I'm not sure what game GameSpot was reviewing... I love this.
Back in the day I played Path of Radiance and loved it. When this game came out, I knew I had to get it, and I loved it, too.
Terrible plot? I LOVE the plot, and I love the characters.
Unforgiving difficulty level? I wouldn't call it UNFORGIVING. If by unforgiving they mean that you have to be really careful at times and always make sure to save your game before trying anything risky so you can re-start from there if you mess up... With the advent of mid-battle saves, I would think that this game is even MORE forgiving than PoR. If you messed up mid-battle in PoR, and you weren't willing to live with the consequences of X, Y, or Z character dying, then you had to start over from the beginning of the mission, even if you had been playing it for 30+ minutes.
I have no idea what GameSpot was smoking when they reviewed this game. If you like Fire Emblem, and love PoR, you will love this game. (Of course, I wouldn't recommend playing this game unless you have played PoR first. Otherwise I think you would be quite lost with a lot of plot things, ect!)