I've been pushing myself to finish FF13. I'm just starting to get into it and I will stand with you in saying that it's not terrible. It's actually pretty fun once you commit yourself to it.

Personally i think it's great. However there comes a point where if you try to 100% the game, you get to a certain point in doing the mission stones that you will have to stop and CP grind. even with the special item that doubles the points you get, it still takes hours and can get really tedious.

Ahhh but that's what I miss in FF. I play Dark Souls for the challenge, Soul Calibur for the VS battle, Fallout for guns, and homie? I play FF for the grind.

Then your in luck, i spent so many hours farming the little cactuars. if you let them grow a couple times before you hit them, its 10k cp each. good luck on finishing the game.

Every FF I've ever played has the 99:99:99 cap on it. I wear that with pride. 100% it is going to be a bitch though.

A little tip would be that the best party (according to the guide) is fang, lightning and hope.

I roll with Vanille, Lightning, then BL as Sazh. It's not the safest due to the lack of a sentinel, but it's high-risk high-reward. If everything goes right each battle doesn't even last a minute.

Thats a good party for grinding, however during the later missions like 51, 64 and during a long gui fight, a sentinel is vital. Even with 3 sentinels out and all having hp over 10k-15k, a long gui can wreck havock on you. It dosen't matter too much as after the game, all roles are avaliable to all characters.