"the dialogue was snooze-worthy"

You're insane. XII has the best script of any video game. Here, read:

Judge Drace: A viper amongst our Senators!?
Vayne Solidor: With Chairman Gregoroth as its head. With what dignity remained him, he confessed the poisoning and passed his own sentence.
Judge Bergan: A viper with many tails, much of the Senate is culpable.
Vayne Solidor: We have no choice but to strip the Senate of authority and assign powers of autocracy to myself until such time as order-
Judge Drace: Spare me your lies! I see the serpent coiled here before me.
Judge Zargabaath: Drace, you speak too freely.
Judge Drace: Zargabaath, do not tell me you join in this mummer's farce!
Judge Zargabaath: With Rozarria poised to invade at any moment, our leader must have a free hand.
Vayne Solidor: The once-great House Solidor is now reduced to myself, and my dear brother Larsa.
Judge Drace: Surely you would not go so far. Vayne Solidor! As Judge Magister and upholder of the law, I hereby place you under arrest!
Judge Bergan: You misunderstand, Vayne did not make himself autocrat, it was the very Ministry of Law which you serve. Do you see it now, Drace? When you bared your sword at his excellency, you bared your sword at the law.
Judge Drace: You wear the mummer's motley well, Bergan.

The treaty held with Kings of old is but a mem'ry, cold and still. With you we now shall treat anew, to cut a run for his'try's flow.

What claim does Gerun have on history's reins, seated on throne immortal, rent from time?

And lo! How brightly burned their lanthorn! Casts it back the shadow of Occurian design! Testament that Man's history shall be his alone!

The Nethicite is ours to give, to chosen bearer or to none. The heretic trespassed and set the rose of knowledge in Man's hand. With imitations they profane, it is anathema to us.

Driver! Faster, if you please. I would be loath to expend any of the violence of my present mood on my companions.

A city of men without countries. Pirates of the sea and of the sky. Few are they who would fain lay down their lives for a friend, let alone a king.

When he helped you off the Leviathan, he spited the Judges full sore. He cannot sit in idleness and expect to avoid a reckoning.

My lady. Your words still sound of doubt. Pray you reach your answer, ere we the Sun-cryst.

The Illusions of the past. You think to have cast them off, only to find them years later, unwearying, unrelenting. The past can bind a man as surely as irons.

Even with Absorb Dark armour like the Demon Shield, his Darkja had a 50% chance to instantly kill any character (25% if the character is with Shell). That made every cast of Darkja a game of Russian Roulette >_>

But what's really hard in the fight against Zodiark is when he's down to his last 30% HP, when he puts a permanent Paling and a one minute Magick Barrier, which made him invulnerable, except for a five second window that it took him to recast Magick Barrier.

I would just spam Shock on him, Bubble&Shell on my party and keep my fingers crossed that he only spammed Scathe instead of Darkja xD

Hell Wyrm fight was pretty amazing, especially when he did his ultimate move Judgment, which is my favourite animation of the entire game xD

About the dialogue you've put in from FF12; i agree in the context that it was said it was more realistic and mature than FF13, and really added a lot of depth. however as someone said before FF should have 2 development teams, my point was because of the way 1 particular development team has taken the series Matsuno left and as you said FF12 is only a shadow of what it should've been.

Matsuno is working on the remake of Tactics Ogre for the PSP, so who knows, hopefully after this SE will give him a project to work on, i dont care if its not an FF title, because whatever it is he works on next will be awesome. yeah Ivalice is not over thou, and no one knows it better than the person who created it, so i'm really hoping that Wada brings him back.

I think a lot of fans are upset right now because of the reasons you've stated. i just dont know what was going through their heads at the time. i mean did Kitase & Toriyama, really think that 6 hours of melodrama, Leonia Lewis, and a Call of Duty inspired FF would elevate the franchise to a new level. i personally dont mind a bit of linear gameplay, its very good in telling a story, but when that story is filled with over theatrical melodrama, its just a failure. i mentioned this before but its the gameplay that makes the cutscenes, not the cutscenes that make the gameplay. espeically if those cutscenes are too repititive and over theatrical!

Were there any western FF fans who weren't actively disgusted by the Leona Lewis bullshit in XIII?

I wasn't.

I pop singer singing a useless song, or an other pop singer singing a useless song?  No difference.

In most other FFs they keep the useless songs out of the actual game.

What do you mean by that exactly?  Do you mean the FF games prior to the PSOne?

Cause otherwise, you can't be more wrong.

In FF VIII, Eyes On Me plays when you take control of the Ragnarok for the first time with Squall and Rinoa, and again during the ending cinematic.

In FF IX, Melodies of Life plays during the ending cinematic.

In FF X, Suteki Da Ne plays in Lake Macalania when Tidus and Yuna kiss each others,  and again during the ending cinematic.

In FF XII, Kiss Me Goodbye plays during the ending sequence.

In FF XIII, My Hands/Kimi ga Iru Kara plays during the ending sequence.

Certainly, they've always kept the song out of the game. ¬_¬

i haft to admit. 10 is the only one i acctualy played.

i think going back to the more traditional turn based system would be best although the short time i had with FF11 was pretty fun

I do think FF XIII was a very good FF, that got directly to the story.