Nice presentation does not make up for lackluster characters and wearying battles.
Again, game isn't terrible; the graphics look clean, sometimes downright pretty, the dialogue has a few clever and funny bits and the skill system allows you to choose how you develop your characters. Conversely, that same skill system requires way too long to develop into something that feels worthwhile. Characters share the same pool of skill points (SP), which must be allocated into nodes on the skills chart. We've seen this before in games like Final Fantasy XII and Mana Khemia where it worked well. The problem with the system in CGS is that before a skill can be unlocked, the node first needs to be recognized which requires an initial investment of skill points. To clarify, you must spend a certain amount of skill points to become aware of what ability a node will grant a given character, then spend more points to actually unlock the ability. This coupled with the fact that all of your characters share the SP pool makes skill development tedious, requiring many battles to get the SP.
As for the battles, they use a pretty standard turn-based RPG system. Select attack, skill, item, flee or defend and your character does just that. There is the opportunity to deal bonus damage on critical hits, however. If the X button is pressed in a timely fashion, the attacking character can string together their own mini-combo on the enemy. What has become an RPG mainstay, the icon-based turn list, telling the player the order in which characters receive their turns is here, but with something incredibly frustrating thrown in; while you can see when your own characters will get the chance to attack, enemy icons all look the same, preventing deeper battle strategy. Get used to the battles though, as you will be doing a bit of grinding after the first chapter. One plus is that fights are not random, you will see monsters walking about ion the map. You also have the chance to ambush the enemies, sneaking up on them and making contact before they see you (indicated by an exclamation point appearing above an enemy's head). However, if an enemy sees you and you fail to engage them before the exclamation point goes away the enemy will chase you, giving them the chance to ambush you and your party. Ambushes for the player and monsters give the ambushing side a full-party attack on the opposing team. Characters left out of battle receive no experience, causing even more grinding.
The characters are somewhat interesting, but are very shallow. The self-righteous novice swordsman, the thieving elf girl, the aloof mage. They lack depth and hinder the story. This again leads to disappointment, because the story has parts that could have made it great. With elements like a corrupt church in control of the military and a main character who is never quite good enough for himself there was so much more that could have been done with this game, but it never quite gets there.
If you are hard-up for a new RPG with a decent story, sometimes witty characters and a standard but boring battle system, this is the game to play. If not, feel free to pass it up. You won't be missing much.