I'm torn in my feelings about the XIII trilogy. Ultimately, I ended up enjoying them and getting into the world, but the flaws were apparent enough to keep me from placing it in my favorites.

In XIII, I was irked by how damn linear it was--seems to be the most common complaint about the game. Sure, most Final Fantasies are linear in their own right, but this installment left me feeling very boxed in without much opportunity for customization and exploration. Even when I got to Gran Pulse, I didn't feel like I was exploring a new world. Just that I was running from point to point along a predetermined line with occasional "sidequests" that follow the irksome formula of "find crystal, find monster, kill monster, turn in." The first few marks were fun, but it got tiresome. The lack of character customization through the distressingly linear Crystogenesis system was disappointing, and the battles--though occasionally challenging--made me feel like I was just hammering the X button over and over.

XIII-2 improved on a lot of these flaws and let me feel more involved in the game and the story. However, the "feel" of the world wasn't quite up my alley, and the lack of a party in exchange for a recruitment system was a bit of a let down. The battles were much more fun, but the game felt like more of a spinoff than a sequel. Also, the story started to unravel and ended up crushing my suspension of disbelief, with heaps of deus ex machinae and "it happens this way because we said so" moments cropping up frequently.

Lightning Returns was my favorite, as I felt much, much more involved in a world that felt lush and realistic, instead of just a series of hallways and areas that felt short-lived and forced. The time limit system was worrisome at first, but I learned to like the day/night cycles and the Eradia system that kept the game flowing. Still makes me wish I had more time to freely explore instead of hastily rushing from quest to quest, but it was much more engaging. Additionally, the battle system was spot on--action-oriented, engaging, and most importantly, fun. The costume system seemed like fanservice at first glance, but quickly revealed itself to be a wonderfully customizable "class" system that let me play how I wanted, instead of being forced into whatever predetermined class each character was in the first game. It worked its way up to be one of my favorites, even though I find the story laughably nonsensical, overdramatic, and forgettable. I encourage interested friends who haven't played the first two games to just skip the cutscenes--the game still flows well, and the story is enough of an afterthought that you don't end up feeling like you missed anything important.

Last time I posted my opinions on the XIII trilogy on this board, a few replies encouraged me to go kill myself. Please don't do that again, /r/finalfantasy.