It will be interesting to see, its one of the reasons why I'm not already decrying XIII as "epic fail" I need to play it first of course, but since they have removed so many elements that I enjoy out of the genre, it basically makes me feel that XIII can be a very good game but has lost the chance to be a great game. I feel SE is sorta gambling here by putting all their eggs in one basket with the story. Though as Vyk has kinda shown, the game does strike a great level of appeal from those who tire of RPG conventions altogether. Still, I think the big question I'll be asking myself as I play it is whether I can still call it an RPG or not.