I got the game today and am about 5 hours in, and so far it's a bit of a confusing mess for me.

And I don't mean the story, even though it just kinda drops you in a part, that seems more like the middle than the begging really, but the fantastic decision to make the first quest in a game, that is on a constant time limit much like Major's Mask's, a quest where you need to find four hidden numbers in a rather big, confusing and time gated city.

Sense of orientation is a huge problem for me in real life, and in just about any game, and by now I spent the first in-game day and most of the second, and still somehow haven't found all four numbers. And since there are gates, that are only open at certain times, it's virtually impossible for me to know, if that damn missing number is somewhere in there, or if I just stumbled by it without seeing it dozens of times. To say I'm annoyed would put it mildly.

What I've seen of the side quests, seems to be okay so far, but some things could certainly be better. Why are there NPCs running around with ??? above there heads, who you just can't talk to (no prompt shows up). Why are quest NPCs the same color on the map than everyone else? (Wouldn't be a problem without the time constraints.) Why are they running in circles, into walls or in front of the camera during cutscenes? Just what is even going on?

Oh, and there are platforming sections? Why? Who knows. The don't work at all, guys.

The battle system I'm still unsure about, so I'm not gonna elaborate much. It's fun, but battling more than one foe is a mess, and the customization options seem fairly limited, with only three active garbs and no way to gain levels/abilities easily and only through battles. It just kinda makes battles redundant.

Anyways, the story seems competent enough so far, except maybe for the inclusion of Hope as such a major character once again (I just hate that dude), and the weird decision to let god take away most of Lightning's feelings, considering how stoic and awkward she was even before that.

What are you guy's thoughts on the game so far?