There's something so insanely close to the edge of this game being great that it's infuriating that I don't find it to be. The familiar designs are fun, the music is fantastic, the art is enjoyable, but a game needs more than that, especially one that asks up to 60 hours of your time. The battle system is tedious, annoying, and worst of all your allies are completely brain dead. Mana? Forget about it, you are the sole person on your team who can manage mana unless you want your team mates to literally never use it, and then they die. This game also feels near impossible to continue with unless you are grinding hard and finding Toko's and their relatives, which spew out more EXP than a freshly decapitated Mortal Kombat character gushes blood, but at that point it feels offputting. Grinding is fun in RPGs when it feels natural, like you're becoming as strong and stronger than the enemies around you, not you run off, find a pushover who tries to run from you but you slice him with your strongest monster and win. I think the monster collecting portion of this game is one of it's biggest potentials and hugest upsets.

Anyway, I've put enough time into this game to know I don't want to finish it. Ni no Kuni II, though, that looks more up my alley.