Good review, nice and in-depth, and though you seem a bit harsh (customisation in particular), I think you're about right.

Still need to pick this up :/

I want to get this, but my 3DS backlog is huge.

I'm playing the game now. I'm only on Chapter 1, but so far it is one of the best games I have ever played.

Yeah, I don't mean spell fencers.  They add extra magic damage to the melee attack regardless if the enemy is weak against it or not.  Most bosses are human, and the only humans who have a weakness are the ones wearing armor, then it's Thunder, making magic users even worse because you can't even hit a weakness. 

Using brave x 4 when you can for your attacking characters is worse than default x3 and then brave x 4.  You'll defend three times and then do four attacks.  Doing it the other way you have no extra defense while waiting for your BP to regain.  

On random battles though, there's no reason not to do brave x 4 unless you know you can't kill the enemies in a single turn, and most of the time you'll be able to. 

Cant wait to play this, but with my wish to go all digital on handhelds, i may be waiting a while for a good price.

Well they don't really drop off, but they've terrible stats for a main class and also there's better support classes out there. I think I used Spell Fencer until around Chapter 3's beginning, but then there were too many better options out there for me.

Still worth having at the start, though. Auto-Aspir is excellent for a planned mage, even if you ditch the class altogether.

I've been talking to a few people, most prominent of them, lestatdark, and I like what I heard from both of you, namely the battle system mimicking FF V (which was awesome), and skits being a big part of the game. He said that the game is very challenging though, what did you think? With the "win" button it seems a bit less so

What pisses me off is the "dragging on" part, though. Same @ the fixation on splitting a normal ending from a true one by grinding by quite a few games... but nothing is without flaws... the online being key is also a flaw in my eyes, but eh, what can you do. Otherwise, seems a good enough game - and it looks mighty classic, too. 6.25 is solid by JRPG standards, I'm keeping my eyes on it.

May I ask what games on the system use it better?  I thought Bravely Default used it execellenty, and I'd love to see games that can top it.  (I'm not saying that you're wrong with this statement, just want to know some games to look into!)

Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate easily has the best.  Literally jaw dropping on how well the 3D effect is done.  SMT4 is right behind it.  Bravely Default 3D I'd say is the next best for what I've played.  Of the games I own, I haven't played Pilot Wings Resort, Tales of the Abyss, or Fire Emblem, so no idea on how the 3D is on those.