With all the controversy over whether or not the translators inserted their own agenda into the English localization, it seems like a more clear-cut agenda in the basic storyline has flown under the radar. (At least, this doesn't feel like something that was inserted by the translators.)

The story revolves around something called rune-lenses. Exactly what they are is never explained particularly well, but they're Important Magical Things. Some people are capable of using them to produce magic. Most people can't use them. Long ago, there was a precursor civilization that used rune-lenses to build great feats of magical technology, but they're gone now and only their ruins remain.

The villain of the game is doing research into rune-lenses, to try to rediscover this lost technology and make magic available to everyone. This is... well... not particularly evil. Many people would look at that and say it's good, in fact!

But he's definitely evil. His portrait alone makes that clear; the only way he could look more Obviously Evil is if he had a Hitler mustache. And then he goes on to start a war of aggression and commit some terrible atrocities, so it's very clear to you that the guy doing research on magical technology is very, very evil.

And therein lies the problem, because that's the only perspective we get on it. There's no one on the good guys' side, in your vast cast of 120 heroes of diverse backgrounds that you can recruit, who ever says "this is a good thing you're trying to do but a terrible way to go about it." Meanwhile, Marisa, one of the three most important main-character heroes, explicitly says at one point that the power of the rune-lenses was not meant to be shared with everyone. (Seems to me *she's* the evil one here!) And the game just goes with that, with no discussion or debate on the subject permitted.

Far more than any translation issues, this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.