This is a strange RPG. Literally all successful actions result in accrual of EXP and JP. This means, you can get everything you want from a job for all the characters in your party in a single fight as well as adjust their Brave and Faith the maximum permanent amount in a single fight as well. You can, equipment and unique characters aside, build your endgame party in the first room in the game after a few fights. This would require knowledge of the jobs and their abilities first so you can focus said grinding, but it's there as a seemingly available option not requiring exploits. I'm not sure when the best time to do this grinding would be. You will not naturally obtain the game's most powerful classes and abilities without grinding, and there's nothing stopping you from grinding when you hit a wall (unless you overwrite your only save in a campaign or something). On my last run, I did make my endgame party early, but I can't say that was the best way to play it or that it was fun. Putting the crew together honestly isn't any fun at all. The opposite extreme of not knowing how to form your party and getting stuck on a fight because all your guys suck is also pretty bad.
This update adds new classes, new equipment, and a couple of multiplayer modes. It's the most content-rich version. I'd suggest either emulating it or getting the patch to deal with the slowdown.
I'm kind of confused about my feelings about the game as it comes across to me as strangely sandboxy despite its genre. You really are free to mold your party as you see fit without only gentle suggestions either way (female units tend to perform better with magic and male units tend to perform better with physical combat, the protagonist scales equally at both). This highly experimental approach to party-forming did hold my attention across several playthroughs, but, knowing how the systems work, I have no desire to play it again.
I'm torn on picking an overall rating for how it plays. It's definitely not fun when you know what you're doing, but I'll instead review it as a large puzzle you'll unravel that's perhaps overly cryptic. That would at least mean it was interesting for the initial run. 2.5/5
This update adds new classes, new equipment, and a couple of multiplayer modes. It's the most content-rich version. I'd suggest either emulating it or getting the patch to deal with the slowdown.
I'm kind of confused about my feelings about the game as it comes across to me as strangely sandboxy despite its genre. You really are free to mold your party as you see fit without only gentle suggestions either way (female units tend to perform better with magic and male units tend to perform better with physical combat, the protagonist scales equally at both). This highly experimental approach to party-forming did hold my attention across several playthroughs, but, knowing how the systems work, I have no desire to play it again.
I'm torn on picking an overall rating for how it plays. It's definitely not fun when you know what you're doing, but I'll instead review it as a large puzzle you'll unravel that's perhaps overly cryptic. That would at least mean it was interesting for the initial run. 2.5/5