Great classic JRPG experience, although the beginning experience (first 5-10 hours) is basically all you get for the entire game. They went for style over substance in this one, and I felt myself wishing it was over past the halfway point due to the novelty of the game wearing off.
Pros:
- Music is pleasant, nothing crazy good but servicable
- Gorgeous pixel art throughout the entire game (my favourite was the food art)
- Sound design and sound effects are on point
- Charming character moments, and sprinkled in hand drawn cutscenes which were short but great
Cons:
- No speed up toggle for battles OR any "run" option
- Exploring the world is so tedious because of a lack of a convenient fast travel system (until too late into the game), which heavily disincentivized backtracking.
- Combat is too simple and slow for a 25ish hour game, and gets stale by hour 10
- Story is quite flat and lacks clear direction. It feels like they created a beautiful and bustling world and two page storyboard (which many old JRPGs suffered from, so if they were going for authenticity, they nailed it).
- Characters are largely boring except 1 or 2, and the main characters are BOTH self inserts which makes it hard to care about anyone in your party.
Overall, really wanted to enjoy this game, but was disappointed. I think it could've used another year or two to fully flesh out. Still worthwhile to grab on sale!
Pros:
- Music is pleasant, nothing crazy good but servicable
- Gorgeous pixel art throughout the entire game (my favourite was the food art)
- Sound design and sound effects are on point
- Charming character moments, and sprinkled in hand drawn cutscenes which were short but great
Cons:
- No speed up toggle for battles OR any "run" option
- Exploring the world is so tedious because of a lack of a convenient fast travel system (until too late into the game), which heavily disincentivized backtracking.
- Combat is too simple and slow for a 25ish hour game, and gets stale by hour 10
- Story is quite flat and lacks clear direction. It feels like they created a beautiful and bustling world and two page storyboard (which many old JRPGs suffered from, so if they were going for authenticity, they nailed it).
- Characters are largely boring except 1 or 2, and the main characters are BOTH self inserts which makes it hard to care about anyone in your party.
Overall, really wanted to enjoy this game, but was disappointed. I think it could've used another year or two to fully flesh out. Still worthwhile to grab on sale!