This Is A Picture Of A Nice Lady From Final Fantasy XIII.

But it is. Kinda. The game will not require you to install, but those who do can enjoy a significantly speedier experience. So it's totally optional then, much like Street Fighter IV.

That being said, there'll only be loading when the player transitions between town and field anyway. The game background streams data to keep loading times minimal.

It's also been confirmed that Final Fantasy XIII will, of course, have trophies. We totally did expect that, seeing as Sony insist on it.