Chrono Trigger? Secret of Mana?  Ever heard of those?

The median quality of S-E's games went down after Sakaguchi left and formed Mistwalker

Star Ocean 3: 9 at IGN

Chrono Cross: 10 at Gamespot, 9.7 at IGN

Xenogears: 9 at Gamespot, 9.5 at IGN

Radiata Stories: 8 at IGN

Vagrant Story 9.6 at both Gamespot and IGN

Kingdom Hearts: 9 at IGN, 8.2 at Gamespot

Kingdom Hearts II: 8.7 at Gamespot

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth: 8.5 at IGN

Valkyrie Profile Silmeria: 8.5 at IGN, 8 at Gamespot

Yeah, sure, the games outside FF and DQ are all crappy

"The reason why many of the JRPG protagonists are effeminate is becuase they are designed to appeal to the Japanese"

Riachu, why do the Japanese like effeminate male characters?

I wish I could say I'm surprised...but I'm not. My prediction was 8.1 - 8.4 for the reasons that were mentioned by Goldstein in his review, he just happened to dock it more then I thought he would.

I'll still play this game one day, but if the rest of the reviews are in the 6.5 - 7.5 range, I'll just hold off a bit longer and wait for a price drop. I don't consider reviewers gospel, but I find that they are usually spot on for RPG's. (with a few screw-ups here and there)

RPGs this gen seems overall bad. Mass Effect is the only good one in my opinion.

It's mainly a cultural thing.  Also, if you look at pictures of some of the Japanese male models, you will notice that they are often very effeminate.  Also, I think this could be do to the fact that Japanese(females in particular) really like "attractive" males

"Doing everything may take you 35 hours, but the side quests are often so boring, it's a struggle to do it all."

35 hours with sidequests is a good length, but I hope it isn't as boring as he says. I'm a RPG 100% completionist so I'll do them anyway.

"The story is intriguing enough that RPG fanatics should at least give this a rental."

That's really good to hear and a big plus in my book. I love RPG's and I love a good story

LOL you were kinda owned a sec ago but FYI, I've played Baldurs Gate for a while, and the power of Drizzt compells me to ignore snide remarks.

By the way that Drizzt guy was a cheat charater from the First Baldurs gate, which was actually tollerable compared to it's PS2 incorperation realized in Dark Alliance, in my opinion one settled for par the other claimed triple boogie.

360 fans stop complaining cuz ps3 owners would die for any RPG at this point. Thank God for Disgaea 3.

It's obvious, SE's games have been getting worse as time passed. The only exception being TWEWY IMO, the rest were just mediocre games.