This game is like if FF and DQ had a baby. And I like it.

I thought I would be annoyed at the old school things that are in this game but gone from newer FFs (inventory/skill management, torches in caves, turn based battles), but I am actually enjoying the challenge they bring. What does annoy me is that you can't select which monster or player to target, which doesn't matter most of the time but can be frustrating when you are trying to cast Esuna on the right person (I don't need to heal the Ranger's silence, thanks). Also it has that annoying FFXIII thing where the whole party isn't together for the first half of the game and you're stuck with only 2 people most of the time.

I like the crown system. It's like an in between of FFIII and FFV's job systems. I wish it were more like FFV in that you could use your leveled up job abilities on other jobs. Also most of the crowns are kind of useless. Black Mage and White Mage kick ass though, and Elementalist is pretty sick in boss fights. For physical crowns I like Bandit for normal battles and Hero for bosses.

The use of AP for combat and jewels to level up crowns and items makes the game unique and I like that. I probably wouldn't have liked it as much if it were just a standard MP/Gil system. Money has never really been an issue for me since the weapon counter mini-game is easy to exploit.

That gets me to what I like most about the game: the whimsical feel to it. I miss this in the newer FF titles. The game is cute, does not take itself too seriously (the princess turns into a cat, with her guard thinking she's the wrong cat), and has some fun little things on the side. I wish the 'big boy' FF games would retain this stuff.