My problems with the game are many.

1. Can't level grind, level caps at each area till the end of the game.

2. You basically attack the entire way through the game. You never get the amazing spells, and there really is only very small increases in power. Seth and Kaim attack, back row heals. You might see a thousand damange in one attack, but that's about the max. Poor perception of power increase, mediocre new attacks.

3. Technical issues. The farther in you get, the longer it takes battles to load. Battles themselves can take 15 minutes. It is endlessly frusterating when you're trying to solve one of the many puzzles in a dungeon. Also, put a fire ring on and the gameplay is terrible.

4. The game is suddenly needlessly hard towards the end. Random encounters require strategy, again, frusterating to hp manage and do 20 minute battles during a puzzle sequence.

5. Character development, and story is poor. I felt genuine emotion towards the end, but the rest of the story is mediocre, and the characters, especially the main one, are bad. Exceptions are Jansen and Seth. I love them both.

6. The game is relatively short but unbelievably linear, even for a JRPG. There would never be a reason to revisit.

7. Antiquated gameplay, again taste, I actually would have liked this if it wasn't for the severe technical issues.

Things I loved:

1. The graphics.

2. The sound.

This game is basically FFX, minus everything that made FFX great. I'd give it a 7.5/10(not a bad score from me really) and I would recommend that it be avoided by anyone but hardcore JRPG fans.

Now, I felt differently playing through the game, as I tend to convince myself that every game I play is great. This one wasn't. It was mediocre. I stuck with it only because it the the only game available at the time.

I don't have a problem with other people who say they enjoy it and that it's a fantastic game and whatnot. I just don't agree. I'm probably in the minority of those who played the game.

My problems with the game are many.

1. Can't level grind, level caps at each area till the end of the game.

You can always grind SP for special attacks....Which is how many beat the game.

2. You basically attack the entire way through the game. You never get the amazing spells, and there really is only very small increases in power. Seth and Kaim attack, back row heals. You might see a thousand damange in one attack, but that's about the max. Poor perception of power increase, mediocre new attacks.

Never used the composite magic, eh? There is a decent bit of good non-attack stuff there, you just have to know how to use it. Much of the damage is done through the ring system, which actually adds a level of strategy rather than using simple do-all attacks.

3. Technical issues. The farther in you get, the longer it takes battles to load. Battles themselves can take 15 minutes. It is endlessly frusterating when you're trying to solve one of the many puzzles in a dungeon. Also, put a fire ring on and the gameplay is terrible.

Not having this issue with my copy. If you hate battles, Sed does have that whole "no random encounters" thing going on.

4. The game is suddenly needlessly hard towards the end. Random encounters require strategy, again, frusterating to hp manage and do 20 minute battles during a puzzle sequence.

Thus why the level caps are done away with. Don't you expect a game to get hard toward the end? Blue Dragon was needlessly easy. Lost Odyssey is a good chance of pace.

5. Character development, and story is poor. I felt genuine emotion towards the end, but the rest of the story is mediocre, and the characters, especially the main one, are bad. Exceptions are Jansen and Seth. I love them both.

Thousand year dreams, anyone?

6. The game is relatively short but unbelievably linear, even for a JRPG. There would never be a reason to revisit.

How many hours did you clock in at to beat it with 1000/1000 achievements (or near it)? Blue Dragon is 50hrs or so to get most of the non-grinding achievements...How long do you need this to be? It's twice the length (easily) of Eternal Sonata or Enchanted Arms.

7. Antiquated gameplay, again taste, I actually would have liked this if it wasn't for the severe technical issues.

 Ring system, composite magic, and anti-grinding made for interesting game play. What really did you want from a turn based system? The game focuses far more on strategy, and far less on grinding than the typical JRPG.

And yes, your in the minority of people that didn't like LO. Most everyone praises the game that played it.

Other than problem #3 and to a lesser extent #4, I personally have to disagree with you

Truth was told, devils shamed. You are absolutely correct sir. I just can't be as real about such things, since I don't enjoy mod status.

Calling things as you see them is often a bannable offense, lol.

As you can see, I stated this identical theory above. There is no doubt in my mind, if this game was a PS3 exclusive, you have no idea how touted and hyped it would be. Sony fans know how to back an exclusive, that's one thing I can say for them. They also know how to marginalize an exclusive to another console.

You know to watch out for spin when they start telling you that Mario Galaxy isn't their kind of game, and hype LBP to hell and back.

Now, apparently this game sucks, but WKS will be the best JRPG this generation, and Verses13 will almost certainly be superior to XIII. Tales of is a niche series that everybody hates, and Star Ocean is old news. They can't wait for TLR to hit PS3 though, so they can play the real version, which undoubtedly will have better graphics and sound, due to Blu-Ray and is totally worth the wait.

I hope those PS3 fanboys are vocal but still a minority

Ha, funny how so called hardcore RPGers that are praising Final Fantasy XIII Versus are calling this game crappy. It's as amusing as they trying to explain that FF13 Versus is not a spin-off.

@Lost Odyssey defenders

That's fair. We have differing opinion. The problems I faced in my mind were real, and overall led to my not liking the game as much as I hoped I would. I believe I had 38 hours at the end of the game and the last 10 I found very frusterating.

Also yes, the short stories were fantastic.

As for the game taking longer to load and increasing in technical issues, it happens when you finally get a full party, and when you're just trying to finish the game in frusteration, like I was, it's maddening. Running from battles, takes a good 30 seconds of load time. During puzzle solving, especially.

I agree with the critics on this one. I wanted to like it, but I didn't. I tried to explain why, but I don't think I did a good job. Suffice it to say, I didn't like it, dunno why, and can't change my mind or lie about my opinion.

No opinion is "right" so no one should let my non-reviewer regular gamer opinion affect their decision to play it or not.

...and no, I didn't delve deep into the game. I just didn't like it enough. It was like punishment playing it at the end, and that's honestly how I felt. :(

Also: Seth is a character for legend. I loved everything about her.

All I know is Day 1 for me. Personally, this looks to be the best JRPG out on any system save the PS2 this generation to date.

I hope so as well, my friend. I really do.

It's just a bunch of PS3 fanboys jealous of the fact that the 360 is getting IU and not the PS3.  Ask the 360 fanboys what they think of IU and they will speak the truth:an RPG with a lot of promise