Best addition to the series on the PS1.
The story is cliche but for some reason feels so different. I think that each character has their own story and that's what makes it special.
The battle system is smooth and takes no learning curve at all. I always felt like it was much slower when I recently played through the game again. However, I was used to the new fast-paced FF XIII. All I had to do was put the battle system on a higher speed and it was perfectly OK.
I prefer leveling up by LEVELS like this game does and I really enjoy learning different abilities based on the weapons that you find and/or purchase.
The only thing that this game does NOT have is a bada** character. They are all very meek characters, I would say.
Overall... I give this game a grade of an A