definitely an mixed bag, I don't think the game is worthless or anything like that but wow there are huge problems with this one, I can see why it was/is so divisive.

first of all the combat-system is really good, it may start out as an "auto-battler" but it opens up considerably after Chapter 3 and it doesn't stop throwing new things for you to experiment with it, the overall speed and dynamic action is definitely something of my liking, the Paradigm Shift system helps with that too, once you get the grip of chaining attacks between your party and your roles to overcome the enemy's stagger meter is when the combat finally clicks and it's hard to not enjoy any this after a while. unfortunely the balancing is kinda all over the place and I didn't enjoyed the Crystalium System that much, the UI is very clunky to navigate and it takes too long to actually level up your stats especially later in the game. some fights were too easy or really fun to both sides, others were infuriating out of nowhere, spongy enemies will plague your life throghout the game even when using an strong combination of roles on your party.

the presentation is also stellar, this came out in 2009 and the production values were clearly ambitious for the time, gorgeous visuals and FMV cutscenes, I really like the character design/overall art direction as well. the soundtrack is also phenomenal, it's definitely one of the greatest in the series and gaming in general, take a listen to these tracks (Saber's Edge, Blind By Light, Dust to Dust, Will to Fight, Sunleth Waterscape, Gapra Whitewood and Sullya Springs) to get an good taste of it. I know that FF never disappoints when it comes to the music department but this game has one of the best albums that you can find in gaming and I am hearing that the sequels are even better on that? no idea on how they can improve on perfection but let's see how it goes!

now about the game's linearity and storyline, the linearity is definitely on a sour spot, your first 30 hours or so of playtime will basically offer the same template, follow up an hallway until you reach an marker then watch the cutscene or fight enemies, repeat up until Chapter 11, at least there is an considerable variety of enviroments and also the constant shift between characters to make things less tiring and more interesting but even with that you will put down the controller lots of times throughout the experience. once you set foot on Gran Pulse things didn't improved either, an empty open space with nothing but repetitive hunting missions and creatures walking around, prepare for hours of mindless walking and grinding if you want to beat the game, they really should have made Chocobos acessible since the beginning and not tied to stupid side quests to at least make grinding and exploring more fun. also the game goes for too long, how the hell Square Enix thought that an nearly 50 hour game that has this kind of structure would be an good idea?

the storyline has it's rough spots especially in regards to how the game explains the universe's rules, I guarantee that you will be confused for an good portion of the game without getting an clue on what's going on if you don't bother with the Datalog entries, the game basically throw weird terms at you and expects that the player knows exactly what they are. other than the initial confusion I would say that the story and these characters are decent enough, not the best in the series that's for sure but it's not bad either, the ending felt conclusive and was very emotional too. shame about the antagonists and some of the minor characters though, pretty weak when compared to the main cast which I found to be very well-written and entertaining.

overall this can be an fun Final Fantasy game if played in consideration with the structure, the battle-system has good bones and remains consistently fun throughout the whole game even with the bullshit difficulty spikes that happens in certain sections, fantastic soundtrack and visuals, I would say to only play this if you are patient and can endure hours of walking through corridors and mindless encounters, I am still looking forward to play the sequel in the future as it looks like an huge improvement, there is definitely room for them.

continued the level of excellence of the predecessor, even more harrowing atmosphere and sound-design (some of the scares are brilliant), Heather is a great lead, the gameplay has some new additions with the blocking/dodging mechanics and more varied weapon animations, the visuals are impressive for the PS2 especially when the character models and faces are concerned, this came out 2 years after Silent Hill 2 and Team Silent/Konami managed to step up their game even more.

I felt that the pacing and some of the narrative aspects were inferior to Silent Hill 2 though and that game is still my favorite out of the ones that I played so far but nonetheless an excellent survival horror game, these games are all very unique.