Final Fantasy XIII is a great game, and much, much better than Final Fantasy XII. I loved almost all of it. Prolonged hand-holding aside, the fact that it was an incredibly linear experience allowed the story an uncommon focus that just isn't present in most JRPGs. In fact, my least favorite part of the game was Chapter 11/Gran Pulse, because the story came to a grinding halt in favor of an open world/do whatever you want freedom that people apparently want. And while FF XIII's story lacked a good central villain, I loved the ensemble cast and thought the main characters were much more enjoyable and better-developed than in most RPGs.
Towns, shops, and the illusion of non-linearity from previous FFs (such as VI and VII) amounted to fat that Square cut in order to make a leaner, more to-the-point experience, and I thought FF XIII was better for it. I did not miss those things one bit.
Hope was a good, realistic character, and people give him way too much crap. The kid had been raised almost entirely by his mother until he *watched her die*. If that doesn't give someone a license to be emotional, I don't know what does.
Some of the writing was heavy-handed, sure, but Final Fantasy has always been known for heavy-handed, overly dramatic writing. Why people like to only blame FF XIII for that is beyond me.
I definitely do understand why the people who don't like it feel the way they do, and I can easily understand why FF XIII is not for everyone. But I also think that the haters grossly overstate FF XIII's flaws and try to sell it as The Most Horrible Thing to Ever Happen to Gaming instead of the simply flawed game that it is.
FF XIII is not my favorite FF, but it's in my top five. I'll happily defend it and I've got no problem admitting that I loved it. (I'm also currently enjoying the hell out of FF XIII-2 too, by the way.)
and it's fracking gorgeous.
