As I have mentioned before, I was more of a Gamecube guy during the 2000's and one of the downsides of being this way was that I missed out on some of my favorite franchise games, most notably the Final Fantasy ones - which are some of my favorites ever.

Needless to say, I was delighted to find out that FF was coming to the Gamecube

The game operates in a very typical RPG fashion from the start, where you choose a character type based on certain strengths and weaknesses and then wander around towns searching for information that will lead to the next step in your adventure. Once you have the info / items that you need, your team heads out in your caravan to progress through the map.

The fighting isn't necessarily turn-based, and your placement on the map is definitely a factor in how much damage you take, if any. This was a nice addition to the franchise but it didn't come without its issues. For one thing, some of the "levels" you encounter would be absurdly difficult because the game is telling you that you aren't supposed to be there yet. However, there wasn't anywhere else to go, therefore the only choice you had was to return to the previous "level" and complete it over and over and over again until you had gained enough levels to be strong enough to complete the next one. This sometimes resulted in your fighting the same bosses - who magically respawn - so many times that the game became tedious rather than fun.

I can not applaud a "grind" in any game, regardless of how pretty it is. This is the major flaw of this game. The story becomes irrelevant after a while because I don't think I was ever able to progress from completion of one level into immediately moving to the next. It's just annoying.

The music and art were fantastic, which is no surprise for a Final Fantasy title, and even though the story was a bit more childlike than traditional Final Fantasy titles, it was still entertaining enough. I don't think I am alone when I say that the repetitive completion of the same levels over and over again is not good gameplay. It's poor programming.

I have heard that co-op gameplay was better but at that time in my life I had a traveling job so it was "ready player 1" only for me. I am certain that having two people grinding levels time-and-time-again would only stay slightly more interesting. They get high marks for taking risks in changing the gameplay so much and succeeding at that, and by having a beautiful world and fantastic music. They lose points big time for repetitive gameplay.

6 / 10