So I finally crawled out of my hole this morning at about 10AM having beaten this game. Before I start bashing it, I just wanted to point out that I got my copy and got home and started playing at approximately 12:45AM tuesday. I finished at 10AM today. That alone should tell you how addictive and awesome FF13 is.
There are plenty of good things about this game. It's amazingly pretty for one. Must be played on the ps3, with a 50" hdtv. No exceptions. Random encounters really are a thing of the past. The encounter system feels like Star Ocean, if anyone other than me, my roommate, and one other dude ever played that game, but the battle and leveling system is something entirely new, and I like it.
Battle, as I'm sure the internet will tell you, is based off of a time gauge. But you don't need to wait till the whole gauge is full, only as long as it takes to use whatever ability. There is no mana, spells only take up a chunk. bigger spells and skills take up more space on the bar. You do need to build up summons and special techniques, but I was never lacking in technique points.
The leveling system is something completely different as well. Think license board/job board but without levels and you only use that. 'xp' comes in the form of points for your 'crystarium' and you spend them to get stronger abilities and stats.
As anticipated, and I am glad to say, as delivered, the story was amazing. Regardless of anything else, play this game for the story.
But now for the bad bits. This is a final fantasy game that is nearly 100% linear. I'm not saying that's really a bad thing, but there are like, two side quests, and they can both be completed in the same chapter. For a series that prides itself on optional content, I was sorely disappointed.
There is no world map. before you tell me 'oh, there was no world map in 12 and it was awesome!' I can agree, 12 was awesome. 12 also had a quadrillion hours of extra content and multiple paths you could take through areas and like, a 'reason' to explore. here, again, there is 'one' chapter that has a meandering area, and it's huge.
It's hard to really 'grind' and therefore, hitting the difficulty difference between later chapters is like hitting a brick fucking wall. The difference in points earned by defeating them is big enough you quickly catch up, but damn. There are also enemies that will kill you if you look at them funny. On my next play through, I will be teaching those things a firm lesson.
Tl;DR: I would not ask for any of the 35 hours I spent playing this game back. It was all worth it. Even the 20 times I died trying to defeat the final boss because I was using the wrong methods.
