The labyrinthine mazes and random encounters that I despised in previous FF games have been stripped out.  The dull towns are gone, as are the shops and inns that never seemed to work well in previous games.  The mandatory grind has been entirely removed.  Micromanagement has been eliminated and battles now concentrate entirely on macro strategy. 
 
These are all changes to things that have annoyed me in previous jRPGs and yet the game is still bittersweat.  What I would think would be the perfect jRPG is still plagued with something that makes it hard for me to absolutely love the game - the anime storyline, dialog, and characters.  On second tought...game is great.  I love it.