Well for me story goes I got into this on 27th when my usual crap health plummeted so I couldnt basically do much apart from grunt and eat pain killers and lay in bed so no voicecoms since and L4D so I needed something to sit back with and this was it.
I dont understand the typical western reviews of this. I bought this shoved it on my xmas pille made the mistake of reading a few of em and they where so bad I dug it out (swapped it with Mirrors edge for the pile) in the intrest of trying it for a day then sending family out to trade it if it was that bad before the prices plummeted. Since then Ive spent nearly 60hours on it in one save and another 20+ on a broken save :lol
Im just totally hooked on it and if you install it theirs nowt wrong with it no problems with loading and little slowdown. Its a great solid JPRPG its not that taxing either once you become familiar with it and so far it aint been that hard (I havent died in over 20hours now). Low point was on 8th at 2am when for first time ever my 360 profile corrupted and I lost every save for every game. I thought I was only 16hours in (was infact 26) but I instantly started again till 5am that night and now up to the nearly 60hour mark on a new save and Im still on disc one. I think Ive only done 4 main quests as Ive been doing loads of pub ones which alot of them are seriously well done for sub quests. - Tip keep checking the pubs over and over as the pop up loads after you level some more.
Only points I can understand western review hate is early on its very difficult if you dont know what your doing and you will die alot if you run in tagging multiple groups. I do think though some of em aint played past 4hours as you learn very quickly how to do group unions and how the whole system works. I think the invaluable thing I learnt on my second start was to get Emma in the group from as early as possilbe (dual weapon lass) and always have her in a union as she learns healing stuff really quickly same with Pagus (the frog bloke if thats his right name) then I use the other dual wielder with 4hands Torgal as he seems to be the most powerfull for melee arts and then David/Blocter I rotate. I always make sure David is in my group for boss fights as he has the Gae Bole weapon. I did make everyone go both arts when I got asked but now Im nearly level 60 Ive let some of em go a set way.
Regarding spells by what I gather on battle screen alot of this is to do with the moral at the top of when you can use the arts if its more in your favour then you get to use more. Also certain spells are dependant on who your attacking and where you are in the union ie say Pagus is 3 in the union and he cant use caustic (nice AOE spell) to the guy infront if you target 2 to the right he might be able to. You can also learn debuff later on which puts the moral in your favour (Torgal learnt it on mine first going both arts and Im sure I learnt it with Rush from a pub quest).
I cannot say Ive ever had any issue of reviving thru vivication or healing any group at any point since I learnt it and Im using the arrowhead with mains at one (Emma, protagonist and Pagul all in 1 what are the main healers in each group) then I choose one backup what goes in slot 3 to heal. I make sure I have one soldier what can use herbs to heal as they learn as they go so eventually they learn vivication as well.
Ive found Arrowhead to be the best group and Ive used 4x3 as soon as I could instead of 3x4. Reason being is you come up against some heavy health mobs and you need to heal alot. Ive been using protagoinst in 1 Rush then Dave in 2 (at the front), 3&4 soldiers (have a backup healer in 3 soldier to learn and level up). Rush can heal seriously well now, revive and suck poison away, Dave can just heal great.
Group 2 is my power group of Emma in 1 with learning both arts so she branched to vivication, major healing and getting rid of stuff like poisons and then became very powerfull with dual wield then 2 the best fighter Torgal using both arts (on hindsight would have been better letting him go for fighting from the off as his mystics are crap its very low damage arrows or slightly better flash arrows only good one was debuffs hes now on melee path) again in 3 I have a backup healer soldier and 4 just fodder soldier (I tend to go for in 4 on every formation a hex user for poision and silence arts).
Group 3 is my mystic group with lower health (always getting targetted first) but great at the AOE and hex stuff. Pagus is my main healer he does the lot the quickest, getting rid of poisons and reviver so hes always the one I protect the most. Then I fill him up with soldiers as their isnt anymore leaders allowed on my point. 2 I have a good solid melee guy 3 again a backup healer and 4 a HEX dealer. This works well as it ends up that Pagus uses Caustic blast loads for AOE which can take out 2-3 groups if your lucky at IV and then the soldier can silence a caster or poison em.
I have tried 4x3 and I used that on my 1st save before it corrupted and it just ate 10hours of dying alot (compared to how quick I got to same point with 3x4 on the new save) because a group can get wiped out really quick at the start if your luck is against you. It is good for a area what you want to level grind in if their a few levels at the very least below you as each leader gets to use their arts to level em (wheras if your grinding a low level with 2 leaders in each group the second leader wont get chance to use theirs) apart from that though I found it more of a headache. Id just rather have that extra 300hp + earlier on in one group as it makes tagging 2-3mobs for extra goodies easier to handle.
I cannot stress enough to do every pub quest you can handle as you learn alot of arts from this from healing to potion arts to explosive arts, hex and so on. The main way the game works is if you use it you learn it so if you use alot of early herbs to heal they get stronger and then they branch and you end up with the much needed vivication revive spell. If you use dual wield you go from attack to eventually a specific dual wield melee art and the same happens for 2handed and 1handed (1handed shares traits with dual of course as they both use knee splitter). Ive found 2handed to be a waste of time I used it alot on my first save for about 10levels and then switched to 1h and shield it was just cumbersome and slow for little benifit of damage and the arts with it wasnt much cop.
I switched at level 50 from 1h shield to dual wield and not looked back since as I found 2 lovely swords and used items found to get them up to 60+ damage each. When you learn that its just thru repetition then its quite easy to learn the level system. The game also does have a basic level system of growth as if you check top right after a battle you have a battle rank and thats just your level rank, your players AP/HP etc.. grow as you level and by looks of it so do the rest of the people you have with you even if you dont use them.
You can grind on LR Ive done it quite happily as the general areas you grind in wont go up with your level; examples of this early on are the blackwell area and later on the big desert. They only seem to alter when you then get a pub quest to go back to that area example the desert changed from an area of beatles and occasional flying talon (the evil things with the curse) to full of birds with only 2beatles (as it was a beatle quest).
Also regarding the maps explore like crazy as alot of the maps (like say desert) their is two exits what open up of course 2 more areas not just one. You quickly by doing this open up a load of citys which of course give a load of pub quests. Id also check the citys wandering about now and again as you do get quests (red bubble) off of members in the streets.
Id also check the maps/dungeons again and again as you get rare elite mob pops that give some great XP. Regarding the talons and the dreaded curse if you can (as its dependant on moral and where the units are ie position 3 in fight) you can give the option to wait and standby if you can do this with 2-3 unions (if are using max 4) and then send one in as the locking fighter group for slaughter then do so as they only seem to curse on the first round. If they do get cursed and other groups are safe and you have vivication to revive in the other groups then leave the cursed group dont heal them. Eventually if its a long fight the whole group will go down and when it does you can revive them. If you revive them part group they still are cursed but if their all down they come back minty fresh
Also remember to go visit the guild and check quests as you can hand quests in for money and get rewards like new arts and formations.
Regarding the guild Ive found apart from very early on buying more leaders pointless so I wouldnt go spending it on more apart from the early ones save your cash for items for healing instead.
You must remember with vivication that you need the ingredients from the town though. I think Elysion is one of the best ones to get pretty much everything for this and just check with the herb vendor what you need by going to arts and the ingredients required. I personally make sure I have 100 of everything I need, yep its pricey but as you find the weapons and items you need for ages and only need the dosh to upgrade them its better to spend it on keeping alive.
Also remember you can only carry 100 of each item then you loose it if you find it in the wild so always make sure to go to a vendor and sell your talon legs and captured beasts regulary. You can split a captured beast with A for rare items on occasion (ie a rare mob) just check if you have more than 3 if you do then dont do it and sell it for loads of money. Only ones you seem to need alot of are the medals and the weapon scrolls for item modifictation/creation.
