My favorite RPG on the PS2, for a good reason. Powerful story, with the ending(s) that will leave you pondering for days
Now on to the battle system. It still has the Judgment Ring system from the first game, but now with a few twists. First of all, every character starts with a set number of times he/she/it can attack, with upgrades along the way. You can pretty much customize everything for the ring, like the number of attacks, status effects when it hits enemies, etc. Also in the battle area, your characters' positions change according to their last actions, sort of like what happens in the Grandia series.
Another really important part of the game is the soundtrack. I can't say enough about how much I love the music. So I won't say anymore :p
To sum everything up, this is a game that's mostly perfect with a few flaws that can be easily overlooked. The thing I love the most about this game is the presentation of the story. The atmosphere is dark, yet there's humor all over the place to make it less heavy. It's amazing how much I got to care about what happens to the main characters. The ending and another scene near the end (with Alice) made me very sad. But where is beauty without sadness?