Final Fantasy XIII {dumbed down?}

So I've been doing my best to avoid the plethora of Japanese videos on FFXIII that have been posted on GameTrailers, but one caught my eye that I figured wouldn't give much away.


At the very end of the video, they say there is absolutely no penalty for failure when you lose in combat. When you're defeated you can choose to continue, but instead of being returned to your last save point and losing all progress since then; you're re-spawned next to the enemy or boss that you lost too! Thats, well hmmm....disappointing...verily!!!

Also there are no shops or vendors at all, you can buy and sell gear from the save points!? ...w-e-i-r-d...

I'm still interested in it, but at the same time, talk about being severely dumbed down...sheesh!

It's not like past FF games. A lot less open from what I read. More or less you play through a linear path with next to no opportunity for side adventures. Kotaku had a few people that reviewed the Japaneses release copy.

As long as the story is good, I'm in. After the weak FF12 story I realized it's what I want more than anything else.

Well, true...I play FF for the story and music most of all, but this was just shocking how changed it is from past incarnations. The not being able to explore the world map is a severely missed feature though I wish RPG makers would bring back...too much pathing lately.

I've still never played FFXII yet...havn't had a PS2 cause of my disliking Sony for so long...still do but I can prolly get a PS2 used for under $50 somewhere someday and FFXII from a friends game store for like $12 or $15. Gonna worry about getting FFXIII first though...