metroidvania + pokemon + final fantasy (your party members are the monsters) is a stellar combo in theory, and thankfully also in execution. i played this whole game in one week, got neck-deep in the party build meta, explored every single nook and cranny, and had dreams about playing it. it's a nearly perfect intersection of very specific interests for me, and i sometimes wish i could wipe my brain clean so i could experience it all again. maybe not the story though. the story was aggressively okay.

that said, complaints about the repetitive navigation are so valid. more than once, i found myself spacing out or falling asleep trying to get to a certain area, and i did not especially enjoy most of the puzzles. eventually i got to a point where i just defaulted to looking some of them up because i have ADHD and cannot be bothered to memorize the placements of which lever affects what door when it's off-screen. there's some tedium to the game for sure, and it won't be for everyone. i was able to happily power through it because i love a game with smooth movement, and this one had it.

the party-building and combat aspects are finely tuned but seem very unfriendly toward casual players; i found myself needing to engage with the gameplay meta in a way i didn't intend at the start because i started getting my shit absolutely whipped by babies and it felt bad. still, i do appreciate the options players are given to engage that deeply with the system; i cannot tell you how satisfying it was to wipe the floor with my spinner/bard/caraglow team. on the other hand, i literally did not use any other monsters after finalizing this team.

all in all, it was well worth the money and time i sunk into it and i'm looking forward to the next game the devs are working on.