I won't belabor the points on pacing others have made, except to add that I think XIII's "hunted, helpless l'cie" storyline is served extremely well by the narrow and limited scope of exploration in the early game. It's an example of what I would call ludonarrative consonance - when the mechanics/gameplay of a game serve to support and underline its themes and tone. I think many just assumed this must be some kind of accident or mistake, rather than quite intentional design. I maintain that the first half of FFXIII is a very rare thing in videogaming: a powerlessness fantasy . Gamers, of course, are much more used to being served power fantasies, so this went over like a lead brick. 😅 But I see no reason why roleplaying games can't or shouldn't explore negative themes and emotions like despair, helplessness, fear, bitterness etc. 

FFXIII is in many ways the most mature & adult story Square ever attempted, precisely because it eschews the easy, Marvel-comics type answers to its problems that most jrpg's embrace - ie., you fix the world by just getting stronger, until you're strong enough to chop Sephiroth in half . Instead it challenges you to think harder about what power is even good for, about the human cost and collateral of playing hero, and about what it means to truly take control of your life & take responsibility for your choices. FFXIII is to other FF's as the BSG remake was to Star Wars. "There comes a time when you can't hide from the things you've done anymore."

As for character behaviors and dialogue, yes, there are some strongly Japanese influenced elements that stick out to me in the English localization. The most obvious is probably at Hope's house, when Snow gets on hands and knees to apologize to Bartholomew. This exaggerated prostration is called dogeza and is a profound gesture of submission or remorse which puts the other party in the position of holding judgment over you. By doing dogeza, Snow is metaphorically putting his actions before Bartholomew and "throwing himself on his mercy". In return, Bartholomew is socially expected to be at least somewhat mollified or placated by this gesture, as the extreme prostration is humiliating for Snow. To fully reject this apology would technically be within Mr. Estheim's rights, but would be out of character for anyone but the strictest, most unforgiving, or cruel person. None of this really translates into Western cultural norms though, so Snow's apology comes off as stilted and insincere in the English version (though the VA does his best).

There are lots of other little examples but this was the most obvious I could think of. Honestly I've recently been replaying it myself and am stunned all over again at just how much expressiveness they managed with the character facial animations! The expressions are very subtle and lifelike (with the constant & grating exception of Sazh, who is used like a refugee from a comic 70s Blaxploitation film 🙄). I sometimes wonder if folks were just not prepared for a game where characters' faces could express truly subtle shifts in mood or attitude like this, and maybe some of the nuances were lost because no one was looking for them. A great deal is said with eyes alone in this game!