I'm back from the dead!

[Donomni]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

(though I imagine this game would have difficulty procuring fans from Germany)

Wait until later on when you see more of Sylvaria(And I don't mean her... talents), although in the main game they only really feature her as an enemy you can really give a damn about. There's DLC that shows more of her in action, but more importantly, other members of the enemy army you can actually have a connection to.

and the main character is one of those rare JRPG heroes who has a unique personality, isn't constantly emo, and doesn't have a wacky hairdo.

Seriously. Welkin's one of the most normal(In a releative RL sense) heroes in a Japanese game. He's not like Sazh from FFXIII in that Welkin is certainly quirky, but compared to most protagonists, he's a nice change in the norm.

I'm a particular fan of the dual-layer battle system, which actually gives something akin to a real-time sense of urgency to an otherwise turn-based strategic system.

Especially considering the enemy's intercepting fire is real time.

Welkin has a solid voice actor, and so does the female reporter, but the rest of the voice acting so far has ranged from average to outright abysmal.

Eh, I'll admit a lot of the voice cast is "Generic Anime Voices", but that's forgivable on account of gay!Bender.

The AI, at least in this stage of the game, is pretty terrible. (Doesn't realize it can attack with the same tank multiple times in a single turn kind of terrible.)

It gets better. Like, "I wish the game was easier auuuuuugggggggh" better. Either that or I'm a bad judge of this game's later AI.

The leveling up system eschews individual growth and favors leveling up one of four classes with a single stroke, and characters level up even when they're not fighting, which cumulatively leads me to not feel quite the same connection with the cast as I did in other SRPGs, where individual characters are customizable and losing them can be devastating.

This is dealt with by making the characters unique in the sense of personality, which is doubly reflected by their special abilities that trigger during fights, such as making a Lancer not use a round of ammo in a shot, or by a general increase in stats(Or decrease, in some cases). The game focuses less on the soldiers as a bundle of stats to determine things, and more on how they are affected by the environment and their own psyche.

The classes aren't really well balanced, either. Right now I use a single Engineer (just to heal the tank,) rarely bother with a Sniper and only bring along one or two Scouts and anti-tanks. The vast majority of the units I employ are machine gunners, because they are beasts in most situations (and Welkin handles everything else.) Hopefully the more specialized classes will get some better abilities to make them worthwhile later in the game.

Scouts are meant for recon and locating enemies once the game gets far enough, and have the most movement out of all units. They're advance units for your Shocktroopers, and are sorta kinda vital for taking enemy camps in some fights.

Snipers... well, they kinda aren't that important at first, but this is because a lot of battles have really shitty vantage points, and their starting weapons are only somewhat useful in hitting things(That, and not enough range to be anywhere to shoot without getting killed). Once you get more accurate weapons, the headshots get more plentiful, there are places they can camp out and not die in one turn, and snipers get more useful.

Lancers are meant for killing tanks and other structures. It is really fucking hard to get units behind a tank and not die before they can destroy it with an attack, because intercepting fire is a bitch from tanks. Lancers can take the hits and generally kill the stupid thing in one shot from behind. Of course, you could also just have them shoot the tanks from anywhere they can hit it, since Lancers can damage tanks anywhere. They can also kill foot soldiers in a pinch, but I wouldn't rely on them for that, obviously.

Shocktroopers are meant to be the most used unit, I think, considering they can take a beating and give it back just as well. They have limited movement, though, so always send a scout first if you have one.

You won't use Engineers a lot, but they do more than repair tanks. They can disarm mines(As long as they don't end up running over one by mistake, anyways), repair sandbags, and refill ammo for nearby units, which is kinda useful if a tank is bearing down on an area, and all you have is a Lancer there. You also eventually get a second tank, so you'll probably end up using two Engineers too.

Basically, have a couple of every non-Shocktrooper, and have Shocktroopers fill out the rest of your ranks, but only if your team starts together. If you have to start in multiple spots, stick a scout in each team, and other units as appropriate. Honestly, you might have to experiment for each fight to see what works.