The characters were simply marvelous. I didn't like all of them all the time, but none of them annoyed me. And they had a role in the smurfing story. If the story was similar but had more "off-time" (towns, them just hanging out) the cast would probably be the best. Sazh is a Top 5 best, imo.

And the battle system was good. I'd prefer more paradigms, or at least different versions of them. The Crystarium was uninspired but harmless. The actual combat itself though was one of the better ones.

The graphics and music were damn good too. While the music wasn't Uematsu-caliber, that's for sure, it served its purpose and grabbed my attention.

To me, XIII is a collection of gold in a sea of dirt. I honestly wish they would remake, or reimagine rather, this game with a similar, but redone plot, a similar, but redone battle system, and more open-endedness in the level design. Also, towns. This game has promise all over, but the execution and some downright stupid design choices make it fairly average.