[Kagezuno]

Nope! I have a PS3 slim, and it plays fine right out of the box.

Though you have to remember that Circle confirms and X backs out--it's exactly the opposite of a North American game. That can be hard to recall in the heat of things, but you'll get the hang of it.

Knowing some Japanese will help, but you can trail-and-error your way through. It's very forgiving so far.

The upgrading isn't too bad--I'm still trying to work out what store-bought items do what--you can buy BGM and figures which give various effects (more HP, higher attack power, etc) but in general, just grinding works OK too.

My Wizard is on Level 15, and one of the changes I've notices is that my Triangle + Circle move has changed from Kick Strike to Flame Dragon's Flame attack. This is good, because Kick Strike can take a bit of time to set up, and the Dragon burst does a LOT more damage and is a lot more controllable.