[quote name='crunchewy']The current GS coupon (25% off GC/PS2/XB games) makes this a good time to see if I can find a used copy of either of these games.
As far as avoiding random battle type games limiting my choices... well, obviously. Similarly I don't like fighting games and that limits my choice of games in general too. The point is that I don't like random battles/not seeing the enemies as I find that really annoying, so if an RPG with random battles is the best RPG ever for you and others, it's probably not going to be for me. I'd be a fool to buy a fighting game when I don't like fighting games, and similarly for random battle rpg games.[/QUOTE]
This is a well-timed thread, since I finally just got around to playing it. My opinions:
The card battling element is the best part of the game, frankly. Some of the character/world designs are quite good as well, but outside of that, it's really a very traditional JRPG, and your enjoyment of the game hinges on how much you can sit through a ton of the same old genre conventions again. That's not a knock on the game per se -- it's just that the card system is really one of the few fresh elements in an otherwise typical game of the type.
And yes, you can see enemies on the map before you fight them.