Yeah. It was actually really early in the morning for me (woken up prematurely) and I was in a mood. You're honestly completely right. Though I have experienced the original XIII, and was completely unimpressed in all regards. But then again, I've also heard people who hated FFX were still able to love X-2

Though honestly, I think Japan is a lot (A LOT) more forgiving regarding the lack of progressive characters in entertainment. They seem to truly enjoy cliche stereotypes that have little-to-no development, or are even hard to relate to. They don't seem to need an avatar in their games, nor do they seem to require any advancement in storytelling. They're never eager for something refreshing it seems

Though it wouldn't honestly surprise me if Lightning is actually more well liked by a silent majority in the west than I realize, so that point is probably moot

I'm just ... picky about my entertainment these days. Though it is certainly a waste of energy to expect every developer to cater to that. Especially eastern developers, who mostly care about eastern standards and preferences. It's a whole different beast in the west, and they are having trouble understanding and keeping up

I just had a long discussion with Skyblade on Nintendo's growing pains, and I guess it goes without saying most of the eastern developers are going through growing pains as they struggle to find this balance between giving Japan their cliches, and giving the West their refreshing more developed characters

And I was at least this worked up over Nintendo on a much smaller issue

And just like with Sky, I will accept the insight of someone more experienced in the issue. . I haven't played the other games, and I'm grumpy, and not being as objective as I could be