The game is finally out after about 1 year of being released in Japan. This game will elicit obvious comparisons to monster hunter and while there are similarities they are two very different games. The game charges you with being an explorer, trying to obtain crystals which have become a source of power in the game world. Shortly after crash landing on the island due to everyone's favorite dragon, the player is equipped with a weapon, some armor and a few quests to get the lay of the land. Unlike monster hunter this game has one huge interconnected map which can be traversed initially only by foot but within a short while you are given an airship to instantly warm to certain parts. It ranges from lakes, volcanoes, meadows and underground ice caverns. What this games lets you do is pick from any of the job classes many are familiar with, including warrior, thief, white mage, black mage, etc. The job classes can be easily switched are there are a multitude; while you initially start with 3 basic ones [warrior, white mage, black mage] the game lets you take quests to unlock more. Each job is limited to specific types of skills e.g black mage is limited to black magic etc. The draw of the game is letting the player experience these in real time and let you essentially roleplay as many of the series heroes and villains via armor sets and weapons, which do look nice [an early example is sephiroth's armor set]. One annoying problem I have with the game however, is the tediousness of the quests at times. To obtain sephiroth's armor set you must obtain 10 of an item that is a quest reward for one particular quest. This is not good design, and in my eyes, is a cheap way of adding "gameplay". Most quests are gathering/hunting and the monsters are varied. There are a lot of things to fight. Monsters occasionally drop atmaliths, or their souls, for you to reanimate and take into the field as companions. These are vital, and in many cases they will do more damage than you. The level up and become stronger. It is also possible to summon too! Overall the game is fun, and there is multiplayer but you are limited to the latest quest done among all players. Higher level players will be limited to doing only quests that the lowest level have done which is tedious and annoying [but there's always a choice, so I can't just ding them on that]. The game is fun for short bursts but I can't bring myself to sit down for a long time and grind away. Some may be able to do that and sometimes I may decide I feel like doing so but right now, there's too high of an opportunity cost. Have fun!