Recent reviews by Ivydoom

I played this game several times on ps2 way back. I'm no good with real-time fighting so the turn-based battle system works great for me. In this game the battle system can be set to pause the game while you enter your actions which is a nice option for those that aren't all too familiar with everything the game has to offer, but for those who are the battle-system can be used without pause.
The job-system is new for me and I both like and dislike it. First the dislike: I'm used to having the same license board for all my characters. I'd still make one party member my main healer, but I'd spread other abilities out to save on mana. Spells to remove afflictions like posion and blind would be cast by other party members so my healer would always have plenty mana to heal. This is now harder because not all jobs have the spells to do this.
Also, not all my party members (or even chracters) possess black magic making it harder to magic down enemies. I was in particular a fan of blizzard/blizzara/blizzaga. The thunder- and firevariants of these spells are much less useful but all my characters had the ice-weak gambit to use the ice spell.
What I do like is that it sort of forces me to play differently. And I'm already looking forward to replaying the game with more knowledge about the different jobs and just trying out new combinations.
Also, this version is easier by more than a mile than the ps2 version. For instance, at some fairly early point in the game you get sent to a zone (being vague on purpose as to not spoil anything) where it is easy to level because there is this point where enemies just keep coming. I always used this spot to chain enemies, and I'd have to return to the save crystal several times to replenish mana before I could get a 50+-chain. Now I got it on the first go. After the 2nd chain I got bored and decided to just finish up there and I was a few levels below what I normally go for on the ps2 version and the boss still went down like a puny ant under a heavy boot.
All in all, I like this game's story, it's fairly serious with plenty of comedic moments. There are many cutscenes which makes it almost like you're watching (or even in) an interactive movie, which you can easily skip (which I wouldn't recommend the first play-through) The characters are relatable. There is a huge world to explore, part of which the main story won't even take you that are still very interesting and useful zones to go.
There are plenty activities to do while you're going through the main story like rare hunts, bounty hunts, special optional zones and other stuff that I'm either forgetting or not aware of.

Single-player card game where no game is the same. Once you get the hang of it you can increase the difficulty through playing ascensions. The only very small dislike I have is that you always start out with the same starting deck with very basic cards which takes a small amount of time to change.

It's easy to get into. The tutorial is short and concrete.