I just started playing it yesterday. I killed that bird boss thing and made it into the construction base near grand staff.
I like the short stories quite a bit (though they seem to trigger from rather mundane things (like seeing a couple in the park). The fact that grinding is minimized is nice but sometimes I needed a fight to draw more skills off of Jansen for Seth and Kaim and somehow when I'm at that point it's hard to find a random battle so I have to run in circles until I find one. Oh well.
I think the combat could be punchier. Hopefully it will grow more complex as the game goes on. I've made seven or eight bruiser rings by now. Yeah. I'm kinda sick of bruiser rings to tell the truth.
Over all the game gives me a weird Shadow Hearts vibe (Except Jansen is a scuzzy weasel and not a more traditional eccentric menace like Joaquim and Frank) . The characters seem almost like they might fit in in the Soul Calibur universe.
The "dreams" remind me a lot of of Yuri going into his mental graveyard in Covenant for some reason. The maps are REALLY a lot like those in Shadow hearts 2 and 3 to the point that I almost want to check for a monster encyclopedia/item feature.
So far I'm glad I payed $60 for it.