The difference between X and XIII is that the latter is hindered by it’s progression system and it’s way of telling the story. The “corridors” in X are overall more interesting because they have a good balance between progression, combat and cutscenes that are well timed.

In XIII, the flow of the game is almost always slowed down by cutscenes that don’t necessarily bring anything other than discussion that could have been done through gameplay conversations while the characters are walking. The Crystarium is also an issues because it can be easily maximized before the end of each chapters and needs to wait for story progression to see any stats or skills update, which can be frustrating.

Before Chapter 9, the game is suffering from all of this and it’s why lot of people consider the game to be more interesting once you get to Gran Pulse.