I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Ok, by meltdown, I don't mean excitement. I meant that everyone lost their mind taking a gigantic, steaming dump on the game, crying foul for turning Yuna into a pop-star. The skimpy outfits (particularly Rikku's), the guns, the pop music, the notion of a sequel at all, it was a totally sour reveal for the crowd I was hanging with online.
I didn't know what to think. I'm glad I kept an open mind though. Upon playing it, it was a phenomenal experience, even if the story and soundtrack were abysmal. Great battle system, job system, visuals, etc. I was never a fan of the CTB (as far as I'm concerned, a concrete step backward from the ATB), and to see super fast-paced ATB return with chain/simultaneous attacks was just plain awesome. With tons of non-linearity mixed in (evoking a World of Ruin vibe a la FFVI) and seeing a world transformed in some interesting ways post-main-FF story for the first time, it turned out to be a really interesting experience.
Pretty sure that was the year I moved to Japan.. I remember it being a pretty big deal. Again, that game/marketing was def designed for a Japanese audience. I'm not surprised it was received oddly elsewhere. I actually didn't even bother with it till recently. As others have said, it's a great game.