I'm in the middle of a love/hate relationship with this one.
I really like the story, I really like the characters and I really like how they put it all together. However....
The prologue is way too long. The little dialogue beats between characters are too long and often times redundant. Sure you can skip them, but more often than not amid all the "I'm going to go check out the station." and "You should really go check out the station." crap, there's a teeny nugget of 'need-to-know' that aids in understanding the story. I had been 'playing' (according to the save menu) for 2 hours. Actual 'me-physically-manipulating-character-time?' like 15 minutes.
Once the story gets going it's pretty solid. Now, I've only been through the prologue, Hollow Bastion and part of Beast's Castle, but it seems that the worlds aren't as open as they were in the first one. In the first game, I got completely lost in Hollow Bastion. I wandered all around the joint before finally finding the right way to go..it was irritating, but that's what made it a great game. In this one....well, it's not the same.
Don't get me wrong, I like a lot about this game. I like the new look, I like the menus, the new 'drive' options and the controls are a lot less cumbersome than in the first. These are just my first impressions...I'll wait to reserve judgement until later.
You guys are spot on...the gummi ship stuff is still pretty horrible.
