I just started playing it last night.
Graphically, it STUNNING. I like the menus, the interface, the simple play style and the fact that it seems easy for new players to adapt to. I like Lightnnig quite a bit, but think Zazh is a stupid character design. I don't like the 'nervous, panicky' character type. It just comes off as annoying.
Dude, you got guns, you rock a 'fro and a chocobo lives in your hair. Why are you panicking about ANYTHING?
Also, not digging the high technology. I don't HATE it, but it all feels played out. At least it's visual style didn't evoke memories of Episode One the way XII did when I fired it up.
From what I understand, the gameplay gets monotonous until about 25 hours in. Crazy. Can I last that long? We'll see.
I liked it. What happens is that the game doesn't actually open everything up to you until about that far in, which is kind of annoying.
Yeah, Sazh is probably the worst or second worst character next to Snow. Though that dumb kid that always whines is annoying as hell, too. Though at least Lightning and Fang are both pretty cool.
The gameplay is really solid, IMO, makes up for most stuff.
As far as the graphics go, I played it on the 360, and that version looks terrible, really. It was compressed to hell in the translation, really honestly wish I had played the PS3 version. Look at comparison shots of the cinematics, in particular, to see just how bad it really was. The textures are also really bad.
But overall, not sonic is right, the lead platform is the one that's normally going to look better, and that's often the 360 version. Thankfully, more and more companies seem willing to put resources into both versions of their titles now, and both come out looking awesome, ala Modern Warfare 2.