Add me into the "this starts disappointingly but gets waaaaaay better later on" crowd.
2 things that changed my mind:
1) The characters DO develop. I'm not half way through the game yet, but finally the writing has picked up its pace. The characters feel like they really are adventuring together, that there is tension between them, and that tension is really well explained by the plot. It's not the best JRPG story mind you, but it's much better than what it started as.
Also huge tip:
TURN OFF THE VOICE ACTINGseriously, both English and Japanese casts are HORRIBLE (with the exception of the English voice for Ringabel) and ruin the mood. Seriously some times it sounds like a game from the late 90s/early 00s.
2) The battle system...oh..my...god...it is....BEEEAAAAUTIFUL.
You don't realize how good it really is till you unlock and level the more specialized jobs.
I currently have my white mage (powerfull healing) with summoner as a secondary class (for powerful summons...and because it's my only earth elemental attack since I prefer to use 2 rangers for damage instead of a black mage) and I get to match and pick the secondary skills of all the jobs she leveled. So she has:
1) A spell on her sword from the spell fencer class which makes her attacks absorb MP from the enemy (thus making sure she doesn't run out of MP)
2) She has a shield with a high evade skill, so she can use the red mage skill I got equiped on her to win extra turns every time she evades an attack and
3) The mislead skill from the freelancer that greatly lowers the chance that enemies will target her, making it more likely she will survive.
I have never played a JRPG where I enjoyed customizing my character's abilities so far. And to think I've only unlocked half the jobs so far. I'm looking forward to seeing what offensive combos I can build
. Basically it's when the characters start to get interesting.
