An amazing sequel of an amazing game.
I've almost always preferred real-time games to turn based ones, however there always has to be an exception. This game is the exception.
This game, as well as the first game in the series, requires a lot of thinking, and that reminds me a lot of the Zelda series. That's one reason why I love it so much. The turn based battles make it even more of a strategy-based game, which is a good thing.
There are lots of things you can do in combat. First, there's the simple attack with the weapon that you have equipped. Seldomly you will land a critical strike, which logically increases the damage. Special weapons include an additional critical strike that either deals more damage or causes a status effect eg. delusion or sleep.
Next, there's Psynergy, which is based on the Djinni you have equipped. There are four kinds of Psynergy; 1) ones that affect one enemy, 2) ones that affect either 3, 5 or 7 enemies or the whole enemy team, 3) ones that affect one team member and 4) ones that affect your team. The elements of the attacks are earth, fire, wind and water. Venus Djinni boost earth power and mostly give you attacks that deal earth damage. The corresponding Djinni for fire are Mars, Jupiter Djinni are for wind and Mercury Djinni are for water.
Psynergy isn't the only thing that Djinni are for. A Djinn can be used in combat for a certain attack, either offensive or defensive. After a Djinn has been used, it goes to standby and can then be used to summon a creature against the enemy team. A great addition compared to the first game is that you can now combine different standby Djinni to summon new kinds of creatures, eg. with 1 mars and 1 venus Djinn; though you need specific slabs for them. The slabs are found all over the world.
Normally there are items that can only be used in combat and items that can be equipped, however there are a few, if not many exceptions. Some armor can be used in combat to restore hp, cause status ailment for the enemies etc., however if you use them consecutively they might break, and then you will have to take them to the armory to be repaired. A broken item can still be worn and you can gain the defense bonus from it, but you can't use its special effect in combat.
The gameplay is actually complete similar to its predecessor's, and that's a good thing. If you have never even tried the first game in the series, that's what you should do before you get your hands on this one, as you pretty much miss half of the story if you start from the second game. If you have to choose between the two, though, choose this one. You won't be disappointed.