Despite having enjoyed the game (for a while), I have to agree that the game boils down to this. A few months after getting the game, I let a friend borrow it. I went over to his place and watched him do an area I hadn’t been to. And when he was done with it, I was able to do that in a single shot, even beating the boss. The game gets really easy when you do an area over again, because the enemies are predictable, and when you know their moves they aren’t as challenging.
Even fights against other players are easily won by using terrain, or manipulating things in the terrain (enemies, doors) to give yourself an advantage (provided you are a high enough level anyway).
Weapon upgrades only quicken your travelling in the game, because later you’ll end up either grinding or travelling the whole world (which is large) for items, whether or not you read about them elsewhere. People say this isn’t a ‘JRPG’, but it has grinding, travelling, and many stats all over the place as the main determinant of play. They’re just hidden really well.
Yeah, I definitely felt the grind.
You know, what happened to the classic JRPG? I don’t really mind the ‘menu driven gameplay’. It is a breath of fresh air from the more action orientated games. I can sit there, drunk, and just click ‘attack’ after a hard day’s work. The old menu driven JRPGs work fantastic as handheld games too because of this. Then, of course, there is Civilization where you can just hit ‘End Turn’ over and over. Even in these so-called more complicated games, a game of Civilization isn’t brain taxing the entire way. Only near the end and certain spots of the middle (like a war) do you really have to analyze and make sure you do everything. There was a variety within the game session.
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