KingdomFantasyXIII said:
Movies and RPGs are completely different. Movies are just two hours to 1.5 hours long due to the fact that you don't control what happens in a movie, and you just watch what happens on the screen. Plus character development is very simplified in movies as well (the characters in the LOTR books are far more developed than their movie counterparts).
It's not valid to just say "I know exactly what is happening in 40 hour RPG when you have only played 5 hours". That is 1/8th of the time that is needed to understand what is going on, why that is happening, what the characters journeys are like and how does the game play.
Except it's completely valid because if a game does not grab you within four hours than clearly jack shit is happening. Heck, with some games that's half their running time. It gave him nothing to grab onto; no interesting characters, no underlying mystery, no interesting world to explore, nothing. Contrast this with previous entries in the series; within the first hour of FFIV you're given a clear task (go to village to deliver something), got introduced to some interesting characters in Kain, Cecil, and Rydia, and also have a surprise twist (why would someone burn said village to the ground/my country is up to something). FFVI was much the same way, giving the mystery of the Espers, having Terra and Locke set out on a journey to meet with the resistance, and of course seeing an interesting world filled with fascinating characters. And FFVII starts off with you blowing up a reactor. Exciting, but you're also learning about the setup (you again all-powerful, evil corporation) and learn a few things about Cloud and the people he's with (he's an ex-SOLDIER).
FFXIII does nothing so competently or interesting. It's just stuff happening, except we have no context for the stuff happening, mostly due to shitty story-telling as evidenced by vital exposition being relegated to an in-game dictionary instead of woven into the narrative properly. If a game's opening is so crap that it's painful than better to just chuck it instead of hoping it'll magically get better.