Yet another JRPG highly worth getting for collection, if 'you've an RPG lover and an Anime lover.
Main story is based on friendship which does play a strong lead role for this game, based on three of the main characters in the story, Asbel and his younger brother Hubert love going on adventures but they find a girl lying in the fields outside of their village. The young girl is named Sophie which was named after some flowers, then Richard who is the prince of their country visits the village and then soon after they all become friends.
But after 7 years later the story gets even deeper when everyone has their own problems to deal with, Asbel becomes a knight and trained by Malik and Asbel had promised he would protect Sophie at whatever cost; after she disappeared after an incident. As for Richard someone tries to assassinate him and somehow has a greater power that yet makes him a total monster.
Gameplay: Like most RPG games you'll have 4 characters in your party team, you can use the directional pad to switch charters back and forth at any time, they will do their own thing and heal you if your HP or anyone else's is low pending on which character you want to playing as for the whole time. Using the X button for main attacks and the circle button to pull of some stronger attacks or magic, you can use the left analog stick and either pressing either X or circle on pulling certain attacks or moves.
You'll also notice that you'll see a number bar at the bottom of the screen which is your Critical Gauge, when the gauge is full you'll be able to perform critical hit and chain capacity will increase. The numbers you see net to that gauge denotes on how many actions outside the basic movement and defence characters can perform. The maximum CC can be improved through characters equipment which can be bought from various stores across the world.
You can also use the R1 to guard from enemy attacks and the Eleth gauge is more like a tug of war reference where the blue gauge is your team party and the orange gauge is the enemy's gauge. If the blue gauge is full you can pull of multiple attacks and combos for a short time and certain characters in your team can be able to pull of some powerful attacks.
During your time you can also mix items together think of Alchemy, where you can mix two items to make something completely new. You can improve weapon upgrades, armour defence, or even food and items. There are side-quests where people will ask you for certain items to be mixed; if you managed to get certain items mixed they'll give you XP points or an item which might be useful. However you can have selected items, food or spell books which can help mix stuff like elixirs or gel during random battles or boss battles, this can be quite useful if your low on items you can mix items when you're on the go.
Graphics and Sound: As I mention from above this was only released in Japan for the Wii back in 2009, now that it's been ported on the Playstation 3. It really does have some stunning graphics and anime visuals making it almost feel like the perfect RPG game to see for that system. Everything from the 3D environments from the towns and villages to the 3D maps and areas you explore. Even during battles and boss fights they manage to do a great impression keeping the game fresh and original for its gameplay but however some parts can be a little repetitive on the amount of enemies you'll face time to time.
During cutscenes make a great impression making it feel more of an anime series more than a game but also while exploring various part of the world you'll notice certain objects, items or even landscapes can be discovery points. Here is where you'll hear facts and memories on characters opinions and thoughts to each other in your group or party time, not just that certain parts near towards a boss battle you can press select to hear a conversation from them.
At first I thought the voice acting going to be weak but there is no option to change the voice acting to Japanese, but the good side is that there is some really good English voice acting which is really impressive to hear. Soundtrack does a great job too and its main theme is great to listen which is "White Wishes/BoA", most of its soundtrack can be quite relaxing to listen to as well.
Overall: Trophy support is added if you are a trophy collector, clearing the main story can take you at least 50 hours or more pending on how much time you spend on the main story and side-quests. Even clearing the game first time round you can play it again on a higher difficulty and carry over stuff from your first save.
I actually wanted to take my time on playing this game unlike other games can end quite easily within a few short hours, like I said you can easily spend more then 40-50 hours on it story but it is worth the purchase for your collection.