming qualities in FF13. It's story is convoluted and childish. Its gameplay is dull, repetitive, and boring. There is no exploration at all. I guess the visuals and soundtrack are excellent, but that is all. That wasn't the case with FF12. There were plenty of things I liked about the game even when I would describe it as my least favorite FF (which I've since revised.) It had a nice large semi-open world that was believably deep. It had a decent story, albeit the pacing of the story was a bit off. The gameplay I wasn't very fond of at the time, but now I can appreciate it after playing MMORPG's and understanding the strategy elements of these type of games are more passive than active strategies. That is just my personal opinion though. 

Lol, WHAT! No, most of the soundtrack was jpop garbage when comparing it to the soundtrack of say ANY of the others. As for the visuals, they were great... For a JRPG. Even when looking at it and comparing games that were released before it, they pretty much looked the same.

Final Fantasy X is their crowning achievement for soundtrack and graphics. X still looked like one of the greatest games on the PS2 even when comparing it to games that came long after it was released. 

In my opinion of course.