Didn’t find a thread for this and there’s usually at least some interest in Atlus games here, so why not?
Rented CGS from Gamefly this week and spent a couple of hours with it. Reviews are mostly positive, but I suspect how much one enjoys CGS depends on whether or not one is a fan of old-school JRPGs.
If you are a fan, you will probably find CGS pleasantly retro: an old-fashioned adventure yarn with vibrant sprite-based graphics, classic archetypes, and familiar turn-based combat mechanics.
If you aren’t a fan, you will probably find CGS tedious and shamelessly derivative: a bog-standard plot (of the “dangerous McGuffin of a lost ancient civilization” variety), dated cutesy-anime graphics (sprites in 2009?! LOLZ), cliche protagonists (the hot-headed hero, the hawt elf chick with a secret, etc.), and boringly repetitive combat (“Oh look, I fell asleep on the Attack button and still won my last 20 fights.”).
In short, it is very much a genre entry, straight out of JRPG 101 class. It’s got good production values and overall I like the look of the game, but there’s nothing here we haven’t seen a bazillion times before. Whether that’s good or bad largely depends on whether or not you want to play n+1 JRPGs.
If anyone has specific questions about it, I’ll answer best I can.