Finished this today. It's not actually that long (I took around 35 hours to Plat it; it's a very easy Platinum for those interested in that kind of thing), I've just been playing other stuff alongside it. I really enjoyed it though. There are a plethora of niggles mostly related to the original platform the game was developed for, but also some annoying design decisions (I HATE bosses that can't be beaten on a first playthrough, especially for a time-sink JRPG, and a last boss that it is impossible to fail against
), but overall I think the benefits are rewarding enough to endure such niggles.
It gets
really dark at times. I love the whole concept of people not being able to remember the dead. It's a depressing world, one that reminded me a lot of Neon Genesis Evangelion (particularly the final boss battle and the boss' diatribe before the encounter). I really warmed to the massive cast of characters too, and whilst mostly stereotypes, I found them all much more enjoyable than many a mainline entry into the series. I enjoyed the vocal cast too (I played through using the original language option).
There are still many dangling threads (
The doctor and the cadets, whose past seems like there could be shades of Final Fantasy 7), and I'd love a sequel, for the current generation of home consoles and with Hajime Tabata helming it. I actually have a lot of faith in Final Fantasy XV now, Tabata crafted something far more interesting from XIII's world than the mainline entries ever did. They handled the L'cie stuff far more deftly than XIII, it's just much simpler and clearer.
That stupid magic only part of the final dungeon still winds me up though
.