I couldn't get past the first hour or so without thinking meh this is not for me and I would rather have the 70 gigs of space it takes up for something else.

I to found it lackluster and found myself agreeing with ever point you made about the early game.

I have a hard time getting into Asian rpgs in general , when everyone looks like a Final Fantasy boss I just cant seem to get into it.

The large scale helms deep style battles do look intriguing tho.