It's pretty bad.  Definetly not unplayable, but framerate drops in exploration mode are frequent, especially in Nautilus and Gran Pulse.  Combat is still responsive and smooth, thankfully.  Cutscenes are a mixed bag -- they seem to range from what looks like slightly uprezzed YouTube videos to beautiful HD CG (My TV is running it at 720p so I'm not the person to ask about how it looks in 1080).  All three discs are installed to the hard drive and loading times are pretty short.  My brief experience with the PS3 version at a friend's apartment and from PS3 owners I've spoken to online have made me pine for a system capable of doing FFXIII justice, although with the shitty characters, story, and voice acting, I'm not kicking myself too hard.   
 
For me at least, the only reason to play FFXIII is the combat, which is brilliant and addictive once you log 20+ hours into the main game (aka tutorial).  If you have a choice, definetly go PS3, but if you're interested in the game for things that aren't the amazing combat, you probably won't like it, unless you are okay at marveling at the cutscenes from a Michael Bay level.     
 
Edit: I would like to stress, even though I mentioned it in the above post, that I have never had any framerate drops or problems DURING COMBAT.  All issues have occured during exploration mode and during the cutscenes.  I would also like to stand by my "uprezzed YouTube video" statement, as whenever I see vaguely pixelized rainbow sludge pools in a game that is supposed to be pushing graphical boundaries, I may resort to cases of mild hyperbole.

( I'm not the person to ask about how it looks in 1080)

I never once has a slow-down in my gameplay. I do agree that some of the CGI doesn't look that great, I think calling it 'slightly uprezzed YouTube video' is a pretty far stretch, but you can defiantly notice some grain, while other videos seem to be perfect.

Can't say I saw frequent drops in framerate on the 360, myself, and I never even installed it to the Hard drive (though I'm not even sure that matters). I do agree with cutscenes being a mixed bag.

I'm 80 hours in now and it's fine. I don't care about the cutscenes because lets face it, the cutscenes were probably around 2 hours of those 80 that I logged.
 
Also, the final cutscene isn't compressed like the others. I just watched it last night and it was the first thing I noticed.  
 
I didn't see many frequent framerate drops either. It was there on Gran Pulse (only in the Central Expanse) but it goes away if you're in the area for a few minutes. Not a big deal at all.  
 
There was never, ever any slowdown in the combat though and that is impressive. That's what people should be worried about - not the freaking cutscenes.

I haven't had any problems or noticed anything bad.

" i dton get the issue to be honest.  Yeah teh cutscenes may not be quite as good as the PS3 version but they still look epic and awesome.  "

 Im not getting the issue either.  Im not seeing anything wrong with the 360 version.  I do own a PS3 but its not reading discs at the moment so I got the 360 version. I did not install the discs because I heard somewhere that it really didnt make a difference for load times.  I think the load times are quick ,( but I did just finish playing Mass Effect 2 which had very long and multiple load times).
 
I have over 20 hrs in this game.  I just got to the part in the game where everyone has finally come together and you can pick your battle team. I have a 32 in. HD TV and my 360 is hooked up using the component  cables.  Is my TV not good enough to notice the graphic problems?  If I had never read these forums I wouldn't even know there was a difference.  I do think that some PS3 games look slightly better but i have that hooked up with HDMI. 

"@SilenceUK said:

" i dton get the issue to be honest.  Yeah teh cutscenes may not be quite as good as the PS3 version but they still look epic and awesome.  "

That depends on the TV you use. I sit fairly close in front of a 37" 1080p TV. Final Fantasy XIII's cutscenes look worse than an upscaled DVD image, and worse than digital TV. They look considerably worse than the actual gameplay. This IS a serious issue for a game that consists to 1/3 of FMV.  It is annoying, and makes you frown everytime you notice that a cutscene is FMV instead of realtime for NO REASON(!).   This is what makes it even worse: The fact that half of the time, there isn't even any apparent reason for this particular cutscene to be FMV instead of ingame. "

The fact that you say "hardly any of the game is FMV" and that you don't notice the huge difference makes me wonder what is wrong with your setup, actually.
 

I agree that the pic on the left looks bad but my TV and 360 dont look like that.  Its my opinion that its just fine on the 360.  I would have played it on the PS3 if I could but these comparisons are way off. 

FPS drops are pretty common in FFXIII during gameplay. Some people don't notice those types of things, but if you're into PC gaming a lot, it's easy to tell when the FPS takes a dive.

" FPS drops are pretty common in FFXIII during gameplay. Some people don't notice those types of things, but if you're into PC gaming a lot, it's easy to tell when the FPS takes a dive. "

Agreed. Can't wait until all the Final Fantasy fanboys/apologists swarm this thread. The game is garbage and horribly designed. It is overrated as well.
 
If this was called JRPG #13 people would call this game out for what it is: a horribly designed piece of shit.

@Meowayne: Dude stop trying to get people to agree with you, you've posted that and other pictures so many times in other threads.

" @Talesavo said:

" FPS drops are pretty common in FFXIII during gameplay. Some people don't notice those types of things, but if you're into PC gaming a lot, it's easy to tell when the FPS takes a dive. "

If it's not noticeable, why should it matter? 
 
@Meowayne: Dude stop trying to get people to agree with you, you've posted that and other pictures so many times in other threads. People have shown that they aren't distracted by the video compression and that it's not a game-changing factor. "

" @Talesavo said:

" FPS drops are pretty common in FFXIII during gameplay. Some people don't notice those types of things, but if you're into PC gaming a lot, it's easy to tell when the FPS takes a dive. "

If it's not noticeable, why should it matter? 
 
@Meowayne: Dude stop trying to get people to agree with you, you've posted that and other pictures so many times in other threads. People have shown that they aren't distracted by the video compression and that it's not a game-changing factor. "

" @xyzygy said:

@Meowayne: Dude stop trying to get people to agree with you, you've posted that and other pictures so many times in other threads. People have shown that they aren't distracted by the video compression and that it's not a game-changing factor. "

People who have no real argument stick with one they think works :( "

• I am playing the 360 version at the moment
• I do not even own a PS3
• I am enjoying myself and I plan to finish the game
• I have posted this picture a total number of 2 times.

who do you play a "bad" game for 50+ hours?

I don't really know what the point of this thread is.  Everyone's already said it - it makes a big enough difference that you should buy the PS3 version but if you don't have a PS3, don't buy one just to play the game.

"

It's pretty bad.  Definetly not unplayable, but framerate drops in exploration mode are frequent, especially in Nautilus and Gran Pulse.  Combat is still responsive and smooth, thankfully.  Cutscenes are a mixed bag -- they seem to range from what looks like slightly uprezzed YouTube videos to beautiful HD CG (My TV is running it at 720p so I'm not the person to ask about how it looks in 1080).  All three discs are installed to the hard drive and loading times are pretty short.  My brief experience with the PS3 version at a friend's apartment and from PS3 owners I've spoken to online have made me pine for a system capable of doing FFXIII justice, although with the shitty characters, story, and voice acting, I'm not kicking myself too hard.   
 
For me at least, the only reason to play FFXIII is the combat, which is brilliant and addictive once you log 20+ hours into the main game (aka tutorial).  If you have a choice, definetly go PS3, but if you're interested in the game for things that aren't the amazing combat, you probably won't like it, unless you are okay at marveling at the cutscenes from a Michael Bay level.     
 
Edit: I would like to stress, even though I mentioned it in the above post, that I have never had any framerate drops or problems DURING COMBAT.  All issues have occured during exploration mode and during the cutscenes.  I would also like to stand by my "uprezzed YouTube video" statement, as whenever I see vaguely pixelized rainbow sludge pools in a game that is supposed to be pushing graphical boundaries, I may resort to cases of mild hyperbole.

"

 

Constantly switching the discs is also a bitch too I presume? "

I love the combat in FFXIII, it borrows a lot of elements from other games I like.  It doesn't however borrow some of the parts I find most valuable, like the AI and spell priority refinements you can make to your party in the Tales games.  The weapons and accessories are pretty underwhelming, would've liked to see more "chance on hit/chance on heal" type procs to make things more exciting.   

" @SilenceUK said:

" i dton get the issue to be honest.  Yeah teh cutscenes may not be quite as good as the PS3 version but they still look epic and awesome.  "

That depends on the TV you use. I sit fairly close in front of a 37" 1080p TV. Final Fantasy XIII's cutscenes look worse than an upscaled DVD image, and worse than digital TV. They look considerably worse than the actual gameplay. This IS a serious issue for a game that consists to 1/3 of FMV.  It is annoying, and makes you frown everytime you notice that a cutscene is FMV instead of realtime for NO REASON(!).   This is what makes it even worse: The fact that half of the time, there isn't even any apparent reason for this particular cutscene to be FMV instead of ingame. "

As long as I'm not playing a newly released game in 8-bit I am perfectly ok with graphics nowadays.  Seriously it has just become nit picking at this point.