Story:
The game's story unfolds in a very unfamiliar way which is a vague intro followed by a series of scenes that eventually tie everything together. It is a little confusing at times and was ultimately a letdown for me though. It's not terrible, just not as good as it could have been. In regard to the characters, they're fantastically done. I love every single one of them especially the main characters. I actually enjoyed the characters so much that I overlooked the flawed story.

Gameplay:
The game plays sort of like a mix of turn based and action rpg elements, and it mixes rather well. The fighting consists of two types of damage. Scratch and direct damage. Direct damage doesn't usually inflict much damage by itself but this is where scratch damage comes from. Scratch damage sticks to the enemies life bar and can be combined with direct damage to inflict maximum damage. One thing to note about the gameplay is that the game is pretty hard when comparing to other recent rpgs.

The systems within this game are unique that i haven't seen many others like it, if any at all. The world map consists of hexagons that you use various shapped light squares to 'reveal' thus being able to travel on them. Making the world map itself a mini 'puzzle' game, i stress mini since getting these light squares is a simple matter of murdering more foes. The strategy with this comes in lighting up various energy sources for bonuses. Making the map glow a certain color, think Geosquares in Disgaea, will give that area certain status effects. Cover a dungeon with that color and the entire dungeon has that effect.

There is also a sort of Barbie dress up deal. Your guns, and accessories are your 'stat' gear and your clothes are basically just whatever you feel like wearing. It gets addictive seeing what new clothes you can buy and what new eye colors, hiar colors, holsters, etc you can deck each character in.

Dialogue :
The voice acting is mediocre. There are a lot of sexual innuendos, some funny, some distasteful, and the occasional joke. But like most other games of this genre, the English voice-overs aren't always... how can I put this lightly... any good.

Sound and graphics:
Sounds effects like guns and pushing buttons are probably like you expect, they get the job done. The music is mostly just a bunch of hard rock music, nothing too exciting. A plus about music though is that through the XMB you can play your own music. A very nice feature to have. As for graphics, they're great and hold up well to other games.

Overall despite any flaws, this game is fantastic if you're into shooters/rpgs. There is a lot of strategy and pre-planning involved though so if that's not your style I don't recommend this. There's also a slight learning curve as well as a pretty high difficulty. Still, this is one of the best games I've played on my PS3 and look forward to a sequel.

I AGREE. This game is brilliant. Although the steep learning curve may turn away most players. Once you get used to the ombat and the gist of the game, It becomes one of the best RPG game around for this year. I have actually enjoyed this MUCH more than FFXIII.