Simple but competent blend of adventure, crafting, and school sim that achieves more than the sum of its parts.
+ beautiful turn-based combat in both its visuals (creative, snappy animations) and mechanics (character swapping, combos, skill depth)
+ ingenious "leveling" board rewarding thorough exploration more than mindless grinding
+ remarkably fun music (excluding a few tiresome tracks)
+ accessible alchemy system that becomes addictive through the number and effect of items
+ charming art style with decent variety in locales
+ solid difficulty curve that only requires gradual understanding of mechanics for the main objectives and extra effort for side quests
+ peculiar main cast with entertaining personalities and funny relationships
+ thematically great final chapter
- mediocre graphical fidelity outside of battle
- unremarkable slice-of-life story that starts picking up too late and doesn't quite capitalize on its few interesting ideas
- several time-wasting elements (distance between crafting stations, long maps without shortcuts, enemy aggressiveness at night)
- repetitive gameplay loop filling most of the sizable playtime (40h+)