I haven’t had much time to work on content lately since I’ve been pretty immersed in Final Fantasy XIII at the moment.

Though I was never a huge fan of Final Fantasy X, I actually don’t mind the linear nature come this time around.  It’s actually when the game opens up at Chapter 11 where I begin to feel overwhelmed.  What once was a fun narrative to follow now becomes yet another grind.  It’s probably not entirely necessary but I want to take advantage of a lot of what the game has to offer my characters.

The two major complaints I have with this title are some issues that seem to be neglected from most reviews.  Two of the biggest websites for reviews, Gamespot and IGN , not once mention in their two page reviews the terms “Gil” or “equipment”.  

It seems Kotaku has the most accurate review of the title so far, specifically two points from their “Hated” section, Equipment and Economy and The Sudden Grind.

So thank you Kotaku for pointing out what I thought was the obvious when everyone else turned a blind eye.

Now that doesn’t mean these factors detract from the entire game as a whole.  I actually love the designs, the narrative and especially the paradigm system.  The ATB system as a whole is pretty great and there are a lot of refreshing changes to the gameplay.  Your characters heal after every battle, you can always retry a battle in the middle of a fight or if you lose(no more grinding for hours then a Marlboro comes along and it’s game over) and there are no Magic points so unlike Final Fantasy VIII you can mage away.  With your partners on auto-pilot it even allows you to better take advantage of the once dull status buffs/debuff spells.  The Libra spell actually plays a more functional role now with the auto-combat option too.

As for some of the things I’m split on… As much as the stagger system is a nice addition, I kind of miss limit breaks.  With Summons limited to your Technique Points, they’re more of a once in a while thing as well unlike Final Fantasy VIII. There are definitely less of the summons as well, only one per character.  Now your Summons (or Eidolons) have the ability to transform also, like a motorcycle or a sports cars.  This may seem a bit cheesy but it’s really not that terrible.

So I just wanted to commend Kotaku for their review and explain why my own productivity was grinding to a hault much like my Final Fantasy XIII enjoyment.  I’d elaborate more on the two specifics regarding the Gil and Equipment but it’s more of a criticism of the genre in general.  Just when I thought Final Fantasy XIII was a refreshing change to the formula, if you want to actually earn money or upgrade your items then you’re probably going to need a guide to hold your hand during some parts.  It’s pretty much the same reason I gave up on Dark Cloud 2 but that’s how it goes, especially when your genre is so dependent on strategy guide sales.  I would just prefer to spend my time actually play the game than to have to look up how to consistently earn any gil at this point let alone the most efficient method.