First off, I am LOVING this FF game. Breathtaking. Anyways, when stealing items and etc, and gathering loot, I'm wondering, is the majority of it just "selling fodder" or can I at some point put these Wind Stones, Fire Stones ETC to a good use and cause mayhem with them?

While this should be Q&A thread material I will go ahead and answer. Yes and no you get to use the loot. Some of the Loot is Plot related much later on and used to get acess to another area near where you pick them up sorry no spoliers.
Now the No is the loot for the most part is sell off stuff but it does pay off in a way you will like. There is an Option when you go to the Merchants called Bazaar when you sell the right loot in the right amount Bazaar items can become avabile ALOT of the most powerful weapons are Bazaar items only. Also if used properly you can get weapons that don't show up till the end of the game Death Bringer for example and a few others.
So Yes and No they pay off in battle just collect them and sell them and you shall soon see.

I did not see the Q and A thread until now. Thanks for answering. I am determined to finish this without using a guide, been a while since i last did that (FF 8 was the last time). Probably buy the guide after playing it once, then play again to pick up all the missing pieces.

Thanks again :)

Sucks for you because without a guide you probably are already not legible for the Zodiac Spear. =[

Not necessarily. I've said this before that I got the Zodiac Spear the first time through without ever looking at a guide. However, BalambStudent, if you haven't looked at the requirements for it already, you might want to take a look at it and find out if you're still eligible for it or not.

Thanks for the advice, I have since taken a look for the requirements and have started a new game. Not for that reason mind you, now I'm used to the system(especially the board) I can balance my characters out a bit more with the board, only was 8 hours game time anyway and just found Balthier(my fave character so far, I like dramatic types) so no biggy. My licenses were all over the place, so now they are more concentrated. I also like how when characters are added to your group they are your level and stuff, that annoyed me ALOT on other FF (especially FF 8 after fighting battles at the start to get powerful enough to beat XATM, and then I'm like lvl 28 and then Rinoa joined and she's like 10!!)

Still this Zodiac thing is the ONLY thing I plan to have help on, determined as I said to do this game first without any guidebook.