HYPE!!!
Decent music, fine presentation, realistic voice acting, graphics are superb for both realtime and CG, and the plot was set up to be a great one.
Sadly though, the game was not there in the story department, which is a must for any Final Fantasy game to be so different from other games of the genre. What you expect in this story, if there is one, will happen and nothing surprising ever happens during the entire game.
You will often find yourself training too long and traveling too long, apparently Sqaure's attempt to claim long playtime, but that's a cheap shot. This is the first FF that I found to be sadly lacking any reason to care for the plot and most of the characters. You will be far more interested in hearing what Balthier says next or what Cid is up to without even remembering your characters exist.
Final Fantasy XIII has best to get this right.