5)  Battle system is okay.  Only problem I have with it is that they stuck it in a the main FF series.  The battle system in the series has always "evolved", but never away from the turn-based menu system.  It's like swapping out someones soul, it just doesn't go there.  While it may be "inventive", I can't agree that it is anything close to "the most satisfying" in the series.  IMO, it is the least satisfying.

4) Towns and overhead maps are another FF staple.  Taking things out of FF that make them FF makes the new FF less FF.  Get that?

3) What's the hurry?  People that still like JRPGs don't mind waiting for the next tidbit.  That's what playing these games is about.  Get a little story, adventure, find clues, fight through the next goal, then more story.

2) The character developement in XIII is so formulaic(?) that it's almost sickening.  It's like they got a soap writer to list the 6 major conflicts and just went with it.  None of their conflicts naturally tie into the story.  It feels very cut-and-pasted.

1) Multi-plat only makes it a "reason to be the best in the series" to people on the other plat. 

Sounds like you are another gamer that wants to consider themself a JRPG fan, but doesn't like JRPGs anymore.  If you don't like all of these things, why not move on to a different genre instead of cheering when the one we love is dying?  If you wouldn't go back and play FFIII or FFVIII or any of the previous FF now, why would you buy a new one in the series?  For all of the things you mentioned, it sounds like Heavy Rain or some other action/adventure game would be more 'your kind of thing'.

I totally agree, this has been kinda of an issue for me since FFX. I loved the world maps and the exploration that they gave of pre-FFX games, so it's like a bag of mixed emotions any time I see a new FF without them. 

Thankfully, from what Nomura said, FFVXIII will have them back, but let's wait and see. 

I really wish that I could look forward to Versus, but I just can't.  I go to FF for the turn-based, menu driven combat.  They could make FFVII with life-like graphics, but if it doesn't have the traditional combat system it would turn me off.  I currently have Versus on pre-order, but battle with myself often on whether to cancel it.  Don't know if I want to support the series fast and furious descent toward an adventure genre(or WRPG).  Starting to get more excited about DQ games since they stay true to the battle system....

5. It's ok, but it doesn't bring anything unseen to the genre. It's worse than in FF XII, VII, X, and X-2. Not to mention JRPGs other than Final Fantasies.

4. JRPGs are by standard very far from your Dungeons & Dragons, real RPGs. To put it simply, JRPGs are not RPGs. Even if the characters or their equipment gather levels it doesn't make the game an RPG. Nor do world maps, towns, random NPCs, or quests. FF XIII is an action game disguised as a JRPG. It's one of the most simplistic JRPGs ever, in a way, the culmination of JRPGs.

3. I beat Final Fantasy XIII and I'm still waiting for a story.

2. Sazh is the only likable character in FF XIII. He is actually one of the best FF characters. I just wished Vanille and Hope were cut from the final build. I mean geez, when FF X came out I thought Tidus was the most annoying FF character eva, then came Vaan but FF XIII took the cake with not just Hope but also Vanille. I'm a grown man, I've played games all my life and I've been a Final Fantasy fan ever since FF VII was released in Europe, and I don't want to look at a preteen crying over his dead mother. Come on Squenix, you came up with Sazh and then gave us Hope. As Kratos himself, slayer of gods, put it "Hope is for the weak."

1. This point has nothing to do with Final Fantasy XIII being the best in the series. There is a reason why Final Fantasy X-2 has a higher metascore than Final Fantasy XIII, it's simply a better game.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/finalfantasyx2?q=final%20fantasy%20x-2


http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/finalfantasy13

Worst FF, really? Worst than the worse-than-generic-JRPG NES FFIII which almost lead to the ruin of the entire series?

Actually, the original FFs were not much to look at, maybe with the exception of FFII and it's unique (for the time) system in JRPGs, which was learn-by-doing for pretty much everything. There was no level up, you only raised your stats, magic and weapon levels for how much you used them. 

I've seen a lot of people throwing around the claim that FFXIII is the worst FF, but most of the times it comes from people who either played the post-NES or Post FFVII FFs 

I've played FF 1,2,4,7,8,9,10, 10-2, 11,12, FF Mystic Quest, FF Tactics..i think that's about it. FF13 is the worst out of the games I've listed imo.