This game lets you do what you want to do. You control everything. Yet that scares people into hating the game.
I hear lots of coplaints about the battle system. It takes too long, its restrictive, its not fast paced enough. NEWS FLASH: YOU ARE PLAYING THE WRONG GAME. This is a strategy game. Battles dont involve running around killing mindlessly. Instead, you actually have to use that rock in your skull called a brain. Have you ever played chess? That game takes forever to play, but people who play chess dont complain about that "battle" taking to long. Once again, this is a strategy game. During strtategy game battles, you have to think about your move. You dont run around killing people while holding the attack button down. Thats what halo is for. The thought that battles are restrictive is BULLcrud. LAWS ARE OPTIONAL. THANK GOD. If you dont like the law, then dont follow it. Theres no longer a time with 3 laws in afffect at the same time either. If you do decide to follow the law, you get rewarded with a few items.
As far as items go, if you put the strategy part of the game into items, you would never complain about the item system. If you dont have any mages, dont buy a staff or rod. AMAZING. Now you can use those items to get excalibur for your palidan. If people didn't just buy everything on the bazaar they could, they could have more of what they want sooner. In FFTA, there were 3 times when a store upgrade occured to allow you to get more weapons. You didn't need most f the weapons those store upgrades offered. Now, you control when you get the weapons you want so you dont have 50 million rapiers when you dont have any class that uses them. This is part of the strategy game, using your brain to your advantage. If you use your brain, you can have a ninja with double wield before 3/4 of the game is over now.
Quests are no longer month based. The available quests dont trade with other quests at the end of each month anymore. Now thay are day based. Each quest is available for so long then dissapears for so long. No more waiting for a year to get the quest you wanted to appear again. Also, there is no longer a limit to the number of available quests. The new system for clan turf is much better and somewhat entertaining. Its also an easy way to get good items soon once you become region champion.
The game now tells you how to become a certain class. No more learning random skills to try and unlock a class. It tells you how many skills with which classes you need to unlock a certain class. Some classes aren't available until certain quests are beaten which is nice. The game makes you earn the right to be some of the strongest classes. Assassins and summoners are no longer the only classes requiring you to go through basic and advanced classes to unlock. The only thing class-wise I disaprove of is needing to become a bishop before you can be a templar. However, since defenders are better then templars now, I stick with being a defender.
In short, this game lets you control the flow of the game, the strength of your clan, the turnout of missions, and just about everything. But like all the good strategy games, its being dissed because it requires an IQ greater then the one needed for holding the attack button while running around aimlessly. This game is a success on all levels and is by far the greatest game I have ever played. Just use your brain and this game will be the best game you have ever played.