I didn't have any problems with the controls, I played the game in lots of different ways all the time, separate from your WWI strategy (good history joke btw). And while it don't have the same resource management of RTS (it actually does, just not the resource-gathering that has hindered RTS imo) it does have the basic rock-paper-scissors element of RTS with how to combine those units to take down different groups. The item collection and synthesis was better than many games who attempt it and I found the use of FFTA sprites and the reuse of FFXII music to be charming. It was one of those early (early for me at least) DS games that just felt and sounded in an awesome way that complemented the system's specs. It's hard to explain, but it sounded good running on the DS, and felt good too. I also think you calling the cast "cartoony" is because THEY'RE CARTOONS IN THIS ONE! Other than that, I didn't find the dialogue particularly far below the standard of FFXII, although it is hard to mimic the greatness of FFXII/Kingdom Hearts/FFX & X-2 writer Daisuke Watanabe!!!

By the way, has anyone seen that little guy (kakapo above) moving slowly in a choppy framerate? It looks so much more pimped out when it's like that!

And how is the story a FFX knock-off!? If anything it continued FFXII's theme of freedom.

The Aegyl are in Tactics Ogre. Maybe Ogre Battle, too, I can't remember.

I haven't played the game since I beat it when it came out, so I can't really go deeper into it, but I remember the "elemental game" being much more useful than a thing you occasionally "play", that unit diversity did matter in that game, and that there was something cool with the espers about it as well. This doesn't have much to do with the topic at hand, and we're really getting into our usual "let's derail a thread by talking about whether a single game is good or not!" thing, so maybe we should just leave this at that and not argue over who's right and who doesn't like Revenant Wings