I got both of the normal (non-NG+) endings.
Starting with the good:
I like the battle system with the Stamina meter and being able to switch at any time to any character that is able to act.
The music is pretty good in several places, has a nice ambient feeling, and I'm on the fence as to whether to buy the OST or not.
The FMVs are very good.
And the bad:
The Level Up system basically discouraged me from getting into those battles that I enjoyed once they no longer received any stat gains. Which pretty much sucked the fun out of the game.
Way too many characters. Other than for places where you have to use specific characters, I never changed out characters once I found two with short attack animations. So, out of the 25 or so characters I acquired, I used about 6 regularly.
The other characters might have found some regular use if you could swap out characters at any time, as opposed to only on the World Map or at a Save location. So, if you want to max out every character, you have to fight some battles, exit to world map, switch out characters, go back in and fight some battles, exit to world map, switch out characters, etc. etc. etc.
Money is just short of useless. I think I spent about 20k total, and most of that was to buy several MagNegate Elementals in order to get the Mastermune. So, I finished with about 500k GP. Inns are also pointless since anyone with a brain should be fully healed after every battle -- why would I spend money to rest when I can just get into a battle that I can steamroll through and fully heal afterwards for free?
Annoyances:
The art style makes it hard to figure out where you can and cannot go in several places.
Movement is a bit wonky in places since, for example, in different places pressing up will go straight up, up and left at various angles, or up and right at various angles.
Other than Poison, status ailments aren't detrimental, but simply annoying, especially Flu.
You have to be up in someone's face in order to talk to them, which in many places is hard to tell if you are in the very small target area. Also, there were many doors that I couldn't open because I wasn't in the exact spot, and would run back and forth rapidly pressing X for seemingly a few minutes trying to hit that spot.
And finally... That's really all that's different between the "good" and "bad" endings? Yes, the process of getting the good ending is rather different. But if you aren't paying real close attention to the 2 or 3 places it gives the hint as to how to get it (considering there's no in-game indication, that I can think of, that those hints have any bearing on what you must do), and if you save before the final battle (which I believe is a pretty standard practice for most people), there is no way to view the hints again.
