Another good Final Fantasy game.
At the beginning I thought that XIII is a quite boring game, because the Battle System was quite complex and weird compared to many other FF's. Also I didn't like some of the characters, because they seemed to be boring and useless. But soon I learned to play this game and when the story went on I learned to know these characters better. For example I didn't like Sazh but when his reasons for this adventure were revealed I started to admire this character, because his emotions seemed to be so influential.
The story of the game was quite weird at the beginning, but soon I started to realize many events in the game. There were many good cut-scenes in the game, those cut-scenes were sometimes very emotional and exciting. I like well-made cut-scenes, because they are like movie scenes. The story is about saving the world and your dearest ones. It works and I like it!
The game play is good. The new Battle System is in my opinion decent system, because I like old ones more. Switching roles during the battle is easy and it is fun when you are in epic boss battle. Battles are sometimes fast and very showy and cool. Especially boss battles are epic. You can unfortunately control just one character in a battle and when your character dies, it is game over. Your party can't revive your party leader(which you control in battle) with Phoenix Down or Magic. This isn't good thing. Also some roles like Healer and Synergist aren't good when computer controls them, because they act poorly.
The Crystarium Leveling System is simple and it reminds me of Final Fantasy X Sphere Grid System. I like these systems a lot!
Final Fantasy XIII is too linear sometimes and some maps are annoying during the game. All places look nice tough, because the graphics are very good in this game. Sometimes there are too many enemies around and all those battles bore you. You can avoid enemies, but it is sometimes hard and you must fight if you want to get a treasure behind the enemies. This annoyed me sometimes a lot.
In Final Fantasy XIII there are monster hunting missions, which you can do even if you have completed the game. This and other side quests grant some new material to the game.
Final Fantasy XIII is definitely a good Final Fantasy game, but in my opinion it isn't so good as the older Final Fantasy games are. But it is a good game and if you are a Final Fantasy fan, like me, you should absolutely play it! Final Fantasy XIII has a good story line like these games always have.