odiously sentimental, scatterbrained in its many ideas, and bloated with quirky livestock. a story about found family in which one of two characters emotes even less than the average silent protagonist. fails to curry any emotion and confusing in its premise — is it a road trip slice of life a la kino’s journey or a tragic sci-fi epic? some of the scenes in this are laughably overemotional, hysterical and maddening in their contrived melancholy.

sam is really sweet and all that kept me going for most of the game, but i can only take so much of her being the only one speaking any given time, constantly having to ask questions and traipse through situations she doesn’t understand because of her shelteredness and young age. the gameplay is fun and builds on itself quite well but dungeons become few and far between as the game becomes wholly concerned with its GBA tier story. too many flat jokes and reiteration and characters disappearing before they land impact. sad!