Story: 4/10
The first part of the game relied heavily on mini-plots that had no relevance until the very end of the game. You had to tie them all up at the end. The main plot with Xande/Unei/Doga and Noah was interesting enough, however, it could have been explored a whole lot more. The Cloud of Darkness was actually interesting, despite her goals being rather cliché.

World Setting: 7.5/10
I loved the world. It was so medieval and interesting. The Crystal Tower is one of my all-time favourite places. Its just so purdy!

Sidequests: 4/10
Mognet was executed horribly in this game. The idea was good, but it just phails. And you need it to get the ultimate weapons of each class! Gah. There was no mini-games in this game either. But, what I liked about Mognet was that the NPCs actually write back to you It has potential, if you've got a Wi-Fi connection.

Character Development: 3/10
The characters had barely any development. Some of the side characters, like Desch, had more development than the main characters! The game's saving grace is Arc, however. He does have quite a bit of development. The others are rather bland. It's not until the end scene where we see a few of their true personalities. Refia is a rather playful individual ... but up until the end, just a generic character.

Graphics: 9/10
For a handheld, the graphics are very impressive. Yes, I know that the PSP can do better, but for the DS, this is really good. The promotional FMV at the beginning is stunning ... despite it being the only one. The animations were very good too. The 3D renderings of the environments and characters were to die for.

Gameplay: 8/10
The battle system is very simple, but it is difficult to master. It's back to the old-school system which includes magic "charges" and has no MP. This system makes the battles rather intense as you don't always no what is happening, and sometimes you might even run out of magic. The end-game battles became REALLY challenging. The Job system was perfect as there are only 4 playable characters. However, you could get guest members like FFXII, and they would help. The job system really allowed for customisation.

Music: 10/10
The music in this game is flawless. Uematsu is brillant yet again.

Replayability: 7/10
The sheer amount of Job Classes available makes this game very replayable. Also, the secret job class and ultimate weapons, and some side-bosses, make this game worth playing again.

Difficulty: 8/10
At the beginning of the game, dying is a bitch. It doesn't get easier until you learn "Raise", the resurrection spell. In most FFs you can just continually buy Phoenix Downs. In this game, you cannot buy them, they only appear from chests, and there's only about 30-40 of them in the entire game. The battle system makes the game more challenging, especially the last boss. My word, she was hard! O_O The hardest FF boss I've come up against. She had 2 of my tanks down, and my Devout and Ninja were barely hanging on. Thank god for Curaja and Shurikens ...

Average: 7/10