So my thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII.
Firstly, let me start off with the positive because I don't want people to think I'm an unreasonable hater.
i liked the party in this game. In fact I liked them more than the party in FFXII even though I consider XII a much bette game. The first half of XIII that focuses mainly on establishing and developing the characters ended up being my favorite part of the game.
My favorite character was Snow. He acted goofy but he was easily the most relatable character for me. I would do anything for the woman I love after all.
Sure he said some dumb stuff but people are forgetting this is Final Fantasy.A s long as he didn't hand the villain the tools to becoming all-powerful or destroying the world, he did better than most.
My other favorite characters were Hope and Vanille. Vanille's development from your typical giggly all-happy character was nice. Same with Hope's manning up after moping for so long. I'd be lying if I said his constant waffling about avenging his mother wasn't tiresome but he got a lot better in my opinion.
Sazh was easily the "coolest" character. he had the funniest lines and definitely came off as the sanest guy in the group.
Lightning was alright. i initially hated her due but she grew out of her bitchiness so I was okay with her.
Fang never did anything for me. She looks good but as a character...not really anything.
Now to the negative... This game's pacing is atrocious. Especially towards the beginning with it's a nonstop cycle of little cutscenes and then a bunch of action. I get the feeling they were trying to make up for FFXII's open-endednes with the extreme linearity but the levels were so bland and stretched out that the effect was largely the same ie. losing track of the story in all the gameplay.
Speaking of the story, I never cared about it. The fal'Cie and the mythology/world held no interest for me. I played the game just for the characters.
The game's pacing also left me feeling fatigued much of the time. I just wanted a break to explore... That's probably a big reason why I didn't care for the actual world of FFXIII. You see almost none of it.
On the brighter side I thought the Sunleth Waterscape was gorgeous. In terms of atmosphere and setting I think Eden Under Siege was the peak of the game's levels. I know I liked it the most of anything in the game.
Now back to the negatives. I mentioned I liked this game's party more than FFXII's. The reason I love FFXII to begin wtih is not because of the playable cast. it's because of the side-characters and villains. FFXII gives us many scenes of the Archadians just talking to one another. It's nice having villains who are still interesting characters in their own right.
FFXIII had three real villains. (I don't count Cid):
-Jihl was absolute garbage. Worst character in the game and her un-mourned two second death was well-deserved.
-Barthandalus provided probably the best boss fights in the game but as a character...I never really felt anything. For one thing there was no real threat from him since he had no interest in harming the party. He may have wanted to destroy Cocoon but for most of the game he made no steps towards that end. In fact, we see almost zero from Bart for something like 25+ hours and th characters don't mention him either. This really hurt any presence he may have established.
I get the game was going for a more tragic "death seeker" approach. Being a fal'Cie is a horrible, unending existence. But it doesn't touch on that enough. Bart just comes off as very unoriginal mwahahahahaha godlike being type.
-Yaag Rosch was the best villain in the game for me. His motivations are established in his very first scene. He is a man doing his duty even though it is a lamentable one. He comes across as...well, human. Something Jihl never did. I rather liked the party's final confrontations with him. (even though his death scene was pretty dumb.)
The ending of the game was pretty bland and reeks of plot devices. Fang and Vanille doing what they did was totally random. I did think it was sweet to see everyone reunited though.
Now for gameplay. This is where the game really killed me adn why I probably will never play it again. There probably are a lot of valid criticisms to throw out here but honestly, I just didn't like it. That's all I can say. It had me interested for a while but towards the end, everything just got repetitive and dull.
Although I will say the Crysterium is way too linear. You might as well just have levels and learn abilities as you level up.
I also hated the Eidolons in this game. They're arguably even more useless than in XII. (only they don't come with great music in XIII) The stupid "Gestalt" thing was a huge pain in the ass. It's the reason I got stuck on Sazh's eidolon for an incredibly long time.
And now for music. This game's score was quite good. I'll list the tracks that stand out most for me:
1.
Final Fantasy XIII - Barthandelus Battle Music [HD] - YouTube
2.
Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack - Serah's Theme *English* - YouTube
3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfu0XBf8kmk
4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2CVzn-ymr8
5.
Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack - 3.22 - Will to Fight - YouTube
Also I had no problem with "My Hands" once I actually rally listened to it.
So my thoughts on the game? Decent. I probably won't ever play it again.
Although I am fickle. Give me a year or two and I may be back.
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I loved it every time it came on, and perhaps it's mostly down to how noticeable the music was compared to other background music that would play at various times. Still doesn't compare to Crazy Chocobo in FFXIII-2, though. 
