I just bought this yesterday for my 360. I read some reviews about some choppy gameplay and some possible slow down but that doesn't appear to be an issue so far in the game. The character models are brilliant and they flow perfectly from FMV's to actual gameplay. The voice over acting is done incredibly well and is definitely one of the better jobs I have come across in gaming. As far as the story development goes and the character development, I'm only about an hour or so in because I had some college work to do... However, the development of the characters does seem to be sluggish, but the story itself I'm already wanting to know what happens next. Apparently the first 13-15 hours of the game are pretty boring and I don't doubt it since it hasn't really been that exciting as of yet, but I think I'll surpass the first 15 hours or so no problem... According to reviews the game gets really good after that time frame, so it must be worth it. The battle is turn based like the greatest RPG's have been... The Shadow skills are kind of unique and it's pretty fun watching the Shadow Dragons, etc... destroy your opponents... I haven't seen nothing too spectacular battle-wise yet, but I'm sure something will catch my eye eventually...

Anybody else pick this up or have been playing this in Japan?

I bought it yesterday too to my 360 , I´m from spain and the game appeared that day. I was waiting for this day to come for play this game one of the last Hironobu Sakaguchi productions with Akira Toriyama and the great Nobuo Uematsu.
I played for some 3 or 4 hours and my levels are too low but I played a little time ago the demo that we can download from the Xbox live and I remember the battle style and how the game works.
The graphics were cool and the characters were well designed by the hand of Akira Toriyama, like the enemies and other locations and secondary characters. The scenaries were incredible big and the enemies appear from nowhere. And well, the music is pretty good too, the music for the battles is "peculiar" and the other surrounding musics had the touch of Nobuo Uematsu and the opening theme is just wonderful.
About the gameplay, for me, ressembles and old-school RPG with turn based battles, items as common as potions, ethers and phoenix down and the jobs for your shadows like sword master, white mage, black mage and a lot more. I think for the lovers of the RPGs this game will make them play with happiness this new title for Xbox360 and for the RPG haters...stay away from this little master piece .
But well, I only have a few hours of gameplay and my opinion could be wrong ^^U

Its not out in NA yet right? i watched the anime series and i didnt think it was at all that great, but the game looks very good, cant wait to get it as soon as it comes to North america :D

What're you talking about? This was never an anime.

Eh, I played the demo, and I thought it was pretty cool. Not really a fan of how they look, it looks to much like Dragon Ball Z, and I do not like the voices although they did a good job with them, they just sound annoying. Other then that I did like the game though, I doubt I'll buy it though.

Hey but i'm live in Chile and already is here, plus it has a spanish version so i think it mos be in North America ...

Also exist a anime about Dragon Blue , it's very good and fun .

I believe the NA version came out a few days ago.

I buy the anime series of this and its very fun
and then yesterdey y buy the game and don't like me too much.
the good:Its very long game,The gmae its not only 1 dvd,Its 3 dvd9!
Good grafics and cinematics
the bad;very repetitly history,bad controlls

Points for me xD :7.8 :P