The Battles
Battles I think are about as fun as last game. The liked the monster-building part of this game and therefore it gets the nod because although you can only have three in your paradigm pack, it gives you many more options of the skills and passive abilities your character gets to have.

The Characters
I got to go with XIII-2 on this one. Characters who once annoyed me in XIII (Hope, Snow, Lightning) actually changed their ways and became actual real people that I found myself to enjoy. In fact, Hope was my least favorite FF XIII character and he is my favorite XIII-2 character. He's helpful, upbeat, smart, and when he popped onto my screen at the end, I was actually happy to see him. In the original game I was hoping Vanille was gonna pull him into the crystal with her
Noel is a great character and I felt his pain. The story may be shoddy, but I don't think it's enough to not care for this character. I mean, that character went through some shiz. So, his "soap-operaish-like" tendencies actually don't bother me because I find his motives and feelings to be a legitimate reaction of what's happened to him. The best example of this not happening correctly is Hope wanting to kill Snow in XIII. No legit reason for doing so in my mind and therefore became an immediate dumb story arc. Ruined his character for me in that game.

The Story
FFXIII-2 had a bad story. XIII's has a story that I believe to be a little underrated due to the fast pace of the game. I played through the entire game my first playthrough without looking at Datalogs and knew exactly what was going on when the game ended. Don't know why people have that problem. But the story itself was just a little too "reaching" I guess is the way to put it....Still better than XIII-2, which is a letdown. It's also too bad we all hold FF stories to the caliber of IV, VI,VII, VIII, IX, X, Tactics, and XII (that's right, I said it).

Experience System
Win for XIII-2 again. I don't even think it's close. People have to realize that while it wasn't laid out great, in XIII-2 you do have a high customization value with your 2 mains and a hundred different options of what you want for your monsters. You just have to know to only spend synergist and saboteur levels on the large crystals. Gives you the HP + Magic/Strength bonus.

Sidequests
Serendipity, alternate dimensions, Ultimate weapons, fragments/fragment skills vs. Monster Hunt
I mean, it's a complete beatdown.

Music
XIII-2. It's a general opinion. Just find it to be tons more memorable.

General Gameplay
XIII-2 again. More exploration, more NPCs to interact with giving you information on what is actually going on. Not just be randomly screaming, "Whyyy are they doing this???!!!" As stated above, the replay value is in the first playthrough with closing and reopening gates. Finish the game, wait for the credits to roll, then have fun hunting.

Conclusion: Save for the WTF ending in XIII-2, I completely thought XIII-2 was a step in the right direction. Just a little more customization value, someone who can actually write a story, and a world map and we're almost back.