I'm surprised by this as well. An FFXIII thread is usually filled with a bunch people bashing it nonstop. Either the haters are too tired of bashing it or people are finally warming up to it.

Unfortunately I didn't get into it enough to finish it, and it's been sitting waiting for a re-play for a long time. Perhaps this thread will push me to start again.

I was one of those stupid people that got on the hate wandagon when it released because the game felt like a tech demo, too linear, and everyone complained about Hope and Vanille being morons (well, they kinda are, yeah).

Then one day I pick this game up and love it. Certainly, it is not a good Final Fantasy game, but a solid, awesome JRPG to enjoy. If you can get past that this game doesn't grasp the brilliance and witiness of...well, the Final Fantasy we've all come and love, the game shines on its own. I'd give it a 8'5, if we're looking at scores.

The replay value is zero, however, once you've done everything. There's not New Game + (which is always a bonus), no extra content, there's zero point going back to Edenhall unless you want to farm Trapezohedrons with the Adamantaoise in case you get screwed with your world full of Long Gui's, and certainly fells flat in some areas (like teasing the player in Nautilus Park; as in, look, you might be able to do cool things but everything you end up doing is walking straightforward).

But you have a quick, fast-paced and incredibly satisfying combat (in my opinion, I know why people would get annoyed at the "auto-combat" system), a great cast...if we exclude Hope, Vanille and, to a certain extent, Snow (this is half of the main cast xD but there are other characters, like Bartholomew, Nora...etc,etc), pretty graphics (those are always a plus) and a very enjoyable soundtrack, plus a long game (over fifty hours).

Yeah. I enjoyed it a lot. Since this is a thread about someone's else review, I'd say I would low the Story a bit (They really get carried away with the Fal'cie terms, and it doesn't pick until later), but put up the Gameplay score.

And I wouldn't say antagonists are bad, but the problem is that there are too many, and there's not a clearly identifiable "evil guy" until very late in the game. Heck, the first half of the game, everyone outside the main cast is an antagonist (even Eidolons try to kill you).

Agree with everything else. I enjoyed this game!

6/10

the bad:
Confusing story and plot, underdeveloped one-dimensional cliche characters . Extremely linear gameplay, over simplified combat in the beginning of the game.

The good:
Great graphics (especially characters), solid combat system (after the tutorial), lengthy campaign with a decent amount of side missions.

No more than a 5. A 4/10 on my scale. Which makes some parts of the review read a bit odd to me.

Especially those.

Admittedly excellent visuals, and the music was top-notch (except for a few grating vocal tracks).

The characters were nicely varied, and it was nice to see everyone get the spotlight, but the plot points revolving around Hope and Vanille are rather painful. Unfortunately, the story as a whole is simply a mess. Lazy writing and a pace that is simply grinding for such a short story betray some actually well-written characters.

The gameplay is the big issue. Too simplistic and repetitive to be compelling in its own right, and the Crystarium-gating is inexcusably lazy. A big ball of nothing. Visually engaging, but utterly hollow.

I won't say that I can't understand its appeal, but it's still pretty bad.