I really wish I could just delete these from the game.
Even though I enjoyed this demo, I was a bit wary of the full game because of the price and how much it tried to be like Chrono Trigger, a game I wasn't the biggest fan of. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry, as I loved this. Combat is a lot more involved than CT, with being able to restore mana on normal hits (and on blocks if you have the accessory), button prompts for nearly every ability, managing your live mana, choosing your turn order, and managing your combo points. Later on, you can even use items as a free turn every round, making the game significantly easier if you want, but it was already easy enough without item abuse. The dungeons are also pretty nice, with some puzzles and great pacing. Sadly, the puzzles in here end up not really stumping you for more than a second, at least not until the optional end/postgame. I had hoped they also had a few fewer rest spots to force better food/resource usage. All the bosses had unique designs, and there are a lot of them! While they don't get too complex, there is a lot of variety in each encounter, making it very satisfying to fight.
Speaking of difficulty, the game is a bit easy on the baseline. There are some relics (pretty much accessibility options with some QoL) that do increase the difficulty, but the first one I found in the early game (4 or 5 hours in) was after I had already spent my gold, and then later on I just misattributed it to being the super expensive item, missing out on it. Meanwhile, the more interesting one was near the end of the game. I know it's partially my fault, but maybe the relic purchases shouldn't have been tied to the main game currency, or just give one of them early on for free like they do for others. I guess I'll just do a NG+ run with the relic later on.
The main cast here is all great, and I loved one of the later characters. You could tell they put a lot of effort into the animation of that character. The story was good, but I don't usually place too much stock in them, so YMMV. It did get me engaged for nearly the entire run-through, with twists I didn't see coming. You don't need me to say it, but the music is great, and I can already see myself spamming the boss music. There were a surprising number of references to the Messenger in the back half of the game. While you don't need to really know any of the story from there, it's nice to pick up on things you would miss otherwise.
Random other things...
- They really love to give you fights with limitations, like 5+ times at least, and I loved all of them (I want more JRPGs to do this)
- I enjoyed exploring here and felt the rewards were worth it. They include skills, cooking recipes, ultimate weapons, and rainbow conches (the main collectible)
- Traversal for everything but the main map (slow as fuck) was fun, especially when you get a certain upgrade
- The "sidequests" early on were mostly just random NPCs having little side stuff to do like clearing a field or feeding specific meals but, they got better towards the end
- The minigame might have a little too much RNG early on, and it's easy to abuse a strategy, although I still enjoyed it for reminding me of other similar games
- Cutscenes were used sparingly, but I felt they were effective
- I liked how it was a low-level numbers game
- This ending is going to be so divisive that some people are going to HATE it
Even though I enjoyed this demo, I was a bit wary of the full game because of the price and how much it tried to be like Chrono Trigger, a game I wasn't the biggest fan of. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry, as I loved this. Combat is a lot more involved than CT, with being able to restore mana on normal hits (and on blocks if you have the accessory), button prompts for nearly every ability, managing your live mana, choosing your turn order, and managing your combo points. Later on, you can even use items as a free turn every round, making the game significantly easier if you want, but it was already easy enough without item abuse. The dungeons are also pretty nice, with some puzzles and great pacing. Sadly, the puzzles in here end up not really stumping you for more than a second, at least not until the optional end/postgame. I had hoped they also had a few fewer rest spots to force better food/resource usage. All the bosses had unique designs, and there are a lot of them! While they don't get too complex, there is a lot of variety in each encounter, making it very satisfying to fight.
Speaking of difficulty, the game is a bit easy on the baseline. There are some relics (pretty much accessibility options with some QoL) that do increase the difficulty, but the first one I found in the early game (4 or 5 hours in) was after I had already spent my gold, and then later on I just misattributed it to being the super expensive item, missing out on it. Meanwhile, the more interesting one was near the end of the game. I know it's partially my fault, but maybe the relic purchases shouldn't have been tied to the main game currency, or just give one of them early on for free like they do for others. I guess I'll just do a NG+ run with the relic later on.
The main cast here is all great, and I loved one of the later characters. You could tell they put a lot of effort into the animation of that character. The story was good, but I don't usually place too much stock in them, so YMMV. It did get me engaged for nearly the entire run-through, with twists I didn't see coming. You don't need me to say it, but the music is great, and I can already see myself spamming the boss music. There were a surprising number of references to the Messenger in the back half of the game. While you don't need to really know any of the story from there, it's nice to pick up on things you would miss otherwise.
Random other things...
- They really love to give you fights with limitations, like 5+ times at least, and I loved all of them (I want more JRPGs to do this)
- I enjoyed exploring here and felt the rewards were worth it. They include skills, cooking recipes, ultimate weapons, and rainbow conches (the main collectible)
- Traversal for everything but the main map (slow as fuck) was fun, especially when you get a certain upgrade
- The "sidequests" early on were mostly just random NPCs having little side stuff to do like clearing a field or feeding specific meals but, they got better towards the end
- The minigame might have a little too much RNG early on, and it's easy to abuse a strategy, although I still enjoyed it for reminding me of other similar games
- Cutscenes were used sparingly, but I felt they were effective
- I liked how it was a low-level numbers game
- This ending is going to be so divisive that some people are going to HATE it