I came into this game with an open mind and it ended up being one of the best games I've played. To really enjoy this game you have to approach it with the intention to learn to play the game by its own rules instead of trying to impose what you've learned from previous, perhaps more generic jRPGs, as this game is anything but. Reading the manual that is supplied with the game is highly recommended.
In many ways Romancing Saga 2 is the anti JRPG. It subverts expectations and does many things that you, perhaps, as a younger kid might have thought was weird in a game (I know me and my friends did). Things like why don't people give you the items for free from item shops if you're so important (they do in Saga 2 because you're the Emperor!) or why the game world waits for the players input before breathing, for example why is the player allowed to go have a nice rest in the local Inn after they've been told that a castle needs to be stormed immediately (the attack on the castle will have happened without the player if you do this!). These are only a few examples and the player can expect there to be many other cases such as these.
Also, I wish to resolve one of the big boogeymen of this game that I see get thrown a lot, which is how there's level scaling and that the player could somehow over grind themselves into a situation where they cannot win. This is simply untrue.
1) The game doesn't have level scaling. It has encounter scaling, which is quite different. That means that enemy encounters get changed into higher level enemies after a certain amount of fights, though the game does pit you against weaker enemies as well. Basically it just increases the pool of enemies that you can encounter, so you needn't worry about only fighting against hard enemies.
2) Boss stats don't have scaling based on your Encounter Rate (how many times you've fought in combat, which is what determines the encounter scaling). They all have default, flat values set in stone. So you'll never be able to grind yourself into a situation where you can't win. Some of the Seven Heroes do have different forms with different values of power that they might turn into based on your Encounter Rate, but there's a limit to this power, and most importantly their power curve isn't as high as yours is once you bring equipment to the equation. Some bosses also might power up based on choices, but they can never scale up to values that are impossible to beat as, forgive the repetition, their stat values are set in stone.
It really is important for the players to know that the Seven Heroes' power curve is much lower than the players is once you bring equipment and magic (especially fusion magic) into the equation. Having powerful armor and weapons could be the difference between a boss one shotting you and a boss becoming utterly trivial. Even though some of them could become even twice as powerful, stat wise, their final forms might be much easier than the earlier ones simply because of the powerful items and spells you'll have available to you at the time when you take them on.
Basically you don't need to worry about getting yourself into a no-win scenario due to over grinding. In fact you shouldn't avoid fighting either (which I did at first) because, as I said, bosses have their stats set in stone and not getting up to their level will just make it harder for you.
Anyway,
Pros:
-An open world to explore with several quests that can take different twists and turns based on what you do or don't do.
-A highly strategic combat system where thinking smart will lead you to victory. It'll be very hard to simply brute force your way through this game.
-Awesome combat music.
-A good feeling of accomplishment each time you manage to take down one of the Seven Heroes.
Cons:
Pretty much all the cons for this game have to do with a lack of Quality of Life stuff in some areas.
-The biggest issue is that your main equipment menu is useless for information. You can check what items your characters have equipped and what skills and spells they know, but the menu won't tell you what any of them do or what the item values are (for example if a weapon is enchanted or what an accessory does). Some of them are self explanatory, but some aren't. To know what the skills or spells do you'll just have to go into combat as the game will tell you there. To know what an item is you'll have to visit your castles' storage area and deposit / withdraw the item you wish to know more about.
-Another issue that some players might find is that when you equip armor the defensive stat you see in the equipment menu isn't universal for all attacks. The value shown in numbers is for Slash defense. There are several different hidden armor values that are presen't for all items and you'll have to consult an online guide for exact values, though the game is somewhat intuitive in that it's not really mandatory to do this. It's pretty easy for anyone to understand that items, like Helmets, will provide you with a large boost in Bludgeoning defense. It's mostly based on common sense, really.
-I found it annoying that once a character was recruited into your party they couldn't be kicked out if you wanted to swap them for someone else. Only way to get a new replacement character is to try and get the character you want out killed.
In conclusion: if you can put up with some of the odd choices of obscuring data from the player in the basic menus, which, to be honest, is more of a inconvinience, and if you are willing to put forth a total amount of 10 minutes to flip through the manual that is supplied with the game, you'll have a fun game to explore. If you're looking for a more usual jRPG that falls along the lines of, say, Final Fantasy, then this is probably not the game you're looking for.
But if you want something more unusual and a game that's more about exploring the gameplay systems as much as it is exploring the world rather than following a specific storyline with developed characters, then this might be one of the best things you'll ever play.