So like I said I'm up to the point in the game where pretty much a good chunk of the battle mechanics are available to me. I'm enjoying the game much more than I have in my JP previous run.
I'll start off with the characters. I like Sorey as a main character and I like the rest of the cast for the most part. However, I do feel like the characters that hang out with Sorey are pretty boring for the most part because they are flat characters rather than dynamic ones. Not only that but they all have stupid one liners during dialogue which can be pretty hit or miss. They're not offensive but they're not spectacular either. Having said that, the story falls on its face pretty considerably. I take no offense as to why Alisha leaves like I posted in the JP thread. However, I always had a problem of how Rose joined the party considering they made it a pretty big deal of how Alisha was causing issues but Rose does not. I just found it abrupt and pretty terrible.
The voice acting is rock solid and so is the script. I would say this is the best localized script for a Tales game bar none. It's fantastic.
The combat system. Oh boy. I loved Graces' combat system after a second playthrough. Perhaps it's similar for Zestiria in the same vein. After coming back to it with a fresh mind, I'm enjoying the combat system much better than before. I still think the Blast Gauge system is flawed to a large degree due to Armatization being the great priority use but there are some nuances revolving around the system that didn't necessarily exist before in the series. For instance, using Armatization to redistribute health and BG resources, or using the Blast Chain to create longer Power hit combos, or using the Blast gauge for revival. Things like this wasn't really possible and I'm glad it exists in the game. The Seraphim in the same light are more resources than they are characters. They exist to heal you, give you power ups, change you positioning in a fight, etc. They're great but they'r'e extremely limited in hindsight because of the elemental weakness system.
The weakness system in Zestiria I find to be a stepback in numerous ways. Graces had a great idea, Xillia sort of ruined it, then Xillia 2 improved it a great deal. In Zestiria, they took a step back with it as enemies pretty much required you to use weaknesses in order to defeat them otherwise you're SOL. This means that it gives players less freedom in starting the initial combo and continuing it. Perhaps this is a personal gripe but I find it sort of annoying.
The skill system was another auxiliary system I found an issue with originally as well. Rather than giving players the full control of how they're characters are progressing utilizing levels and learned skills, we're tied by the equipment we choose for our characters. Fusing equipments can power up your character and give more skills for characters but we have no direct control over what we can get and sometimes it feels like it's a slot game. We're further limited because you can only fuse items of the same name. Needless to say, the fusing in the game is pretty bad.
Overall, I'm enjoying the game because of the battle system but the game is still flawed to a great degree. This is by far the worst PS3 Tales game of the generation. Having said that, I do think this is better than Hearts R now.... for the time being...