I love this game so much I don't care, soundtrack is so good and I have literally no complaints
I bounced off this game several times before finally getting properly into it, but boy am I glad I finally stuck with it (shoutouts to @unforeseenboy for picking it for my backlog “spring cleaning”). What starts off as a kind of slow, small RPG about a wizard school that doesn’t suck gradually expands into a pretty compelling story about coping with loss and messy teen relationships, bolstered by a robust and pretty unique grid/lane-based battle system.
The battle system is really what made this game shine for me. Basically every element was tailor-made for someone like me, who really enjoys small-number RPGs with timed button presses like your Mario RPGs (of both the Paper and & Luigi variety) as well as grid-based systems like Live A Live or Trails in the Sky.
The action commands for attacking and dodging are tuned basically perfectly - quick enough to keep the pacing of the battle nice and tight, and just tricky enough to stay engaging without being too taxing over a long period. My only complaint is that the first hour or two felt like a bit of a slog because your action vocabulary is very, very limited at first.
As for the story, I thought it was very fun to center it around the sister of the sort of Harry Potter stand-in character. It allowed for some interesting exploration of how the average YA protagonist engages in some pretty shitty behavior, but also gave some of the secondary characters the chance to experience some real growth. And of course, we love to see the sheer amount of diversity on display - not a straight white male in sight for the entire game.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the killer soundtrack. There’s lots of fun little chiptunes, some beautiful piano pieces, and several tracks with vocals, which i wasn’t expecting. My standout tracks were Showtime (Gilda’s Theme), and the first battle theme, Rhythm of the Wild.
Anyway, if you’re itching for a game that scratches a similar itch as the early Mario & Luigi games, or one with a canon they/them AND a cannon ze/zir AND at least 3 canon gay relationships that get happy endings, I’ve got just the game for you.
The battle system is really what made this game shine for me. Basically every element was tailor-made for someone like me, who really enjoys small-number RPGs with timed button presses like your Mario RPGs (of both the Paper and & Luigi variety) as well as grid-based systems like Live A Live or Trails in the Sky.
The action commands for attacking and dodging are tuned basically perfectly - quick enough to keep the pacing of the battle nice and tight, and just tricky enough to stay engaging without being too taxing over a long period. My only complaint is that the first hour or two felt like a bit of a slog because your action vocabulary is very, very limited at first.
As for the story, I thought it was very fun to center it around the sister of the sort of Harry Potter stand-in character. It allowed for some interesting exploration of how the average YA protagonist engages in some pretty shitty behavior, but also gave some of the secondary characters the chance to experience some real growth. And of course, we love to see the sheer amount of diversity on display - not a straight white male in sight for the entire game.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the killer soundtrack. There’s lots of fun little chiptunes, some beautiful piano pieces, and several tracks with vocals, which i wasn’t expecting. My standout tracks were Showtime (Gilda’s Theme), and the first battle theme, Rhythm of the Wild.
Anyway, if you’re itching for a game that scratches a similar itch as the early Mario & Luigi games, or one with a canon they/them AND a cannon ze/zir AND at least 3 canon gay relationships that get happy endings, I’ve got just the game for you.