After listening to the Podcast the other day Brad was rippin' on FFXIII, mostly the combat system and the linear world. I just read some reviews of FFXIII and they said (they being Gameinformer and a majority of amateur reviews) that these two features are the most enjoyable features of FFXIII, I slightly remember something like this happening a few moons back. Let's not bring Kevin Pereira back into this.

I don't hate the combat system, just kind of sucks that you can only control one character at a time, so you can't specify which buffs and spells you want them to cast at certain times.

I've played it and I didn't think the combat system was very good.

" @Belonpopo:Can you please fix you grammar, i could not comprehend that whatsoever  "

Man, you know what this is? this game is a faster paced persona 3

I love the combat. Not once in my entire 53 hours of playing have I been let down by any healers, buffers, sentinels, anything. If I can't get them off in time, I know that there is something wrong with my strategy. As soon as I go into Combat Clinic with Hope, Lightning and Snow I can count on Hope to throw out the Cures and he does it so well. The combat system is constantly surprising me and I'm always running into new challenges. (I'm still playing btw, I'm not done the game at 53 hours) 
 
In short it's just an extremely visceral and satisfying experience. I do not understand at all where the hate for this game is coming from. I really, really don't. It just proves to me more and more than I should never listen to anything another person has to say about a game, other people's opinions about games are useless. 

"so you can't specify which buffs and spells you want them to cast at certain times. "

Personally, I think this might be one of the best battle systems of all time. It's refreshing, different and it's fast while also really emphasizing strategy and thinking things through. Pretty much every boss fight (and the vast majority of regular encounters) require some degree of strategy and thinking on your feet to win, yet the battles also flow really fast, which actually makes forming strategies more of a challenge.

I was really skeptical going into this game when I heard you didn't control your other teammates but I have been very, very impressed with the AI.  Just like the others have said your teammates will always prioritize their buffs/debuffs based on the known information about the enemy.  There hasn't been a single time as of yet where I was wishing they would cast a different spell first.

The battle system is one of the best FF battle systems imo.

There are a lot of things to criticize in Final Fantasy XIII, and the battle system is far from being one of them.

I can honestly say that 6 hours in I still didn't like it so I sent the game back to Gamefly.  Over the past decade the makers of RPGs have tried to "improve" combat, and I can honestly say that I just don't like the direction they've gone.  In a way it is weird.  I LOVE real time combat where you control a single character and have full control.  (Oblivion, Two Worlds, Demon's Souls, Fable 1 & 2, and various ARPGs.  I also LOVE true turned based combat where you strategically control an entire party's every action as in most classic JRPGs.. However, I just don't enjoy hybrid systems where you control a single player with support characters in real time (even in cases like the bioware games where you can pause to direct others).    I was overjoyed when Final Fantasy 13 was billed as having a "turned based" system.   Even after learning that this really wasn't the case, I was willing to put the time into the game to check it out.  Unfortunately, I was ultimately disappointed.   
 
I can definitely see why they chose this system.  It is very cinematic and shows off the visuals without the jarring long cutscene summons of the PSX era games.  I can also see why others find it fun.  I really like the fact the game heals you completely after each battle saving the inevitable but tedious process of casting multiple cures or using multiple potions after each battle like in the old games.  I agree with the above poster that the AI works rather well.  I just don't personally find the battles engaging or fun.  

People aren't hating on this game because its bad, people are hating on this game because its not the style of game that they like. The people that are saying this game is bad, would most likely say that any Japanese RPG is bad. Thats the only thing that can explain the crazy mixed reviews.

"
@Laketown: This was one of my first impressions, the combat reminds me of the basics of Persona 3 except made you know, fun. I love Persona a lot but the combat felt rather stuck in the past in a lot of ways. "

" People aren't hating on this game because its bad, people are hating on this game because its not the style of game that they like. The people that are saying this game is bad, would most likely say that any Japanese RPG is bad. Thats the only thing that can explain the crazy mixed reviews. "

I really liked the combat in most of the FF games, XII included. They have always held to a strategic element. The combat in XIII doesn't seem to follow that tradition though. The battles are frantic and twitch based. There isn't a great deal of strategy to them, at least not as much. However, XIII has bigger problems than the combat system. The lack of player options, convoluted narrative, and the snails pace of the first 15-20 hours is by far the worst complaints. It isn't a bad game, but it isn't a great one either. It certainly isn't the type of RPG that I wanted. Even the developers of XIII said that they don't consider this one a RPG in a recent Game informer interview. The idea of a main title FF game not being created with RPG in mind seems rather off and a bit telling as to why it is my least favorite since Sakaguchi left Square.

" @sixpin: No strategy to 13 battles, you're joking right?  Okay, to be fair you can get through a lot of battles about 4 times longer than they should actually last by using nothing but Rav/Com/med and occasionally a Sen, but if you would actually like the main story to not be 60 hours and get those 5 star ratings (which have more purpose than simple e-peen waving) 13 requires quite a bit of strategy along with twitchy combat. "

" You're right, but figuring out how to get those 5-star rankings is where the fun comes from.  I'm still a little iffy on the combat. At times it can't be really intense and enjoyable. But if you get to one of the harder fights, it becomes really tedious switching back and forth between 2 or 3 paradigms until you finally win. Ultimately, the AI does a good job (using Libra is essential though) but I would still have appreciated full control over the party, or at the very least choosing who was the party leader rather than being forced to use whoever they decided "

The battle system is probably the best part of this game.
 
The absolute worst part would have to be that they restrict party control options all the way up to chapter 9. The parts where you had to play as vanille or hope were just terrible.

" The battle system is probably the best part of this game. The absolute worst part would have to be that they restrict party control options all the way up to chapter 9. The parts where you had to play as vanille or hope were just terrible. "

Wow, I feel the exact opposite. 

" @Jimi said:

" The battle system is probably the best part of this game. The absolute worst part would have to be that they restrict party control options all the way up to chapter 9. The parts where you had to play as vanille or hope were just terrible. "

Wow, I feel the exact opposite.  I'm the kinda guy who'll only play with three certain characters so I appreciate being forced to use others.  The combat system however, I've already expressed my opinion on. "

I was thinking about this the other day and personally I already have enough on my hands with one character and switching classes, controlling three characters at this pace would just be impossible. 
 
This system only works with good AI and luckily it is.

I'm sorry, but all the reviews I've read thus far bash the linear world and bland character development.