It is my game of the year, and should be at the very least nominated as game of the year by major publications.

It's amazing through and through. Screw MGS4, GTAIV, Brawl, Gears 2, and Fallout 3 (the obvious choices, though not all my personal ones). Not literally, because those are all fantastic games as well, but this one is just it for me. It's far more unique than any of the above.

The gameplay is genius and different from every other strategy RPG or RPG or action RPG or however you want to classify it's incredibly unique gameplay. Where as the above titles sought to perfect what they had already started, Sega went on and reinvented it's genre (whatever genre you want to call it). The gameplay is fluid, engaging, smart, and both simple and deep at the same time. That sort of effort and subsequent accomplishment must be recognized.

Graphically it's astoundingly beautiful and a fantastic use of the PS3s power that uses more than a brown and grey color pallette. It is simply a gorgeous game, artistically I find it far better than any of the previously mentioned titles by ten miles.

The soundtrack is fantastic. You unlock the soundtrack after you beat it and I'm listening to it for the second time now and it's just beautiful. The orchestral pieces are beautiful, and they hit every mood just right. From the tense beats of the war drums leading up to battles, to the beautiful symphonic pieces everything manages to convey exactly what it wants to and penetrates right to the heart.

The story is great, it's not shakespear but it's engaging and surprisingly mature. How many games have openly homosexual or racist characters without making a big deal about it? And then actually goes on to use their personalities as actual gameplay mechanics (lesbianism has great perks)? It changes from the sucrose fun of anime buddy shows where everybody is great friends on a dangerous but fun and memorable adventure to the horrors and realities of war without missing a beat or ever feeling awkward. The voice acting is great, or at least as good as videogames and anime get. It has many recognizable voices for anybody that watches anime, and they deliver their lines well.

I beat it clocking in at around...36 hours which is an assload for modern games. And It's got plenty of replay value for those that are obsessed with perfection and DLC on the way for new missions.

The thing is I can't think of any weaknesses of this game. It is a fantastic and absolutely solid effort from Sega (Which is a shock, I guess they still have at least a couple of good teams over there), that actually does something different, vastly different. If you don't have this game then go get it. I don't care if you don't like JRPGS or SRPGS or whatever, this isn't one of them, this is something entirely different. And if nothing else, it has shooting ok? If you are a gamer you have no excuse to play all of the previously mentioned games and ignore this one (unless you just don't have the money for a PS3). It is the cream of the crop, and I'm calling it as my game of the year.

I agree about everything... except one thing.

There was one crappy multi-platform game that was like it in gameplay last year. Though it missed the cover fire option which is what makes this game work so well.

It's my GOTY as well.

Thank god too since i bought a PS3 like 80% for this game.

You bought a ps3 for this game? Who would've thought VC could move consoles

VC wasn't what made me buy a PS3 but it was a big influence. I wasn't envious of much as a wii owner 8 months ago, but I saw this and was like "wow, that looks cool." Turns out it was waaay more than cool.

Yep.  Was following this game since i saw gameplay footage.

Outisde of it every HD game i wanted was on both the 360 and the PS3... and my girlfriend was pushing for the 360 for the streaming netflix.

In the end though i had to go for VC.  Since it's the kind of game I've been literally waiting.  That's exactly how i wanted SRPGs to develop but didn't think anyone was going to do unless i learned to program myself or something.

If it didn't come out, or was multi-plat i almost definitly would of went with the 360 and Netflix for the girlfriend.

I'd like to get all 3 systems but I wanted to do that last generation too and i never got around to the Xbox because i had too many games to play through.

Same thing is likely to happen here.

Wasn't Disgea a reason too? Sounds to me like you made a wise choice of a system if you love these types of games. Both are awesome and only on ps3.

Not my GOTY, but definately in my top 5.

I don't understand all the fuss over the visuals though. Artistically, it's pretty typical anime stuff apart from that (so underused that you don't even know it's there half the time) shading effect, and technically, it's one of the worst looking HD game I've played.
I don't think anyone realizes that all those cutscenes with Sevaria being awesome and such aren't actually in-game...

Me?  No.  I've yet to even beat Disgaea 2... and Soul Nomad and the World Devourers... and Phantom Brave... and i don't think i ever beat La Pucelle Tactics either.

I've got more then enough Nippon Ichi games to play through.

I hope its as good as u say, I plan on buying this game, not now though, Im kinda broke :(

Yeah, this game certainly can't get enough praise. I've had so much fun with it. I'd say it is the first RPG to come out of Japan this gen on any of the non-handheld consoles that is truly great.

Even Square and Mistwalker have yet to produce something that I could objectively say is "great" rather than just "very good."