Realizing I have a lot of conflicting opinions on this, it's a good game but I was just thinking like. Some parts of this makes me like really mad.

First we have a follow up to FF12 which I played right before this, didn't exactly help as FF12 has REALLY good dungeons, while this game only really has two, three if you're being generous. The dungeons aren't great but not as bad as people make it out to be, really the worst part of this game isn't really the fact the game is linear (this is a good thing, actually!) moreso it gives you a cool ass world and doesn't give you the chance to explore it, basically if you've played FF7R all the cities were basically reduced to those segments where you walk around and hear nearby npc chatter discussing the situation. Cities being gone in favor of a dungeon with constant back to back encounters is my biggest problem with it, I think Cocoon looks cool and the fact you don't really explore it kinda sours me the more I think about this game. FF13 has a really cool premise behind the world that gets wasted depending on how much you know about the absurd amounts of concept art out there (they have 13 designs for DIABLOS and they all look REALLY COOL) of a lot of summons as Fal'cie the gods of the world. That's another thing the terminology is not gonna be kind to anyone with a low tolerance for sci-fi jargon like that, I'm fine with made up words but all of the ones here (L'Cie, Cie'th, Fal'Cie) all really suck and sound bad. I actually had to correct the first mention of Fal'Cie (essentially, mysterious gods who govern the world) with L'Cie (Humans empowered by the Fal'Cie to fulfill a specific purpose) because it sounds the same.
"oh that's part of the charm-" SHUT UP!!!!!

The world feels like it's built on really cool ideas but the more I learn about the development and conceptualization phase the more I feel how empty and undercooked it is. Most of the world is just made out of encounters, you. have to fight EVERYTHING (or at least, most things) in order to keep your party leveled and all the segments where you just hang out in the world are reduced to the occasional objective marker with people hanging out in the side and saying stuff and one segment where you talk to your party before you go on some epic quest, these moments only last like 5 minutes at most, thats really not enough time, the story is written around this and for what it is it works but I really would like to stop fighting for a half hour or so at this point. (I have a similar issue with FF7R where there are points where the game starts throwing encounters at you and it's actually kinda worse there but at least that game gave combat breaks and let you experience the world!) The linearity of the game is actually a good thing! It is designed so that the game is always aware of your level and capabilities, it even gives you the paradigms you need for the first half of the game and gives you leeway to customize them, for the first half the game feels like a puzzle and while it comes at the expense of fun dungeons that in of itself is satisfying. The combat in general is great, the game knows this as there's a ranking system, it's kinda pointless unless you want 100% completion but it also showcases they intended ways for you to beat every encounter in an optimal way for the first half and also select bosses. Leveling is also amazingly done since you basically always have what you need at all times, even when the game opens up you can probably play the entire game with a "Pre-Pulse" setup, I don't suggest it, but the fact you can is still impressive all the same.

This is one of the harder Final Fantasies I've played, once full party access is available the game basically ramps up and gives you a minute to prepare, it even tests your ability with the best boss in the game that really kept me on my toes, I never made progress until I had every character maxed per chapter, probably wasn't a good idea but the idea of this game trusting me enough after keeping up with me for 30 hours was really intimidating, but even without most abilities being unlocked the game still felt challenging. I even got the achievement for beating the final boss within 5 minutes.

Now, to focus on the party and I don't know how to segue into that gracefully, but they're all really good! All of them, especially Hope who I'm sure some people hate because he's a pretty good estimation of how a 14 year old would react when having the worst week of all time. Everybody's arc is in your face, basically if someone is talking with like, some violins in the background that probably means it's their arc unfolding right now, it's very angsty in presentation and dramatic, all these guys had a REALLY bad two weeks, some worse than others. I saw someone talk about the angst being bad in comparison to other FFs but idk I think that kind of cheesiness should be expected in everything. I like how informed these characters are by their motives, Hope is a fucked up kid so he acts out (admittedly giving me secondhand embarrassment sometimes) Sazh is a single father trying to look out for his son, Vanille is half glass full but has some baggage behind her, Snow is really bad at his job (terrorist), Fang only really cares for herself and doesn't have much stake in the game also she's really hot.
I didn't mention Lightning, that's not because Lightning is a bad character, but because despite the fact that she is on the cover of all three games (one of them even being named after her) Lightning really isn't the main character, she's just the first character you play as and she has the token protagonist moments but her arc is not any more important than the other members of the party, she feels more akin to Vaan than Cloud or Squall (Someone who doesn't really have any agency on the situation but was swept up in it and goes through a much quieter arc as the story develops) If Lightning was not the only character seen on the cover I would never have guessed she was the main character, the story splits regularly to other perspectives and gives their arcs the exact same significance, you can even swap the character you play as in the overworld, there doesn't really feel like there IS a main character. Lightning is a good character, she's reacting to everything around her the same way someone in her early 20s who spent their life essentially raising their sibling would, she has the same human elements everyone else does but her placement as the main character feels a bit forced? Without any info, if I played this without her being the first character you meet and she wasn't the cover girl and I was asked "who's the main character?" I would probably take a bit to answer "Vanille?" and STILL be very unsure about it. I bring this up because I feel like there's not as much praise for the game for jumping playable characters and giving everyone equal importance. I actually like there's no one who's more important than the other, it would've been a very good selling point for me, I think the emphasis placed on Lightning in the trilogy did ultimately cause them to fumble her (another story) and I think that could've been sidestepped here.

I do like that this game is very party focused, with me really buying into how everyone acts like a unit. They felt like a family by the end... it would sure suck if a sequel ripped that apart in a very passive manner. Another thing it lacks is an antagonist which they all would've benefited from, 13-2 has a great villain but he's in a significantly worse game so we'll leave him alone for now. The character focus is pretty well done but the actual plot, the story, falls apart after its promising setup. Fal'Cie's are basically the antagonistic force all throughout the game but they don't really interact w the party aside from a few. Again I don't like talking about concepts that were scrapped but there was a lot of concepts with the summons filling in for the Fal'Cie some of them receiving multiple designs, I would've really been into this and doubly so if they actually said words in a human form or something. I think the story would've been a lot less confusing towards the end if there was a more tangible villain threat, but what was given was ultimately serviceable.

I have a lot of conflicting feelings on Final Fantasy 13, but I do like the game still. I don't like the dungeons, the combat is great, but I need more breaks from it specifically in segments that last more than 3 minutes, and it would've been nice to chill in a city with people in it every now and then. The world has a really cool setup and the cast dealt with it in a very compelling way, but the story itself kind of forgot itself in the last hour beforehand. Also it has yuri in it so yeah I like it.

I think a lot of critique (and some praise) aimed at this game has two extremes that I disagree with. The primary theme of the story of averting fate has been addressed in other Final Fantasies in plain better ways (with better dungeons!), but that doesn't take away what the game manages to do despite all the confusing and bad stuff in it (I didn't mention the shops or how weapons are handled, they were a pretty good indicator of how I was gonna feel early on) Final Fantasy 13 is definitely nowhere near close to my favorite Final Fantasy but it is one of the Final Fantasies I have the most to say about. Also the sequels are bad.

A lot more concepts and themes I vibe with in this one. Raiden is a great stand in for Snake. I like just about everything except for Rose and some pretty dodgy treatment of women characters. I also love the aesthetic and think Big Shell is a really solid setting, I don't know if I prefer it over Shadow Moses but it hits the same notes while being very different.

Dead Cell is also a good set of bosses, I didn't have much issue with how any of them were fought and was engaged throughout when I fought them, an issue I had with MGS1 was that the bosses aside from their personality kinda fell flat for me gamewise (exceptions being Vulcan Raven and Sniper Wolf, some of Liquid Snake)

Overall, the other Metal Gears have some tough competition.