Would agree with the reptitive side of the game but then again most fantasy games are like that. I would rate it like this:
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8 (force AF from GPU control panel and textures look great, would have given it 9 if the game had stock settings like that)
Sound 9--Consistently good
Story 8 The usual, great at places but depends on how you view it.
Combat system 7 (a little convoluted for my liking, takes some getting use to)
Characters 10 (they did really well with giving characters some sense of individuality in my opinion).
Although i must point out that i have not finished the game yet but it's suffice to say it has been a pleasant experience so far.
overll 8.5/10 ( not taken average but just my take on game)
Played through it fully once and almost finished on Hard mode.
The game itself is good.
Some of the "Rare monsters" never spawn, so if your a completionist expect to spend forever repeating the same areas until the stupid thing appears.
The extra bosses aren't really that challenging even on hard mode if you put enough effort into your characters, which is dissapointing.
Upgrading all your companions weapons is extremely long and tedious.
So the extra "end game" stuff is very repetitive and not too special but the standard game is pretty good. Also the idea on ranking the final boss against the amount of sidequests you did during the game was a good move. It makes the game playable for someone who just wants to sprint through the storyline or provide some kind of challenge for the completionist.
Gameplay: Turbo mode makes the repetition bareable with reasonable loading times i never felt too frustrated playing the game. Not a very long game i was over halfway through it before i even realised, a huge % of it is side quests and extra guild tasks. Typical square enix JRPG with a few interesting tweaks. The weapon system is very well thought out but extremely annoying when it comes to having to do everyone elses. I found it the most annoying thing when exiting an area and having 8-10 people ask me to go and get stuff for them every time.
Graphics: Reasonable for a RPG, no problems with camera angles and the like. Although quite a lengthy time for textures to pop in (seconds) after fights/entering areas.
Sound: I have sound off now as i heard it way too many times now. I will say its very good atmospheric music though.
Story: Short and quite puzzling at times again another typical story with a few twists thrown in for good measure. Not bad but could have done with being longer. would have loved to of seen more towns/remnants.
Characters: A whole mass load of options to choose from, especially since by the end of the game you are going to be using 18. The great thing about this game is the unique characters are indeed unique from each other and thats a rare thing to see when there is quite a selection to pick from.
Overall: As a PC JRPG its very good especially since the PC version fixed almost all the Xbox bugs and included all the DLC as standard. (Although you need to perform ingame tasks to unlock them.) I'm still playing it for completion so its certainly holding my attention for now.
I'd reccomend it for anyone whos got some level of interest in JRPG's.
If your not a fan of JRPG's. Try Mass Effect or Fallout 3.
