Ever heard of Hironobu Sakuguchu? If you haven't then you have been living under a rock. He is the creator of the most popular JRPG series and one of the most popular video game franchises, Final Fantasy. In 2003, Sakaguchi left Square-Enix to form the Microsoft funded Mistwalker. He then created Blue Dragon which unfortunately suffered from a cookie cutter story and cardboard cutout characters. However, he also made Lost Osyssey, which gamers generally consider to be much better than Blue Dragon for good reason. Lost Odyssey succeed in areas than Blue Dragon didn't. Lost Odyssey is especally better in the story and character department.
Pros
+Good storytelling
+Memorable characters
+Good use of turn based combat
+Great art design
+Well written dream sequences
+Beautiful visuals
Cons
-Villian is not very interesting
-story starts of slow
-some annoying sequences(fetch quests, attempt at steath gameplay)
-Cutscenes could be too long for some
-Minor framerate and loading issues
Overall-Lost Odyssey is a flawed game but it is also a gem, hence the term flawed gem. Good stortelling, memorable characters, fun combat system, beautiful visuals and well written dream sequences help the game be a very good JRPG despite the flaws(uninteresting villian, slow start, etc.)
