Nothing like an old classic.
Chantelise is the story of two sisters (Chante and Elise) who ventured out on the night of a red moon as if called by some force. Legend speaks of the "Witch's curse" which befalls those who go out on such a night. Upon coming to, Chante, the older of the two, has been transformed into a fairy with the ability to absorb magic stones.
Chantelise is mostly voice-acted, with the odd conversation here and there left with simple text (as many RPGs tend to be). Sounds and music are nicely fitting for this title. Unfortunately, the graphics are quite dated (more so considering this game was created in 2006 and was one of the first 3D games for EGS). So if you're looking for a game with amazing graphics, Chantelise is not for you.
Combat is rather fast-paced with the ability to attack up to 3 times (which can change with elemental crystals). Players can attack with a sword, order Chante to cast magic, and jump and slide to evade.
Magic can be performed by pressing (and holding) the magic until the desired combination of stones is used (holding the magic button for an extended period allows the user to drop the stones to pick them up in a different order). Initially, the player can only combine up to 2 stones, but as the game progresses, they can use up to 4 stones together. Different combinations result in permutations of the various base spells (e.g. adding a red stone to a green stone increases the damage dealt).
The difficulty of this game can vary wildly depending on strategies used. In the beginning, it may be rather difficult since Elise's HP is rather low, but once you're able to use 3 magic stones together, the difficulty of boss fights drops drastically if you realize certain exploits.
There are no levels in Chantelise. HP upgrades can be purchased via potions at the local shop and stats are completely item-driven. Different items have different effects, though categorically, they are identical (e.g. gloves and gauntlets increase physical attack power, amulets increase magical defense, etc.).
Secret treasures, fishing, a secret shop that requires the trading of fish caught, a post-game dungeon, and the survival dungeon (60 randomly selected levels from The remains of Earth to The remains of Wind back-to-back with boss fights at every 10th floor) all add to the replayability of this game.
As many games are, Chantelise can be finished within a day's time (I finished my second playthrough of the original Japanese version -- minus the survival dungeon -- in about 12 hours of game time).
One area of disappointment that I personally have is with the translation. DHM Interactive unfortunately didn't do the game much justice with grammar- and spelling-mistake galore (even their website is riddled with the same sort of issues). If they'd used my translation of the game (with some likely modifications such as changing "Nee-chan" to Chante), which I'd worked on for hundreds of hours of my own time, the dialog would surely have been much better (or at least, much less error-laden).
For more information about Chantelise (and a complete walkthrough of the game), feel free to visit my website: http://blackguard.darkstargamers.com/#Chantelise