The more I play into this game, the more its complete awesomeness reveals itself. I liked it to begin with, but I am loving it more and more as I progress further in -- the tightness of the gameplay, the depth of all the different stuff in it, the great campy story and characters, etc.
Some things I'm liking here beyond the initial impressions I posted earlier:
- the shooter sections are fantastic. Sure, maybe it's not as thorough or challenging as a fully developed stand-alone shooter game -- but it's really well designed all the same, the controls are fun, and as you get more terrenial weapons, it becomes even more enjoyable because of the options you have. Switching between the rapid-attack light shot versus the wide-range explosive fire shot and the standard dark attack... great fun and an enjoyable way to end each chapter.
- really having fun grinding for junk for the weapon upgrades.
- unlocking the paraSOL climate manipulation, and acquiring new environments to screw around with, is an excellent gameplay addition, and as some posters have commented previously, though it's a bit subtle, there's a ton of depth in this. I love the way different climates interact with various items in the game -- for instance, the frontier town sells a piece of armor that increases its defensive capabilities the higher the temperature is, which makes it a perfect combo with the arid desert climate.
- I like all the different options the terrenials open up for you in combat. I like that Aaron and Lucian get different trance attacks for each terrenial, depending upon their element -- though I was surprised the first time I attempted to use Lucian's HP-sucking trance and instead realized I was being asked to draw circles to create explosive rings of fire on the screen.
- also, I continue to be very impressed at how well integrated blocking is into the general flow of combat, and how well balanced it is between the need for directional precision and watching the guard gauge. The game is not just pure hack and slash -- there's very much a rhythm to the combat where you pull off a combat, parry an attack, and then push forward to attack again. I like that.
It's amazing how well designed this game is as far as action RPGs go... and how completely under-the-radar it is. It was completely ignored in Japan, and it looks like it won't be doing too well in the US, either. Damned shame.