Phantasy Star Universe is a satisfying game that lacks innovation and has the same cliches in most JRPG games.
Phantasy Star Universe's story is like most JRPGs. Some mysterious unhuman force is attacking the world that the game takes place in. You have your standard zero to hero storyline where your character, Ethan Waber, starts as a regular citizen of a space colony and eventually becomes a Guardian member (some police force in the game) who eventually saves the world. Like most JRPGs, you'll have your typical sidekicks, love interest, and a sworn enemy. The story has the same cliches that most JRPGs have, cheesy dialogue, but it still is satisfying.
The campaign takes around 18-25 hours depending on the sidequests you do. And theres a whole massive multiplayer online mode that'll add hours upon hours of gameplay. They just released downloadable content and online achievements which will give players more incentive to go online.
You can tell that the game is ported from the PS2 version. The graphics are incomparible to RPGs like Oblivion, Eternal Sonata, and Lost Odyssey. The graphics really take away from game because you feel like your playing an outdated game.
The sound in the game is also subpar. Like most JRPGs, most characters have annoying voices and will sometimes drive the average person crazy. Although, the voices are not as bad as characters in Enchanted Arms, they are not good either. Other than the voices, the music is solid but does not really stand out good. A great game will have some sort of orchestrated or licensed music that will be stuck in your head. Unfortunately, PSU does not do this.
The gameplay is unique. I have not played an RPG on the 360 that has played like this. I'm not a huge RPG player but I found PSU to be easy to play. The game is fantastic for newcomers to RPGs. The game is hack and slash. You'll mostly run up to enemies and press a button three times to do a combo or press another button to do a special attack especially when fighting a boss or a group of enemies. It's not complicated at all but hardcore RPG fans will most likely find it too easy.
Personally, I bought the game for $9.99 used. It definitely met my expectations and was worth the value that I payed for it. Achievement whores will definitely enjoy the game because you'll get an easy 1000 points for 20 hours of work.
If you are huge RPG fan and are willing to pay more than 30 bucks for the game I'd suggest playing Lost Odyssey or Eternal Sonata instead. If you see the game for cheap I would definitely recommend playing the game.