Apologize if a thread for this is up somewhere (I didn't see one)...

Though I am not playing it yet I am watching a friend enthusiastically going through the beginning...and (in my opinion so far) IT IS BOSS!!!

Graphics are amazing even between CGI and main game, Music Mixing is superb, and the voice acting is tolerable.  Character development wise...might be too early to tell but it's decent too.  Might be a little weird with the kid's portion (though as common to have the voice of Timmy Turner and Rikku in a VG or Anime again, she fits the attitude of Vanille), but otherwise it seems to be starting out alright (also gotta love the token black guy, Sazh; laugh riot).

...and this is just the first 2hrs at the very beginning of the game!  The battle system is neat too, though I sense it will get a little more complex as the game progress's (I haven't played Dissida or Crisis Core yet myself *no PSP* but I've seen them in action too and the battle system for 13 is supposedly going to start looking like a mixture of both of the them with its own little flare to spice it up and keep it somewhat simple).

Anyways, again; those are just my current thoughts from what I'm seeing here.

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I've been hearing a lot about this game. Too bad I can't play it. The only Final Fantasy game I have is Final Fantasy X.

I played it in Japanese, so I won't say a thing about the plot because I don't rightly know the details. Should play it in English.

It was pretty, but very linear. Go to point A, do this, watch cutscene, etc. Not a lot of NPC's or towns to explore, not much choice. It kinda opens up and becomes more Final Fantasy-ish after about 20 hours of gameplay, but it's still really streamlined for an RPG. The HD cutscenes were honestly amazing and so was the gameplay, but if visuals were everything then I'd love Avatar. Also, Hope's voice was annoying.

The battle system is really fast-paced and better than the previous games. You give certain characters certain roles, which you can switch in combat on the fly with role changes you set up beforehand. Each role for each character individually gets leveled up. Since you only control the lead character in a 3-person party, the role AI is really important for the others. It does alright, though by the end of the game it's really bad since you need smart support (casting one Cure on me when you could cast a full 4? While I'm dying!?) Commands themselves are stacked into slots to pull off combos. The amount you can do per turn is limited by a gauge that interestingly fills when you switch roles (in-story reason, I guess.) Summons can also be transformed/ridden by the summoner to give bonuses. I kinda missed the old battle complexity, but it's still fun.

Also, you don't earn money in battles for some reason, only from chests or selling things. Why? I was constantly broke and couldn't level my weapons!

EDIT: But it was still really fun! For a playable movie, that is I jest, go play it if you can.

That's pretty much how I'm seeing this game, a playable movie.  That's still fun for me since I tend to be more interested in the story than the battle for most RPG games.

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That's pretty much how I'm seeing this game, a playable movie.

That's the same thing everybody said about a game called Heavy Rain.

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This game is just AMAZING. The graphics are just beautiful. The battles are back on form. The music is brilliant and im really enjoying the story (Lightning is so badass.).

Im at chapter six now. thats about 12 hrs? Squeenix have really made up for the piece of crap that is FFXII

Haven't played it yet but seems like almost every revew I read mentions the fact that the story isn't that great...which for me is the most important thing in a rpg and the main reason I play them.

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It's a great game but there are definite flaws. I attribute this to the new engine (i.e. battle system and such). If they take what they've learned here and polish it for a future FF, it would earn a solid 10. But currently it is not perfect. There are various imbalances in this game and the pacing is passable. *just my very brief two cents*

Anyway, about 28 hours in at the start of Chapter 10 with all available Crystarium Expansions maxed out with several thousand spare CP left.

Wow so far I'm wanting to play this game. I've always been a big fan of FF and with what I've heard so far this one is going to be great.

I only got to play the first hour or two, but it was amazing! The battle system, the music, the graphics, and the story, ALL AMAZING! I would recommend it to all who are into rpgs.

This game is just AMAZING. The graphics are just beautiful. The battles are back on form. The music is brilliant and im really enjoying the story (Lightning is so badass.).

Im at chapter six now. thats about 12 hrs? Squeenix have really made up for the piece of crap that is FFXII

There was a XII? Funny, seems to me that they just skipped from X to XIII. 

Anyway, enough about the games that don't exist. We got FF XIII opening night for the PS3, and my roommate spent the first 5 or so hours playing every fight that he could, and then, we found out that you couldn't even LEVEL yet, so it was all for nothing but items, which was pretty funny. I recently started playing it myself on an account of my own, since up until then I'd just been watching my roommate, and I gotta say, although I love the game, and it IS fun, I actually think I enjoyed watching someone else actually play it, rather than play it myself. You miss a lot when you're focused on surviving, and I'm honestly not very good at it at all.  Plus, I'm more in it for the story and stuff anyway. The soundtrack is kickass though, and the graphics are downright amazing, and although the characters don't seem all that deep, they're all pretty easy to grow to really like or dislike as intended (especially Vanille, who we all really liked right off the bat), and the whole package, to me, is pretty damn good quality overall. I'm no professional critic, but I'd give it at LEAST a 9.5 out of 10.

Also, as a side note, I gotta make mention how surprised I was that Leona Lewis was the one who sung the music from the trailers I keep seeing. I'm not usually a fan of her music and that kind of slow song stuff, but DANG! I was looking around the net after seeing the latest commercials, and my jaw pretty much hit the ground when I saw that 1. The song was by an artist who was (is?) popular here in America, and 2. The song that I thought was so awesome sounding was by an artist that my little SISTER loved, and who I'd gotten sick and tired of hearing when she sang to the music in her room back at my parents' place a year or so back with her speakers on full blast, and my room just 10 feet away.

Kinda glad though, in the end, since it just means that, for once, I can get a song from a video game I like on iTunes, without having to hunt it down online to see where I can get a copy of the single. 

EDIT: But it was still really fun! For a playable movie, that is I jest, go play it if you can.

Is it as bad as Metal Gear Solid 4? I timed one cutscene: 20 minutes!

Anyway, I hope they release some sort of demo, or at least one of my friends buys it so I can borrow it to try it out.

i started playing this game not that long ago and am only at the end of chapter 4 but there have neen quite a few long cut scenes. also is there anyone else besides me that reads all of the datalog entries?

Is it as bad as Metal Gear Solid 4? I timed one cutscene: 20 minutes!

The cutscenes actually aren't that long. There's a large number of them though, stacked together they'd be formidable to MGS4. The battles between cutscenes in the beginning are kinda there to remind you that it's a game. Also, due to the language barrier, I kept on using autobattle. And once I switched to manual, I barely remembered what was what and had to observe more autobattle until I got the gist written on scrap paper *facepaw*

I played a few hours though it takes about 20 to "get out of midgar" and finally have a bit of an option as to where you want to go I'll agree it's definitely a game that is probably more enjoyable to watch than play at least at first (I was playing a friends copy) The cutscenes are long but luckily you can skip all of them which is a major bonus if you forget to save like I do >.> though they throw tons of save points in the way in the beginning as well hehe. Liked the battle system needing to keep on top of which classes are needed when and switching to the appropriate formation was a bit tricky at first but I got the hang of it a lot quicker than my buddy did finishing that boss on my first try (he got pwned two turns into it 3 times in a row).

Overall I liked it though I won't be getting it since all I have is my PC and a DS and well I can't afford new games lol unless they're indie or on sale for cheap.