Probably half of the people complaining here never made it past the first ten hours, which are, undoubtedly, as slow as can be. Out of that ten hours, it feels like you fight ridiculously easy battles for maybe an hour of it, walk for two hours of it, and sit through cinematics for the other seven hours. I don't know if that is completely accurate, but that is what it feels like.
But if you can survive past that, the game becomes more engrossing. The game doesn't stop as often and you fight far more regularly. You have to, otherwise you won't be powerful enough to move forward. I don't know why people complain about the Sphere Grid. Sure, you may no longer have hit points, but the Sphere Grid has its own unique challenges. And the weapons and armor? Again, it is no longer as easy as to look at your menu and see numbers rise just to know that your weapons / armor are better. You are just forced to plan better.
All in all, I would not complain at all about this game, except for that very tedious first 10 hours, but, considering it took me 60 hours to finish the game--including the main quest and all side quests--you definitely won't feel like your experience is cut short, as a result.
But if you can survive past that, the game becomes more engrossing. The game doesn't stop as often and you fight far more regularly. You have to, otherwise you won't be powerful enough to move forward. I don't know why people complain about the Sphere Grid. Sure, you may no longer have hit points, but the Sphere Grid has its own unique challenges. And the weapons and armor? Again, it is no longer as easy as to look at your menu and see numbers rise just to know that your weapons / armor are better. You are just forced to plan better.
All in all, I would not complain at all about this game, except for that very tedious first 10 hours, but, considering it took me 60 hours to finish the game--including the main quest and all side quests--you definitely won't feel like your experience is cut short, as a result.