Starts slow but draws you into a compelling story!
I searched high and low for this game, and I finally got it. I put off playing it for a few other games and finally got around to it.
I played the first 2 hours and wasn't very engaged, the main character was a brat, the plot was dull at the beginning and it was a lot of normal Tales style stuff.
Now, for an RPG this one has an incredible story. Of all the Tales Games I've played, Vesperia, Symphonia, Symphonia 2, and Legendia this one was the best to play. The game has the perfect balance of "hardness" some bosses might take you 2 tries to beat but other than that, you find yourself coming out on top, but it won't be easy, but you won't have to replay the cutscenes before the boss fights a million times.
The graphics are also great. I started this out saying I was reviewing this in 2011 for a reason. The graphics never one bothered me, they were great.
The plot is also incredible. I was bored at first, mostly because of the main character, but he grows up. That's the point of the game, it's a buildungsroman if you will. A coming of age story. The plot is very good after the first 3-4 hours of gameplay. Once you get into the groove of the game the plot is very fast moving.
Another plus is, a lot of times you won't be forced to run over masses of land to get to your destination. Oftentimes you'll just get a timeskip and appear where you're supposed to go, its great when you don't want to walk out of the dungeon you just spent an hour getting to the bottom of. Another plus is the dungeons are generally brief. There is less killing and more plot to this one and if you play an rpg to fight, you're insane. We all know its for the plot.
Beyond that, the fighting system is better than tales of symphonia. The mystic artes make a return and, while they aren't as fun as the ones in TOS2 or Vesperia they have some really interesting and fun animations.
Overall, I have it a 9.5 simply because it starts slow, but once you get into the characters you'll find yourself so drawn into the story that you'll be surprised that the 40 hours you put into the game were over so fast. (I did it in 40 hours while trying to play with a puppy half the time, so I'd assume that if you don't bother with sidequests as much you can get it done in 30 or 35)
Great game, good gameplay, graphics, and plot; the voice actors are also really great, and the skits and much of the dialogue is hilarious.