someone starved for jrpgs that aren't tales or idea factory games.
this was the operative fragment of that statement. not that those games are vaguely serviceable, just that they make up quite a chunk of the JRPGs that get localized these days (as well as the bottom of the barrel) and for someone who wants something vaguely different, Star Ocean 5 is vaguely serviceable for that person. hence all of the people going "ignore all the reviews, this game is great" -- of friggin' course it is, you're a god damn JRPG fanboy for christ's sake, those reviews weren't written for you.