Y'all know what's up. XIII-2 was pure ass compared to XIII. All of the "improvements" were so superficial and phoned-in. You can't just give me a circle to run around in and some boring fetch quests and call that "exploration." And lest we forget those pathetic "puzzles," and the fanfiction-tier logic bomb that was the story. Ugh.
I appreciated Final Fantasy XIII and I still do. I might not be as lenient with the lack of gameplay variety as I used to be, but its more straightforward approach really resonated with my 15-year-old self after I had become disillusioned with older JRPG design tropes. I've come back around on the rest of the series since then, but I have nothing but fond memories of playing XIII. The story, characters, and battle system really sucked me in, and I remember feeling like the "slow burn" pacing of the story was pretty effective given its emphasis on the characters' perception of their situation. I hear a lot of complaints about the writing, but I remember it being fine. Maybe I just wasn't as critical of that kind of stuff back then.
I'm not sure if XIII will ever be vindicated by history, though. It's such an unorthodox game, definitely a far cry from what most people want and expect from an RPG, and the lack of any sort of variation in the level design would be a major turnoff to most people. I understand why it didn't resonate widely, but I've always been a fan.