I beat this game last night. The ending made me want to cry, only I'm too manly and rugged to cry. Also I lost my tearducts in a tragic floor waxing accident. But seriously, THE BEST GAME IN THE SERIES SINCE FFVI. I ended up ACTUALLY GIVING A SHIT about the characters, all of whom I found likeable. The game has basically resuscitated my love for the RPG form, and that's the highest praise I can give anything.
I want to restate again how huge this game is. In terms of world size AND content. I sunk 60 hours into the beautiful bastard to beat the game, and that was without doing ANY sidequests, all of THREE hunts, NO optional espers/dungeons/monsters, NO ultimate weapons, etc etc. I only leveled up and used a three person party, as well, letting my other three people languish at the level 15 range. This game is a completionist's wet dream, and not in the "how the hell am I going to do all of this, and what's the point??" way that Nippon Ichi strategy RPGs are.