Getting mine tomorrow.

Also artbook should've been a part of the pre-order.

That would have been nice, but the fact that we're getting it at all is good enough for me.

It's a shame that it's the shipping date today, but I guess waiting one more day won't kill anyone.

It should be, but it doesn't seem anyone got it yet. My guess is it'll hit the internet tomorrow.

lol. This fell off my radar and fell back on to it when someone in #gfchat posted Miles' "announcement" :'D

I called my local Gamestop and he's all "yep we have three copies~"

So I'm gonna go buy it and try it out. I'm bored and need a storyline game. Etrian Odyssey kicks asses and takes names, but I only play it when I'm out and about or waiting on something. This is supposedly a legendary RPG, so I'll try it.

Thankfully SD snagged a preorder of this gem, went and picked it up and checked it out a while ago. It is indeed gorgeous. o.O I'll be the one playing this, if he didn't have Halo 3 Beta, he'd be all over this I suppose.

I like how the blackcats torrent of this was fake. Assholes. Oh well, I'll guess I'll just wait it out.

I live near a Best Buy, three Gamestops (one is in a mall right across the street from the other), and a Rhino Games, so I thought I'd have no problem finding this game. I went to Best Buy, they didn't have it (big surprise). Rhino, nothing. They usually get games a couple of days later than Gamestop despite being owned by the same company. I go to the separate Gamestop, sold out.

I go to the standalone one, they say that they only have enough for reserves, but they offer to call across the street at the one in the mall. They call.

"They have one copy and they're holding it for you."

This makes playing it all the sweeter. I'm loving how far I am (Which is only a couple of hours, at the beginning of Chapter 3 although I've been grinding for money and HP levels in the forest [Get the Juggler, it's amazing]).

My current stats with Gwendolyn right now is Psypher Level 17, HP level 15

I, too, picked up my reserve today. Thus far, I'm loving all aspects of the game. The graphics, the music, gameplay, all of it. Granted I'm still only in the Valkyrie story, but I have not been disappointed in any way shape or form. The Japanese voice acting is also very well done. Many well known voice actors/actresses have taken part. I haven't personally listened to the English cast yet, but supposedly that isn't bad either.

The alchemy and item system is pretty crazy too. This game surely delivers. A worthy [spiritual] successor to Princess Crown.

Also, growing sheep and then mercilessly slaughtering them for their meat is an unrivaled gameplay device.

I've been listening to the English voice track thus far through the game and I'm impressed. I hear many voices I'm familiar with, and none of them disappoint.

I'm completely addicted to it. I'm really into the art style, the music hasn't disappointed me, and the English voices are really well done. The story's been tragic right from the get-go and it doesn't feel like anything's especially "missing", as in gaping, crater-wide plot-holes not but 2 hours into the game.

I'm really enjoying the battle system though. I'm seeing images of Valkyrie Profile, but with real-time combat on the same map. I really like VP's dungeon layout and this game is so similar to it. The only thing I'm having a tough time getting used to is the time it takes to drink potions/eat food/etc. while in combat. I keep getting massacred when I do that.

I'm finally getting the hang of planting though. Now I usually plant a seed or two when I enter a new area. Helps clean out inventory space (if they don't bloom) and brings some good stuff if they do. I haven't quite gotten the hang of alchemy though -- I concocted a Material 99 potion, but can't seem to make anything out of it, including a bunch of Phozon. So I gotta spend some time figuring that out, but I'm sure it's not that hard.

But yeah, definitely love the game. I checked it out from work but will most certainly be buying it tomorrow.

Any word of a strategy guide coming out though? I realize the game doesn't necessarily need one (at this point, anyway) but it'd be nice to have at least as a collector's item sorta thing.

I feel you on that one!

After going to retrieve my pre-order today, I sat down ready to play for at least 2 hours. Long story short, I ended up playing for 5. I simply could not rip myself from the screen, whether I wanted to or not. Evey thing in this game appeals to me, from the battle system, to planting seeds and reaping the benefits. The storyline, of course, is a great draw for me and is presented in such a beautiful way. It keeps you going, wondering what may happen next and how the characters might be connected.

My only qualm so far is the repetitive scenery in dungeons. This is definitely not a big problem, considering how great the graphics look in the first place, but I think they could have mixed it up at least a little bit.

Anyways, I'm really excited to get deeper into this wonderful gaming experience. Now my only worry is that it may be too short, but presently I have nothing to gauge that with.

I'm buying this game tomorrow or Friday at the latest. I've been jonesin' to play this game since Atlus announce it what... A YEAR AND A HALF AGO?

Heh, the best part about this game is that I only heard about it a LESS THAN A HALF a year ago, like it was just sprung on us. I wish more games were only hyped a few months before they release instead of showing us images and video years before we can even play them (Spore, Starcraft II, etc...)

I hadn't heard of this game at all until my Roommate linked me to it in February, so I didn't have long to wait at all. He showed me Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire at the same time, so now I'm looking forward to the latter as well.

Edit: Just beat Valkyrie and started The Pooka Prince.


Further edits.
You'll probably be happy to know that after finishing the first of at least seven books (since after I cleared it one of the stars lit up on my save file), I was almost 8 hours in. I don't think length is going to be an issue.

So yeah, anyone here selected Hard difficulty to play through the first time around?

Got ahold of it today. So far, it's even more beautiful than I expected. The level based progress took me by surprise, but I guess I'll get used to it.

The item screen is a pain in the back, reminds of Secret of Mana. Ugh.

Also, music is great :)

I'm really likely everything expect for some of the battle control aspects. It seems you have to be at a complete standstill before you can open up the item menu or spell menu. Also trying to block seems useless at the moment. You can't cancel an attack to block and most enemies are able to get swings in on you in the middle of your combos.

I guess I'll get used to it eventually, but a more responsive control system would have made this game perfect.

I don't think that ir's responsiveness of the control is a problem as much as the priority of your attacks. Unfortunatley with so many guys grouped in ine spot it's hard to see that one guy who's attack and isn't being hit by yourself, therefore you get struck in mid attack. At least this isn't a factor in the boss battles where if that were to happen you'd be wiped out.

I'm actually having a lot of poor response issues with the controls as well, especially when attempting to get an item like Napalm out. Sometimes I have to press O twice or three times before it shows up (and it takes a moment to show up) and by that time the bad guy is already striking at me, making it impossible to use an item on him in time. It's pretty annoying.

Other than that, the game is incredible so far. Beautiful art, lots of depth, great voice acting both English and Japanese, pretty good music, and so far the story seems really interesting as well. Lovely stuff.

It's not bad. I love it but at times it's very, very challenging. I often found myself repeating stages over and over (Only at the Valkyrie story; chapter 3). Coins are not distributed a lot and a lot of seeds occupy my inventory.

It reminds me of the attack system in Star Ocean 3 and Rogue Galaxy: You run out of meter, you have to wait for it to refill. Quite a long wait in contrast to RG's "just block and it's full" but adds to the challenge aspect.

Graphics don't need mention since it's gorgeous. Feels like I'm reading a fairy tale with lots of pretty pictures.

Overall, challenging yet fun and mesmerizing to look at.

Yeah, remember when some people here were saying "I'll believe it when I see it" with the graphics?

Hahaha, holy fucking shit this game's animation is incredible.

I've seen it. I fucking believe it. Holy christ.

Ugh. It gets freakishly hard again >__< In the fourth major dungeon (the one after the ice joint), it gets unreal. There isn't a pendant to buy that'll make you immune to the element of the joint like the prior two places (ice & poison).

You start off and you don't get a map right off the bat. I found a boss sphere where there were TWO boss mobs. And one hit takes off over 120hp. I died a shitload of times, then beat the bosses once only for a trash mob to nail me with a freakishly powerful bomb. I beat them after that, but it really got me mad. This game is pretty demanding. Sure, they say take up tactics, magic, etc, but you can only do so much. It typically comes back to rushing in, crossing your fingers, and hope you do a hit-and-run well.

I'm not seeing where all of the control issues are coming from. I haven't had any major control issues. I figured out early that you can't be running in order to use items or magic. You just have to learn how to manage mobs of enemies and give yourself room to heal or cast if you take too much damage.

There really isn't anything wrong with the controls, they all work very well. If you could cancel out of your combo you'd never be hit, and how you can't tell which enemy is attacking in a mob as you're comboing is why the game suggests that you lure enemies out into one on one battles.

Also just spamming regular attacks won't win fights. You have to use every type of melee attack at your disposal in combination with phozon skills. Some enemies can only be effectively dealt with if you knock them down with a crouch hit first while others are easily dealt with by air specific attacks rather that just regular air combos.

I died no less than six times on the first boss. On normal difficulty. Either this game is sadistically difficult or I'm really rusty with this type of game.

Been a while since I've wanted to throw the controller out the window. ;)