Appreciating FFXIII after all these years.

Holy crap. I've been playing through plenty of FF games, I played VI, IV, I, and part of VII in the past two or three months.

I had FFXIII on my xbox when it came out, but never got far enough into it (I mean like, I never got past when they first introduced the paradigm system essentially or crystarium)
I thought it was alright but understood the criticisms.
Getting older I kept getting the itch to finally go through it, and I finally just bit the bullet and tried it again a couple weeks ago...
36 hours in two weeks while working full time so far, and I'm not even halfway through the first game.
I am HOOKED.
Hallway simulator or not, it does open up over time.
The story starts melodramatic and I about quit the game over >!how many times Snow screamed SERAHHHH !<

But even then I loved it, the combat is so nice, the on rails gameplay is a wonderful change of pace compared to all the empty open world games out there. I'd rather a deliberately designed hallway simulator than an uninspired open world.

In fact, after looking forward so much to when the world opened up more from hallways, I find myself enjoying the hallways more.

It's a slow burn but I think this is becoming one of my top 3 Final Fantasy games of all time.
The character tropes irritated me at the beginning, but over time I started appreciating each one of them, even with their imperfect cringe moments.

Rambling and not really making a solid point here, but the game is way better than I gave it credit for, and the credit the reviews give it.
Just give it a fullhearted try if you haven't.