I'd like to say this is a masterpiece, the next best thing since "Let Us Cling Together". Unfortunately, this game is so abusable that you can trivialize the hardest difficulty if you know what you're doing. The balance is simply all over the place, and so is the map design. The former suffers because you're afforded much better equipment than what enemies have access to and the latter suffers from open world syndrome, interspersing lengthy side quests with short battles that tend to have a particular gimmick. Not to mention the overworld, where you'll be relegated to gathering resources and making deliveries, enthralling.... The whole experience ends up playing out like your typical Ubisoft game, where quantity and tedium test your endurance. Each region is also very homogenous, with the same looking terrain, buildings, and enemies everywhere. Let's not even talk about the writing, it's unremarkable and bland, carrying the plot forward to the next land mass to conquer.

Where this game really shines is in its gambit-like system, where you can specify both the order and requirements for character actions, add actions through equipment, and synchronize them with unit formations. There's a lot of classes to choose from as well, with an adequate variety of type matchups and six slots to play with. During battles, valor points provide a good balancing act between deployment and valor actions, while the time limit encourages aggression. It's so mechanically sound and full of creative freedom that I've considered this a worthwhile experience, despite my problems with it.