Summary
It's a wonderful game!
The Good
I liked the final battle. It is very difficult, but the more difficult a battle is, the greater is the satisfaction afterwards, when you see the beautiful ending video.
I think the music is beautiful. The songs are very finely composed, and it fits a lot the characters of the game.
The game has a good story. It has a lot of emotion, and is very deep. It shows a lot about the good side of a human being, and I liked controlling the main hero. The main characters are very attractive. I don't think at all they are stupid. Squall is very cute! He always tries to show he is so "cool", but actually he has the warmest heart. And the girl, Rinoa, is really cool - she is very brave, an active girl, and in the beginning she even took Squall's hand and forced him to dance with her. This was a great scene. I also liked that scene where Edea, the "mother", when she didn't recognize the little Squall. It was great, and quite philosophic, because you couldn't know any more what was real and what wasn't, and there was an illusion of time, where all times were mixed and confused, I liked this. It is hard to find a general concept of the game, but it is clear the script writer tried to BRING you something, even something about which he is not very certain himself - this is like Socrates said: "What I know is that I don't know anything". I liked the game's story very much because it wasn't black/white, there was no clear conclusion to what happened in the game, so it wasn't dogmatic. It brings the honest people a good feeling, because it teaches to be brave and never to give up. That's why it's profound.
The graphics are wonderful. I don't have any problem at all with the realistic character design, because I saw "Final Fantasy IV", and this is a big development since those times. In "Final Fantasy IV" characters look like little children. This is not my style. I understand this is the traditional Final Fantasy style, but I prefer the way the characters are made in "Final Fantasy VIII" or "Final Fantasy X", and NOT the way they were made, for example, in "Final Fantasy IX". I know some people say this "childish" style is for letting you more space for imagination, but I think a game should be more concrete in this sense. I like to see a relationship between realistically looking people, and not grown-up people who look like children.
The Bad
The monster animations are very beautiful, but it's a pity you have to watch them each time. It is beautiful when you see it for the first time, but then you don't want to see the same thing over and over again. They did it better in "Final Fantasy IX", where there were sometimes full animations, and sometimes short ones. Other than that, there was nothing wrong with this game.
The Bottom Line
Beautiful scenes, many different characters, great music, great animations, a touching story. You will not regret if you buy this game.
