I'm not a hardcore Final Fantasy fan and besides Crisis Core, these are the only games that I have played in the series.  I quite enjoyed both of them and unlike many people, the linearity of XIII is not a negative for me.  At this point in my life, I usually wouldn't consider a 60 hour game, but I'm going to have a little extra time off over the next week and might it give it a shot.

I guess I'm looking for some input about how it compares to those two games as far as:

1. Story (No spoliers please)

2.Game Play (I quite enjoyed the ATB system of VII)

3.Leveling (Loved the Sphere Grid of part X)

4.Characters (Are they as good as either of them?)

5.Overall Quality

I know many of you have played most of the games in the series but please try to keep the comparison to these two games as they are what I can relate to as far as the series goes.  Thanks.

1. Story is better than FF10's.....not as good as FF7's, 8's or 6's

2. Gameplay -- BEST IN THE SERIES....amazing battle system....addictive, fast, stylish, challenging!

3. Levelling -- Very similar to FFX.....I'd say better than FFX's

4. Characters -- Best Cast in an FF game....amazing character development.

5. Overall quality -- Far better than FF7, slightly better than FFX, worse than FF6

^^^^that

mixed feelings with the gameplay. Gran Pulse makes it feel a bit more like FFXII. (i like ffxii)

batte system appeals more to a more rapid-fast-action-adventure-like-a-shooter-game. best fits a "twitch-gaming" crowd that can't sit still for ten seconds without mashing buttons.

When it comes to grinding.. well I didnt bother with it. hehe

Lightning, Fang and Sazh. the rest of the cast is silly.

Its a fun game, It could of been a lot better I believe.

Its basically almost a mixture of FFVII and FFX with some added elements. Lighting is a very similar character to Cloud, Vanille reminds me a lot of Rikku from FFX. The battle system is very different than those games though. The levelling up system is like a refined version of the sphere grid from FFx. Basically if you like those 2 games, chances are you will like FFXIII

Story-- good but very confusing at first
Gameplay-- love the gameplay best in the series
Levelling-- very similar to X (not my favourite)
Characters-- very poor IMO out of the hole cast i like 2
Overall quality-- it not the best but its up there

1. story - confusing, nothing is explained, no where near the masterpiece that is FFX
2. gameplay - fast paced, easy to learn, better than FFXII
3. Leveling - somewhat close to FFX, but not as good
4. Characters - some can be real annoying at times
5. Overall - disappointing considering i was expecting something like FFVII/FFX after all it is the same team that made it. However its still not a bad game, and i still enjoyed it more than FFXII

Thanks for the few of you who took time to comment. I picked it up for the PS3 this morning. Looks like it compares pretty favorably to both of those games so I look forward to enjoying it.

1. Story: i like 10s story a bit better but its kinda like 7s were alot is explained in flashbacks so everything is explained through out the game

2.Game Play: battle system is alright, prefect if you could control the other 2 characters to. its pretty linear which i don't mind.

3.Leveling: its kinda like the spear grid so u might like that just not as much freedom as the spear grid.

4.Characters: GREAT Characters the development between them is awsome

5.Overall Quality FFX>FFXlll>FF7 alot better then 12 lol