9.7/10

As far as JRPG's go:

- One of the best storylines.

- One of the best cast of characters.

- Sweet, straight forward leveling system.

- By far the best battle system.

- By even farther the best graphics.

And in general, the game offers you hours upon hours after the main storyline has finished. I spent way more time in the post-game than I did during the actual story. Right now I'm 1 trophy away from a platinum and I'm guaranteed to have a second playthrough. It is easily my favorite game this year and second only to MGS4 during this entire generation (which is really not even a fair comparison). It ranks as my second or third favorite Final Fantasy game, and I've been a fan of the series since FFIV.

I didn't vote in the poll becuase none of the options really suited what I think. It's deffinitley in my top 10 games of all time.

Beat it once, and that is enough.

To the people who enjoy it, you have my condolences.

One of my favourite games this gen, because the story,

gameplay and music were just amazing

9.7/10

One of the best FF's

Pro's:

- Fantastic mythology/lore especially if you read the analects and so on. Lots of potential to be expanded upon in Versus XIII and Agito XIII

- Fabulous cast of characters except Vanille who is one of the worst ones ever. But you have Lightning, Fang who are some of the best ever.

- Surprisingly very good music even though it wasn't Uematsu. Has memorable tracks but sometimes in the wrong place.

- Best battle system in the series that mixes FFX-2 and adds its own elements.

- Good story that keeps you hooked but not the best story by any means.

- Gran Pulse, chapter 5/6/7/8/9 were all phenomenol and some of the best time I've had in gaming (especially chapter 7/8 and 11).

- A few CGI cut scenes leave your breathless (Chapter 11/12 opening)

Con's:

- Lack of variety and freedom kills the replay value unless you want to do a NO CRYSTARIUM USE play through.

- Vanille

- The story doesn't live up to the great characters and the amazing mythology/lore created. There is much lost potential in this games story.

- The script/writing 

____________________________

Overall its one of the best FF's and much better than the last 2 Main FF releases (FFX-2, FFXII). 

i didnt know you liked it so much darth... i personally think that it was about an 8 maybe 7.5, and i think FF12 was a superior game. didnt really think Lighting or Fang were that good, they were just OTT, not realistic enough like Fran or Ashe, imo. i thought the characters in 13 were an evolution of FF10 characters, who i really didnt like. anyway i could go on and on about why i thought 12 was better, but i wont, the music was incredible thou, really good.

does anyone else dislike the way the Kitase is taking the series. i mean in FF13 we do walk foward - battle - cutscene, repeat. i think there were far too many cutscenes, about 6 hours worth. i think there are more ways to tell a story, and gameplay is one of them.

Because I liked it much better than FF12, looking at many user review averages across the net (including this sites) I'm clearly not the only one.

FF13 was much better than FF12 in its story, battle system, character development, world/lore. And battle cut scene repeat isn't a problem because I love the battle system and I am invested in the story/characters

And again I did state in my post but due to that replay value is cut down by a lot.

And FF13 is Toriyama's game, not Kitase's, you have a misconception there.

Kitase's FF's were FF6/7/8 (he directed those FF's).

Toriyama's FF's were FFX/X-2/XIII (he directed those FF's).

Once Final Fantasy Versus XIII is on the market we will realize how shitty Final Fantasy XIII was.

Pros:

- Amazing graphics (best looking game of this generation).

- Great and innovative battle system.

- Good soundtrack although not memorable.

Cons:

- Bad pace.

- Horrible script.

- Annoying and cliche characters.

- Extremely linear.

- Bad leveling up system, no stats only HP, Str and Magic, atrocious weapon upgrade system.

- Very uninspired enemy designs.

Overall: 5/10

Yeah i agree that some parts are better than FF12, no doubt. but Matsuno never finished FF12, and the story and characters were not what he had originally planned. even thou, i still like the FF12 cast very much, Basch, Fran, Ashe and Bathier were the real cast of FF12 imo.

yeah battles are about the same, but your right paradigm shift is a lot better action.

this is where i dunno man, i think Kitase and Toriyama are both to blame, lol. i dont like the way the series is going with cutscenes. because it like your playing the game so you can watch the next cutscene, its like the gameplay is there to fill in the bits in between the cutscenes, this is what i dont like about it. i have no problem with linear, reptitive etc, those imo can be great gameplay elements. imo the cutscenes should encourage you to play the game, but its like Kitase & Toriyama want you to play the game so you can watch the next cutscene. imo Sakaguchi and Matsuno would have not done it this way.

yeah i also agree the mythology seems great (if they flesh it out well in Versus and Aigto), hopefully Nomura nails it!!

I don't think that Fable 2 is the best RPG out there, but the Witcher is one of the worst games I've played in a loooong time.

Even Two Worlds would stomp the Witcher.

Fairly poor game I thought. I didn't like the battle system as I found 90% of the battles just involved bashing x. The music score wasn't up to normal final fantasy standards although the graphics did impress again. I thought the story was ok but I've seen a lot better. The real pain came with the characters and dialogue. I actually didn't mind Vanille, I thought she was interesting if a little annoying but Snow, Hope and Lightning were so dull and boring. I lost count of how many times I had to cringe at some of the conversations in the game. The game also took linearity to a whole new level.

Currently playing Lost Odyssey which I'm glad to say is much more enjoyable although neither live up to Demon's Souls or Valkyria Chronicles standards. Maybe I'm just getting bored of traditional JRPGs?