This is not a review, or a critique of what others have reviewed it as. I just want to say it was one of the most fullfilling games I have played in a long long time.

Best story telling in a game I have played, ever. Prior to this I had The Last of Us as best. There are little things you do throughout the game that seem inconsiquential, and then at a moment later you see the effect it had. Little things like taking pictures end up having a major impact in the immersion and the theme. I heard some did not care for the plot, I liked it. It made sense, and moved the story along. I stayed spoiler free so I definitly had some "oh shit moments". 

Music was very good. And being able to listen to old soundtracks in the car was awsome... had a huge nostalgia moment when I heard Terra's theme from FF6 come on. 

As far as length it felt the same as other FF games as far as pure story goes. I think a major factor in total playtimes being in the 25-50 hour range is the lack of grinding (to beat the game). I beat the game at level 57 and I never once grinded enemies. The only "grinding" required I guess would be doing sidequest, but that feels more productive than clearing the same place over and over to progress. However, I would assume this will be required to take down some of the hardest hunts (It would seems AP grinding would be more prevelent).  I beat the game in 40 hours (I estimate, counter said 49, but I am lowballing it to factor out some AFK times). I definitly did not complete everything. I guess I fell into the story+extras territory. I still only level 4 on bounties (4/50 stars), level 4 on fishing, and have done no chocobo racing, and only did 1 match at the arena place. 

As far as negatives go, it is hard to say my biggest negatives were because I like older FF styles. So I want at least 7-8 characters and setting up battle team based on the situation. I also like alot of magic, magic in this games is pretty vanilla (might be more to it as far as mixing and such but I did not get to into it). But like I said it is hard to say, most of the negatives I have are based on personal preference. The 4 man team and battle system was fun and works. I guess maybe it just did not scatch my FF itch in that regard. Maybe 7 Remake will have more complex battle systems. 

The Great things-

Graphics (gorgeous, I have PS4 Pro and I did not notice many issues with shuttering like some have mentioned)

Audio

Content (plenty of it)

Story

The Good Things-

Characters (I thought I was going to hate Noctics, but he has an amazing character arc, even Pronto grew on me... The game also has numerious solid NPC type characters)

Plot (good, not great)

Battle system (it is fun, but don't expect to have to come up some special stragety to beat stuff, maybe endgame will require me to do that)

The Meh things-

Character progression (just not enough complexity or flexibility for me)

Magic system

The bad things-

this is not really a bad thing, and I can't be specific because it is a major spoiler. Something changes late(very late) I wish you could keep it for endgame...  

SPOILER!!!!CharactermodelsSoMuchBetterIMO!!!!SPOILER

I'm at 30h. Still not done with chapter 3 yet. I'd say it's one of the more meh Far Crys.

Chapter 8 is a better time to clean up... (you can fast travel at night at that point). 

I think I finished chapter 3 at around 14-15 hours. I spent a good 8 hours though on chapter 8, when I am pretty sure had I just done the story that chapter would have been 20 minutes tops. 

Minor spoilers-

Get yourself to at least level 45 or so before you trigger the event in chapter 8 (it tells you won't be able to return for some time, so you know when you are doing it). From that point on the story really gets good and it would have been broken up my enjoyment of it if I got stalled due to having to go back and sidequest to level up to beat something. 

Also you get a gold trophie for beating the final boss on normal(it is a hidden trophie), so don't turn it to easy mode to get by stuff. Make sure you can clear everything on normal. If you are up around level 50 it really should not be a problem. 

Good tips. I may just continue now as the mobs are getting a bit too tough for me currently. Level 40 mobs may be a bit too good for level 33 characters.

I need to get o my better fishing equipment anyway.

I still really hate it though. SE has put in some effort to make collecting things and doing side quests as annoying as possible.

Great to hear! The game seems to be going down very well in the west!

I'm on chapter 6 and my clock is higher than your completed run (it's at 50 something). O_o

I do most side content as it becomes available though, and explore a lot.

I beat the story around 35 hours; I'm now at 65 hours played. I suspect I'll end up around 100+ hours played once I get the ultimate weapons and finish off the trophies etc...

I am about 20 hour in and I adore it. The worst part about it are the repetitive side quests (ESPECIALLY those awful scavenger hunt side quests). But the game has something that has been thoroughly missing in the single-player FFs since the last truly great one (FFX) -- and that is charm. Sure, the plot may not be compelling, but the characters are likable.

My only gripe with this game is the summons.Christ they are annoying.

Im about 30hrs, chapter 6, lvl40. Got the Ultima Blade (yay)The game has a slow start but it catches on later. Im liking it a lot, tho I wouldn't consider it among my top games of the franchise. Still, a giant leap forward from what was FF13.