More like Unicorn OverBORED because this game is boring as fuck.

For the first twenty hours or so I was so convinced that there was going to be some kind of big twist in the story. The villians are all either comically evil, being mind controlled, being decieved or are working with other villians becuase they have no other choice. And all the good guys are so righteous and noble that it's sickening. Every story moment is just one group of people that are 100% good and morally right fighting against a group that is 100% bad and morally wrong (for basically no reason most of the time). If there is a big twist later on, it comes FAR too late as I gave up at around 35 hours in. Maybe I set my expectations high because the only other Japanese tactical RPG I have played is Fire Enblem Three Houses, which had a great main storyline despite having similar problems to this game with it's characters.

The characters in this are bad. But They aren't bad in any interesting way, they aren't unlikable, they don't have too much cringeworthy dialogue or voice acting, they are just boring. Uninteresting motivations, uninteresting dynamics with other characters, little personality beyond basic tropes and any personal conflict is almost immediately solved with no consequences.

The gameplay here is decent, creating and organising a unit is pretty engaging, and some of the battles in the main storyline are very well designed. It's probably the strongest element of the game along with it's visuals and music.

The game also has a satisfying gameplay loop, winning battles, recruting units, expanding your army and the size of the map, collecting resources and fixing up towns and cities along the way.

However the game is far too easy. I played this on the hardest difficulty after I found Fire Enblem 3H to be way too easy on normal, and I didn't really feel like I was being tested in any way. The game lets you micromanage each of your unit's attacks, and which enemy units to proritise, and I never used this feature once. If I could get away with winning most battles with ease without using this feature then the game is far too easy, and this is only the second game I have played of this genre.

A lot of praise I have seen for this game seems to suggest that while the main storyline is extremely generic, the side self-contained stories in each area are engaging and entertaining. I completely disagree, these local disputes and stories are just as boring and uninteresting as the main plotline.

The point where I gave up on this game was a mission in which I encountered a thief in the Elf country who was trafficking elves for money. After defeating him he claimed that he was only doing it to help his sick sister, and that we aren't so different to him, to which the protagonist completely agress and SETS HIM FREE so that he can use the money he got presumably from selling people into slavery to go and cure his sister. I shouldn't have to explain how unbelivably stupid this entire storyline is. Whats even more insane is that our protagonist previously has had the option for executing people for working for the evil empire, and yet we are forced to let this guy go for no reason?

I really don't get the love for this game, it has no sauce, no spice. If it was a meal it would be plain boiled chicken with boiled green beans and boiled plain potatoes. Very little about it is particularly distasteful or frustrating, but nothing about is is interesting or engaging either.