Quote Originally Posted by Suikojowy
They have some similarities but for the reasons many people gave I never quite noticed the linearity of Final Fantasy X as much as I did XIII, I suppose another part of that is the areas were linked together in order to link one world instead of being separate random areas.
Couldn't have said it better myself. In FFX, I never noticed the linearity, I was too busy having a great quest.

I think one part of this is how far away the background is in the beginning of the game in FFXIII - you're like on this impossible tiny corridors about a mile away from the edges of some... thing, whereas in FFX, you play as Tidus running through that damn city. And it was TIGHT!

On top of the just better variety and pacing that everyone has mentioned, FFX was just so much more of an incredibly deeper game. It had the Jecht Spheres where you can optionally learn more about the backstory of the world... through video journals of a man talking to his son. It had the Al-Bhed alphabet where you can eventually decipher the hidden language of the esoteric race in the game, then port that over for subsequent playthroughs to figure out what they're saying in the beginning. It wasn't just battle, cutscene, battle, cutscene, it was battle, cutscene, town investigation, optional mini-games, puzzle solving in the temple, boss strategies for the Aeons, then cutscene, then battle, then cutscene, etc. In FFXIII there is literally nothing to do when playing except fighting.

Even with all that being said, I can't bring myself to say it's a bad game. It has great characters, a great battle system, wonderful graphics, enjoyable music, all the makings of a great game. But it pales in comparison to older entries, especially FFX and FFXII which I feel are maturing into modern masterpieces, at least for me. There's really nothing wrong with that, if anything we should let the comparisons go and just enjoy it for the good game that it is.

But Elskidor also made an incredible point, Square really needs to get off their asses and releasing these things more often, these waits are indefensible. I think what happened was they were so caught up in cashing in on the FFVII compilation, X sequel, Kingdom Hearts games, and countless smaller projects, that they forgot to have a team already working on the next-generation hardware ready to have a game on standby to release within the first year. It was a crucial mistake that I don't think they'll ever recover from, honestly.