Absolutely. By traditional RPG standards, FFXIII is a major disappointment, and by far one of the weakest games in the franchise. But I don’t know, I guess I have some innate ability to compartmentalize every game that I play without boxing them into a defined set of features they need to have compared to other games.

It’s not what I expected from a Final Fantasy game, and as an RPG I thought FFXIII fell flat on its ass in terms of story and character development. But just viewed all by itself without comparing it to previous games, I had a good time with it, especially once the free-roam area became available.

I did not realize how unhappy I was with Final Fantasy XIII and its battle system until I bought Final Fantasy IV Collection for the PSP last week. That game has STATIC SPRITES for enemies and it is still much more fun in combat.

1) More dialogue does not automatically mean better dialogue.
2) And better graphics does not automatically mean better gameplay.

I am going to print out these 2 statements, roll them up like a newspaper and hit RPG game developers (both Western and Japanese) over the head with it until they realize that truth!

** I will not be buying this new Final Fantasy. ** And I have bought EVERY Final Fantasy (including FFT) since Final Fantasy 1 for the NES. I even bought Final Fantasy X-2. I support the video game industry and community. So now that GOG website gets my money, where I can legally buy classic Western RPG games. And I am loving the PSP and PSN where I can purchase classic Japanese RPG games like Final Fantasy IV Collection.