Ok first impressions after about one hour.
First of all graphically this is definitely not a killer game. It has some nice textures and effects, but it really looks like it's a quick upgrade of a Xbox game to Xbox 360. Nothing screams next gen so far except the nice 720p resolution with antialiasing. It certainly looks better than any jRPG so far (I'm not commenting on artistical stuff here), but that's it.
Gameplay wise this is very old school. Run around, do you objectives, destroy a few boxes to get some free stuff, and fight. Sometimes the camera is free, sometimes in smaller rooms it's fixed and changes only to help see some stuff.
The battle system is your typical grid based stuff. Move your character, then choose what to do, be it a support power or kick the enemies ass. Of course each move has a certain distance it can be used at, so you have to be placed accordingly on the grid. Well, you know the drill.
I can't comment on the story since I do not understand japanese, but so far from the tone of the dialogs (most are dubbed, but the less important stuff is only subbed) the scenario is still in the "easygoing" phase.
So far eM looks like a very typical jRPG, with some good but not incredible production values.
My japanese friend won't be able to capture the video tonight, so I'll try to do it myself. I have some friends coming over tonight so it will be difficult, especially since I have to work tomorrow :/
