So who's playing this? I'm currently 7 hours in and I still don't know if I like it yet. It's sufficiently gameplay-driven to at least get its hooks in me somewhat (catching the mirages, seeing them transfigure), but it's got a ton of problems. For starters, it's probably the most linear monster battling game I've played, with level design straight out of FFX. Unlike in FFX though, you at least have the option to warp between areas right from the get-go.

The game feels surprisingly dated in all the wrong ways. Why can I only save at save points? Why does losing a battle send me back to the hub world, or give me a Game Over when fighting bosses? Why can't I just warp from everywhere rather than having to find a portal? And heck, why are there still random encounters, and why can’t I turn them off? For me, the game is combining the worst aspects of modern and classic FF. It is the opposite of Bravely Default in that regard.

There's also a lot of problems with the game that might be exclusive to the Vita release. So take note @Gries He, because I strongly recommend you get the PS4 version instead.

Like a lot of triple-A Vita games, this game pushes the hardware further than it should've. Everything just feels sluggish, and you'll encounter some significant framerate dips from time to time. Even something as simple as navigating the menu has noticeable delays. And because they couldn't fit the full game onto a 4gig cartridge, you have to download the Japanese and English voice packs separately, at 650megs each. The sound quality on the voices is quite poor as they had to put some serious compression on it.

Another issue I have with the Vita version is that the Grandia-style timebar is too small to really make out what the turn order is. I play the game on Battle Speed 5 in Active Mode, so things can get very hectic, and it can be difficult to keep track of who I’m controlling. Having my party unstacked becomes a nightmare. You can set the battle system to Classic text-menu mode, rather than the default face button-based mode, but it doesn't replace the Grandia bar with classic ATB bars.

From the trailers it might seem like this was a portable game first and foremost, but it feels more like a home console game downscaled to the Vita.

Anyway, I'm gonna keep playing it a bit more, but so far the story and characters haven’t really grabbed me, and I often find myself fast forwarding through the cutscenes as the subtitles are still easily readable. What's mostly keeping me going is the monster collecting and art style.

This game was supposed to introduce new players to the FF series, but I don't think I'd recommend this to people who aren’t already fans of the series. Digimon Cyber Sleuth is a better choice if you're just looking for a Pokemon-like on PS4 and Vita.