As soon as the game came out, I rented it from my local BlockBuster to see if my preconceptions would be shattered and give way to fun. They did not.

To say this game is an RPG does a disservice to the genre. The problem being that many of the elements that make a Japanese RPG even somewhat consistent with the overall elements of the genre have been stripped away, or "streamlined", in order to give you a game that resembles "God of War" with a menu driven, turn based combat system.

Ironically, the various developer interviews reveal the depth to which JRPGs don't match what a westerner would conceive of as a role playing game. They talk about needing to remove towns and any semblance of activity not involving combat in order to build the framework for a more character-driven story, and then proceed to present the player with a story full of cliche character personalities and uninteresting events. Thank goodness for explosions and the CGI, because the game does a really good job of using an above-average soundtrack and brightly rendered graphics to mask the relative superficiality of the gameplay.

This game is of average quality with design decisions that reveal an overall lack of understanding as to what constitutes a story or quest of epic proportions or heroics. The game has a straightforward storyline comparable to a Japanese anime or superhero sentai, and it is your enjoyment of those genres of animation or live-action series that I think will have more to do with whether you enjoy this game or not. There are no moments where the characters seem to struggle against their destiny, mainly because they accept it for various reasons early in their journey, so they cannot be considered to be "heroes" but they all are definitely melodramatic archetypes that resemble the superheroes of comic book pages. It is very pretty, and some of the songs are quite catchy. Basically, part of the reason the "quest" is not "heroic" is that many of the elements in a typical story which constitutes the Hero's Journey have been stripped away , leaving you with nothing but cut scenes, thus the game is no longer an RPG. It is not even a JRPG. It should actually be considered to be a videogame based on "Final Fantasy: Advent Children" complete with the over the top action, a plethora of cut scenes where nothing of substance is said and the general malaise surrounding the characters' opponents. Sephiroth would actually be a great improvement over the randomness of the games' final boss.

I won't comment too much about the Paradigm Shift or the Crystarium systems, because it has been a series trope to revamp the existing Active Time Battle and levelling or skill increase system under new names with the same general mechanics in each game since Final Fantasy V. Basically, you change the skill sets and A.I. controlled actions of your party during combat with the former and develop skills via the latter. I know that there have been numerous articles written about this, but really, let's call a spade, a spade. Neither system is so novel that an experienced JRPG veteran will have difficulty understanding it well before the tutorial explains the mechanics and a smart gamer would have picked up the possibilities hours before the story demands you to use particular strategies to advance.

I think you should definitely rent the game to see if you like it. If you do, then I think you should wait a month or two and then buy it used. If you don't, no harm done. I don't see any replay value, unless you get a lot of joy out of the battle system, as the additional side missions are focused entirely on defeating certain monsters. I want to reiterate that a large portion of any sense of enjoyment you will get out of this game will come from the battle system, so if you start playing and find yourself bored by the fighting, there is nothing else to do besides watch cutscenes. If you don't like those either, you are wasting your time.

I give this game a 7 out of 10.

Please rent it first and be honest about whether you are having fun before justifying a purchase or if your interest is being driven by the novelty of a new FF game.

An excerpt from Team XBoxs' review sums up my critiques quite well:
"I realize that it might be difficult to properly define the overt control Final Fantasy XIII holds over the player, so let me put it in terms that many RPG fans will be able to understand directly. I’ll take Persona 3, since it revolves around a generally linear sequence of dungeons—not unlike Final Fantasy XIII. Imagine if Persona 3 featured the same plot and characters, and still focused on the epic journey into the 250-floor tower of Tartarus, but instead of being able to explore at your own pace and taking much-needed breaks when you wanted to focus on social aspects, the game forced you into a straight 35-hour grind, followed by a brief interlude where you could accept missions from various townsfolk. After that segment, you’d head back to Tartarus for one last linear trek until you completed the game. Sure, Persona 3 has an excellent battle system, an incredible style and charming characters, but would you still enjoy it if it were presented in such a linear, restricting fashion? It’s not necessarily that Final Fantasy XIII isn’t potentially enjoyable at its core—it’s that it’s presented in an incredibly unpalatable way. "