So I originally wasn't planning to buy FFXIII. I haven't found a JRPG that I've really enjoyed since the PS2 with the notable exception of Lost Odyssey, although I didn't finish that even. I had kind of come to the conclusion that I was tired of that type of gameplay, that it hadn't aged well. But then I started thinking about my history with the series overall, and how back in middle and high school how crazy awesome those games seemed, especially VII and VIII. They tried to tell a story and present it in a compelling way, something few other games on consoles even attempted, much less had any success with. But for me at least, the formula and tropes grew stale, which is perhaps why I enjoyed the portions of XII that I played. So if nothing else, I decided that I should buy FFXIII if only to reward their attempts to do something different. 
 
That said, while I clearly am finding something rewarding about the experience or I would have stopped long ago, I have some major issues with the game thus far. 
 
1. The Opening 
 
Like pretty much everyone else, I had heard that the beginning of the game is incredibly linear and boring. And holy hell, is it. There is probably about two hours where you do nothing but run forward until you run into an enemy, who you easily dispatch by hitting the autobattle button over and over again, without getting any experience or rewards at all. If you're lucky, you'll run into a cutscene instead, although this is only marginally more compelling than that tutorial combat. Which brings me to point two... 
 
2. The Writing 
 
I was into anime in a big way in middle school, hand in hand with my interest in the FF games. In hindsight, however, the writing in most anime and in the FF games are complete and utter trash. The dialog is stilted, and for the most part I find the characters completely unrelatable. Some people have suggested that perhaps this is due to cultural differences, that it was originally written with Japanese idioms and speech patterns, and as such I kind of choke on it. But I compare it to the writings of someone like Haruki Murakami, an author whose works I enjoy immensely despite any cultural differences, and I find it sorely lacking. In real life, people don't earnestly say things like "Commencing operation NORA" to no one in particular, or drone on incessently about how they're going to be a hero. This is a cheap, dumb way attempting to let the audience get to know the characters by telling and not showing. 
 
3. Vanille in General 
 
This girl is seriously almost ruining Australian accents for me. I didn't even know this was possible. It's so terrible, I volunteered to use headphones so as not to subject my roommate to her VO or the terrible writing that comes with it. Ugh.  
 
4. The Port Job 
 
I am playing on a 360. We have a PS3 in the house, but it's my roommates I'd rather have a copy that I know I'll be able to play after we move on without me having to buy a PS3 (which I'll get around to eventually). While the in game stuff looks fine and I probably wouldn't be able to really tell the resolution difference, the compression is uglier than hell. It's really bumming me out, because the artifacting is horrible. Every time there's a unified texture, like on a cliff wall, and it moves.... I can almost hear SE cackling right after Microsoft's check cashed. 
 
That said, there are a few things that I'm really enjoying about the game, also in convenient list form. 
 
1. Sazh 
 
While he's occasionally written just as awkwardly as everyone else and his battle animations are... silly, I feel like the VO in particular brings alot of personality to him. Thus far, he's the only person in the game who I find has any real believability as a real person, and he has a fucking baby bird living in his afro. That is how good of a job that voice actor is doing. 
 
2. The Battle System (Minus Training Wheels) 
 
Once they game finally decides to stop treating you like a cross eyed idiot who can barely wipe their own ass and expands your tactical options, the game suddenly becomes interesting. I was a huge, huge fan of FFXII's system because I felt like I only needed to micromanage when I felt like I wanted to and during boss battles, and FFXIII definitely continues that, so if you hated the last game because it didn't scratch the control freak/ocd pleasure center of your brain by letting you pick every action for every character, stay the hell away. Air juggling a staggered boss, however, is intensely badass in a way that no other FF game has been able to pull off in its actual gameplay. 
 
3. Skippable Summon Cutscenes 
 
Holy fuck yes! YES AND FUCKING YES! Tedium be gone! If I never have to sit through another summon after the first time I see it, I will die a happy man. Those things are so fucking long, jesus. 
 
4. HP/MP Tweaks 
 
Most abilities don't use up MP? Awesome. You're going to refill my HP after every fight? Awesomer. I like that this allows them to make some ordinary mobs a threat, and I love that it minimizes my menu navigation and the tedium of item/MP management. Love, love, love. It really highlights the new combat system's new quirks and the strategies available and keeps you moving from fight to fight at a ridiculous clip. While the game is incredibly linear, I think alot of people are noticing it alot more than in, say FFX, because you move at an incredible speed. Aside popping into your menu every couple fights to level your guys, you're not going to be in the menu screen often at all. Now and then you might look at some equipment or something, but there's no more "Shit, I need to heal before the next fight" to bog you down. 
 
Jesus this ran long, and there's alot more I could talk about. I'm only ten hours in, so the game could definitely change dramatically... and from what I've heard it does. It should prove interesting.

1) Yeah, the first...oh, hour or so?  Kinda rough.  After that, I find it really picks up (after you hit chapter 2) and is enjoyable, albeit slow for the rest of the part that everyone complains about. I think that first hour is the only legitimately really poorly paced part.  I understand why, it's just unfortunate.   
2) I can see that, though I always found Snow's hero talk kinda endearing.  I didn't take it as super serious at face value, more like Balthier's "Well, I'm the leading man afterall" kinda talk.  I guess I'm also just using to the writing style, especially being pretty familiar with Japanese mannerisms (and the way they often translate over).  It can sound awkward at times, yeah. 
3) I agree, but it's a shame cause I love Vanille's character in the original.  What I just don't understand is why an australian VA is trying to hide her accent and failing at it.  She should just go all out and embrace her native australian accent, it'd sound a lot better. 
4)  I can't speak on this, but I hear that it's a rough port, yeah, that's unfortunate to hear though.  Maybe someday you can play it on PS3, cause one of the best selling points of this game really is how freaking pretty it is. 
 
1) Yes, yes and yes.  Sazh is awesome, and I agree in that he seems like one of the most realistic characters in the game.  It's interesting in that his VA for English is just a regular actor most of the time.  He's the only character I'd say that sounds better in English than in Japanese, unsurprisingly.   
2)  Agreed, and I think even the detractors can agree with this.  It takes some time to get there, but once you at least get to paradigms/roles the game's combat really opens up.  
3) Hah, yeah it's nice, though they are actually pretty brief in this.  Since you have the eidolon summon and the gestalt transformation separate out.  No 20 min long summons (Looking at you FF7 and 8) 
4) I agree, I don't hear much about this, but it really is what makes the entire combat system work.  It wouldn't work at ALL without this little part of the game, and really makes the experience that much more enjoyable.  Without this, the game would be horrible horrible to play. 
 
So overall, good criticisms and plusses, I approve of both :P

 2. The Writing 
 
I was into anime in a big way in middle school, hand in hand with my interest in the FF games. In hindsight, however, the writing in most anime and in the FF games are complete and utter trash. The dialog is stilted, and for the most part I find the characters completely unrelatable. Some people have suggested that perhaps this is due to cultural differences, that it was originally written with Japanese idioms and speech patterns, and as such I kind of choke on it. But I compare it to the writings of someone like Haruki Murakami, an author whose works I enjoy immensely despite any cultural differences, and I find it sorely lacking. In real life, people don't earnestly say things like "Commencing operation NORA" to no one in particular, or drone on incessently about how they're going to be a hero. This is a cheap, dumb way attempting to let the audience get to know the characters by telling and not showing. 
 
3. Vanille in General 
 
This girl is seriously almost ruining Australian accents for me. I didn't even know this was possible. It's so terrible, I volunteered to use headphones so as not to subject my roommate to her VO or the terrible writing that comes with it. Ugh.  
 
4. The Port Job 
 
I am playing on a 360. We have a PS3 in the house, but it's my roommates I'd rather have a copy that I know I'll be able to play after we move on without me having to buy a PS3 (which I'll get around to eventually). While the in game stuff looks fine and I probably wouldn't be able to really tell the resolution difference, the compression is uglier than hell. It's really bumming me out, because the artifacting is horrible. Every time there's a unified texture, like on a cliff wall, and it moves.... I can almost hear SE cackling right after Microsoft's check cashed.

The compression issues also make it obvious just how many of the cutscenes that look like ingame stuff are actually video files put on the disc. It would seem they did this just because they could with a BluRay at their disposal, and than ran into problems on the DVD version. 
 
There are so many game-engine cutscenes that are FMV for absolutely no reason!

" The compression issues also make it obvious just how many of the cutscenes that looks like ingame stuff are actually video files put on the disc. It would seem they did this just because they could with a BluRay at their disposal, and than ran into problems on the DVD version.   There are so many game-engine cutscenes that are FMV for absolutely no reason! "