I really like this game so far. It fixes all that I had issues with the FF gameplay (mainly, the fact that they were so goddamn linear). I'm afraid I can't help much, because I'm about 7hours in too, and I'm still trying to figure out the kinks.
Also, I was told to get Quickenings ASAP. They're kind of like limit breaks (I guess) - and they use all of a character's MP. They are unique - once a character has it, it is bound to him and no one else can use it. Each character can have up to three quickenings.
