It's too soon to call on whether or not the game will prove to be the death knell to a once-great series, but what I've seen on XIII so far, it's turning out to be another convoluted, badly paced game with horrible gameplay. As far as I'm concerned, until Square gets their heads out of their asses, stop focusing on their weak-ass remakes and sequels, the FF series will only suffer for it.

Another big problem is that playing FFXII drunk brings back horrible memories of browsing the game's entry on Rule34. The game has spawned the biggest amount of gay shit of all the games, and it shows. There was like 30% regular straight stuff with the rest being sickness-inducing to the max. 2 girls 1 cup is tolerable in comparison.

So FFXII has all possible things stacked against it. If only I had a cheat device to make my characters invisible, I could probably tolerate it to the point that I could finish it with the team of Vossler, Fran and that bearded guy that's cool. Wow, see? I can't even remember the names.

Problem is, while great FFs (like VI) won't get sequels, they give a whole FUCKING TWENTY YEAR LONG period for FFVII. Now, I like VII, but can you name me one big scene that wasn't the death scene. Plus, all the VII spin-offs were SHIT, especially Vincent's Devil May Cry rip-off.

Then again, spin-offs seem to ruin everything cool. Take X, for example. I didn't really like it, but Yuna and Auron were awesome enough for me to go through the crap that was Wakka, Tidus, Rikku, Seymore, and the Hypellos. Then, X-2 did the unthinkable: they took out both cool parts. They turned Yuna into a slut, and made Auron (who could never be a dork) disappear from the game, only wishing the sluts good luck, before the final boss, with Yuna's father and Jecht (WHY THE FUCK DOES JECHT CARE).

Yep, Square should really pay attention to the fans. I'd pay top dollar for a game with only Auron as the main character, preferably one where you get to kill anything ever. Seriously, Chucky Norris should just quit while he's ahead.

Anyway, the Auron idea sounds great! I mean, Auron just screams awesome! Problem is, they will have to do that with ALL the fan-favorite FF characters. Sure, characters like Vivi, Auron, Kain, and Celes deserve their own games, but then they'll have to do people like Cloud, Tidus, Squall, and Yuffie (because, believe it or not, there people on this wiki who LIKE those fuck-tards).

Anyway, nice to see someone else that genuinely likes X as much (though, maybe not as much) as I do. To me, the game was a liberating experience; it had something intangible that I've seen very rarely experienced in a game. To me, it's beyond all criticism. The many really small flaws the game has are so outdone by the good that it's not even funny. And as good games as FFIV and VI are, they just don't have that dynamic "it" factor. I guess I just played it at the right point at the right time...heh, had I become a fan of the series prior to playing it, I might have found it not to be as good, in hindsight, but for me, X really is the definitive game in the series.

As for CSM, he's just a bitter, power-hungry, sarcastic individual that I find to be an unfit leader. At least he was last time I checked...and people don't really ever change, no matter how much they may or may not try. As for BH (I know you're reading this, "space monkie") the guy's just a self-absorbed, un-funny, self-promoting shill. When the community is infused with people like these...no wonder I left.

But what annoys me is how people whine about how linear FFX is. I think that the story has many layers within its plot, and I'm a sucker for lots of twists and turns. Speaking of which, they never stopped throughout the story, which is very unusual for a Final Fantasy title. You don't find out one of the major spoilers, Auron is dead, until almost at the end of the game. I know that the game has many flaws too (blitzball, sidequests, sub-par voice acting), but I agree with you that the great parts of the game compensate for them. Hey, no game's perfect. Not even VII or VI.