For the most part, it is like any other PC MMO, select your target and hit icons to do your abilities, BUT this is the only MMO I have seen (except for its older sibling FFXI) that allows you to use a controller... I use one of my 360 controllers to run around... I just wish the 360 keyboard attachment worked on the PCs. If you tried the first release of FFXIV, ARR does away with the craptacular questing system in favor of a more typical MMO quest system where you just have NPCs stationed around with markers over their heads.
There is a benchmark you can download and get a feel for the games graphics...
FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
I'm on the Leviathan server... "Sinime Oni" is my toons name... not 100% sure I will subscribe once that starts on the 27th... People who were unfortunate enough to buy FFXIV when it first came out get to early start on the 24th (free for 3 days I believe) ARR seems to use the same maps, but as I said, the questing system is 200x better.
Here is a video that demonstrates party play...
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/video/RYkH8g614gA