Innovative combat system and the best visuals in the business in an average RPG.
My second biggest gripe with the game are the storyline and characters. And maybe I am in the minority here (haven't really read any other reviews), but I think the characters are not believable or emotionally engaging. It is natural for fans of any series to fall in love with the main hero of the story, but what is so special about Lightning?! Oh right, shes "hot" and "badass". Uh, is that it? Virtually no storyline with her up to this point. In an RPG, I want to know the fabric of my characters and the only thing we know about Lightning is that she was a member of the GC and that shes mad because of the events with Serah. Compare her to Cloud in FF7 for a moment. Square succeeded to say the least with Cloud because they engaged you in his life story. But in FF13, they just don't do much with Lightning and its very disappointing in an RPG game. The other characters are pretty cookie cutter as well. Vanille is supposed to be the cute, optimistic girl (yet I think with her voice acting, shes just f'n creepy). Hope is the emo kid who has no confidence in himself until he actually grows some balls as the game progresses. Snow is the "I'm gonna save the world guy". Fang is the mysterious tough chick. And Sazh? Sazh is literally the only character I find believable and I think its because hes just your everyday guy. That is both a good and a bad thing because theres not much special about him, but at least he appears to be REAL.
As far as the story line itself goes, it just doesnt capture you like other RPGs past. It's not terrible, but its just not anything special. Fal'Cie, L'Cie, Cie'th. Blah, blah, blah. Basically its all save the world, protect the world mumbo jumbo.
----------------------------------------------------------------
There are however two areas where Squarenix succeed. The visuals are absolutely TOP NOTCH! The character models are second to none, the environments are beautiful, and the combat looks sexy. I think visually, FF13 is my favorite game. Even with games like BF3 and the new frostbite2 engine, I still think FF13 looks MUCH more crisp and amazing. Oh, and what has Squarenix always been masterful at? CG cutscenes. And they prove again why they are tops in the business with providing the most beautiful visuals in gaming.
The other obvious "pro" of FF13 is the new battle system, which very well might be my favorite battle system in any RPG. It is called Paradigm Shift and it allows you to easily switch combat styles on the fly. I was showing it to my friend and he seemed overwhelmed and understandably so. There is a lot going on in any particular battle, but it is so simple to use which is part of what makes it so great! To sum it up, the battle system provides great versatility and once you get used to it, is very easy to use. IMO, this battle system is a home run.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This is one of those games that I just want to rate a 9 or 9.5, but I know I would be lying to myself to try to build up the FF series. The new battle system is an absolute leap in the right direction, but the linearity needs to be massively overhauled. And please SE, provide some interaction with the characters so that theres some feeling of empathy. Just a few things to change about the latest installments could easiliy catapult this series as the true king of RPGs once again.