Quote Originally Posted by Janus
Final Fantasy XIII isn't awful. Yeah, it's more noticeably linear than most other FF games, but that didn't bother me much, since most FF games are pretty linear anyway. People's real complaint wasn't about linearity, it was about how "wait I can't go backwards?" since FFX was just as linear. The only real complaint I had was the restrictions in the Crystarium. Set level caps in an offline RPG that only raise when certain conditions are met? That's fucking stupid. I shouldn't have to beat the final boss to reach the highest levels in the game.
Final Fantasy has always been linear storywise but was not always so strict exploration wise. Super monsters that will hit you hard enough to kill your character's future children aside, you were free to go anywhere in whatever part of the game world you had access to at the time. You generally had the airship about 1/4 of the way through any given game ("generally" being the keyword) allowing you to explore everywhere. FFXIII is more like "you will go here to set off the next set-piece and no where else". However, I am trying to overlook that fact and look only at story and gameplay. The story is... OK so far though I know very little about anything. The only thing I dislike is that I have no direct control over my other party members. I can change paradigms and shit but otherwise control nothing but my lead character. I cannot stand being unable to directly control my party members to the point that I turned Gambits off in XII. As for the "level" cap thing. I understand the logic behind it. It helps keep everything challenging. However, the last JRPG that I played that used such an anti-grind system was Lost Odyssey and the battles were at least challenging to begin with. As much as I hate anti-grind mechanics it at least works here. In FFXIII I effortlessly mow down everything I come across. Maybe that will change (I'm about 6 hours in) later.

Quote Originally Posted by Anthony
I just got a Gamecube, so I'm going to finish up Ocarina of Time on my 3DS and start Wind Waker.
Despite my complaints of WW being absurdly easy, I really wish I still had it and my Gamecube. It was the last Zelda game I could bring myself to play beyond the first dungeon and I still have a soft spot for the game because of it.