Picked up an old Rogue Galaxy saved game about a month ago... always meant to get my money's worth out of that one. My saved game was only about three planets in, about 15 hours. Loving this game... went from about 15 hours to 30.
I was soured a little on Level-5 (the developer) after Dark Cloud 2, which threw everything but the kitchen sink at you from almost the very beginning, and had frustrating "missable" photo opportunities (hell for completionists like me, having to check FAQs and revert to old saves just to get decent inventor ideas). It was like an item management menu game with a little "real game" on the side.
RG is much more forgiving with respect to letting you go back and experiment with new things (rather than yank away opportunities randomly), but also has a nice, robust item system with multiple uses for various items. The wealth of things you can do in this game is amazing, and the battle system is more refined than Dark Cloud, with more interesting maps and environments.
RG also lets you into its wealth of game styles more gently. (Insector tournaments, Factory Assembly Building, weapon fusion, Quarries) ... It's also nice to play a game with such a large budget. The art style is still nice to look at after all these years.
Battle reminds me a little of FFXII, but a little more actiony. Like FFXII, I find myself actually looking forward to the battles because there's so much to experiment with as your weapons level up and gain elemental properties. If any of you haven't played this game and enjoy a good JRPG, I'd recommend picking it up used. The story is not exactly groundbreaking, but there are a few really good voice actors (the actor for Deego in particular is kind of understated).