Having to make my own decisions was a terrifying experience. I will never do it again. And before anyone asks, I did it, everyone! I fixed her! (I got the good ending)
It was one of the best visual novels I have ever played. Great voice acting, great story, and the voices in my head are accurate. It's impressive that they are still updating the game, and a big update that'll extend the game by 25% is on its way. It's also not a very long game; I finished it in 5 hours because I took my sweet time and wandered around.
There was a sequence where I refused to continue doing what I was told, and the game shut down after the entity told me, "I will be here when you are ready" or something. I was flabbergasted. Next time I opened the game, that same entity welcomed me, and I continued where I left off.
I just wished that the Voice of the Hero and the Narrator's voice wasn't so identical.
It is truly a unique experience and a must-play.

People kept posting about this game on /v/ about how it was some kind of "super duper kino hidden indie RPG maker GEM from the glorious land of Nippon", and naturally i had to see what all the fuss is about.

Now, the artstyle is a bit crude, and it's themes and gameplay extremely dark and inappropriate, but it's an incredibly fascinating world and story that takes inspirations from the works of the Grimm Brothers and turns it - molds it - changes it into something completely different.

This game is not for the squeamish of faint of heart, not that it's a horror game, quite the opposite, it's a japanese H-Game. But because it's undoubtedly not for everyone. This one takes thick skin to get through

Now i still have to play it's sequel eventually, which everyone says is miles better, but i'm currently busy with other things. We'll see.

Like Octopath Traveller, it’s a game I can tell isn’t bad, but I personally just found it a completely tedious chore to play, not helped by my save data being lost a couple times, sending me back hours more than once. Unlike Octopath though, I was much more invested in the story and characters, enough so to actually see this one through to the end. A very strong story about coping with loss and the cycle of death and rebirth, backed up by a colourful cast and and an even more colourful villain. Made the whole experience worth it.

Narratively, this was a treat to experience for the first time over covid. Few pieces of media can keep me guessing through to the end the way this game did. It lets you know early on that it’s willing to nosedive from its lighthearted tone directly into some truly shocking, depressing places, completely change the scope of the narrative without warning, and that nothing is off the table when it comes to its world ending stakes. The characters as well are so diverse, memorable, developed and have a familial band dynamic comparable to that of The Last Airbender. The game is constant surprise after surprise and it never lets up until the credits roll. Gameplay-wise it’s great as well. Turn based games usually have to work a bit harder to win me over, but then again, this game isn’t really turn based. The active time battle system and all the different ways you can mess around with materia and summons gives you tons of freedom to customize to your whim, think outside the box and break the game in creative ways. Oh did I mention the OST? Top 3 of all time, and it ain’t #3. I whistle some of these tracks to myself at work all the time.

I do have a couple gripes. I played the Playstation Classic version, which is based on the original release, which was littered with translation errors which especially made the game’s midsection a bit tough to follow. It’s also a very minigamey game, and I found them inconsistent in quality. I’m really glad the Playstation Classic had it’s own save scumming feature because without it, grinding the Gold Saucer for the Omni Slash most definitely would’ve seen a hole punched in my TV. And for as much as it subverts a lot of my least favourite JRPG tropes, it still features some of them in full force, like random encounters.

It’s flawed, but it’s high points hit high and there’s a good reason why Square has milked this game like few others in their catalogue.