After putting it off once again, I put in
Tales of Vesperia once more. That game just keeps going and going! Haven't even beaten the story and it's been 2 years since I got it

It's a great game, one of the best JRPG's out there and I definately recommend it. Just make sure you will be committed to it cause when you think it's gonna end, it doesn't!
Was playing it and they've just now opened up a Gold Saucer-esque mini-game arena where you can play poker, slot machines and this digitised 8-bit side scrolling bullethell game. Of course, any chips you win can be built up and used to buy rare items and equipment so there's plenty of incentive. Plus it's where you can listen to the game's soundtrack or view any of the animated cutscenes. Can only imagine FFXIII-2 will work the same way with it's mini-game location.
The one thing I have against the game is how they handle side-quests. With any other RPG you either have a specific side quest giver/vendor or some big huge '!' icon over someone's head telling you there's a side quest. You don't get that in this. I hate having to ask every single NPC in the hope they have a side quest for me and it's even worse at this stage when you can fly all over the world map. Cause at that point, side quest givers can be literally in any single town you visited. There are potential side quest givers too, but that quest won't become activated until you reach past a certain part in the story. Except you don't know when that part in the story is, or whether they'll even give you a side quest afterwards and there's no indication from the game telling you about it!
Also, some side quests are just shut off from you completely as you progress. There are these mini-bosses around the world which you can fight, something similar to Weapons in FFVII right? Well your incentive is to beat them for a good deal of XP, money and potentially new items. But there's a side quest giver who gives you an extra incentive to beat those monsters, for gameplay and narrative reasons, but you can only talk to him and activate it until a point in the story very early on. So the quest has been shut off early in the game for me and there's nothing I can do about it. So frustrating, it's the type of game where if you want to unlock as much as possible, it can't be done unless you have a guide to tell you when and where these quests will be activated and that's never been a good thing for me.
Anyway, rant over
