TLR isn't that a bad of the game. Your enjoyment of the game will essentially come down to two things. Your tolerance for technical issues and your opinion of the battle system. The battle system is excellent. I haven't enjoyed a turned based system this much in a long time. The technical issues are problematic but never to a game breaking level. I have logged probably 40 or 50 hours into the game and I have never had a game breaking bug.
I also agree that the TLR is better than Eternal Sonata. ES is one of my least favorite games. I had to force myself to finish and I haven't touched it sense. MrStickball gave a great description of the games problems. ES had great potential. However it's linear even by JRPG standards. The story is awful. The characters are even worse, and the only bright spot for me was the art style and the battle system. The battle system actually starts handicapping you as you get further into the game. You would think leveling up the battle system would aid, but no in ES, it actually does the reverse.
I hope the TLR team gets to make another game using this battle system. If they can iron out the technical issues and write an improved narrative, you'd have a exceptional game. Instead you have a good game mired in technical imperfections. They seemed to want to work on another 360 title, I hope SE obliges them.
