Reviews

[Rase]

In an RPG the most important thing is the story. You have your characters and they have their adventure. Adventure = Story. That's the most important thing. Don't tell me you are buying a Final Fantasy because you like the mini games, side quests, et cetera more than the story. You have your character(s) and you have the story. Not without reason a good story can help if the rest is not so good.

On the contrary, I personally hate minigames in most RPG's. However, I see no reason you couldn't argue that gameplay is the most important aspect to a Final Fantasy. Let's see shall we?

I have my characters and they are going off on an adventure. Let's say this adventure is straight forward and boring as hell. However, the battle system, class system, and challenge are all just so perfect that I couldn't care less, as I'm having a blast with even the most basic battles. However, a game could have the best story in the history of the medium, and if I can't get through the battles I won't have much fun or really care about said story. This is actually why I'm looking forward to FFXII more in the coming days; I've heard the battle system is quite fun.

no towns, almost no minigames, almost no exploration, 1 linear line that you are forced to walk for 20 hours, no NPC, no revisiting areas

No towns: So? Really, towns are only a means to buy things and rest up, at least to me.
No minigames: Thank god. Minigames are annoying as hell.
No exploration: Bugs some, not others. I don't quite care. I'd rather be guided than have no clue what the hell to do though.
No NPC: Again, why is this bad really? Oh right, now I can't read that one line of dialog over and over again.
No revisiting areas: How often do you do this, really? I very rarely if ever do unless the plot guides me there.

If I come into a classroom and take away the blackboard, take away the chalk, take away the desks and stools and add in amazing posters of naked women, is it a classroom anymore?

Just wanted to point out the hilarity of this statement. A classroom is nothing more than a place where teaching or learning takes place. Aside from that is needs nothing and can have anything in it. Also, what if this classroom is for teaching the proper way to take a centerfold picture?