Much like it's predecessors, this game has a very small market in modern gaming, but it's still amazing.
It goes like this...
There's a plot. It's silly and told through simple text planes and voice acting, with no animated cut scenes persay. It never takes itself seriously, and continuously pokes fun at itself, its predecessors and the gaming industry in general, plus it's well written and well acted. However, if all you're looking for is plot, read a book or watch a movie. The developers never pretended that this is a plot heavy game, and if that's what you want, go play a FF game. This series is all about gameplay, which is why you can play this game endlessly, making new armies of characters and developing them differently and doing pretty much whatever you want within the confines (for lack of a better word. There's a whole ton of content here) of the game.
I would describe this as simply complex.
The level design is just different size grids on which you move around and battle on with crazy anime style characters. There's just so much going on on each map that it's a little mind boggling at first. The Geoblocks play a more active role now, and they make filling up the Bonus meter a lot easier, making the pay off on each map that much more satisfying. Throw all the different basic attacks combos and special attack combos, and it's just a huge mess of absolutely insane entertainment.
The best part for me is that there's so much gain all the time. Before I was done the third chapter, I already had almost 1 million hell and had gone up dozens of levels, and then just had to ask the homeroom folks for harder monsters, and all of a sudden I had a huge challenge again. You can really make this game as easy or as hard as you want, and that adds a lot to the game.
The graphics stick. They do. But who cares? The last two games weren't technical marvels, so why would you expect this one to be. The contrast of sprites to environment and menus to background is a bit jarring at first, but you don't even notice after a couple of hours playing, because you'll be distracted by all the fun you'll be having.
The only thing I don't get is why they put it on the PS3. It could easily run on the PS2, and that would've pumped up sales, but I'm hoping that maybe they'll be a whole ton of downloadable content in the future or something that requires the PS3's big hard drive.
For sheer entertainment value and value in general (endless hours for $50? Thank you very much), it really is a great game.
For Strategic RPG fans and level grinders, this a must buy.