What little I played of Lost Odyssey put me off because I fought my way to the first boss and ran into a brick wall. I mean the game mechanics and style were great, but it was one of those where you were expected to run around and farm levels for 2 hours before taking on a boss.
The battle system is more standard than Last Remnant. You get a party and select their actions on your turn, I didn't get very far but I don't think there is anything like a 30 minute battle.
If you have a Playstation I'd suggest digging up Final Fantasy's 7+8. 8 is the lesser of the two in my opinion, but those two games kinda created the blueprint for how the genre is percieved.
If you like the roaming around with armies, Suikoden V is pretty good (has army battles every so often, but is mainly you running around with a troupe of friends), also Final Fantasy Tactics (now released on the DS) and the Disgea series are turn based strategy games of a sort, but have very japanese feels to them.