Well, I believe the only other option is really Eternal Sonata (as ToV is not out in the UK), which I have only played the demo of

I have pre-ordered IU, so I cannot really give me impressions until this weekend. I would wait until then for user reviews from here to try and help

I would certainly start by downloading ES's demo anyway

Wait for the user reviews.

You could also check out the Gamersyde videos to decide if the gameplay is what you want: http://www.gamersyde.com/news_7062_en.html

well you could try eternal sonata if you dont like turn based. LO is turn based but its not bad of a game, shame the 3rd dvd is very pale i was on 4rth dvd and traded it back in today.

i think il pick up eternal sonata next for 360.

ID hasnt turned out the way people including myself wanted it to be, its coming from triace/square. but best to read user reviews, or try it out if you know someone who has it.

you could also get tales of vesp, but im skipping on that as the battle system is to much hack and slash for me.

Hold of on IU if this is an attempt in playing a JRPG.

Playing a mediocre game might turn you off to it.

after playing a good JRPG and you like the genre then you can always play this game then.

ToV is probably the best new RPG at the moment. Like you said, the reviews for IU have been rather mediocre. Although you could probably rent IU and beat it in a week since I've read that the main quest is only 20 hours long and the sidequests are not worth doing at all.

Your loss. ToV is easily one of the best RPGs on the X360, and one of the better ones made in years, regardless of system. Even if you don't like the cell shaded style, the story and dialogue are pretty decent, and Yuri (later on) is just a violent, semi-evil lead character.

ToV is definately not hack & slash for the combat. It may appear that way from videos, but the combat is far more strategic, because your trying to linking normal combos + basic artes + arcane artes to get 100 hit combos, and such to do max damage in battles. It's a fantastic JRPG, and a must-play for any RPG fan that likes Action-based RPGs.

But as for IU, the videos (watched about the first hour) look very good. With 4 difficulty levels, and promises of entirely different experiences between each level....It looks to buck the reviewer scores.

BTW: Eternal Sonata is rather mediocre if your going to look at it. Depending on what you want in your JRPG, you may really like, or hate it. I've been rather vocal on the game, and if your going to get an ARPG, I'd definately say that ToV is heads & shoulders above Eternal Sonata, and IU looks to be (even at the worst parts), on par with ES as a whole.