Trust me, it's a lot better then the critics say it is. You'll love every minute of it.
Well. After that, it became simply amazing. The Opening Cinematic was the best graphics I've seen on the Wii to date. The Battle System was also different, but it had it's on sense of charm to it.
The beginning of the game progresses kind of slowly, but it makes up for that by having an interesting story to keep you hooked in. The characters are all relate able in their own way, L'Arc is cold, and focuses on what only he has to do. Ryfia is trusting in her companions, etc.
The farther you get in game, the more expandable the battle system becomes. You'll unlock Special Attacks called "Excel Acts", that take up SP, which you acquire from attacking during battle. You'll unlock magic, a wider selection of orbs to upgrade your magic, new Excel Acts, and more AP, which is used to attack during battle.
This game has a heavy emphasis on cooperating with your team mates. In battle, you all share the same amount of AP. So, if you have 15 AP, and L'Arc does 7 attacks, that'll leave you with only 1 AP, meaning no one else can attack. So, you need to balance out your actions.
Now, about the graphics. In one word, they're: Amazing. Atleast for the Wii. The Wii isn't the strongest in the graphics department, but, this game tries to break that, and brings a pretty impressive pack of graphics. The Spell Animations are probably the best example of the graphics, as they're very nice.
The games Soundtrack is also very nice. The battle themes are very nice, especially the boss theme against Humans. The soundtrack has a nice world map theme, and theme's for the different moods of the character or place that they're in.
There's really only one thing I can complain about. It's the Boss Battles. They're probably the best part of the Battles, just, sometimes they're EXTREMELY challenging. But, that's also what makes them fun.
And. By now, you had to have heard of this game having Atrocious Voice Acting. To be honest, it isn't even that bad. At First it sounds a little awkward, but after a few hours, they'll sound perfectly fine!
So. If you're looking for a great JRPG for the Wii, this is definitely your game! It packs about 40+ hours of story, and there's a lot to do in the world of Fulheim besides the main story.
I hope you take them time to try Arc Rise Fantasia ^_^.