I can't possibly catch-up with a 92 page thread so sorry if that idea was already mentioned but with regards to the battle system, I wouldn't dismiss ATB so quickly based on the UI. My take is that the battle-system is Hybrid ATB, similar to how Megaman Battle Network functions.
When you fight all you can do are normal attacks and nothing else which fills up your ATB gauge. Then as it is full you may issue one advanced command as in using items, limits, summons, magic etc. then after that was done you're back to normal attacks and then you wait till the next "turn" begins.
In Megaman Battle Network it's similar, you can always control Megaman and use his Megabuster to do damage, however to do more advanced stuff you have to wait for the custom gauge at the top of the screen to fill to use advanced commands. So turn based combat fans might still get their fill, if Square really did it like that it's actually genius I think!