OK, I finished FFXIII this weekend. Not one of the better titles in the series, and the significant influence from X was unwelcome. Seems like a review should be a comparison to X, since these two games are much different game designs than the rest of the series.
Cyrstarium was mildly better than the Sphere Grid, both ultimately gave you next to no options until later in the game similarly to Sphere Grid. Yeah, the international Sphere Grid, which I have not been able to use, sounds the best of all three, though. As is, both just looked like wild structures for you to develop as you desire, but ultimately you have next to no choices to make.
The straight path was made much less obnoxious by eliminating random battles, having at least a little more variety, and consistent team/location switching in the first 6 or so chapters. The maps posted online were a bit of a joke fpr the first few chapters, you switch so often that it feels more like you're just facing a bunch of rooms in succession, not a straight line. You paste a bunch of small rectangles together and of course you get a straight line. Unlike X, which was most of the game, the tedium didn't sink in to get to you until maybe chapters 7-10.
The Calm Lands were a joke, pretty much just a fat path with a cave under the bridge, but Gran Pulse actually offered some exploration and uncovering extra cut scenes/story elements. Chapter 11 was a big factor in saving this games from the depths of Final Fantasy bottom feeders. First thing I did when getting to the open land, at my wife's behest and my own desire, was attack one of those gigantic creatures, it amused both of us how we died instantly.
The battle system was mostly enjoyable, but Paradigm control just wasn't quite enough. XII had gambits plus the ability to control everything if you needed or wanted to. At least basic gambits would have been nice, what spells do I prefer, etc. At least it was an active system, and the ratings really helped it along. I kind of like the idea of doing better gets better rewards as well as just having a rating, gives you something to strive for even in common battles. I personally liked the leader death caveat, annoyed me at first, but it was an interesting twist for one game.
Music, I personally like XII and XIII for in game music, but as standalone soundtracks I'm sure they're pretty boring. XII was much better than XIII here(and almost everywhere else).
My rankings would be:
II
XII
IX
IV
VII
III
XIII
I
VIII
X
Poll