Well, if you're looking to beat things through unusual methods, you can opt to not use the auto button on the battles in FFXIII and just do it manually. Nobody is stopping you. The entire series can always be won through ineffcient ways if you're just looking to do it some way different, and XIII is no different in that manner.

But for me, that's just something I'm really not that interested in, as it's mostly just a different graphic I get to see and otherwise slowing down the battle for no real fun factor (again, this is for me - the fun factor for me is in the accomplishment of winning a fight, not in doing silly things because the fight is incredibly basic in the first place). I think we just have completely different interests in the battle content for this and I can understand why random peculiar things might interest you in that regard, but for me I want the initial game to be interesting without me having to force it down that road by having to be creative. I mean I may as well sit down and create my own game (also something that I simply don't have the patience for).

Regarding the Zodiac: I can only say I bought and played FFXII and everyone was pretty much the same. Yes, Zodiac is different, but I don't buy games just for a new battle system. I bought FFXII as it was, and played it as it was, and for me the Zodiac system is just not something I can justify spending my money on. I don't count it as the original game, though, because it's not the original game...