Really dosen't live up to what it was suppose to be. So rent it first!
OMG where do i start? The battle engine in this game is just 100% pure boring. (And I thought Xenosaga 2 was bad.) The pathetic excuse
for loading is probably wat puts it down. It just takes too long to load. After playing games that just start up and while playing this u begin to say is there something wrong with my PS2? (ok the load times arent really that bad but even so its just too long) For every attack theres a little load time. Theres a trinity ring that somewhat goes by shadow hearts (somewhat) and if u miss the right button u lose that turn entirely. That means u have to wait unitl ur leadership meter is up to the point where the arrow is to attack again and that takes little lot of time. Oh did i mention that u can only attack with one character per turn. ONE that just makes the battles go on too long. Then there is the chi that u have to keep up with but thats pretty easy (For the most part). Outside of battles there is a dash and detect mode. In dash mode u can run normally but the flaw to that is u r open to enemy attack and if u do get attacked while in dash mode the battles go on even longer.So for the most part of the game u WILL be walking in detect mode so u can gain the first strike. Then we have the a pathetic excuse for camera angles. On the map u can see the enemies they r in red but u cant see them on the screen so u can get the first srike while ur in detect mode. Then when ur in battle u cant see the enemies so they will gain the first hit. Then there is the pathietic excuse for freedom. The game is pretty much straight forward u cant go back to others places that u previously visit until the game takes u back there. But of coruse at the end of the game (or near it) u can.
Graphics:
Great graphics. The cutsences r nice to watch. And the character models r great. Mostly b/c of the women.
Sound:
Music is great. Voice acting is 100% pure garbage. Just characters with their lips moving that dont go with the situation they r in (And I thought Star Ocean till the end of time was bad)
Overall:
The game is good if u can overlook all the flaws (and there r a lot)