Quote Originally Posted by VeloZer0 View Post
I'll admit that I haven't really looked that much into the criticisms of FFXIII. (I'm going to buy it regardless, what is the point in looking at other peoples opinions?). I just feel like the snippets I have heard could easily be applied to other well loved games, FFVI for example. You can defend FFVI , but I think you could see how someone could make similar comments about the game.
You don't need to play it or read reviews, you can watch it on youtube and judge from there. The first half or more of the game is a straight line. If you are playing a game for purely the story, it isn't a game you should be playing. The cinema is the place for that.

An RPG is supposed to have a balance but clearly XIII does not. I really cannot understand why so many are saying "I have heard all these criticisms, there is so much I can do to see if it is true, but instead I will buy it anyway"

Nothing is achieved by that except the game designers think it is ok to shaft us all with 90% cutscene and 10% pressing action button. FF13 is the most linear FF there has ever been. It is a a straight line "attack pallette swap monster" over and over again.

Call me crazy but that isn't what I started playing Final fantasy for. I played it for its battle system, menu system, exploration AND story. Not fighting 100 monsters in 1 linear path with a cutscene or three at the end of it.

As for more reviews these ones are good:

Edge Magazine 5/10

Review: Final Fantasy XIII | Edge Online

FFXIII takes brave risks with the series’ foundations, but they ultimately create trembling fractures throughout the entire edifice, that robust battle system unable to support the weight of an entire world. Final Fantasy games are always an investment. This time, the returns are questionable.

When your party is finally operating at full capacity, there’s still more of the linear story to trudge through – and it is a trudge. The game’s producers have gone on record as saying that western audiences don’t understand this first section, but in fact we do: it’s just a bit rubbish. The first 25 hours of the game are one long corridor of palette-swapped enemies, fights that never quite find the right level of challenge, and cutscene after cutscene (after cutscene) leaving your joypad entirely idle.
Wired 6/10

Review: Beautiful, Boring Final Fantasy XIII Loses RPG Magic | GameLife | Wired.com

The most important thing to understand about <cite>Final Fantasy XIII</cite>, the latest in the world’s most popular line of role-playing games, is that it isn’t a role-playing game.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Just ask its creators: In a recent interview, the director of this PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game (available March 9) said the changes he made to this installment were so dramatic that it constituted a “new genre” outside the “RPG template.”