silentenigma: Actually, that bit about Tifa didn't really occur to me as I wrote. In retrospect, I completely agree with you. It added a lot to the experience, the impression that the main adventure isn't everything going on in the game.

Hm, I totally forgot to rave about the simplicity (accessibility?) of the combat/materia system - and thus troutslap FF12 ... Oh well, whatever. Hey, wasn't FF9 even simpler still?