I found this game to be better than what the reviews gave it. To enjoy to its potential, you have to have played the last one.
That aside there are a few down points, only 2 human party members who are permanent, those are the only 2 you can level up.
Lack of side quests when comparing to symphonia
good points -
All the story, all the skits are voice overed. though emils voice is annoying, i think that is intentional, it fits with his personality.
I played through the whole game on Hard on my first play through and i found it to be just right difficulty wise, took about 42 hours and I enjoyed every second of it.
As I live in the UK I have yet to play Vesperia, but from what ive seen, it is a much better game, with an abundance of things to do in it.
The monster feature works well when you figure it out, though if you want to play 4player on this game, you have to all be human characters, which isnt always possible as the symphonia cast come and go as they please.