Without a trace of irony: god bless Vanillaware's hardline stance against game balancing. GrimGrimoire and 13 Sentinels are the only RTSes I've ever played and I am not here to learn how the genre works. I beat the original back in the day pretty much entirely by repeatedly summoning dragons and I regret nothing.

That said, I think it's a good sign that OnceMore made me really enjoy branching out more. Everything that's not dragons feels a lot more distinct and effective, and the fast forward button is a tremendously important addition. It's not as complete a transformation as Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, but Vanillaware is so good at jazzing up their classics with new game mechanics. The original I mostly considered noteworthy for the developer standard knocked-out-of-the-park presentation and also the lesbians, but OnceMore I can really recommend as an actual great game.

The obvious Harry Potter references have unfortunately only gotten exponentially more cringe, but the story is a cute, weird diversion nonetheless. And OnceMore contains a huge number of brand new gorgeous art CGs--you unlock one after every battle, and the fact that most of them are essentially little slice of life micro-vignettes helps make the characters feel a little more fleshed out.

I don't have a summary here, so, I dunno, buy Vanillaware games. Buy them for full price! I Am No Longer Asking.