I am of two minds about the character creation. On the one hand, in the main story, your character is introduced as a newbie to the rather menial task with which you start out, and then mostly just idles by, silent and blank-faced, through the rest of the story. Your character simply does not factor into the story and could be removed without any detriment. Instead, the focus opts for jRPG staples of orphaned white boy who is destined for knightly greatness. And he likes a princess. And his best friend is a quirky girl who is crushing on him. And they're led by a grizzled 'older' gentleman who barely looks like he's in his mid-thirties...

The characters are largely forgettable, and I still struggle to remember any of their names. Some would argue that they are using recognizable archetypes, but I found nothing to progress from archetype to character about whose plight I cared. They are good for a session of Mystery Science Theater if you have a friend sitting down with you. It's not horrible by any means, but it isn't great either. About average--about what you'd expect.

On the other hand, the character you create allows you to access GeoNet, where your other PCs cannot go. This is the purpose of the character customization, but it almost feels like two wholly separate games, one of which I will admit I enjoyed much more than the other--with caveats.

That is to say, the GeoNet can be pretty fun. In contrast, the main plot drags, has nothing new to really show you, and can take a pretty long time to get started if you have any hint of completionist in you. This was the case for me because the overland places where you go between towns and battle is huge, and has many branching paths. Your characters also tend to speak during these walks; speak and repeat the same tired lines over and over.

Battle goes the trend of allowing you to control one party member at a time and giving the others general behavioral patterns; be aggressive, defensive, et cetera. Where the combat really becomes amusing is with its combos.

Your skillset is determined by spending points in one of eight distinct branches. One each for the offensive magics, and six for your weapon abilities. Each one has skills you unlock, which can then be strung together to create a combo, which allows for greater strings of attacks the more action chips you have. Otherwise, you have a string of three tool bars, where you select which attack you want to use, all selected before a battle.

Enemies are a mixture of your groundling troops and huge behemoths, whom you can either fight as your paltry human form or adopt the Knight stature. This mixture is exciting at first, but later on grows to be tiresome. I found myself not using the Knight form unless I was squaring against bosses, as later-gained air attacks lent me a faster method of dispatch.

The battle system is perhaps the best implemented element of gameplay, however. While I wouldn't call it intuitive, it is fairly easy to comprehend and muddle through to get through the game, and it can also be fairly complex if you desire to push through and understand all the elements. Switching among the three characters on the battlefield also allows for a different range of experiences, in case you wish to be backup support for a while.

Visually the game is a mixed blessing. The environments can certainly be stunning and impressive, but the character models themselves often leave something to be desired--they're okay for the most part, but never really stand well against the backdrops they traverse. It is a nice touch that any weapon or armor you equip will appear on your characters, but early on this means you will have a fairly monotonous and bland looking group.

Again, where I found the game enjoyable, to start, is in GeoNet. Here is where all your sidequests for the game are found. Abandoning the clichéd crew, you venture into quests for guild rank, money, and an enjoyable time.

The entire system is set up as a series of kingdoms. You can create your own or visit someone else's. These kingdoms are upgradeable. Starting off with a small plot of land, you spend various enemy leave-behinds and money to upgrade your plot, houses, and have to go venture out to find citizens who carry out roles that gather you more resources. An amusing past time can be had just in organizing and mapping out your town.

From these junction points, you can either select to start or join a quest, waiting in a lobby for other teammates to join. The quests are mostly retreading familiar areas from the main plot and undertaking tasks upon which you will be graded for time, enemies killed, et cetera. The higher the grade, the higher the guild rank, which in turn yields you various rewards.

In order to access them, you will have to go through the main plot, but this at least means you'll have a decent amount of resources if you decide to delay this portion of the game. Otherwise, you can easily play both side by side, and switch whenever you feel like it. I opted for the latter path and found myself never using the character I'd created in the main story (for the reasons mentioned, and because it kept the party's level balanced). In the end, the discrete nature of the quests leaves the whole experience feeling somewhat bland, however. If you enjoy farming resources to build your town, it can be great fun.

Final verdict? If you are a jRPG fan and want another game to put on your pile, this is probably something in which you'll have interest. Otherwise, it can be a fairly average experience that is enhanced by its online component, if that's something in which you have an interest. Overall, I was fairly unimpressed, though that may be because I was anticipating the game for well over three years.