[DarkMaster]

Lots of RPGs now offer full healing after battles, or at save points. Chrono Cross was one of the best games of all time in my opinion and it offered healing after battles, which really just made it less annoying, not less difficult.

From what I've gathered of FFXIII's combat system, it's designed to be made more challenging depending on the skill level of the player, like if you're blowing through battles like nothing the enemies will progressively get harder. And apparently boss battles were designed to be specifically hard for this game because of a system that they implemented where you can retry a boss battle right after you die. Also I think "exp" and rewards are determined by a rank you receive at the end of each battle which calculates your performance, so if you did terrible and need a lot of healing at the end of a battle, you'll receive not so great rewards, and vice versa.

Basically it's a system that claims it'll hold your hand if you want it too, but greatly encourages you to play better.