This game was a HUGE disappointment to me, and a depressing experience considering how much I loved the Final Fantasy games up until this point.

Apart from this game's incredible art direction (the style and beauty of this game deserved better writing), FF13 is awful. Shockingly linear gameplay with nary a moment of exploration or wanderlust, annoying characters with minimal motivation for their actions, horrible pacing and nonsensical writing, and uninteresting combat and character customization are among this title's many sins. While the experience does improve after several hours, why would you want to bother unless you feel completely TRAPPED and OBLIGATED to play FF13 because you loved the other games?

Trust me: you do NOT want to encourage Square Enix's continuing entropy by supporting this title.

I've heard Japanese devs and journalists forgive this game by stating that you "can't criticize FF from a western point-of-view" and have also read them claim that linearity is required to form a compelling narrative. But, if this is the case, how come earlier FF titles weren't like this? FF7 had a great story, and yet had a load of content that lay off the beaten path. Golden Saucer, anyone?

The fact is that this is just a lazy, sloppy game by a once great company. Don't waste your time.
This game was a HUGE disappointment to me, and a depressing experience considering how much I loved the Final Fantasy games up until this point. Apart from this game's incredible art direction (the style and beauty of this game deserved better writing), FF13 is awful. Shockingly linear gameplay with nary a moment of exploration or wanderlust, annoying characters with minimal motivation for their actions, horrible pacing and nonsensical writing, and uninteresting combat and character customization are among this title's many sins. While the experience does improve after several hours, why would you want to bother unless you feel completely TRAPPED and OBLIGATED to play FF13 because you loved the other games? Trust me: you do NOT want to encourage Square Enix's continuing entropy by supporting this title. I've heard Japanese devs and journalists forgive this game by stating that you "can't criticize FF from a western point-of-view" and have also read them claim that linearity is required to form a compelling narrative. But, if this is the case, how come earlier FF titles weren't like this? FF7 had a great story, and yet had a load of content that lay off the beaten path. Golden Saucer, anyone? The fact is that this is just a lazy, sloppy game by a once great company. Don't waste your time.