I"m about two or three hours into it. I like it. But then again, I like anything with a job system and learnable abilities. I find myself excited at the prospect of learning abilities with weird names such as “Cheap Shot”, “Initiative”, “Flametongue” and “Silent Samba”!
The game itself has a very “happy” feel… the battles are fast-paced and the general mood is upbeat. If you came in looking for a Final Fantasy game, you’re gonna be disappointed. The Final Fantasy victory music isn’t even there; Yuna jumps across chasms and climbs up ledges at the touch of a button.
The battles can be somewhat confusing, given how fast the ATB goes. And between the third and fourth missions (Besaid and Zanarkand), the difficulty seemed to jump up quite a bit. (I actually ran out of MP in Zanarkand and had to skip back to the save point for a refill.). Hopefully it means the rest of the game won’t be a walk in the park like some other Final Fantasy games **coughcoughFF8coughcough**
It was nice seeing Wakka and Lulu, but I was really glad to see the Besaid Aurochs again.! 😛 I remember people complaining about the skimpy clothing and how Rikku is portrayed as a sex object. I don’t get that feeling, in fact I don’t particularly like the Rikku look, but Yuna looks pretty good.
About the jumping and climbing part… it’s kinda weird seeing it in a Final Fantasy game, but I hope they find some clever gameplay uses for it (none so far) The garment grid/dresssphere thing seemed kind of lame, and I’m not particularly fond of the Sailormoon-type costume changing thing, but it’s okay, I suppose. I’d turn off the long animations in the options, but I suppose I have to see each change once…
And for those who were worried about Yuna being a pop star… she’s not. ^_^
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