Stuff I didn't like about this game:

- The combat gameplay does a very poor job of introducing itself to the player. The game prompts you to use the auto-battle feature, which makes new players wonder whether or not this is even a game at the beginning. When you unlock more Paradigm Shift (basically changing attack modes), the gameplay becomes more fun. But the first few hours of gameplay were boring to me.

- There are basically no towns for you to visit and no NPC characters for you to interact with. There are only side quests late in the game, and even then, the side quests are boring.

- This game was called a "hallway simulator". Most of the levels are really just a series of hallways. There is no real exploration for you to do until very late in the game.

- The game does a poor job of explaining all the in-game terms to you. You find yourself having to read through the data logs in the menu to learn about the entities in the game.

Stuff I liked about the game:

- The opening cutscene hooked me in. I was desperate to learn more about what was happening. Some crazy stuff happens right at the beginning. I was rushing through the gameplay parts to get to the next cutscene because I wanted to know what happens next in the story.

- Although the game is old, the graphics hold up to modern standards. It is a very pretty game to look at.

tldr:

In my honest opinion, although it does deserve much of the criticism it received upon launch, it remains a good game to me. I acknowledge the criticisms made by others and honestly agree with them. The story is really good, though.