Omg yes! Some of those are my reasons for struggling to get through FFXIII. For the story, it's like they're talking, but often they're saying anything really that interesting [I'm sure their conversations often consist of Cocoon, Serah, Pulse, Grand Pulse, L'Cie, Fal'Cie, Cieth, SERAAAAH!] the concept is there, the set up on the characters is there, but for the most part, I'm not enjoying it. They're throwing all these beautiful visuals, showing the tough things these 6 characters have to go through, and I'm barely invested :'(
Though FFX had lineage [come on, running down long paths. I dreaded every single one of them] it's story and characters were interesting, and I wanted to keep playing to find out what happened. For FFX-2...eeeer...I'm just going to pretend there was an extented ending where Yuna sung 1000 words for no reason and met Tidus afterwards, THE END
But honestly Chancey, from someone who's played both XIII and XIII-2 games, I'd recommend giving FFXIII-2 a go, even just the demo. Noel and Serah are likable, the plot moved along at the right pace, and the problems and that the gameplay got fixed. And the story ISN'T bad. It can get a little confusing, but I found it a lot more involving than XIII. Trust me, this game might have flaws, but it friggin does the job a hell of a lot better than XIII. It's the most recent Final Fantasy title since FFX that I've really enjoyed playing and that's been me over 10 years in waiting.
That and the Live Triggers can be funny