So took the opportunity to trim the fat off my game collection and traded in some games towards FFXIII. gamestop was its usual zoolike self (when will parents learns that the more family members you bring the worse it will be and the longer it will take?) Anyway, got the game and hightailed it out of there. 
 
First things first, the game looks great: The cutscenes in particular look amazing and the in game engine is almost right up there with it. The animations are really expressive too: Characters hunch, sway and realistically look like they're punching, slashing or casting stuff at the enemy. The much battle system is actually far simpler than made out to be, though i am only about 2 hours in so its still severly dumbed down. basically the system from FFXII  the only difference that I miss is that at least in XII when you were waiting for your queued action to perform, you could move around the targeted enemies: it didnt give you a tactical advantage, but at least it made it look better then the staredowns that tend to occur in my battles. Though again, to be fair I did turn the battle time to slow to ease myself into it. I do wish that they would take the training wheels off the battle system sooner, as all i am doing is just hitting attack-attack-attack-potion-attack, but apprently the game is designed to be streamlined. maybe when more battle functions emerge, I'll appreciate the autopilot more  
In terms of the linearity, yes, all i have been doing for my 2 hours played is running forward through corridors. But I dont think its that big a deal because it fits in with the context of the story: the first act takes place on a monorail track, the next takes place  in a base I am infiltrating, of course its going to be linear/corridors! The one change that does suck (but is undoubtedly practical) is that now all shopping is done at savepoints. Though part of the allure of any RPG is to enter a new town, head straight for the store and see what regional goodies are for sale, I'll admit that was one of the annoyances in other traditional RPGs like Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia, i would need to buy a specific item (usual trying to craft something) and I'd have long forgottem what tiny dot on the map sold it. So i'm willing to work with this new system.
 
And only a closing note, Sazh rocks. the dude has sweet 'fro, an adorable chocobo chick lives in it . And his idle animation in battle is a lil ol' diddy bop bounce. Barrett, you have a wortyy sucessor to carry the 'token black character in a  final fantasy game' role.