Quote Originally Posted by BG-57 View Post
While it is a bit restrictive within a single game it has huge advantages when tying several games together set on the same world. The Suikoden series discovered a long time ago that if in each game you reveal a new piece of the world adjacent to previously established you can have new installments with continuity and a timeline.
I don't care about sequels so long as the original is good. And there is a very easy way to create sequels if you really want to - just add in new towns and locations, enhance the visuals, have a 'reformed' planet like they did quite easily in single early FF's... take your pick.
The other advantage is you can have cameos from characters in previous installments with no torturous logic involved (remember how they got Cloud into FFT?) FF-X showed how not to tie two worlds together. FFXII handled it well.
This is all assuming that you care bucketloads about logic. If people want a rational game, then they should probably avoid the Final Fantasy series.
I liked the atmosphere and setting. I much prefer visible monsters to random encounters. The music was decent and fit the setting but lacked a truly epic feel. Not for lack of trying, though.
It should also be noted that it's entirely possible to have visible enemies on a world map where you can go everywhere. You could even set it so that there is a magic which makes them scared of you, so you can roam freely without having to touch them. There are loads of ways you could work this.

Also, if they insist on keeping it live-action, restricted and scaled like they have, I do hope they add in a jump function. But that's off-topic.