Kogado's Miracle Warriors - one of the first JRPGs released in the west, stood apart with their battle quirks (e.g. only one character attacks per turn) and their juxtaposition of third-person & birds-eye viewpoints, with the former view focused on interactions and the latter on navigation. Its main drawbacks are simply the drawbacks of its generation: 3rd-gen combat was almost always slow and monotonous - bestowing challenge mainly through RNG (tough sporadic encounters, misses, escape chance, etc.), and this is no exception. Lofty grind-driven goals (for both equipment & progression) as well as hints, uneven fights and punishing setbacks are also effective time-killers built to mask its limited cart space. There are - however, some creative and perhaps visionary ideas at work. Popularity, a karma point value raised and lowered during battle, is the typical somewhat harsh system (plunging badly after defeating certain troops, and denying access to town services at low levels) that nevertheless feeds into its Talk command, a battle function that awards bonuses (tips, healing) or penalties (stolen gold, missed turns) from human encounters.

The solution to the puzzle of the gathering of keys and finding the final dungeon was ingenious, ngl.

It's still one of those early RPGs with minimal story and not an interesting lore to uncover though it's always funny to see early experimentations with the mechanics. Yes, only being able to carry three MAGIC healing items with you obtained from an specific enemy that lowers your points of this early morality system so that you can heal yourself in the middle of the battle even if you have herbs is a rough gameplay decision but it makes for realism (your wounds would not heal in time for a battle just from some medicine).

I also like the fact you don't actually need to win encounters to gain exeperience, instead with every hit an indvidual party member performs, he gains his own experience, and keeps it even if you flee. Because you face enemies one at a time like in Dragon Quest 1, once your selected characther attacks an enemy, whenever your foe attacks in an individual manner, it will always target the one that hit him, allowing you to pick who you want to be hurt so that the other companions aren't in risk of dying. It makes for a more tedious experience because of the high difficulty never allowing you to safely travel, but I can't deny that it has its charm. One of the most epic overworld themes of the 8 bit era as well:

https://youtu.be/_CFkutJMSpQ