"I honestly didn't expect to enjoy FFXIII much, being a fan of RPGs with intricate systems and lots of freedom to explore, but it eventually won me over by focusing on a few core features and doing them incredibly well. It's not without its shortcomings; the first half of the game suffocates from its glacial pace and constrained game mechanics. The plot is awfully trite, too. FFXIII builds steam as it advances, though; it may well be the first Final Fantasy that actually gets better the longer you play rather than fizzling out in an aimless mess around 2/3 of the way through.
Like Mass Effect 2, FFXIII seems to be an attempt to answer the question of how to create an RPG for the modern, console-owning masses. Square Enix's solution is certainly different than BioWare's, but it's arguably just as effective in its own way. I can't say that this is the direction I want the genre as a whole to go -- or even the Final Fantasy series, for that matter -- but Square should be commended for embarking on an interesting journey down a daring road when so many of their competitors are content to stand, directionless, back at the crossroads."
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?pager.offset=1&cId=3178230&p=37
