A negative I missed:

8) Load times. The game has LOAD TIMES IN CONVERSATIONS. When you walk up and talk to someone, the game pauses for a minute while it loads up. Wow. Also, in the combat field, every "room" (back to more discreet rooms than in more recent PS games) has to be loaded. Or maybe it wasn't every room, thinking back, but it loads frequently. Bizarre not to have smooth transitions from area to area