I Don't Get the Complaints around XIII

[the AJman]

XII had poor story telling/quantity and bad pacing coupled with lack lustre gameplay.

It's a poor story in your opinion and thats fine; however, myself and many others thought that it was a very well written story and a breath of fresh air. Just because it's written differently doesn't automatically make it bad. It's a much more straight forward plot with little twists and turns and more subtle character development.

I'll give you that the pacing in XII wasn't very good, but this had more to do with the size of the dungeons and explorable areas than it did with the writing itself.

As for the gameplay, it's hard for me to comment on a statement as vague as, "it has lack luster game play"; so come up with some specific examples of game play elements you didn't like and I'll address them accordingly.

Story is subjective if there is actually story there.

What did you do when all the plot points come up, go and get yourself a sandwich and a pop? I'm just going to assume that your purposely exaggerating on that just emphasize your dislike for the story in XII; otherwise I'd have to wonder whether you actually played the game.

XII's case it isn't simply a matter of personal taste because there are glaring faults with how much it is lacking and bad pacing, which are not by themselves totally criticisms of the actual quality but rather its presentation, depth and quantity. Arguments can be made that XII was so lacking in this that it's story fell short as a result and I agree with that.

It is a matter of personal taste, what you see as faults I saw as a breath of fresh air as did others in the fan base. Arguments can be made about the stories in all the final fantasy games, just look around the other forums. Again, the story to XII isn't lacking, its just more plot driven, straight forward, and character development more subtle.

one thing they BOTH made grievous errors in was balance. XIII has too much story at the expense of gameplay, XII has flawed gameplay but much more than XIII, except the dialogue was bare bones and pacing dire.

Again, completely opinion.

, VIII, IX and X got the balance more or less correct for an modern RPG and certainly did a better job than XII and XIII at pleasing the whole spectrum of fan and not just the closed minded tunnel visions who would be happy with anything as long as it has a bit of flash, a scantily clad female and Final Fantasy written on the case.

Whether those games got the balance correct is again opinion, I personally didn't think X was that balanced at all; in fact I typically claim it suffers from the same problems others have been ranting on XIII about. But hey thats only my opinion. As for those games pleasing the whole spectrum, all those games you've mentioned get their fair share of criticism and hate just like all the rest in the series.

I'm just going to leave that part I just bolded alone, though I will ask you to be respectful of those who have an opposing view as yourself.