Final Letdown XIII

So I am (around) halfway through Final Fantasy XIII with a total time of 10 hours and 36 minutes. I have just found out that the so-far extremely linear game will continue for the next 40-90 hours as there is no world map, no shops, no explorable globe of any kind. This was a massive letdown for me as being able to free roam was one of the greatest parts of the past Final Fantasy games. This joined with the fact of poorly developed characters that come across as more irritating than mysterious, the worst soundtrack of the Final Fantasy collection, shops that are in floating save points (harbouring millions of items in 'nothingness'), no primary enemy to work your way towards beating and sometimes the odd cutscene thrown in that seems completely pointless makes the game the worst of the series. I would not recommend this game to many people, unless you primarily enjoy the battle system.