If we want to criticize the creative side of SE, Toriyama's the one to blame. I mean, look at his track record.
You asked for it.
Okay people. Let's go through Toriyama's work history together. This ain't about your "XIII" it's about his work history. HA HA!
Bahamut Lagoon- Great Game. Garbage Story.
FFVII-Great Game(one of the big ones too), was a event planner and Submarine Chase Section Planner. (Very minor role, didn't screw stuff up) Killed Aeris/Aerith.
Racing Lagoon- Not well received, negative reception with a 21 out of 40 from Famitsu back in the day, One of two Designers was Toriyama.
FFX-Great game. Little faults. Certain scenes poorly done. One in particular
FFX-2- Great Gameplay, perhaps the best. Story not so much, nebulous and disjointed at that. Music is mixed. Good and Bad.
FFVII Tech Demo- No issues.
FFXIIRW- Decent. Not bad. Mainly positive.
The World Ends With You - Special Thanks. Decent title.
FFCC: Life as a King/Dark Lord- Mixed reaction.
Dissidia/Duodecim - Some characters were bastardized, and some of the story was ugh. Toriyama. Still a great game.
Blood of Bahamut- Sold poorly. Story was poor. You get the picture.
FFXIII- Linear to the extreme. Toriyama blamed it on Western thinking. Story was kinda ugh. Great Game. Execution was blah. Generally a straight line, big blob, then back to the line. Level restrictions, Gameplay was good but had limitations and would ultimately play itself, being less of a actual game.
Front Mission Evolved- Crap Story, Generally tanked. Poor Reviews. Frowns all around.
3rd Birthday - Terrible and confusing story. You only barely get it after playing through it multiple times. Toriyama's craptastic story combined with Tabata's great cutscene direction and gameplay don't mix. Fans were pissed and shun it.
XIII-2 - Story is all over the place. Main characters reduced to cameos, one time guests, one was a marketing tool and plot device, 10-20 hours of story, the rest is simply filler, breaks its own rules and justifies them with vague explanations, paradox and time travel excuses and constant referral to the datalog. Along with asspulls to explain game mechanics characters implement. Game is a huge DLC experiment. $60 for the game itself, and now with a combination of DLC up to $30+ and more coming, things that feel like they should have been there from the first place. Gameplay is great and some music is good. Then again this is Toriyama.
It seems to me that unless Toriyama is on a team to apply checks and balances, he shouldn't lead ANY big SE Projects, and the guy doesn't comb his hair, bedhead.
Disagree if you want, this is my opinion.
Discuss.