What most reviews say are lies!
Right from the begininning of the game I had moments where I literally gasped or just yelles out "Awesome!" As most JRPG's have a great intro I expected such, but this one was really above the rest. One thing that I didn't notice that all of the reviews had to complain about was the load time. I felt like the transition from world map to battle felt seamless and was much better then games that have more horrendous load times (Mass Effect?).
Alot of the reviews are un-fair saying they didn't get anything new from the genre. I found that although it is a turn based RPG all the similarities stop there. I found a very new and exciting skill-link system that reminded me of older games, but had its on uniqueness to it. The ring system is another thing that I love about the game; and something that I didn't know at first is that you have the ability to switch rings mid-battle. Not only can you switch to make sure you are using the right element on the right enemy, but it doesn't count as a turn so you are free to switch equipment (even swords and accesories) as often as you want.
One last piece of this game that really put me off at first was the Dream portion of the game. "Oh no, I have to read!" was my first thought, but then I realized each individual story was so good and fleshed out I couldn't wait to find the next one. It is a new technique in story telling, and it couldn't be any better.
Final verdict is this game really deserves a chance. Most people see a >8.5 review and will ignore the game, I am glad I didn't. This has to be the most satisfying RPG on the Xbox 360 at this time and if you are a fan of the genre you will absolutely love everything it has to offer. For those new to the genre the massive amount of hidden items, side quests, and Dreams may be a bit daunting but it really deserves some amount of your time.