It's a pretty decent APRG.
Positives:
BEAUTIFUL GLORIOUS CELL SHADED GRAPHICS WITHOUT COMPARISON. HD monitor is a must for the true glory of the game.
Decent length + 2nd playthrough is pretty good (40hrs on first playthrough)
Good combat system.
Negatives:
Battle system gets stale
Story is nonsensical in a "what are they even talking about" over-your-head sort of way.
Dungeon/Level design is rather...Meh. Very linear.
Alot of people are split on ES - some think it's the best JRPG on the 360 thus far due to the fact that Namco actually tried something different with the combat. Others think that ES fell short in the story and level area..
I'd give it a solid 8.25. Not perfect, but a must-play RPG for the 360. Can't wait for Verspria, as ES is a good primer for what can be accomplished (and hopefully blown out of the water) for a cell shaded JRPG on the 360.
I'm about 35% of the way through my 2nd playthrough. The Party Level 6 Harmony Chains are just glorious (but too easy to use)....300,000+ damage, only to be repeated over and over by each character makes the game insanely easy later on in the last uber-dungeon.
But for me, the story is just...ugh. No annoying Maro/Shu characters in ES though...Beat gets a little annoying, but hes OK for the most part.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
