Well said, I completely agree with everything you said except that I would add that the battle system wasn’t enouhg to hold my interest (as it’s the only gameplay element) for the whole 60 hours. The first 30 were ok but after that it felt like a grind and one that I just wanted to finish.

I, too, absolutely loved the battle system and really enjoyed the character development and relationships between party members.

My biggest problem, though, was that it felt like there was a total lack of supporting characters. And even when they were there, it was so seldom that it was a shock to see another soul. Even the villain I didn’t feel like I knew much about.

Also, the linearity made me feel very little connection with the game’s world. I felt like i was moving through a bunch of unimportant (but beautiful) set pieces instead of big interconnected world.

I enjoyed the game in spite of its faults, but it was not the game I expected to find.