When it comes to gambits vs. paradigms, I have no problem with a character acting autonomously in principle, what I have a problem with is that I'm playing Final Fantasy not Carnage Heart. Paradigms are simple; you set them up and then the other people act reasonably sensibly according to what you've deemed wisest. You make quick, tactical decisions in a rapid fighting system where your choices have immediate impact. You don't have to sit down and bloody well program the game.

With gambits you have to sit down and go through a whole load of different possibilities and it is boring. It's not tactical, it's micromanagement. I like micromanagement (hell I play Space Empires V) but it just bored me to tears. They don't reduce tedium, they increase it. Massively.

idk, FFXII was a better game in terms of its constituent parts but they added up to not very much. FFXIII's individual parts aren't as good but the whole thing works a lot better. (And I think this distinction is why seiferalmasy just doesn't get why we're bitching at him; you can see all these individual parts but you can't see how they all work together unless you actually play the thing).