Nothing revolutionary, but so far from average.
The main criticism with this game is its story. It's outstandingly clichéd. You see all the twists, characters and all of its nuances coming a mile off. But just because it's cliché doesn't mean it's not enjoyable. It's just not especially interesting nor memorable. Essentially, as always, you play an orphan named Jaster Rogue on a desert planet called Rosa who longs to venture deep into space. Just so happens, an opportunity arises that allows this -- as always by a band of space pirates with all the predictable personalities you come to expect from a story of this nature. You go from planet to planet, battling enemies, come across evil doers, and of course you see the mysterious past that plagues our protagonist, Jaster. If you haven't already seen them already by jumping, to usually, the right conclusions.
So what the game lacks an original story? It's an enjoyable yarn and nothing less. What really makes the game shine is where it should be -- the gameplay. If you're not a big fan of turn based fighting in say, Final Fantasy, and prefer the battle system of Kingdom Hearts, or even Dark Chronicle, you'll feel right at home with Rogue Galaxy. Random battles occur at any given moment with an obligatory 'Warning' flashing on the screen, then you get down to business. 'X' Button handles the main weapon such as a sword, and the Square button handles sub weapons, usually a range weapon such as Jaster's gun. It's pretty straight forward, the auto lock on is delegated to the D-Pad, though a bit cumbersome at first you get used to it at first. 'O' button is used for jumping, used for both navigation and combat. All in all, the control setup is pretty straightforward and you shouldn't be too overwhelmed by it. Speaking of the battle - which is what you'll mainly be doing - it's worth mentioning that although it is fun, it gets tedious and very repetitive after extended play. That's because there's not a lot to it. There's no new combos to learn, and you certainly can't be adaptable with combos in a similar way to Devil May Cry, for example. Though you can learn new spells and the like, I hardly use them and it's pretty much bashing the same button over and over until the enemy is dead. Also, I found the bosses to be easy - I found the mimic Treasure Chests to be more of a challenge than the bosses. But that's my only gripes with a solid, if limited combat system. It certainly beats turn based battling, that's for sure.
Beyond the combat and exploration lies a ton of other things to do. Like the ridiculously deep Insectron sub game; fusing weapons together with the help of Toady the Toad; factory making; collecting items; ranking up on a Hunter scoreboard and discovering another bunch of secrets thrown into the game. I have to say, that without all these extra bits thrown in Rogue Galaxy would be woefully, and somewhat painfully, average. But it has them so I'm not going to get all teary eyed over it. There's simply too much detail in these side attractions from the main story, I would be up all night explaining them to you. Let's just say that if you're after an RPG with depth to it, you've come to the right place.
Thankfully, the visuals hold up right 'til the end. It's supremely imaginative in its design. Yes, it has a desert, jungle, and advanced city planet to name but a few but the art direction is fantastic. It has this amazing Manga feel to it, it's solid, chunky and dazzling to look at. Though some character models lack any sort of style, such as the little variety of enemies, you hardly notice it because, well, everything else looks superb. Even the in game cut scenes are stunning because all the items and clothes you wear are reflected in the cut scene. However, the "lavish" cut scenes, complete with obvious CGI, in my opinion lack the quality of the in game cut scenes. I believe it's because of the high standard of them, the in game cut scenes I mean. The CGI cut scenes to be honest look really cheap. But apart from that, the game looks amazing for a PS2 game.
The music is really terrific. No faults there. Even the voice acting, save a few, are really well delivered. The sound effects are good as well, not weak at all. Taking the story of game on its own, the game is about 35-40 hours. But taking into account the sub plots, sub quests and anything else that is sub - the game will last you well over 100 hours easily. Depends on how deep you want to go.
Rogue Galaxy is a great game that you will find much enjoyment with. It doesn't take the genre into any new direction, that was never its purpose. Its purpose is to be enjoyable, and it is. I would recommend this, but it's not an absolute essential purchase like Dark Chronicle is. Buy it if you like those sort of RPGs, then get it! You won't be disappointed.