Fifteen-ish hours in, and the battle system just now clicked for me.
 
Learning how to use paradigms in order to manipulate the stagger bar has made combat insanely fun now. I am now calling myself a friggin' idiot for not getting this sooner, as some of the earlier parts would've gone a lot smoother with this knowledge. I guess I had to break myself from the oldschool Final Fantasy mantra of "find out X's weakness, and spam X until it dies. Heal as necessary." That doesn't fly here if you want combat to be swift, and come out of it with a good rating.  
 
Well, I'm a tard - so you don't need to tell me! Haha. So when did it "click" for you?
 
Now the spoilery bits. (Spoilers up to and including Chapter 5.)
 

Battle system, my first time through the game, probably clicked after that first boss fight near the end of Chapter 2, where you have to rapidly switch paradigms around to both stagger him and keep yourself alive with Medic.  The rest just seemed to layer on that concept.   
 
Story-wise, I liked it from chapter 3 or so, but I fell in love with it at Chapter 7 and 8.

25 hours in and nothing...
 
This game is so shit. Game designers need to look at FF13 as a great example of how not to make games.

I had that same "clicking" experience with the battle system, though I can't place when it happened exactly. I was yawning through the opening parts of the game, just like everyone else and then suddenly I was having a blast. The combat moves so much more swiftly and with a rhythm not found in many RPGs, it's actually FUN instead of just being a way to level up your characters. Now, if only the leveling up system within the classes was more free-form...

I'm in chapter 4 right now. Things are starting to get difficult now. I had a few retries before now. But most fights now are taking way longer than the par time.
 
I don't understand what makes the chain bar drop slower. Sometimes it's fine and i can get up to Stagger easily. Other times I just can't keep it up. Any help guys?

Battle system "clicked" by the end of chapter 3, though I was still learning more and improving throughout the next few chapters. Story-wise, while not to say it wasn't good before, chapter 7 was the moment where the story really hit the ground running for me.

Well for me it "clicked" where you get the paradigms and the story clicked for me as soon as the game opened with the absolutely gorgeous cinematic(lightning is a badass). I'm on chapter 11 now and it's reallly starting to be amazing, the quests as generic as they are is really a lot of fun. Grinding and getting experience to try to max out all of my characters is so much fun to me even though i loved how the story progressed chapters 1-10 this is where it officially "clicked" for me i think.

Story clicked at Nautilus park, but it's an on-and-off kinda thing.
 
Paradigm system clicked when Snow and Hope team up.

"Story-wise, I liked it from chapter 3 or so, but I fell in love with it at Chapter 7 and 8. "

" I'm in chapter 4 right now. Things are starting to get difficult now. I had a few retries before now. But most fights now are taking way longer than the par time.  I don't understand what makes the chain bar drop slower. Sometimes it's fine and i can get up to Stagger easily. Other times I just can't keep it up. Any help guys? "

" The first time you use the paradigm shift, I lost the fight. "

Combat wise, it was the first post-paradigm shift boss fight.  The fight felt like a giant exclamation mark demanding I learn to start shifting builds, and Crystal Rain made that point painfully (literally) clear.
 
Story wise, I've liked the plot to it all along, but the end of Nautilus was the moment.  Sazh and his motivations are the greatest things ever.

" Sazh and his motivations are the greatest things ever. "

On a side note, Eidolons are seriously far more fun than they have the right to be.  They look awesome, can't be spammed and thus feel like dramatic turn-the-tide style events, and, no longer being just glorified AOE spells, are incredibly fun to use.

" @Blitzer said:

" I'm in chapter 4 right now. Things are starting to get difficult now. I had a few retries before now. But most fights now are taking way longer than the par time.  I don't understand what makes the chain bar drop slower. Sometimes it's fine and i can get up to Stagger easily. Other times I just can't keep it up. Any help guys? "

Commandos will make the chain bar drop slower.  Also, use Libra on every new enemy you encounter, as finding their weaknesses and hitting them with that makes the chain gauge spike higher. What I tend to do now, I have two characters in my party (avoiding spoilers).   - Start with Commando / Ravager and build the gauge a bit  - Switch back to Commando / Ravager if the gauge starts dropping faster to re-slow it down  - Switch back and forth between Com/Rav and Rav/Rav as needed.  - Switch to Ravager / Ravager and stagger  - Switch to Commando / Ravager for damage while staggered.   Throw in the obvious Medic paradigms in there, and the buffing / debuffing with a Synergist or Saboteur. The whole chain gauge bar is what I meant when I say it "clicked" for me. Haha. I knew how to switch Paradigms swiftly and whatnot, but realizing how to manipulate that chain bar makes things so much funner. "

once I decided not to buy it

I've been enjoying the battle system through the first 2 disks, but when it really started to shine for me (it had already been clicking, I like it and get it), was during Chapter 6 or 7 when Snow and Hope were fighting together against the huge enemy motorcycle's who used the "Gatling gun" attack. When you saw that attack charging up and you have to immediately change to a Paradigm with Sentinel and Provoke and Guard as fast as you could so the attack wouldn't kill you or Hope. Those battle's definitely felt awesome and strategic.

I thought it had clicked in Nautllus Park, that's  when the story started getting really interesting (around the 17 hour mark?),   But,  I just got to Fifth Ark and now I'm starting to have doubts again.  The constant battles make me feel exhausted after a while :P  I really want to like the game, but it doesn't look like it's happening...

I started loving it the first time I had three party members and started juggling the paradigms. Fucking sweet.

Also that scene where Snow rides the Shiva-cycle in Chapter 7 was a "hell yes" moment

" @Moridin said:

" @Blitzer said:

" I'm in chapter 4 right now. Things are starting to get difficult now. I had a few retries before now. But most fights now are taking way longer than the par time.  I don't understand what makes the chain bar drop slower. Sometimes it's fine and i can get up to Stagger easily. Other times I just can't keep it up. Any help guys? "

Commandos will make the chain bar drop slower.  Also, use Libra on every new enemy you encounter, as finding their weaknesses and hitting them with that makes the chain gauge spike higher. What I tend to do now, I have two characters in my party (avoiding spoilers).   - Start with Commando / Ravager and build the gauge a bit  - Switch back to Commando / Ravager if the gauge starts dropping faster to re-slow it down  - Switch back and forth between Com/Rav and Rav/Rav as needed.  - Switch to Ravager / Ravager and stagger  - Switch to Commando / Ravager for damage while staggered.   Throw in the obvious Medic paradigms in there, and the buffing / debuffing with a Synergist or Saboteur. The whole chain gauge bar is what I meant when I say it "clicked" for me. Haha. I knew how to switch Paradigms swiftly and whatnot, but realizing how to manipulate that chain bar makes things so much funner. "

Ok that is what I thought. I'm at a point where I have a group with no Commando though. Sometimes the chain gauge will slow down, then it speeds up. Is there anything besides a Commando that will cause it to drop slower? A buff from a Syn or Sabo maybe? "

I've only just gotten this right, but I always start out the fight with a Saboteur for the first couple of attacks, then try to hit with as many people on Ravager or Commando as possible to get a stagger. I keep ready to switch to a medic if necessary and only use a Synergist if there's a lull in the fight where I think it'll help. After stagger, a constant barrage of Ravager attcks takes the enemy out pretty quickly, especially if the debuff is still in effect.  
 
I tend to end 90% of my fights with 5 stars doing this. It may change as I start running into more difficult enemies though.

For me, I didn't feel like the game was even a game until you got to gain experience and level up.
 
After that, I struggled a bit and wasn't having much fun until I hit the Garpa Whitewood with Lightning and Hope.  For some reason it was there when the real tactics of paradigm shifting every turn and why hit me.  Those Vile Peaks were effing brutal though.  I don't know what they were thinking giving you Vanille and Sazh with no commando role.

The game clicks around chapter 11, but it was still incredibly enjoyable up until that point. 
 
But really, seeing Gran Pulse (it's not a fucking spoiler, it's on the back of the goddamn case) for the first time was pretty mind-blowing.

20 hours in, hasn't clicked for me yet. The battle system is shallow but fun (most of the time) the locations are very pretty and the story/acting is comparably tolerable. As of now (chapter 7), I'd give it a 6.5/10. Not bad, but not good either, and made frustrating by the wasted potential. 
 
When any given scene revolves around or even includes Vanille, this quickly drops to 3.5/10. Vanille is insulting.

Once I got to pallumpollum(or however the hell you spell it), I started to have fun.

Im 20 hrs in and I just got to chapter 10 or so.  Not sure, just got the ability to choose your battle team. 

As soon as it let me use the Crystarium.

" As soon as it let me use the Crystarium. "