Now I have to ask

tenebrae is awesome, but the problem with the game is simply: it's not the first.

compare the story, length, character development of the first ToS, then look at the second game, everything was worse in the second game, not to mention it's much more broken, perma-stun emil and insta-cast marta, can't train the old cast either. also: lolpokemonV2.0

overall, it's not a bad game, but comparing it to it's predeccessor, and some of it's peers, it's DEF not good.

The first game was NOT that good though.

Also I have no idea what you're talking about with this insta-cast/perma-stun business as I never came across anything like that. And ugh people need to get over being able to capture monsters in game and comparing it to Pokemon. POKEMON DIDN'T EVEN DO IT FIRST.

So far these reasons are pretty pineappleing dumb. A lot of it seems to be looked at through nostalgia goggles. Symphonia 1 was not a great game.

Also @Swerve: jRPGs aren't the ideal medium for story-telling but that doesn't mean they're unable to produce good ones. Suikoden II has an amazing story, for example.