The game has a level cap for the first half of the game so you can only grind so much. It's moreso about learning different strategies with the Paradigm Shift than any bonuses from leveling. I always tried to unlock as much abilities as possible when I played each Chapter though.
Despite some of the silliness I loved it. Combat is too good and catching monsters is always fun.
It got a lot of hate online. People trashed it back in the day and it was mocked in the same way XIII was for the past few years. I've always enjoyed it though and the game sold really well for a sequel title. I think a lot have come around to it after realizing just how varied the gameplay is and how diverse (and fun) the battle system is. In my opinion, it is still the best ATB battle system in the series. Toriyama delivered. Don't expect anything too great from the story (and it IS interesting but they don't really fully develop everything that they could) but I enjoyed it for what it was and all the backstory it gave to Spira. It was interesting seeing how this world that had finally gotten "peace" were building their own factions and getting in fights with each other, since they didn't have a united enemy like Sin to rally behind.
