A reluctant buy that surprised me on many levels.
Firstly, the story and the time-travel premise is very ingenious. Being able to go back in time to different timelines and affect the present is a very cool idea, and it works well against a storyline of war and political intrigue. Of course that would not be enough unless the writing and the story were first class, and indeed they are. Fantastic characters, cleverly written, each with their own unique personality draw you into the game and keep you hooked.
The graphics are not bad, but they are definitely not the best the DS has to offer, even for 2D. It's cool the way they sometimes make use of the 3D backdrops during cut scenes, but I wish they'd made more use of this during the game. Not a dealbreaker though.
Lastly, the battle system is very unique. Being able to manipulate your opponents position on the battlefield for tactical advantage is not something I've seen in an RPG before. I hope we'll see it more in the future though, as it adds an extra dimension to the strategy needed to succeed. You get a real 'chess' sense of 'oh crap, I shouldn't have done that, now he can...'. Very cool!
If like me you're on the fence about picking this one up, I'd definitely recommend getting off buying it. I hear there may be limited copies out there too, so don't wait too long!