Graphics that make they eyes grin, battle that makes the mind evaluate, and dialogue that makes the mouth gag.
The game progresses smoothly (as linear game-play usually does). Even more breath taking than the cityscape is the frozen lake the characters reach early on. We start to see real stubbornness in Lightning and idealism in Snow and it felt like people I would meet in town or at a party. We see hesitation and bitterness in Hope and escapism in Vanille, giving a taste of the different reactions to life's problems. At this point I was taken up in the game play and story.
My enjoyment of the game fell fast though, as screen after screen had me running in a straight line. After getting past the frozen lake and reaching an organic area, I expected the path to broaden, but the foliage was tightly packed and led me by the nose to my next location. The characters then worked past their original problems and began turning unrealistically optimistic and preachy. The cut scenes turned into constant rationalizing of their actions and decisions and they never run into consequences besides a simple boss fight. "Sometimes everything you know in the world turns out to be a lie. But at the end of the day the lie isn't what matters, it's what you do after you tell it. If you work hard enough you can make it true," said by the teenage boy named Hope, who surprisingly has the most (and cheesiest) advice to give the characters.
I lost my original attachment to the characters because they became unreal. Many of the side characters were more believable, but they get picked off before they hold any significance for the players. In the end I felt like the story was rushed and was furthered every three cut scenes or so, instead of gradually gaining knowledge at each point. The end also left me confused on a number of things (though I won't mention what, so as to not spoil it for those with the endurance to get there).
As far as the side quests go, it was a simplistic version of Final Fantasy 12 with the monster hunts, and much more cumbersome to complete and find the missions to do. The side quests, though, are the only chance of going anywhere in the game other than straight.
I recommend waiting until this game is on the clearance rack, and enjoying the graphics and the laughable, but unrealistic dialogue at a cheap price.