Except I never really complained about inputting the same attacks or whatever. If I had, I probably wouldn't have gotten into RPG's in the first place. As for the XIII thing, it was only weird to get used to. Only had a problem with it when I lose a boss battle, and have to restart and since the AI doesn't retain the knowledge of the failed fight, they do the wrong magic commands again...slight annoying, but gives you the urge to get it right the first damn time.
And I don't mind the lack of love arcs (pretty much the premier thing that annoyed me about VIII), but the arc itself seemed...listless. I can deal with it somewhat if at least the characters are fine, but again...I don't think they really stood out all too much, outside of bad ways. Vaan goes without saying. Basch wasn't very different from a Steve Rogers type, only with a bit of a wisdom role too. Balthier's cool, but I don't see him as any more special as any other cool/anti-hero/swag types in other games. And so on. I didn't really feel any actual character development, which is crucial in a RPG, or at least a FF game.
The Open World was fine, I liked the open world, but shit got brutal. Too much grinding, now let me explain. When you play a RPG, mostly a JRPG, you're going in knowing, somewhere down the line, grinding's gonna be happening. I felt like I had to do it much too often in the game. I shouldn't have to spend as much of the game grinding as actually progressing through the story. That probably didn't help my disposition towards the story either.