As an FFXIII fan, I can say with all honesty - he's pretty much spot on *for the first 5 hours*. The characters are just dysfunctional but they get way more interesting - as his friend said - 20 hours in. The linear pathing also dissapears around then.
If you don't enjoy the linear part - you are probably going to be sick of it within 5 hours. I don't think I'd be able to stand replaying the game for that reason, it takes far too long to kick off really.
I still enjoyed the game mind, but he hit all the flaws head on. It gets better later is a pretty crap defense for a game.