In short amazing, unless you're after achievements. Only thing I disliked about the game itself was the way combat looks. Look at any human boss fight to see the worst example of what I am talking about.

At a glace it looks like a generic jRPG (as most of them do), but it has it's unique quirks, which most jRPGs lack.

• Start with any character. Either get the rest later or be hardcore and try to beat the game with 1 character.
  
• Each character has a "special" way to interact with NPCs. Interactions are not unique, but their effectiveness scales with character level, which adds another layer to progression.
  
• Enemy shield/break system, where each enemy has certain weaknesses and instead of dealing more damage using those weaknesses you break enemies shields. Once shields are broken enemy is stunned and the entire party can deal more damage.
  
• Boost mechanic, is kind of the core of the game, so I have to mention it, but similar thing has been done in Bravely Default. It essentially means that each turn you either accumulate 1 boost point or use them to boost character actions.

• Fun Character progression, that doesn't fade 40 hours in. If you remember that rare type of progression the game Vagrant Story had, this one is nothing like it. You've got equipment (nothing too fancy here, but well balanced in terms of power and prices), active skills you can choose to unlock, passive skills that unlock along side passive ones and interchangeable secondary/advanced jobs, which allow you to have 2 classes in 1 and essentially learn more skills. You are incentivised to max them all on each character.
  
• Combat feels fresh... even if it doesn't look like it. Due to shield break and boost mechanics there's usually more emphasis on picking the right type of attack, rather than just defaulting to strongest one you have. I bring this up, because most jRPG random encounters become a chore when you only need to use 1-3 skills out of 20 you have to wipe enemy team in 1 skill and move on. You will not be 1 hit killing anything of similar level until really far into the game and even then it will only happen when buffs/boosts are involved.
  
• Open world. There are a few story-locked areas, which probably make up about 10% of the game. You are free to explore the other 90% the moment you're done with your first "quest". I sorely missed this in modern jRPGs as they seem to become more linear year by year.
  
• Money has weight. Money is sparse early on and shops are stocked with different weapons/armors, so you never know if you should cash in for that powerful weapon or wait until the next city. I like this over having linear traveling path where each new city on the path has progressively stronger equipment.
  
• Music. I actually sat there and listened to title menu song.

• Combat animations look ugly to me. I got used to them (they don't bother me as much), but I still hate them.
  
• Awful achievement design for few achievements. The game has a combination of no New Game+, missable elements and (multiple) achievements requiring 100% completion of said elements. In other words, if you miss something, you need another ~60 hours of gameplay to salvage those achievements, because all 3 of them require quite a lot of quest completion. IF YOU CARE ABOUT ACHIEVEMENTS, USE A GUIDE.
  
• Story is bland non-sci-fi TV series type and not something as grandiose as saving the world. Story is mostly personal journey of each character.
  
• Very little character interactions, which means characters themselves often lack.... character. Initial quests you do to unlock each character will give you enough details to get a feeling for who each character is, but beyond that it's somewhat stale.
  
• "Screen edge shadows" as the game calls it and edge blur. I hate it. You can turn off the shadows, but if you do the game looks too bright to play, so you have to turn the brightness down to minimum, which leaves it pretty bright. The edges remain blurry regardless of what you do. It's an artistic effect, which adds to a certain look of the game, but I would prefer to disable it.
  
• Unique combat actions are useless most of the time. The way summon, summon beast, concoct skills require consumables and using those skills means spending time getting those consumables. You can beat most battles without those skills, which means if you're lazy like me, you'll be inclined to ignore those skills for about 80% of the game to save time. I think that is a waste.

In short amazing, unless you're after achievements. Only thing I disliked about the game itself was the way combat looks. Look at any human boss fight to see the worst example of what I am talking about. At a glace it looks like a generic jRPG (as most of them do), but it has it's unique quirks, which most jRPGs lack. [h1]So, What's unique to this game? [/h1] [list] [*][b]Start with any character[/b]. Either get the rest later or be hardcore and try to beat the game with 1 character. [*][b]Each character has a "special" way to interact with NPCs[/b]. Interactions are not unique, but their effectiveness scales with character level, which adds another layer to progression. [*][b]Enemy shield/break system[/b], where each enemy has certain weaknesses and instead of dealing more damage using those weaknesses you break enemies shields. Once shields are broken enemy is stunned and the entire party can deal more damage. [*][b]Boost mechanic[/b], is kind of the core of the game, so I have to mention it, but similar thing has been done in Bravely Default. It essentially means that each turn you either accumulate 1 boost point or use them to boost character actions. [/list] [h1]Generic things done right [/h1] [list] [*][b]Fun Character progression[/b], that doesn't fade 40 hours in. If you remember that rare type of progression the game Vagrant Story had, this one is nothing like it. You've got equipment (nothing too fancy here, but well balanced in terms of power and prices), active skills you can choose to unlock, passive skills that unlock along side passive ones and interchangeable secondary/advanced jobs, which allow you to have 2 classes in 1 and essentially learn more skills. You are incentivised to max them all on each character. [*][b]Combat feels fresh[/b]... even if it doesn't look like it. Due to shield break and boost mechanics there's usually more emphasis on picking the right type of attack, rather than just defaulting to strongest one you have. I bring this up, because most jRPG random encounters become a chore when you only need to use 1-3 skills out of 20 you have to wipe enemy team in 1 skill and move on. You will not be 1 hit killing anything of similar level until really far into the game and even then it will only happen when buffs/boosts are involved. [*][b]Open world[/b]. There are a few story-locked areas, which probably make up about 10% of the game. You are free to explore the other 90% the moment you're done with your first "quest". I sorely missed this in modern jRPGs as they seem to become more linear year by year. [*][b]Money has weight.[/b] Money is sparse early on and shops are stocked with different weapons/armors, so you never know if you should cash in for that powerful weapon or wait until the next city. I like this over having linear traveling path where each new city on the path has progressively stronger equipment. [*][b]Music[/b]. I actually sat there and listened to title menu song. [/list] [h1] Negatives [/h1] [list] [*][b]Combat animations[/b] look ugly to me. I got used to them (they don't bother me as much), but I still hate them. [*][b]Awful achievement design for few achievements.[/b] The game has a combination of no New Game+, missable elements and (multiple) achievements requiring 100% completion of said elements. In other words, if you miss something, you need another ~60 hours of gameplay to salvage those achievements, because all 3 of them require quite a lot of quest completion. [b]IF YOU CARE ABOUT ACHIEVEMENTS, USE A GUIDE.[/b] [*][b]Story is bland non-sci-fi TV series type[/b] and not something as grandiose as saving the world. Story is mostly personal journey of each character. [*][b]Very little character interactions[/b], which means characters themselves often lack.... character. Initial quests you do to unlock each character will give you enough details to get a feeling for who each character is, but beyond that it's somewhat stale. [*][b]"Screen edge shadows"[/b] as the game calls it and edge blur. I hate it. You can turn off the shadows, but if you do the game looks too bright to play, so you have to turn the brightness down to minimum, which leaves it pretty bright. The edges remain blurry regardless of what you do. It's an artistic effect, which adds to a certain look of the game, but I would prefer to disable it. [*][b]Unique combat actions are useless most of the time[/b]. The way summon, summon beast, concoct skills require consumables and using those skills means spending time getting those consumables. You can beat most battles without those skills, which means if you're lazy like me, you'll be inclined to ignore those skills for about 80% of the game to save time. I think that is a waste. [/list]