Most notably unique to my own playing, the aiming ring system that makes the player sync up their attacks for the right time to strike their enemy is a great and engaging mechanic that helps deter boredom after hours of gameplay.
In tangent with this, there are front and back positions to help guard any squishy characters "In combat both the player's party and enemies are arranged in two lines, front and back. Up to five party members can participate in battle at once. At the start of battle, the back line is protected by a special defensive "wall" which is based on the combined hit points of the front line. This wall reduces damage that the characters in the back experience. However, as the front line takes damages, the wall weakens, and can only be recovered through the use of certain spells or skills. When the wall is completely gone, the back row will have no damage reduction. This mechanic also applies to groups." (Wikipedia)
Timing your hit up to just the right moment lands you a perfect which will almost always lead to a critical attack. Not bothering to go with this mechanic (unless you are a higher level) will make you miss the target, so actually participating and getting the rhythm of the game is essential to both understanding and mastering the battle system.
The music is another great aspect that I'd like to mention. While the main battle theme is only changed up for boss battles and special side quest fights, the music is both gorgeous and appealing for an updated call back to previous rpgs. Composed by the famous Nobuo Uematsu (Another Final Fantasy regular), I expected nothing less and before I even played the game was excited to know that the attention to detail in the soundtrack would be topnotch. The militaristic notes to some of the early tracks plays into the advent of some of the countries magical industrial revolution. War and other Imperialistic expansion are constant threats to the citizens and it is only later on in some of the exploratory areas that the lasting effects are seen.
I'd like to mention one other aspect of the game that I haven't found to such a degree of quality. The inclusion of the a thousand years of dreams journal entries adds character development to the immortals and humanizes them as well. Kaim's suffering is quite evident in the encounters he has with the people he meets in the journal entries. Compounded with the fact that the immortals cannot remember anything about themselves from the onset of existing in these lands, they stumble and struggle to understand themselves and those around those who's lives are a flickering of their own. Overall, the tone of the entries evokes a pacifist view in light of all the violence that takes place in the game. Especially regarding Ming's situation, I'd like to mention the irony of her being the ruling queen of a more aesthetically Chinese country and the unrest that the nobility and her council has with an undying monarch. That many emperors have tried in our history for an elixir to be in this exact situation begs the question of examining the ramifications of such wish fulfillment. With her murky memories leading her to be manipulated and wrested from power, is living for close to 1000 years something to truly strive for?
Living through multiple lives, including that of your children and grandchildren, living with the guilt of people one has killed, the diminishing of experiences of both joy and tragedy all ask the player to consider the ramifications of living for hundreds of years. Unable to kill oneself if one chose to, how does someone with the psychology of a person continue to live with themselves? If you're up for a beautiful and philosophical games with great mechanics from some of the most notable makers of rpg's, I suggest picking up a copy to play. I'd like to know what your experiences were if you have had the chance to play as well.
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