I played the original, and was, like many, underwhelmed and swiftly bored by the experience. Not that it wasn't without merit, however, what a beautiful creation it is. So, what's different? Most of all, have they tightened up that painful first 10/20 hours?

Some users have been playing the Japanese version so they could tell you about the beginning. As for more mechanical differences, there's a demo out and a few threads talking about it.

I played the original, and was, like many, underwhelmed and swiftly bored by the experience. Not that it wasn't without merit, however, what a beautiful creation it is. So, what's different? Most of all, have they tightened up that painful first 10/20 hours?

Bit of a slow response, sorry. As far as tightening up the first 10-20 hours, if you mean do things open up sooner, than the answer is yes. After the first 2-3 hours of the game, you basically have free reign to go about and sidequest or explore. The game as a whole is a lot more open, a bit too open for my tastes (though I still like the game quite a lot). The combat is the closest thing to the original, which is a good thing as that was some of the best RPG combat I've experienced. Story, pacing, characters, are generally pretty new even if the setting is the same world.

Depending what you liked/disliked from the first, you should probably like this. Not sure what you actually disliked from XIII though to comment more on

Another poor FF game, this is just as messy as XIII. Square-Enix has really been falling hard. :-(

@StitchJones said:

Another poor FF game, this is just as messy as XIII. Square-Enix has really been falling hard. :-(

funnily enough other people have been saying differently so

@Animasta: but that is the standard generic internet hate response. he's just quoting what he's read

i liked FF13. and im super excited for this one. i would of loved for it to be more open exploration and thats whats really different here. i think this might be one of my top games this year.

@Animasta: The framework is the same, and the battle system. You could say that is a good thing. However the story and progression are really the BIG issues I have. Again, this is really my view and standpoint on it. I of course do not expect everyone to agree with my view. I am just really let down again, that's all.

@jetsetwillie said:

@Animasta: but that is the standard generic internet hate response. he's just quoting what he's read

Except it's true. A lot of their recent games deserve the negativity because of how far Square has fallen from the PS1 era.

@Vrikk said:

@jetsetwillie said:

@Animasta: but that is the standard generic internet hate response. he's just quoting what he's read

Except it's true. A lot of their recent games deserve the negativity because of how far Square has fallen from the PS1 era.

I think people have their nostalgia glasses wrapped on way to hard. In fact.. I kind of actively hate FF7 for giving square the idea to make a series of horrible spin-off games as well as a fucking awful CGI movie.

Two words: Time Travel

@Animasta said:

@StitchJones said:

Another poor FF game, this is just as messy as XIII. Square-Enix has really been falling hard. :-(

funnily enough other people have been saying differently so

I really liked FF13, and Human Revolution is great as well, I don't think SE is doing that poorly.

@Animasta said:

@StitchJones said:

Another poor FF game, this is just as messy as XIII. Square-Enix has really been falling hard. :-(

funnily enough other people have been saying differently so

I really liked FF13, and Human Revolution is great as well, I don't think SE is doing that poorly.