You know this game is an actual conundrum, I played through the whole thing. The weird part is I think like 99% of the characters are terrible and the gameplay is some of the worst I've played? Egil was cool though at least, and although i would say the ending is neatish I guess? but doesn't rescue the rest of the game.

Dunban (I had to google his name again lol) and riki do nothing the whole game and that's pretty cool, I feel kinda like Reyn and Sharla's moment was kinda out of nowhere but also goes nowhere after that iirc

I really need to reiterate the gameplay issue though. Visions are the most godawful mechanic I've seen in any JRPG. They do not need to last that long. There is a single point the whole game where it lasting that long was actually worth it but its obvious if you've played the game what part I'm talking about.

But really, it's just such a strange feeling playing a game that's rated this highly and feeling like everything is this awfully designed and written.

Ok I'm gonna be writing a bit about this but just gonna preface it with I think the game was extremely obnoxious with how it handled being a Ludonarrative. But I do want to clarify with this that yeah the story is pretty good imo.

Starting with the characters I think they're good. You constantly get to learn about Siffrin without the game telling you outright what he's like at the start and that is awesome! I think every1 is written in a fun way!

I will not go deep into story bcus yeah just in case idk whos gonna play it but there's that. But gameplay? Dude the gameplay? I love exploring the same 3 floor dungeon for hours. For so many hours. Yes. Its a time loop. I got exactly what I should've expected But like, Yeah? I guess I did but did I have fun scrambling back and forth for all those hours? No? Wow just like siffrin haha you see its a ludonarrative because I am suffering like siffrin haha. Having to see the same 3 floors over and over and over and over and over again

They try? To mix it up in act 3? They try kind of? But it does literally nothing? You start seeing enemies from floor 3 in floor 1 and its like "Oh cool I guess enemies will be stronger from now on I wonder what new enemies I am going to see in future floors" and it turns out that no not really its just randomizing where enemies show up thats cool. Its meaningless though. Nothing changed. Its still just enemies that I have to hit and kill in 2 actions. So if that can change though, why not change literally anything else? Anything at all?

This is what I mean by the ludonarrative is too much. It just overpowers everything else. Act 5 changes layout a bit yeah but it just. Sucks. Act 5 sucks. Other than the ending. I think the ending is really good. Im free. Siffrin is free. At least it gives us both catharsis from it all

But overall? I had a good time with the story yeah. But. Yeah I wrote what I did not like. I can't recommend anyone to play it in good faith. If you can accept a ludonarrative as overpowering as this then yeah, play it, you'd probably enjoy it. If not then probably don't play it.

This game is like interesting? The story is kind of not there and combat is the most bland thing ive played recently. Combat only exists to waste your time as you get a ton of healing items that you'll never spend. Combat costs healing items to go through while also giving one as a reward usually, so there's no reason to do any combat. This is a slight problem when the game claims these wolves are terrifying, yet a tiny little girl can just kill one in a few hits with no issue. They're also extremely easy to avoid so they just feel completely pointless as yeah they're not a hindrance nor do they give any reason to fight.
Also the twists I saw a mile away lolz