Because I know everyone did. But I also know everyone on the internet is an elitist, so if it doesn't live up to the predecessor or elements are changed without actually compromising the quality of the game itself, it's automatically bad.
Personally, I found learning the system, leveling up my characters, and engaging in clan wars far more enjoyable than the punishing, brutal learning curve which was thrown at me in the original.
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My Gamertag: http://www.xboxlc.com/cards/greenice/OgnarPliskin.jpg http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o2/rascalous/PhoenixWrightPS3Sales.gif
It was an okay game for me, but not a great one like I was expecting. Well, until I got rid of an item that's necessary for completing the game. Then I was pissed.
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"Principally I hate and detest the animal called man, although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas and so forth" - Jonathan Swift BT with the victory!
They have issues, certainly. Some of the laws were silly (I'm fine with the idea of laws, but saying you can't damage Moogles when you're fighting an entire team of Moogles... yeah), the AI was horrendous (0% chance of success? I'll try it!), and things were hideously imbalanced (90% chance of causing Death or 90% chance of causing Stop... hmm, let me think), but they're not terrible.
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No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.
FFTA/FFTA2 have good gameplay, but horrible story and characters. Just like FFT, both games are easy to completely break open. I did like both games and finished all 300 missions in both.
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2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
I enjoyed FFTA, but couldn't bother to finish FFTA2. Go figure.
Then again, I was mostly in it for the character progression. I loved getting more skills for my characters in that game, frustrating as trying to find the right weapon may have been.
I can't pin down exactly what I disliked about FFTA2, but...
As a kid I didn't mind the story though some of it did strike me as dickish. Now playing it it's like... Yep, Marche is a giant dick. The rest of the game is just fine though, though the battles are a bit slow paced, and dear god the opening cinematic is disgustingly long. Laws were stupid and it just fostered me as a kid waiting for the absolute perfect set of laws before engaging in a battle. The tier 3 no damage to x race laws were just absurdly silly though.