On the Final Fantasy stuff:
As much as I love Final Fantasy VIII, especially the storyline and the characters, both the Draw and Junction systems were really badly realised. They're both good ideas, they're just implemented in the worst possible way. The Junction system wouldn't be so bad if it was dependent on the power of a spell as opposed to how many of them you have stocked, and the Draw system wouldn't be so bad if it gave you scores of spells at a time. The former would mean that you wouldn't feel a need to have the max. number of each spell at all times, and the latter would mean that you could draw enough of a spell for it to be useful without needing to spend ages doing so. Such a simple fix. But the game is still amazing, my favourite in the series.
As for Final Fantasy XIII, that game is all about the battle-system. If you like the battle-system, the whole Paradigm Shift mechanic that they use, then you'll enjoy the game. There is actually a lot of strategy that goes into fighting battles in that game if you want to get through in an efficient manner, especially since some of the bosses are total bullet sponges if you're not playing optimally. For that reason (and for the reason that I made it so that the auto-battle command wasn't at the top of the command list, allowing me to easily select my commands manually, which I highly recommend), I did actually enjoy the game. But I would've enjoyed it a lot more if you were given more freedom faster; the "tutorial" section for that game is hours long before you get full access to everything you're able to do in the game, and I can't blame people for disliking that. I didn't mind the "linear" nature of the game because I don't feel it's anywhere near as bad as some people make out once you get out of the "tutorial" area I mentioned.
That said, if it was an amateur game that I had gotten for free instead of a game I'd paid cash for, I'd probably not have given the game a chance to redeem how bad that "tutorial" section it. A similar thing happened with Kingdom Hearts II, which also has a pointlessly long opening segment.
EDIT:
Honestly Amy, that sounds like an awesome idea for an arcade game... but I've never played it so I couldn't comment on how well it works! Someone should remake it, only without the formula one cars and instead with monsters chasing a hero who is trying to collect gold or something =P