Well this is really fun. I am about 3 hours in and here are some of my thoughts so far:
1. Combat reminds of of Final Fantasy 13. AnGer-dono explained it above, but you basically have "stances" (roles) and "formations" (paradigms). Other than that, even normal encounters remain interesting since you actually have to put some thought into what you're doing (you
will die if you just mash attack).
2. Level of difficulty is right so far. I died on a ghost boss in the first area (I guess it was more of a mini-boss), but defeated it easily on the second attempt once I was more prepared. Saving often is a must though, since it seems these types of fights with more difficult enemies can show up out of nowhere. There was a little scene before the battle, but other than that I was just running around like normal and then - BAM! - boss fight.
3. Visuals/art direction and the storybook-style presentation are the best part about this game. I like the narrator and the way the environments spring up as you walk like a pop up book.
4. No traditional leveling here, but the SaGa/FF2 "it grows as you use it" feels pretty nice since your characters get upgrades almost every other battle. With enough "training" it seems you can make the characters any way you like, and you'll want or need to have dedicated roles for your party. My character with the highest guard stat also had the lowest HP and, unlike in FF2, you can't attack your own characters (as far as I know), so I'm trying to level up one of my other characters' guard skill for now.
5. There's barely a story, but that's good. I've been pretty busy lately, so it's nice to be able to experience that glorious turn-based gameplay with minimal scenes.
6. That music though.
@AnGer-dono Did you get the full game? Which character did you choose and what's your party? I chose Filmia and I'm using his default party (him, Bianca, and Liber).