So close yet so very far
Yes the game is beautiful. Yes the story is good. But I wished that music played more of a role here except for the almost useless score pieces and the first two chapters (though I only played through the first four chapters). Specifically in the battle system. Yet it seems to really only have a loose presence here that fails to make me really feel as if this was something special. The battle system suffers from some kinks Specifically the item usage. And the fights them self get the feeling of repetitiveness faster then the FF series. It seems there really is only a few enemies for you to face and then bosses and that even on a new area its the same enemy with a different name and the same attacks. The lack of random encounters works well - since it doesn't seem to impede leveling up and the addition of photos lets you gain gold faster than the speed of light, which makes inventory stocking a little to easy.
All in all it's an okay game whose unique story idea seems to be carrying it a little farther than it otherwise would have gotten. To me, it really was a typical JRPG with a few new ideas that didn't seem to be fully thought through.
Though again, maybe the chapters after four will make me change my mind.