I bought this a long time ago for the PS3, after having enjoyed the collectable aspect of the first game in the franchise, and never got around to really playing it. Partly that was due to the near-complete lack of FAQs/walkthroughs, and partly because I read how the True End can only be achieved by playing a terrible bathhouse minigame.
Recently started seriously getting into it, and it’s not very good so far (having just opened up the second two portals). It has the same issues with grinding and game difficulty as the first Agarest War does, made even worse by its rather strange battle system. Instead of being a turn-based strategy game, this uses a weird mix of turn-based and button-combo action where your movement on the battle screen grid and the characters’ turn order may as well be completely random.
Each character gets their own turn, but if they’re in a formation then all the other characters can attack on that character’s turn as well (but only attack, they can’t use support abilities/items). This is also true for the enemies, which means any battle with more than 3 enemies can get ridiculous extremely quickly as they just unload on your weakest party members without you being able to do anything about it. Since you have no control over your movement you can’t position yourself to hit multiple enemies at once or move out of their attack range (and the game doesn’t even notify you if an attack you’re about to make will take you out of formation).
Ultimately though, the battle system is just a sidenote to the real problem this game has: The ecchi. The first game in the series has some questionable content, but most of it is just one-off events you can skip/avoid. This rams the bouncing breasts, scantily-clad children, and questionable ‘divine vessel’ premise right down your throat. And then there’s Jainus, hitting on everything that moves.
Not sure I’m even going to make it to the second generation here.