Final Fantasy XII

would be a very good starter game. I can see a new gamer simply playing it through to the end. Then he or she would wonder what all the extra "stuff" was about. Thus would a wonderful, longtime relationship start.

There is way, way too much stuff in this game. I should have finished it about 40 hours ago, but I keep moving along laterally into tangents. Sure as can be that anything familiar will result in a great weapon or something.

And I am almost certain that the end will come along as a disappointment, besides. Because of that, I have stopped seeking the extra Espers and I've stopped accepting new hunts. And if a side quest gets complicated (I should know by now that it is too easy to overthink these things) I leave it for later.

So I am about 2/3 of the way through and looking for the laboratory. There are so many threads left untied, it looks like I'm doing macrame. My husband asks about some of the side quests, and I tell him I'm saving them for later.

There won't be a later, this time around. I just want to finish the game while I still like it.