Let me take a moment and talk about some of the game's good points, because it does have a lot.

I like almost all of the main characters. With the exception of Vaan, I like nearly everyone. I also think that most of them were well integrated into the story, with the exceptions of Vaan (again) and Fran. Fran serves as mostly a plot device and exposition dump, unfortunately. But you really don't care, because her voice acting is excellent and her relationship with Balthier is just brilliant.

I really like the designs in this game. Enemies, characters, landscapes... They're all excellent. Ok, so Basch's potholder annoys me a little, but that really is a very minor thing. This game looks stunning.

I love the Judge design. Yes, it's another design point, but it bears mentioning. Everyone loves the Judges, they're awesome. I wish they had more involvement with the story and more fleshing out of their personalities. I also feel that the political story basis would have been a lot stronger had the Judges been the real foe instead of Vayne. Partially because Vayne had no depth to him, and partially because he was all alone. There was no real conflict or drama with Vayne, he was just the villain, and you were there to stop him. One of the few strong story moments was when the Dawn Shard was claimed and experimented on, in an attempt by one of the Judges (can't recall his name) to use its power to overthrow Vayne and take control of the Empire. That was awesome. That's how a political story needs to be done, you need multiple power blocks clashing with each other and creating tension and action, with the scale of nations in the balance.

I like the weapon variety. I hate the incredibly broken weapon progression, but I love the number of different types and how differently they all feel. I wish there was a little bit more balance, as I do feel (and I think most will agree) that there are a few "best" weapon types, but I still do love the options it gives you.

I like the sidequests, and I like the plot heavy hunts. I wish there were more hunts which had stories and cutscenes involved, because those were really fun. And the actual sidequests, like helping the Viera fighter join Clan Centurio, were awesome (though unfortunately massively overshadowed by the mark hunting).


That said, the good points aren't enough to vindicate it. It still deserves all the hate it gets, and it still is a broken and boring mess to play through. People may not hate on it that much, because it's no longer the new bad game (criticism dropped off when everyone went to complain about XIII, it's not exactly anything "new"), but most people still think it had a ton of negative points, and aren't nearly as likely to pick it up and replay it as they are the franchise classics.