When I love a Series I love all games within that said series only on different levels in terms of the different elements of each game in the series. because of this I love all FF equally on different levels only ranking them when really needing to.

My first FF that I owned and and finished with over 150 hours of gameplay was FFX and it made me love the FF series so now I have played them all. FFXIII was made by the team that made FFX/FFX-2 so alot of elements are smaller to FFX/FFX-2.

The Battle System/Job System I see as evolved from of the Battle System/Job System found in FFX-2 and it is awesome most of the time but there are times when I would like to have the FFX-2 Battle system but still having the Optima Change system because I do prefer to have full control over all party members.

The lack of overworld is not mutch of a problem for me as I started with FFX with out one but I have played all the other FF games and many other JRPG that have them and they are cool but not essential but FFX had towns were you could tack time out to explore and talk to people and do side-quests and mini games and Luka was awesome I played a tone of Blitzball.

FFXIII had a action packed awesome opining but no FF opining is boring they are all awesome in there own way FFX opining was very action packed and when from awesome CG opining to action packed Gameplay like FFXIII did and so was FFVII had that action packed mission, FFVIII was slower but the opining was not any less fun with the dramatic CG fight scene it started with.

The Cast of FFXIII is awesome but for me the cast is not the best some characters are up there with my favorite in the series I loved Lightning as a character since 2006 Snow also the interaction between Lightning and Snow is very Anime. Vanira (Vanille) and Fang are awesome to sazh is cool and reminds me of barret and Hope is abit of the odd one out off the main characters but he dose become more likable towards the end of the game.

If FFXIII had the minigames and the town integration of FFX it would have been a almost perfect but the story and characters of FFX would still keep it my Number 1 FF game and FFVI, FFVII and FFVIII FFIX had some points that I liked more then some points in FFXIII but FFXIII because of the some of its parts despite the elements it lacks that the others have is my Number 2 game of the FF series.

Also FFXIII being on the XBOX 360 has help it sales wise to a point but about 60% off the 360 dales would have been PS3 sales most likely if it had remand exclusive to PS3 but being on two platforms dose not really help it to be a game though.

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5. The battle system is too easy for me. I'll admit that it's intense, but it's just not FF to me.
4. I hate that there are no towns.
3. I really don't like how the story is presented. To be honest, it is MUCH too linear for my tastes. Run towards destination, fight, run towards destination, watch cutscene. And repeat. I'd rather have the cutscenes and gameplay separate. I can't really keep the story in my head if I'm constantly in these battles. That said, the story isn't anything mind-blowing so far.
2. If I wanted realistic characters, I wouldn't be playing JRPGs... nothing against Sazh, but really...?
1. Multiplatform = More money = Best FF in the series? What?

I don't disagree with your statement, but I got to ask, what chapter are you? Because when you get to the final chapters, trust me, it's going to be all but easy, especially if you start doing missions.

lol it's funny cause me and my buddy were recently talking baout how we think FFXIII has the most challenging battle system in the entire series. There is literally no room to slip up. One or two mistakes in judgement and your done for.

That's true, but it only starts to show it's toughness on later chapters, especially after chapter 8/9. I think that the Brynhildr fight was when the difficulty really started to ramp up.

But nothing comes close in difficulty as fighting Long Guis. Those fights sometimes rival Omega from FFV >_< 

In battles, I spend about 90% of the time switching between job rolls and pressing X. In most cases when I know how to defeat a monster, all I do is press X. There is no thinking at all.

Once again, it all depends on what chapter you are. Also, are you using Auto-Battle or are you choosing your own commands? 

5. I really do enjoy the battle system so far it is the bast part of the game.
4. I really disagree with this. Towns also bought a change of pace and in some case direction on where to go. The whole game is too linear and Chapter 11 was too little to late. If I play this game twice there will be very little variation from the previous playthrough. Others will experience roughly the same. Hidden treasure isn't so hidden. I also miss the overworld map to me that represented accelerated travel and also gave you a good idea of the lay of world. I can go on forever about this but this almost ruined the game for me.
3. The story was pretty weak. I mean for the first 10 chapters you don't even know why you are fighting...except the government hates L'Cie. No Final Fantasy ever had a great story but this is a weaker FF in terms of characters and Story.
2. Sazh or Snow are the most likeable characters in the game but I woudln't say believeable. I mean its hard to care about the characters in this game.
1. I am glad they went multiplat it increased its audience in doing so.

I did enjoy FF XIII but it was because of the Art Design and Graphics. Chapter 11 was perhaps the most fun with the mission system but the game left a lot to be desired IMO. It has not stopped me from recommending it. Given the length of the game that is still a impressive.

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'.