I made it to the end of the first chapter and wasn't really enjoying myself very much... apart from looking at the gorgeous backgrounds. The controls felt much too sluggish and I didn't like the overdesigned crafting systems. When I learned I had 5 or 6 more near-identical chapters to go, I dropped it and never returned. Hopefully the new one trims a LOT of fat.
Ironically Game Sack talked about this game on their last episode (along with Muramasa and Dragon's Crown).