While I generally agree with you, through all the time I playing and the two boss battles, I thought your party members were very intelligent. They didn't make any mistakes. I'm sure it could be tougher as you go along, but things look good on that front.

And again, this isn't the finished product.

Yeah the A.I. looked good from what I watched but so did SO3's early in the game. In fact SO3's A.I. is never a problem if you don't do hard sidequests. I'm the kind of gamer who thinks sidequest bosses should be hard because of strategy and patterns not the epic failure of A.I.. Hopefully, the finished product would be different.

I'm a die hard FF fan and would get ff13 however it turns out but I'd prefer an enhanced experience rather than a gimped one.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173881

A list of things that will be improved before the final version. Yes, you will be able to control the other characters as well. Kitase said it will be nothing like FF 12's gambit system before.

I'm really liking the battle system - it's a good evolution from the previous FF battle systems. I'm really not noticing terrible framerate issues, but that will all be fixed too. It's definitely nothing like UE3 console versions of games, barring ones from Epic themselves.

The only thing is I hope this isn't too corridor-like like FF 10 was.

Here is the 1UP Story for you.

1UP News

What's Changing In The Retail Version Of FFXIII?

Collected from various recent interviews, facts on the FFXIII final.

The dust has settled, and the magnificence of the Final Fantasy XIII playable demo has finally sunk in. Right about now, fans around the globe are probably wondering: What will be improved in the final? What's slated to be changed or altered? Thanks to an anonymous fan on 2ch, we have a comprehensive list of everything FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama has claimed will be changed in print. The source of the following information is various interviews published in the Japanese magazines Famitsu, Famitsu PS3, and Dengeki PlayStation.

 

• Battle difficulty will be greatly increased. In fact, Toriyama expects XIII to be "the most difficult FF ever".
• In the demo, party members are CPU controlled. In the final, you'll be able to issue them directives.
• Continuing your "Chain" in the demo isn't very important in the demo, but will vital in the final.
• The classic FF victory fanfare isn't present in the demo, but will be in the final.
• Victory poses may be incorporated into the final; the matter is currently under consideration.
• If the first hit of a chain kills an enemy in the demo, your character continues attacking air for the duration of the combo. This will be remedied in the final.
• Snow is barehanded in the demo, but will have weapons available to him in the final.
• Encounters occur solely from the front in the demo, but various encounter styles will be present in the final.
• The final will have a level system.
• The demo only allows you to control one character, but the final will have a new system for managing other party members in battle.
• The final will have command shortcuts.
• Selecting your target in the demo can be a bit of a chore; the final will have a more streamlined targeting mechanism.
• The final will have an "item" command in battle.
• NPC dialogue will be subtitled in the final. In the demo, there is only voice.
• Sazh's rather bizarre battle animation will be altered to be less strange, and more "jolly".
• The Time Gauge maxes out at 3 in the demo, but you'll be able to add more segments in the final through a new character growth system.
• Summons will be present in the final. The mysterious "TP Bonus" that appears after battles in the demo relates to them.
• Finally, the occasional frame rate drops in the demo will be fixed, according to Toriyama.

And there you have it, folks. "Winter 2009" could not come any sooner. 

Im even more salty saltier now
Most likely its another type of gambit system

Will Japan version release with English subs? Is that confirmed?

No. As of now, there will not be English subtitles.

They will be putting the Japanese symbols at the bottom of the screen.

You know... I kinda like it better when my allies are controlled by the computer.

More immersive.

Of course i also like games where it's hard to be "The defining factor" in a game.  IE you can really help your squad when, but they could screw it up still... or you could really screw up... and your team could still pull it off if they're better matched.

Sadly so few games are like that... where you play a role... instead of THE role.

Hey, that's a good point. 

Yeah.  I can understand it though.  For a lot of people videogames are a power fantasy.

Playing a larger role in a game in which you may or may not win doesn't appeal to a lot of people since a lot of people don't like to lose... even if they do amazing and have fun doing it.

Me... for whatever reason I gravitate to those situations.  I like the "Alamo" situations.

Multiplayer games of course let you play a role.  But then you've got teammates.  Which doesn't really give you as much freedom in action unless you just don't give a damn about your teammates... plus multiplayer games like that are almost all FPS... or RTS. 

That's one of my favorite options of MLB Power Pros.  It lets you go through a career mode where you play only as one player.  I could be the best player in the MLB... but if i'm on a bad team we're screwed anyway.  Keeps the excitement in it I guess.