I like the different roles in battle and being able to switch between them. The paradigms are something I really enjoy.
How it paired off the cast in different teams for the first half of the story. You get to explore their background with different perspectives and interactions and see how their character arcs relate to different members of the team. No other FF really did that, certainly not to the same extent or success.
Having this going on with the great music and visuals in unique locations and fun combat made for a really special experience.
I liked the character pairing off as well, for exactly the reasons you stated. They do sort of smooth over their reunion though. Sazh and Fang (I think anyway) never actually met and Sazh only knew her from Vanille, yet they act as if they knew each other for weeks, and vice versa.
The music and visuals were also stunning. It's OST in my opinion is one of the best.
The music. Hands down FFXIII/FFXIII-2 has my favourite music in the FF series.
I am quite fond of the battle system too. AI characters focus on providing the best abilites for their current role and you command what they do.
Eden Under Siege was a great section.
I really enjoyed the story and the characters pairing off as well. Lightning and Sazh got to know each other well, so did Vanille and Hope, Snow and Fang, Lightning and Hope, Sazh and Vanille, Snow and Hope, and Lightning and Fang.
I really enjoyed the combat system with the roles, the crysterium, paradigm shifts and summons.
The Eidolons are very helpful in a battle.
I also like the change in gameplay when you first get to Gran Pulse, much more open.
Another thing I liked was the cinematics and the music.
The characters themselves are memorable too. I really like how strong Fang and Lightning are in a fight. Their designs are excuted well, as well as the other characters.
I can go on and on, but that's it for now.
Ride with the steel and the power of the sword.
Stand up and fight now and forever more.
Rise through the night sky with daylight's desire.
To be free there must be Black Fire.
Black Fire by DragonForce. \m/
The music.
everything is wrapped in gray
i'm focusing on your image
can you hear me in the void?
I can only agree: the character development and the music are superb.
My only criticism of the character development would be that maybe they front-loaded it a bit too much: the characters had been so fully developed by the time they reached Gran Pulse that they didn't really change or grow in any substantive way afterward.
Considering how central the character development had been up to that point, with so much emotional growth and various tensions between the characters which were realistically played out and resolved, I was left feeling that the rest of the game was a bit of an emotional anti-climax.
The music, of course, is magnificent. 'The Promise', in particular, is a wonderfully evocative track, melancholy yet somehow hopeful.
I love the combat system: SEN, MED, SYN , SAB, RAV, COM. Comined with the physic/magic buff/debuff and you have various choices of strategies to beat the game. The music is touching and mood-fitting. the plot is well-planned. And I like the way how the story progresses through seemingly unrelated events. The ending is well-conceived and summarizes the whole game successfully.
I felt the whole 13 series was meh......Nothing I can really say that I liked about it.