I've just played this for the first time. Starting with the bad, the tone of the game is completely inconsistent, and I wish it had retained its dark character from the first arc of the story. There are several slumps throughout the game and some areas are dull. The combat mechanics are pretty messed up such that one level can be the difference between you being on par with enemies and you being nearly useless. I once got save state locked into a boss fight that I couldn't possibly win and ended up cheating to get through.

On the positive side, the music is good, some environments are really cool, and the setting, themes, and some of the game's mechanics must have been innovative for the game's time. Some side quests you do actually cause the a town to be further developed and open up new side arcs. There's a major theme of life and death that the story carries in many ways, even discovered when talking to townspeople sometimes. It feels sometimes a little grim, yet there's depth to it and it's really satisfying to experience, especially when it's a SNES game from 1995. The ending is beautiful and caused one of the major songs to go from evoking a comfortable vibe to evoking something like an ambiguous positive melancholy.

I ended up feeling let down by the what the initial arc of the game seemed to promise, but there were enough high points and impressive qualities along the way that I'll remember this fondly. It's possible that had I played it back then, it could have been a personal favorite.