That was fucking awesome. Excellent monster catcher. Of course it takes some aspects from Pokemon, namely the creature collection and evolution aspect, but the battle system and its volatility and difficulty feel MUCH more inspired by Megaten, which is even more evident when you realize the story takes many of its beats from games like Persona 3 (there’s literally a character who’s just like Koromaru here). It’s also very pleasing to look at, with a style of chibi sprites roaming around a 3d-rendered overworld, and obviously that’s pretty clearly reminiscient of the graphical style of Pokemon Gens 4 and 5. The open nature of the game scales very well too, and in many ways the map and its grid, and to a degree, the premise, remind me of old handheld Zelda games, particularly the ones on the GameBoy Color and Advance. If any two games inspired narrative aspects here, I feel like it’s a marriage of Link’s Awakening and Persona 3. Does that mean it’s anywhere near as melancholic or existential at times? No, but it has the capability to talk on that. Referring to this as a “Pokemon Clone” is a disservice. It’s a love letter to that series, but it’s also its own thing. As for negatives, the postgame quests are very grindy and repetitive, but the core game is so utterly addictive that it can offset this. Also the game can run a bit oddly. It’ll stutter in some cases to load in the environments. Nothing unplayable, but your immersion can and will be gutted at moments like that. Overall an amazing time.