I am not good at being eloquent to put it bluntly for a shmup this kind of lands around where the 1945 strikers and Raiden Fighters Aces/Jet games were doing theme wise, though not a fraction as hectic or intense as either of those (or probably as good in general for that matter) But I give this game a higher score because this has one of the best ost's i have heard out no where in a while. Its very chill and laid back jazzy, sort of in the vein of the more chilled out/island vibe tracks on the Chrono Cross or Suikoden III ost (while obviously not being as in depth or as varied as those games in that department) Its on a wavelength almost slightly inappropriate to the genre? It might take you out of that head space that you want to get into to 1CC game? At least it does for me! Oh well, that was a really nice surprise for me with the game.

A neat experiment that is done in by one fatal flaw. Its a top a down action rpg mixed with a horizontal shoot em up. When you get into random battles you are transported to an auto scrolling horizontal shoot em up segment where you collect experience for killing enemies. And I think there is where the game face plants. There is no way to speed any of these battles up and they are repetitive. In most RPGs you might be used to the game loop where after a certain point in a stage/area you can level yourself to a point where you can quickly bash your way through random encounters and get to the end of the level/dungeon quicker. You can never do that in this game and it just drags it down. Otherwise everything else about this is game is pretty nice (art, sound, story, etc.) The top down view feels a little too zoomed in on too, and that can be kind of annoying later on with backtracking but the sprite work and aesthetic are decent. Its a game worth checking out and playing for yourself despite my middling score i.e. your mileage may vary greatly from mine.